History
Origins[]
Isaac Christians grew up in the quiet town of Christiansboro, Virginia. He was born to Ezekiel and Mary Christians. As a child, he often spent Sunday afternoons with his mother and younger brother, Jeremiah, listening to bands play in the town square.[3] One day, while playing on the roof with Jeremiah, Isaac impulsively pushed his brother. Jeremiah lost his footing and fell to his death. Overcome with grief and guilt, Isaac ran to the church, crying and begging for forgiveness. His father blamed him, while his mother, though heartbroken, pitied him. The tragedy left Isaac withdrawn, but two childhood friends, Buster Henderson and Elaine Willoughby, helped pull him out of his shell. Together, they formed a close bond, calling themselves the "Three Musketeers."[4][3] Isaac, Elaine, and Buster often raced each other, earning nicknames based on their speed. Buster was called "Lightning" for his swiftness, while Isaac, slower by comparison, became "Molasses."[5] As the years passed, Isaac harbored secret feelings for Elaine. His world shattered when Buster and Elaine eventually married, leaving him heartbroken. When war broke out, Buster enlisted in the military, and despite his despair, Isaac soon followed, lying about his age to join the fight.[4]
World War I[]
During World War I, he was enlisted in to the US Army, traveling to Europe. Isaac befriended a fellow soldier, Clarence Johnson. However, Clarence was killed early in the conflict when an explosion tore him apart, splattering Isaac with his remains. The trauma sent Isaac fleeing in terror. As he ran, he was nearly killed by a German soldier wielding a bayonet only to be saved at the last moment by Buster, who shot the enemy down. Isaac barely recognised his old friend. Buster had been through hell his entire unit had been slaughtered, and he had survived only by hiding among the corpses. Haunted and unhinged, Buster led Isaac to shelter as German forces closed in.[5] In the ensuing battle, Buster was killed. The loss devastated Isaac, who blamed himself, just as he had with Jeremiah’s death. When Elaine learned of Buster's fate, she left Christiansboro, further deepening Isaac’s sorrow.[6]
Post-War[]
Seeking escape from his grief, Isaac left the US for Paris in 1919. He sought solace in the arms of a prostitute named Germaine, hoping to forget Elaine. However, as his pain festered, his anger grew, and he lashed out at others in violent outbursts. Eventually, Germaine left him, leaving Isaac more broken than before.[7] Determined to find meaning, he spent the next year travelling through Europe and Asia. In Hyderabad, he encountered Vishnu Dass, a revered philosopher and spiritual leader. Although Isaac did not believe in a Christian God, he was drawn to Dass' teachings of selflessness and inner peace. For two years, he followed Dass across India, becoming his disciple. When word of his father's death reached him, Isaac hesitated to return to Christiansboro, but Dass guided him in finding acceptance and peace with the universe though that peace would fade with age.[8]
At some point, Isaac fought in World War II.[9]
Mayor of Christiansboro[]
Afterward, he returned to Christiansboro and threw himself into civic duty. He studied the occult, a subject that fascinated him, and later became the town’s mayor. Under his leadership, Christiansboro flourished for a time, and he was beloved by its people. However, despite his best efforts, he was unable to prevent the town from falling into economic decline.[3][9] Isaac grew old in Christiansboro, never truly moving on from Elaine. Throughout his life, he kept tabs on her, loving her from afar but never reconnecting.[4]
Gargoyle[]
In recent years, though, Christiansboro was tottering on the brink of economic ruin. Christians had studied the occult and decided to use it to save the town. He contacted the demon Avarrish, a member of the Six-Fingered Hand.[9] Christians agreed to allow his spirit to inhabit the body of a gargoyle temporarily and to do the bidding of the Six-Fingered Hand for that time in exchange for the solution to Christiansboro's ills. Christians' spirit was placed in the body of the Gargoyle himself, and Christian was assigned to aid in capturing Patsy Walker, who as Hellcat was a member of the Defenders. However, Isaac could not bring himself to fulfill the Hand's wishes, and turned against them to aid the Defenders.[9]
