Origin
Vance Astrovik was born in Saugerties, New York. When he was a teenager he was visited by his time traveling future self named Major Vance Astro of the Guardians of the Galaxy. This future version became an astronaut and found himself frozen in cryogenic suspension for many years. Major Vance dissuaded the young Astrovik from his intended path as an astronaut in favor of remaining on Earth to develop his mutant telekinetic powers. Unfortunately, young Astro’s father discouraged the use of Vance’s gifts, brutally beating the boy to assert his control.
Vance ran away from home becoming a professional wrestler. There he met the Thing who convinced him to go home and give his parents another try, so he did. When he got home his parents told him it would never happen again. Vance started calling himself Marvel Boy. He applied to be a member in the Avengers but was rejected by his idol Captain America because of his inexperience and his age.
Creation
Vance Astrovik first appeared in the 616 universe in Giant-Size Defenders #5. A counterpart of him had however already appeared as Major Victory in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (1969) as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Major Story Arcs
The New Warriors
He was approached by Night Thrasher to join a teen superhero team called the New Warriors. With the New Warriors they fought the White Queen and her Hellions to Terrax. Vance started a relationship with a another member named Firestar. His powers also increased in strength and he was more precise.
When Angelica found out her microwave-based powers were making her sterile, it was a blow to the both of them, as they had both been tentatively considering future marriage. In fact, Angelica proposed to Vance and he accepted.
Father Issues
Vance’s father started abusing him again and started abusing his mother. One night Arnold (Vance father) was attacking Vance while he was hurt from a fight with the White Queen and her Hellions. Vance with his power accidentally killed his father. He turned himself in and went to trial. He was found innocent of murder, but was convicted of aggravated assault. Vance served his time in the Vault. Firestar, Namorita, and Nova showed up to free him, Vance protested, declaring he wished to serve his time. Later Vance was let out and took the name Justice.
When the Sphinx came he put the former New Warriors throughout time. Vance went to the past and saw his father, and saw that his father was homosexual and was abused by his father to have a heterosexual life. Vance then became leader of the team.
With the Avengers
A magical incident happened when everyone who was an Avenger was attacked by monsters and creatures, Vance and Firestar accompanied Rage, who was an Avenger, to a meeting to the Avengers mansion. Then Morgan LeFay attacked altering reality. Vance and Firestar were turned into Morgan’s super-powered enforcers. He broke free thinking about the team. After defeating LeFay they became reserve Avengers which lead to full time membership.
Continually trying to prove himself, Justice eventually won over his insecurities during the Avengers’ battle with the robot Ultron. He had researched the Avengers files, discovering a new means of defeating Ultron and using it to help the Avengers destroy him. After seeing the emotional turmoil Hank Pym and the Wasp went through in the battle, Vance finally began to regard the Avengers as people rather than icons and became more relaxed about working with the team.
Soon afterward, Vance announced his engagement with Firestar, and the two left active duty, presumably to explore their relationship. In reality, they were asked to secretly infiltrate the headquarters of the Triune Understanding, whose leader, Jonathan Tremont, was surreptitiously attacking the Avengers’ public image for his own benefit. Vance and Firestar discovered the true cause of the Understanding– using the beliefs of its members to sympathetically power a spaceship to battle a cosmic menace. They helped a contingent of Avengers join the battle against the menace, and directly afterwards helped the heroes keep the time-traveling Kang from conquering the world. After the crises were averted, they again parted company with the Avengers.
Break-Up
Vance settled into civilian life with relative ease, as much as a public trial, a Dateline special, and four books written about him could allow, although Firestar had a rough transition settling into college studies at Empire State University. Vance was eagerly awaiting the next stage in his life, their upcoming marriage, but Firestar was reluctant. After a heart-to-heart, the couple agreed to call off the wedding, and then seemed to break-up altogether. Justice was one of the few remaining mutants who kept their powers after M-Day.
Civil War
Vance was not present during the New warrior attack on Nitro and his allies which led to the Civil War. Justice and former teammate Rage learned that people were hunting down former New Warriors members because of perceived blame for the deaths caused by Nitro in Stamford, Connecticut while fighting an incarnation of the team. They both sought out the legal services of Jennifer Walters in protecting the allies of the New Warriors, as their identities were already publicly exposed. They eventually discovered that former New Warriors member Carlton LaFroyge, was responsible for the persecution and exposure of their teammates, operating a website that was slowly outing the identities of the twenty or so remaining Warriors. Him and Rage opposed the Super-Human Registration Act and they joined Captain America’s Secret Avengers.
The Initiative
Vance would become a counselor for the Initiative at Camp Hammond. He would help the young recruits with guidance. Justice and Rage learned that someone was hunting down former New Warriors because they blamed them for the explosion in Connecticut. They find out it was hindsight who put up a hate site. Vance joined Captain America fighting Iron Man. But later on he joined the Initiative. He lead a youth outreach group of the Initiative. It later showed that he was seeing Ultra Girl secretly and when it came down to it he quit the Initiative and Iron Man could not arrest him because he done nothing illegal. Justice leaves the Initiative with Rage, Debrii and Slapstick to form Counter Force, but Ultra Girl stays at the Initiative and her and Vance break-up.
