Origin
Maxwell Markham is first introduced as a professional wrestler using the nickname of Grizzly. His overly violent styles of fighting bought him the attention of the ever vigilant J. Jonah Jameson who wrote an article eventually getting Maxwell expelled from the world of professional wrestling. Ten years later, he met with criminal mastermind the Jackal, who gave Grizzly his exoskeleton harness and grizzly bear suit, granting him his super strength.
Creation
Maxwell Markham was created by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru, first appearing in The Amazing Spider Man #139.
Character Evolution
Markham attempted to use the suit to gain vengeance on Jameson, but was defeated by Spider-Man. After his release from prison, he stole his equipment back and brought it to the Tinkerer for repair. After the repair he used his regained powers to seek vengeance on Spider-Man. During the battle Spider-Man feigns defeat and Grizzly leaves the scene feeling as though his revenge is complete.
Major Story Arcs
Legion of Losers
Feeling satisfied, Grizzly joins with Gibbon, Spot, and Kangaroo to become the Legion of Losers. Planning only to continue damaging Spider-Man, Grizzly and Gibbon are shocked to see Kangaroo and Spot planning bank robberies. The Legion is successful in a capture of Spider-Man, but later released him as they decided that he is “an all-right guy”. Grizzly and Gibbon team up with Spider-Man to assist in bringing the rest of the Legion to justice.
Grizzly continues to attempt to turn his life around. However, his desires for power, and several accidents involving his connections to criminals make his reform incredibly hard. Grizzly would become a captive of Al Kraven, the son of Kraven the Hunter when he began to collect super-humans with animal themed powers and abilities. Kraven would release all his drug induced captives and let them run amok. Grizzly gets into a fight with Man-Bull and snaps off his left horn.
Dark Reign and the Thunderbolts
Fearing for his safety (and wanting a chance at success), Grizzly joined the Masters of Evil after Hood obtained more power by secretly allying with Norman Osborn. When Punisher declared war on Hood and Osborn, Grizzly was sent to battle him. Punisher escaped, but was injured and traceable. Hood then sent twelve more superhuman gangsters who weakened Punisher further–then Hood himself battled the man. Punisher barely escaped, and was tracked down and killed by Daken (as Wolverine)–meaning that Grizzly was partially responsible for his death.
Osborn was impressed by Grizzly’s work and recruited him to join the Thunderbolts. Grizzly’s first mission as a Thunderbolt led into a confrontation with the Agents of Atlas. He survived, but on the flight back a hologram of Osborn triggered a telepathic command the Agents had placed in Grizzly’s teammate Scourge (Nuke). Scourge fired at the hologram and the energy bolt ended up hitting and killing Headsman, another Thunderbolt.
During Osborn’s assault on Asgard, the Thunderbolts were tasked with steeling the powerful Spear of Odin. The team encountered Hank Pym’s Mighty Avengers; Thunderbolts Paladin, Ant-Man, and Ghost then announced it was wrong and foolish to serve Osborn and turned on their teammates. Grizzly stuck with the mission, but ended up being defeated and captured (along with Mister X and Scourge). In the process of the battle, though, Scourge had severed the left arm and leg of US Agent.
Ant-Man Security Solutions
When Scott Lang set himself up in Miami, Grizzly moved down there to get revenge on him for his betrayal during Siege. The man he actually wanted revenge on was Eric O’Grady. When Scott was able to clear up the confusion, he offered Grizzly a spot in his new security firm.
As part of the security firm, Grizz would get involved with the new gig economy app, Hench, where Henchman can find new gigs, as well as new powers and gear. When Scott’s daughter used the app to get new pym particle gear as Stinger, she was manipulated into a heist on Cross Technologies. When she got caught, Scott had his crew, including Grizz, plan a heist to rescue her.
When Ant-Man closed the security firm, he and his roommate and co-worker, Machinesmith, moved back to New York to join Hydra during their takeover of America.
Ravencroft
While incarcerated at Ravencroft Sanitarium, Grizzly managed to turn over something of a new leaf. His therapy started to make considerable progress and he finally decided to leave the criminal world behind. This angered many of the other prisoners, who attacked them and managed to injure him, but discovered that he was a good deal tougher and stronger than they had bargained for.
During the Symbiote invasion of New York, Ravencroft was attacked and Grizzly, along with several other prisoners barely escaped with their lives. Grizzly was subsequently deputized as a member of mayor Wilson Fisk’s new Thunderbolts task force. After the mission was over he resolved to remain a mercenary in Fisk’s employ along with the rest of the team. Whether he intends to return to crime as well has yet to be seen.
Personal Data
Characteristics
- Gender: Male
- Height: 6’9″
- Weight: 290 lbs (132 kg)
- Eyecolor: Blue
- Haircolor: Blonde – dyed Red
- Citizenship: American
Powers and Abilities
Grizzly has superhuman strength and durability when wearing a powerful exoskeleton given to him by Jackal and enhanced by the Tinkerer. The skeleton suit also has powerful claws.