Defenders[]
As the Gargoyle, Isaac became a regular member of the Defenders for several months. He remained with the team when Beast reorganized them into a more official roster.[10]
In Moondragon's final clash with the Defenders, she used power granted to her by the Beyonder to withdraw Christians' spirit from the Gargoyle's body and transform it into a gigantic, even more grotesque form that was filled with the malevolent power of the Dragon of the Moon. When four of the Defenders defeated Moondragon and the Dragon of the Moon, the Gargoyle's body was apparently carbonized, becoming a statue of dust and ash.[11]
Pamela Douglas[]
Christians found refuge for his spirit in a crystal and through it exerted a mental influence over a man in order to find Pamela Douglas, the cousin of Moondragon whom Moondragon was using as a vessel for her own spirit. The man wearing the crystal plagued Moondragon's life until Moondragon repentantly persuaded Pamela to have her carry the crystal back to the moon colony of Titan, where Moondragon was preparing to have a new body grown from cloned samples of her tissue.[12]
During the course of their journey to Titan, Pamela was revealed to have immense psychic powers of her own. After Moondragon received her new body, the three journeyed back to Earth along with the Titan Demeityr, who was growing fond of Pamela.[13]
After a fight with Moondragon, the full extent of Pamela's powers was revealed by the sentient galaxy and former Defender Cloud. Cloud also created a new body for Christians out of some of her matter, giving him the ability to freely change between his human and Gargoyle forms. Gargoyle, Pamela (now Sundragon), and Demeityr continued to travel through space. Eventually, Christians returned home and parted ways with Sundragon amicably.[14]
Further Adventures[]
The Gargoyle somehow ended up imprisoned on the laboratory world of the alien known as the Stranger but was released when Quasar visited the Laboratory World.[15] Returning to Earth as part of a 'caravan' of refugees, the Gargoyle apparently went to look up his former friend Dolly Donahue only to learn that she had died. With nowhere else to go, he entered the service of former Defender Daimon Hellstrom, acting as his butler for a time.[16]
Retirement[]
Following the superhuman civil war, Gargoyle became a member of the Initiative and trained young superhumans at Camp Hammond. He also kept in touch with fellow former Defenders Hellcat and Nighthawk.[17][18] Additionally, he briefly spent time as a prisoner of Alexei Kravinoff, the son of Kraven the Hunter, who had taken his father's legacy and formed a zoo of captured animal-themed people.[19]
Having settled at one point in Greenwich Village, Gargoyle opened a restaurant called Isaac's Oysters, where one of his employees was Frog-Man, who worked as as a busboy.[20] After the android Korvac resurfaced and embarked in a plan to regain his godhood, he came to blows with Iron Man and Hellcat.[21] When Stark saw himself forced to recruit allies under Korvac's radar, Gargoyle was one of the heroes suggested by Hellcat.[22] Alongside Frog-Man, Gargoyle became part of the ragtag group of heroes,[20] which joined Iron Man as he pursued Korvac into outer space.[23]
Iron Man and his "Space Friends" raced Korvac to Taa II. They barely failed, and the villain managed to tap into the Power Cosmic to attain godhood. Iron Man followed suit in a last-ditch effort that saw Korvac's defeat.[24] The heroes returned to Earth, but Tony had become corrupted by the Power Cosmic.[25] The Space Friends colluded with Doctor Doom to strip him of the Power Cosmic, but the plan backfired after they lured Stark into a trap, and he killed all of them, save for Hellcat, in a fit of blind rage.[1] After snapping out of it, Iron Man relinquished the Power Cosmic and returned to normal, but not before bringing everybody back to life.[2]Attributes
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Powers
- Demonic Body: The Gargoyle has a number of superhuman powers derived from the demonic body he possesses.
