Real name: Carl "Crusher" Creel
Identity: Known
Aliases: none
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 365lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Bald
Distinguishing Features: none
Occupation: Professional Criminal
Citizenship: United States of America
Place of Creation/Birth: New York City
Known Relatives: Titania (Wife)
Known Allies: Titania II, (former) Loki, Masters of Evil IV,
They Who Wield Power
Known Enemies: Thor, Hulk, Thor II, Avengers, Quasar,
Odin, Spider-Man, Dazzler, Black Bolt
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Absorbing Man
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Intelligence: Normal (4/10)
Strength: Variable
Speed: Variable
Stamina: Variable
Durability: Variable
Agility: Variable
Reflexes: Variable
Fighting Skills: Excellent hand-to-hand combatant, uses streetfighting
techniques
Special Skills/Abilities: none known
Group Affiliations: Former Agent of Loki, Former member of the Masters
Of Evil IV.
Powers and abilities:
Creel has the power to absorb the physical properties of anything he touches.
For example, if Creel were to touch and hold a piece of titanium steel,
the tissues of his body would take on the appearance and properties of titanium.
Creel also retains his intellect and capacity for speech reguardless of the material
he absorbes. The more dense, or durable, the material he absorbs, the stronger Creel
is; were Creel to touch a high grade steel structure his strength would be roughly
equal to that of the Thing. Creel also has the ability to absorb the same level of
physical strength as the character he is touching. This power requires Creel's
deliberate concentration, although he has a tendency to accidentally absorb materials
he did not intend to. Creel's body can also absorb the properties of great amounts of
energy in the same fashion it absorbs the properties of solid materials. Creel has
proven able to absorb the mystical energies of Thor's enchanted Uru hammer on multiple occassions.
The ball and chain that he carries is also mystically enchanted, and this power is extended to it.
It is essentially an extension of his own body mass at this point. If the Absorbing Man's body is
shattered, he has the ability to completely reconstitute his bodily mass without injury to himself,
though it may take a great deal of time to do so.
The greatest limitation of the Absorbing Man's powers is his intellect; the Absorbing Man
is noticeably unintelligent.
It was shown in a Hulk story that Creel developed the power of absorbing the mind of other people,
and possessing their bodies. In that particular story, he was shown unusually smart and cunning.
Whether this new power will be retconned or become a permanent addition is not certain yet.
Origin: Crusher,
a former prison inmate, is a creation of Loki, the Norse god of mischief...The
source of his powers are magical in nature and derived from a potion composed
of rare Asgardian herbs which were added to Creel's drinking water... Creel
was granted his great powers in exchange for trying to defeat Thor.
History:
Mainly an antagonist of Thor, The Absorbing Man was given herbs by the Norse god Loki which,
once ingested, gave him the power to absorb the physical properties of anything he touched.
(Thus, if he touched a steel wall, his whole body could become as hard as steel, while he could
still move, think and speak; his strength also increased to the extent that he could battle such
immensely strong heroes of the Marvel pantheon as Thor and the Hulk.) If his body is damaged or
shattered while in a non-organic form, he can reconstitute his body, although this takes a great
deal of time and effort.
He was in prison at the time of this power transfer, and the heavy ball and chain to which he was
attached also magically gained the power. He therefore continued to carry the chain as a kind of mace.
His main weaknesses are his low intelligence, making him relatively easy to outwit, and his power
can be turned against him if he is tricked or forced into physical contact with a substance with an
undesirably low strength. For instance, when fighting the Hulk once, he made the mistake of breaking
glass above him, causing shards to fall on him. When he made contact with a shard, his body turned to
glass and the Hulk instantly took advantage of this by punching and shattering his foe.
Creel has absorbed the properties of a number of unusual or unique substances over the course of his
criminal career, including adamantium, Captain America's shield, and Quasar's Quantum Bands. He also
is known in the comics for transforming into water (One example is when he battled the Eric Masterson
Thor in The Mighty Thor #436), and he even became an island one time!
Although Creel is a thug and a villain, he is not wholly heartless, and usually tries to avoid killing
innocent bystanders (although he has no qualms about threatening or incapacitating them). In recent
years he became romantically involved with fellow supervillain Titania (Mary "Skeeter" McPherran);
they are currently married.
The Absorbing Man is highly addicted to narcotics, especially pain killers and cocaine. When he is
need of a high he has demonstrated no concern for the safety of others and will work for whatever
criminal can supply him with narcotics. Recently,he was tricked into transforming into cocaine and
minions operating powerful industrial fans scattered his body in the room he was occupying. His
body mass was then collected off of the surfaces and placed into several bags. This all was the
doing of The Owl who plans to sell this "Creel cocaine",but after being used as a drug all over
New York (all those who used the drug transformed into anything they came in contanct with, just
like Creel), Creel managed to reform himself but was defeated by Spider-Man and The Avengers.
First appearances: Journey Into Mystery #114
Spider-Man Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man #283 & 429...Thor #447 & 448
Other Appearances:
Journey Into Mystery/ Thor #114, 115, 120-123, 206, 207, 235, 236, 375,
376, 383, 436, 447, 448, 490, V2 26, 27 & Annual #2...Incredible Hulk
#125, 208, 209, 261, 347, 348, 456 & 457...Avengers #183, 184, 270
& 273-275...Dazzler #17-19...Secret Wars #1-12...Secret Wars II #7...Quasar
#5...Thunderstrike #16...Guardians Of The Galaxy #28...Avengers Spotlight
#29...Marvel Comics Presents #160...Marvel Super-Heroes V2 #14...Daredevil
#359 & 360...Heroes For Hire #17...Fantastic Four V3 #22...Captain
America V2 #24
Significant Issues:
Journey Into Mystery #114-115: given powers by Loki, first battled
Thor, exploded
Journey Into Mystery #120-123: restored by Loki, used by him in
attempt to overthrow Odin, banished with Loki into outer space
Incredible Hulk #125: returned to Earth on spacecraft piloted by
Bruce Banner, first battled Hulk, was crushed under collapsing mountain
Thor #206-207: restored by Loki, battled Thor, turned to water
and dissolved
Incredible Hulk #208-209: hired by They Who Wield Power to kill
Hulk, turned to glass and smashed
Avengers #183-184: attempted to abduct Sandy Herkowitz, battle
Avengers, turned to water and dispersed in the sea
Incredible Hulk #261: returned to human form on Easter Island,
battled Hulk
Dazzler #18-19: battled and defeated by Dazzler and Black Bolt
Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12: transported to Beyonders
battleworld, first met Titania II
Avengers #270, 273, 275/Amazing Spider-Man #283: first appeared
as a member of the Masters of Evil IV, with Titania II, joined the Masters
of Evil IV's assault on Avengers Mansion; fought Spider-Man during vain
attempt to contact Mongoose for Masters of Evil IV, forced Spider-Man
to let him and Titania II go free; along with Titania II, defeated by
Wasp, Ant-Man II and Paladin
Thor #375-376: battled Thor, was transported to other-dimension
limbo
Incredible Hulk #347-348: returned to Earth, battled Hulk, turned
to concrete and smashed by Hulk
Quasar #5: fought Quasar
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