Publisher: Marvel Comics
Created by: Kevin Grevioux
1st appearance: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1 (2009)
Real Name: Adam Bernard Brashear
Aliases: Adam, America’s Blue Marvel, The Magnificent Master of Might, The Man of Marvel’s, The Blue Bomber of Battle
Nationality: American
Team Affiliations: None
Legal Status: U.S citizen with no criminal record
Weight: 234 lbs Height: 6’2
Eyes: Brown Hair: Black with white streaks
Relatives: Marlene Frazier/Candace Brashear/Agent 314 (Wife, deceased), Adrienne Brashear (Daughter), Max Brashear (Son), Kevin Brashear (Son)
Skills and abilities: Trained in armed and unarmed combat by the military.
Powers: Superhuman strength, speed, flight, and invulnerability on the same level as the Sentry/Superman and Icon, President Superman and Val Zod. Adam also has uncharted antimatter based energy powers and energy manipulation powers.
Biography
Origins and endings
Adam Brashear was a gifted intellect who played football at an unspecified time in his past, whether college or High School [Adam: The Blue Marvel #1]. He was a “Magna Cum Loude” Graduate of Cornell, with a PhD in Theoretical Physics who joined the Marine corp where he won two silver stars after carrying three men to safety in a hotzone of enemy fire while severely injured. Despite his bravery however he was still subject to racism while serving with the army [Adam the Blue Marvel #1]. His best friend Connor was his only ally against his near lynching on multiple occasions. He headed a team to try to harness anti-matter through the creation of a “Negative Reactor” which created a bridge between the Negative Zone and the positive matter universe. This reactor would then allow for an almost unlimited source of clean energy by allowing devices to tap the energy generated by a stable event horizon balanced between these positive and negative universes. Due to the unexpected explosion of the reactor.
Only himself and best friend Connor survived the explosion. Adam became a stable “antimatter reactor” and developed a set of superhuman abilities [Adam: The Blue Marvel #4]. With these powers he became the costumed superhero “Blue Marvel”. He set up an undersea base and fought Namor the Sub-Mariner. Namor notes only Hulk and Thor have hit him harder [Adam: The Blue Marvel #4]. It was here in the underwater base he tended to Connor’s unstable molecular structure. Connor’s mind eventually became unhinged and he tried to create a world where all races were equal though he did it through violence. Adam as Blue Marvel opposed his friend who now went by the title Anti-Man [Adam: The Blue Marvel #4].
He was later asked to retire by President Kennedy for fear of the uprising of the Civil Rights movement after he defeated Anti-Man and was outed as a “black man”. He went to the moon to vent his frustration and met “The Watcher” with whom he later became friends. Here he defeated an alien invasion headed to earth [Adam Legend of the Blue Marvel #3].
Retirement/The Doc Brashear Years
After retiring he was called in by the president one last time to fend off an alien who had uncharted energy readings heading for earth. Though Ada was on the ropes he managed to defeat the creature and was never seen again. He was presumed dead [Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #2]. After his retirement he settled into civilian life but the government was afraid he would resurface and so they had him “watched” by one of their agents. It was still a time in America’s history where it was still taboo for interracial dating to take place. He met Candace and fell in love, it was them against the world as they got married [Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #3].
Together they welcomed the birth of his first son Kevin Brashear though he was conflicted over stepping down from his tenure as Blue Marvel [Mighty Avengers #9]. Two years after Kevin’s birth he had a run in with some werewolves at the sacrifice of the Deathstalkers. Joining Blade, Kaluu and Luke Cage’s father they stopped the Deathwalkers world ending plans and hid the talisman Central to their schemes [Mighty Avengers #11-12].
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Kevin at age eight was already showing prodigious talents in the field of science. Other adventures include a battle with the Technocracy, this was when Kevin learned of his fathers heroic exploits. Some time later Max was born and Adam realized Candace was aging as slowly as he was. Alongside Kevin he continued to adventure against the atomic skeletons of Paris, Doktor Skorpon and Y2K. Adrienne was soon born into the Brashear family. When the Fantastic Four battled Galactus him and Kevin were busy trying to stop Doktor Skorpion from harnessing the time travel technology of Rama Tut. The villain caught them by surprise however as he had opened a portal to the Neutral Zone and tapped Neutronium to which Adam was weak. Kevin took charge of the situation but was sucked into the Neutral Zone portal, Skorpion was vaporized and to save Earth Adam was forced to destroy the unstable portal. This traumatic experience changed his family forever. Adrienne suffered nightmares while Max grew cold and distant [Mighty Avengers #9].
Anti-Man and The return of Blue Marvel
Brashear later became a tenured professor of physics at the University of Maryland [Adam Legend of the Blue Marvel #2]. He was called out of retirement when Anti Man defeated the “Mighty Avengers” [Adam Legend of the Blue Marvel #1]. With his call back to action Candace his wife thought it was time to confess that she had originally been sent to keep tabs on him for the US government but she fell in love with him. Betrayed and emotionally devastated he walked out on her [Adam Legend of the Blue Marvel #3]. On the moon he talked with the watcher about everything that had happened in his life before joining Tony Stark’s battle against Anti-Man [Adam Legend of the Blue Marvel #3]. Initially Stark and his team refuse to simply trust Adam leading to a standoff between them. Adam is able to hold the Mighty Avengers at a near standstill despite their ranks including Ares god of war, Iron Man and Sentry [Adam: The Blue Marvel #5]. Ultimately defeated he is placed in stasis but freed by his wife when Anti-Man threatens all of New York. Candace and Adam finally reconcile. Adam rallies the Mighty Avengers to defeat Connor but Candace is killed in the battle. A week later she is buried and Tony Stark offers Adam membership to the Avengers though he refuses [Adam: The Blue Marvel #5].