- Superhuman Durability: His leathery skin is more durable than human flesh and is able to withstand ballistic impact up to and including .30 caliber armor-piercing shells.[26]
- Immortality: His body is impervious to disease and aging.[26]
- Peak Human Reflexes: His speed and reaction time are equivalent to those of an average human male in his twenties.[27]
- Peak Human Senses: The acuity of his senses is similarly enhanced.[27]
- Superhuman Strength: Gargoyle's body is superhumanly strong and can lift 2 tons.[26]
- Flight: The Gargoyle's rudimentary, featherless, scalloped wings, which span 5.8 feet from tip to tip at full extension, are insufficient in and of themselves to bear him aloft. The real mechanism of flight was a mystical power of levitation. His wings simply help him maneuver. The Gargoyle is able to support his own weight plus 100 pounds of cargo; he can fly at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. He is able to fly for about 3 hours before he tires appreciably and has to alight.[27]
- Life-Force Absorption: The Gargoyle also possesses the ability to manipulate bio-mystical energy, the inherent power of the life-force itself. This ability was created when Christians' human spirit first entered the Gargoyle's demonic body; the Gargoyle did not possess it previously. The Gargoyle can siphon life-force from other people, causing varying degrees of shock and physical weakness depending upon the amount he siphons. Although an organism's life-force is self-renewing, if he were to take too much of it from someone, the victim would die. (Christians is extremely careful to prevent this from happening.) Christians does not absorb this life-force for personal use when he siphons it; instead, he lets it dissipate into the biosphere as if he were letting air escape from a balloon.[27]
- Life-Force Projection: The Gargoyle can also project his own rapidly regenerating life-force for a number of effects. By projecting his bio-mystical energy rapidly at an object or person, he can create a concussive force of varying impact depending upon the amount he projects. The maximum amount he can expend without endangering himself has sufficient concussive force to demolish a small house or displace an average-sized person about 100 feet. By projecting his bio-mystical energy field around himself (or others) he can protect himself from certain elementary magical spells and powers bolts. This field has a maximum range of about 5 feet from the center of his body, and he can sustain it for about 3 minutes before jeopardizing his own store of life-force. The Gargoyle can also project fear into other people through his bio-mystical energy.[27]
- Regenerative Healing Factor: The Gargoyle can regenerate at least some sections of his body if they are damaged or severed. He once grew his right hand back after it was severed. The regenerated hand looked distinctly different from his former right hand until it reverted to the same appearance as the previous hand due to a psionic attack by Moondragon.[27]
- Transformation: Isaac can assume his human form at will.[26]
- Magic: The Gargoyle's original spirit had considerable knowledge of magic. Christians himself was a student of the occult. But apart from being able to summon minor demons he has little magical ability.[27]
Weaknesses
- Life-Force Usage: Each of the Gargoyle's expenditures of bio-mystical energy utilizes his own life-force to varying degrees. The Gargoyle has to use his power wisely, for too great or too rapid a depletion of his energies could endanger his own life even to the point of killing him. He is capable of using his bio-mystical powers at a moderate rate of expenditure for up to a half hour before he begins to impair his own life functions.[27]
- Binding: The Gargoyle can be commanded by wizards who speak a certain obscure spell. An Afghan Gnostic once took control of the Gargoyle, imprisoning him by means of mystical pentagrams. The wizard could somehow give himself various mystical powers by drawing upon the Gargoyle's power, and enable the Gargoyle to exhibit powers (such as growing to gigantic size) that he either possibly could not or did not know how to use himself.[27]
Notes
See Also
- 136 appearance(s) of Isaac Christians (Earth-616)
- 13 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Isaac Christians (Earth-616)
- 19 minor appearance(s) of Isaac Christians (Earth-616)
- 7 mention(s) of Isaac Christians (Earth-616)
- 10 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Isaac Christians (Earth-616)
- 78 image(s) of Isaac Christians (Earth-616)
- 3 quotation(s) by or about Isaac Christians (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Iron Man (Vol. 6) #17
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Iron Man (Vol. 6) #18
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Defenders #103
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Gargoyle #1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gargoyle #4
- ↑ Defenders #100
- ↑ Gargoyle #2
- ↑ Gargoyle #3
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Defenders #94
- ↑ Defenders #125
- ↑ New Defenders #152
- ↑ Solo Avengers #16
- ↑ Solo Avengers #18
- ↑ Solo Avengers #20
- ↑ Quasar #19
- ↑ Hellstorm: Prince of Lies #1
- ↑ Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 2) #3–4
- ↑ Last Defenders #1
- ↑ Punisher War Journal (Vol. 2) #14–15
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Iron Man (Vol. 6) #5
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #3
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #4
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #7
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #13
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #16
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #4
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 27.6 27.7 27.8 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #4
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 4