Joseph Calhoun (Earth-616)

Joseph "Licorice" Calhoun
Name	Joseph Calhoun
Current Alias	Joseph "Licorice" Calhoun
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′ (1.52 m)7
Weight	154
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Comatose
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	United States
Occupation	Musician
Base of Operations	New York City
Creators and Appearances
Creators	John Byrne
First	Fantastic Four #291 (March, 1986)
First	Fantastic Four #291 (March, 1986)

History

Joseph "Licorice" Calhoun is a mutant born in the early 20th century with reality-warping powers, who was rendered comatose by an assault. Many decades later, Licorice's mutant powers caused havoc as he began to wake from his comatose state.

Before Coma

Joseph's mutant powers manifested themselves at an early age, namely, his dreams are able to affect reality. That is, if he dreams about something, it happens in reality. As an adult, Joseph became a clarinet player in "Sweet" Tommy Connor's jazz Band in 1936 under the name "Licorice." The owner of the Flamingo Jazz Club, Mr. Cleveland, found out about Licorice's power and tried to use it benefit himself. He told Licorice that he had a horse running at Belmont and wanted Licorice to dream of a big win, but threatened to break Licorice's fingers if the horse did not win. The threat of violence frightened Licorice and he had awful violent dreams that night, which caused the horse's stable to burn down, killing the horse. The next day Mr. Cleveland sent some enforcers after Licorice. They found him and put him into an coma.

Coma

At some point S.H.I.E.L.D. found Licorice, and took him custody of him. Finally decades later, Licorice began to emerge from his coma and replayed the events of 1936 in his dream. As a result, New York City of the present was replaced with that of 1936. The Invisible Woman (Susan Storm), She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Human Torch (Jonathan Storm), and Nick Fury become trapped in the 1936 created by Licorice's mind and altered the events leading to his head injury. In particular, She-Hulk intervened and stopped Mr. Cleveland's enforcers from harming Licorice. From that point on, Licorice's mutant mind locked on to each member of the group. Consequently, Licorice's mind continued to alter reality across the globe as he accompanied them. For example, Nick Fury decided to travel to Germany to kill Hitler and thus prevent World War II, and as a result, Nick's mind was able to alter reality to recreate his idea of 1936. Nick seemingly killed Hitler, which was enough to cause things to snap back to reality. Eventually, the group was taken back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters where Licorice was being held in custody and Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) explained the situation.

The subsequent fate of Joseph Calhoun is unknown.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Oneirifery: Licorice has the ability to alter reality using his dreams. His powers have a localized effect. For example, if he is dreaming about New York city, only New York City appears to be affected.

Telepathy: While in the dreaming state, he also has the ability to telepathically lock onto other people's minds who are with him in the dream reality. This helps reinforce the reality because their mind shapes it as well. For example, Nick Fury decided to travel to Germany to kill Hitler after Licorice connected to him, and as a result, Nick's mind was able to alter reality to recreate his idea of 1936.

Notes

• Joseph's nickname comes from the slang term "licorice stick," which refers to the clarinet.

See Also

• 2 appearance(s) of Joseph Calhoun (Earth-616)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Joseph Calhoun (Earth-616)
• 1 image(s) of Joseph Calhoun (Earth-616)