After leaving the Initiative, he was enraged and confused that a New Warriors team had been re-invented without extending an invitation to the living members of the old roster. Vance and some of the old New Warriors ( Silhouette, Rage and Debrii), and some Initiative recruits (Slapstick, The Scarlet Spiders) went after the new team. Vance confronted their leader Night Thrasher (an original member), assuming he was a Skrull for not extending the invitation to join the team and the fact that Night Thrasher appeared to have died at the Stamford Incident. However Night Thrasher revealed his true identity as his brother to his team and the former New Warriors.
After this incident and the new New Warriors disband, Justice re-named his team The New Warriors, in honor of the team her helped found.
Avengers Resistance
After Norman Osborn takes over the Initiative, he places villains on the Initiative teams. Justice and the New Warriors arrive and save Tigra and Gauntlet from the Hood’s Gang. With new members they again decide to re-name themselves, this time the Avengers Resistance. When Osborn invades Asgard, Justice decides it’s time to fight and take back the Initiative. During the battle, Penance joins the team in their fight and later reveals his identity as Vance’s former team-mate, Robbie ‘Speedball’ Balldwin, to Justice and Rage, who are deeply shocked at his new transformation. After the Initiative has been saved, a party is held where all Avengers attend, Justice included, there he is surprised to see Tigra’s has had a child, saying he heard a rumor, but she had never showed, she explains a Cat’s pregnancy only lasts two months. During the teams formation, they joined with the Mighty Avengers and the New Avengers to help defeat the menace known as the Unspoken. Justice and the team participated during the battle, and during it some members were mind controlled and forced to fight against the others. However in the end the Unspoken was defeated, releasing Justice’s teammates.
Avengers Academy
Justice was one of the Avengers that Steve Rodgers called in order to create the new different Avengers teams. He was chosen by Hank Pym to become a teacher at the Avengers Academy. Where he will teach new students in how to become a skilled hero. He is joined by former New Warrior team-mate, Speedball, who is back to his old self, former Avengers Resistance team-mate Tigra and former Avenger’s team-mate Quicksilver. Him and Speedball were chosen by Hank because they founded their own super-hero team when they were the students age. They’ll help them into replicating their successes and in avoiding their mistakes. Vance helps Robbie calm down, after he shouts at Hazmat. Robbie is clearly not over what happened in Stamford.
Later when the Academy takes a visit to the Raft, there is a riot and the teachers are separated from their students. Justice, the other teachers and the Thunderbolts, help take down rogue criminals trying to escape.
After this Veil is revealed to have a crush on Vance when she catches him making out with old flame Ultra-Girl, Vance explains to a jealous Veil that they’re just ‘friends’.
Vance recently shared a reunion with Firestar where the two were attacked by their past selves during their tenure on the Avengers due to Loki (also from the past) who was trying to change history so the Avengers would disband. However, the plan failed and all the time lost Avengers were returned to their original times and Vance and Angelica were finally able to move on from past relationship and move on with their lives as friends once more.
Marvel NOW!
Vance reforms the New Warriors to respond to a threat posed by the High Evolutionary who sends out his Evolutionaries to ‘cleanse the Earth’. The Evolutionaries attempt to wipe out Mutants, Inhumans, and persons of a mystical origin. This places Justice and Speedball into contact with the newest members of the team: Sun-Girl, Haechi, Hummingbird, Water Snake, and Scarlet Spider.
Powers
Justice is a powerful telekinetic, who can generate a telekinetic nimbus to lift and move objects (including himself) with only his mind. He can levitate and fly at high speeds, and can carry many people while doing so. He can form powerful psychokinetic force fields, and use his telekinesis for concussive blasts. Justice has been known to use a telekinetic tendril to tell if a person is lying, something like a lie detector.
Statistics
- Height–5′ 10″
- Weight–180 lbs (82 kg)
- Eyes–Hazel
- Hair–Brown
Alternate Realities
Earth-398
Squire Justice was Justice altered by Morgan Le Fay’s reality distortion wave. The wave caused the time period to be altered to a medieval setting altering the Avengers clothing, speech patterns and thought processes. All of the Avengers involved believed themselves to be a part of the Queen’s elite guard known as the Queen’s Vengeance. The Scarlet Witch, with the combined willpower of all the awakened Avengers, pumped power into Wonder Man, shifting reality back to normal, and defeated Morgan in the process.
Justice was still a member of the Avengers when Jessica Jones joined.
Earth-985
Justice fought the Carnage Cosmic along with Spider-Man and the Avengers, but was defeated
Earth-691
On Earth-691 Vance Astro – Major Victory is a member of Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s recently been brought into the 616 Universe, by it’s own version of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Earth-9997
When Vance Astro traveled back in time to activate Justice’s latent telekinetic power (just like in the 616 timeline) he actually pushed a portion of his own psionic abilities into Justice. When the Skull was born it overloaded Justice’s psionic powers, shutting down his mind and killing him. The android X-51 informed Vance he was the cause of Justice’s death as the Skull’s birth didn’t affect non-psionics, X-51 went as far as saying that Vance had committed “suicide” by giving his past self psionic powers.
Other Media
Television Appearance
Justice appeared in the Fantastic Four Cartoon. He had a cameo appearance along with New Warrior team-mate Darkhawk.
Marvel : Ultimate Alliance 2
Justice appears as a NPC. He ends up under the control of the nanites and assists A-Bomb in fighting the heroes in Wakanda on the path to the Black Panther’s palace. You can talk to him at Stark Tower in Act 1. In the game he is still in a relationship with Firestar.