Jerry Carstairs (Earth-616)

Black Avenger
Name	Jerry Carstairs
Current Alias	Black Avenger
Aliases	Thunderer, Dark Avenger
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	FCC
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Black
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Adventurer, soldier
Base of Operations	New York City, New York
Creators and Appearances
Creators	John Compton, Carl Burgos
First	Daring Mystery Comics #7 (February, 1941)
First	Daring Mystery Comics #7 (February, 1941)
Death	Marvel Comics #1000 (August, 2019)
Death	Marvel Comics #1000 (August, 2019)

History

Jerry Carstairs

Jerry Carstairs worked as ham radio operator for the Federal Communications Commission. He was subject of the government secret project "Project Thunderer", and was given the Eternity mask by the Scientists Guild, after a strange ritual that involved him to walked naked in a mystic circle with a bizarre apparatus around his neck.

He began to fight Nazi saboteurs. For that purpose he created a costume with a built-in speaker system loud enough to shock and deafen any one crossing his path. He began fighting injustice as the Thunderer. In his first recorded appearance, Carstairs learned that radio station WWLX was really a front for Nazi Fifth Columnists who were transmitting secret messages hidden in music. Learning that they were targeting his girlfriend Eileen Conroy, a newspaper reporter, Carstairs foiled their operation as the Thunderer. In order to protect his secret identity, Carstairs acted like a meek weakling while in his civilian guise.

The Thunderer

In another adventure, Carstairs uncovered the machinations of the hideously deformed dwarf named Gore who hated beautiful people so much that he rigged Morse Code death traps that killed his victims over the radio. The Thunderer smashed up his operation, and Gore was killed in a house fire that broke out due to faulty wiring in his equipment.

During this period, he reinvented his costumed identity and began calling himself the Black Avenger. In the fall of 1942, the FBI caught a Nazi spy that resembled Carstairs and convinced him to go undercover to try and expose the spy ring that was sending defense secrets back to Nazi Germany. As the Black Avenger, Carstairs managed to round up the Nazis including their leader Kurt Weidner and turning him over to justice.

In 1943, the Black Avenger was among a number of heroes who were slain by the Cosmic Cube wielding Red Skull and impaled on a massive wall. However, the Cube was recovered by Private Paul Anselm who resurrected all the slain heroes who aided the combined efforts of the Invaders and the time displaced New Avengers and Mighty Avengers. When the Skull was defeated, the heroes used the Cube to wipe out the Black Avenger's memories of the event to preserve history.

Carstairs decided to defy the Scientists Guild and took the Eternity mask with him in 1946, but 10 years later, they found and killed him, getting the Eternity Mask from him. The Black Avenger tried to communicate with the Marvel Boy, but he arrived late.

Strangely, many years after his death, Carstairs was seen alive, elderly but healthy. First he attended a reunion of Second World War costumed heroes where he met Captain America again.. Later, he appeared as a resident of Valhalla Villas, a retirement home for ex-heroes and ex-villains located in Miami. He was among the residents that were temporarily de-aged by Mary Morganstern, who used an unnamed Asgardian relic during the Incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610.

Attributes

Abilities

The Thunderer is a good hand-to-hand combatant

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Due to a combination of mike and horn set around his neck, he can amplify his voice, making it sound like a thunder. He also wore the Eternity Mask a black mask that covered his entire head and gave him equal strength to whoever he was fighting.

Weapons

He carries a "lightning gun" in his belt, which emits a bolt of light, capable of temporary blinding his enemies.

Notes

• Oddly enough, his costume colors in the actual stories were the exact opposite to the way they appear on his cover appearances with him having a red costume and hood and a blue cape.
• The events shown in Marvel Comics #1000; The Last Stand of the Dark Avenger indicate that Jerry was killed by the Scientists Guild in 1956. The most likely explanation for this apparent discrepancy is that the elderly Thunderer shown in Captain America #442 and Ant-Man: Last Days #1 was a Jerry Carstairs that was revived somehow. Another possibility is that he was an impostor.

Trivia

• Changed his name to the Black Avenger for his last Golden Age appearance in "All Winners Comics #6" (Timely Comics, Fall 1942).
• He has a dog called Mike.

See Also

• 8 appearance(s) of Jerry Carstairs (Earth-616)
• 2 minor appearance(s) of Jerry Carstairs (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) of Jerry Carstairs (Earth-616)
• 8 image(s) of Jerry Carstairs (Earth-616)
• 1 item(s) used/owned by Jerry Carstairs (Earth-616)

Links and References

• International Catalogue of Superheroes: Thunderer