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At the funeral he had an exchange of words with his son Max which neither could take back. Max blamed Adam for not saving his mother the same way he failed Kevin and told Adam to never contact him again [Mighty Avengers #9].
Blue Marvel and the Mighty Avengers
He battled “King Hyperion” from an alternate world in Uzbekistan [Age of Heroes #3]. During Fear Itself Marvel was away from Earth exploring the Neutral Zone. When he returned he found his undersea base with a submarine lodged within. This submarine had caused tension between the US and Chinese forces as both sides blamed the other for hostilities. Marvel managed to end the threat when he exposed that it was a Dragon guarding the Serpents prison which had destroyed submarines on both sides [Fear Itself: Home Front #4].
During the events of Infinity he joined Monica Rambeau, Luke Cage, Ava Ayala, Power Man and She Hulk as they battled a manifestation of Shuma Gorath in our reality. During the battle his energy manipulation powers were essential in saving Monica who had been “infected” by the enemy’s alien weapon. The Team is dubbed “Mighty Avengers” by Luke Cage to the press [Mighty Avengers #2, Mighty Avengers #3].
While a member of the team he still finds time to help superheroes across the globe [Mighty Avengers #4]. Blue Marvel also finds time to help Luke Cage and his wife move into their new place and comes to blows with Luke over his retirement years earlier [Mighty Avengers #6].
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Adam later requests the aid of the Mighty Avengers against W.E.S.P. Alongside Monica Rambeau and She Hulk they meet Dr. Positron a stereotypical James Bond villain who quickly subdues Monica and She Hulk. He reveals his identity as Adam’s estranged son Max. Shocked Adam can do nothing but bear silent witness as his son tries to pull his brother Kevin from the neutral Zone thus endangering the whole planet [Mighty Avengers #8]. With the aid of the Mighty Avengers they were able to send Kevin back, thus saving the world [Mighty Avengers #9]. When his friend “the Watcher” was killed he grieved and became godson to his friend’s incubating child [Mighty Avengers #10].
The Deathwalkers resurfaced and took Blade hostage while renewing their plots, alongside the Mighty Avengers he thwarted their plans again [Mighty Avengers #12-14]. During the AXIS event
I’ve been wondering how Marvel is planning to use this character. His mini-series was good.
Does anyone think it’s weird that his name is Adam, and that he’s Black, thus, ‘Black Adam’ from DC comics? You think that was done on purpose?
I said it once, I’ll say it again: Marvel CAN NOT DEAL w/ a Black character that’s this powerful. I doubt DC Comics could, either. Dude’s easily the equal of Hercules, Juggernaut, Thor, Hulk, & Sentry, & could beat Wonder Man, Abomination, Icon, Captain Marvel (Shazaam), Black Adam AND Superman.
I look forward to seeing him in the Mighty Avengers. I definitely will pick up his first mini series.
Ewing’s handle of BM’s devlpmnt is superb & we/SZ cant b gr8ful enuff 2 Grevioux 4 crea8ing such a briliantly unik & cmpelling xcter….2 bad BM isnt shwing-up mo in othr Marvl bks esp with d currently commencing Original sin with d murder of BM’s closest friend Uatu….u wud think dat BM wud b amongst d central xcters involved in searching 4 Uautu’s killer/s.
Hope you’ve seen the updates Wu!
Never quite thought about it Aaron……interesting thought.
I just finished read his mini-series and loved it. It needs to be a movie or at least an animated one.
If you enjoyed the mini Cortney then you must check out his recent adventures in the pages of Mighty Avengers.
I guarantee you Blue Marvel’s adventures get even better! 🙂
Blue Marvel is like a Grant Morrison’s Superman, or Allan Moore’s Supreme. That makes him both awesome, and a tough fit into the Marvel Universe. If they want to use him, they are going to have to insulate him. Look at how long it took to figure out what to do with Sentry, and how that ultimately ended up. He can’t be involved in the regular MU on it’s terms, characters like him are always a challenge for the rest of the world building to accommodate. They would have to develop a family of books, headlined by characters who could interact on a similar level, but stay away from the rest of the action.They could have guest stars in their books, but not show up in the mainstream except for special cases. Adam is a far more interesting character than Reed Richards, but because Marvel doesn’t seem to have room for them both, they would have to stay separate.
It would be like over at DC: The Bat books interact with one another, or the way the creepy books like the Vertigo stuff sometimes interact with the mainstream titles, but stay far away so that Superman and John Constantine never have to exist in the same “world” (Okay, at least until New52, but look how that is turning out).
They could put together a family of books. Blue Marvel, Black Panther ( I want to see more of Shuri) Shang-Chi, and a bunch of other characters who are always on the cusp of success but never quite making it, create a little mini-world, and let the fans get sucked right into it. It could be fantastic.
Check out the new ultimates coming out this fall for October 2015.
🙂
Of the few Black marvel heroes, are any of them married/involved with another Black character?
Falcon and Misty Knight are together right now.
Love blue marvel
You see, this is Black representation. Not Piccolo, not Jet Black, not Fish-Men, this right here. It’s a slap in the face to see Black people say that these non-humans are Black. Let that sink in. Black people have struggled to prove that we are human & then later on there are Black people who say these non-humans (Piccolo, Fish-Men, etc.) are Black people.
To each his own I guess…we can interpret blackness for our bothers and sisters. The definition of ‘black’ varies from place to place and culture to culture. I still abide by the one drop rule but some people disagree #letsagreetodisagree