Avengers #158-159

AVENGERS #158 (1977)
by Jim Shooter & Sal Buscema
cover by Jack Kirby

The cover scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the villain origin I want to cover, but it’s still Kirby so why not include it.

The introduction of the villain for the following issue takes place in Canada, something quite rare in the 70s.

Considering his future development, it’s quite fitting that he squanders his powers taking over “Research City” with some common goons.

He wastes no time to showcase just how powerful he is by lifting the entire place into the air without any effort.

This guy gets killed for calling the Avengers, who turn out dismissed him for being a crackpot.
We’re almost a decade before Jim Shooter writes the Avengers as ignoring Volcana’s calls in Secret Wars II, so I guess this is a trend.

Our still unnamed villain then demonstrates that he has a fixation on keeping a harem of subservient women, and that he’s nuts.

So who is this guy? He used to be Franklin Hall, a scientist working on teleportation…

…so you would expect his powers to have ANYTHING to do with teleportation. But in a twist I always enjoyed, he ends up being mixed with a completely unrelated super-science experiment!

He manages to keep his gravity powers a secret for about five minutes.

And so he takes the supervillain name Graviton. Simple but effective.
His costume, though, is not my favorite look for him. It’s a fairly classic design, sure, but it lacks something. Maybe because I’m used to see him with a cape.

For some reason, he fixated on this blonde to be his favorite. I don’t know why, she’s a very bland damsel in distress.

But it’s another woman from his harem, who has the hots for him, to warn Graviton that the Avengers DID answer the call after all.

Graviton is no Magneto, but he’s quite creative with the use of his powers. I really like how Shooter remembers that Vision doesn’t EXACTLY turn intangible.

Graviton is (fittingly) a real force of nature in this fight, taking out the Avengers with extreme ease.

Although having him defeat Wasp and Yellowjacket with a pencil is a bit too silly.

But overall, this is a VERY impressive first outing.

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AVENGERS #159 (1977)
by Jim Shooter & Sal Buscema
cover by Gil Kane

I sure hope it’s going to take more than a pencil to defeat Thor.

You would expect Graviton to want revenge on the blonde who betrayed him…

…but nope! He calls out the brunette for being into him only now that he has powers.

Inspired by the Avengers, the remaining scientists from Research City try to rebel against Graviton.
Where did they get all these guns!?

Maaaaybe it’s not a great call to shoot at the guy who is keeping the place from crashing.

And then Graviton sends everybody plummeting to their deaths anyway!!!

But the blonde begs him to spare them. I’m going to guess this was done to appease the Comics Code, but by 1977 I don’t think they would’ve cared.

You typically don’t associate Sal Buscema with epic scenes, but he does a marvelous job at selling you just how stupidly dangerous Graviton is.

We interrupt this Avengers story to remind you that no other New York hero is useful.

Not all the Avengers have been defeated, though. Black Panther is perfecting his Batman impression…

…and Thor saw the cover.

Wait wait wait… you mean to tell me Roy Thomas is NOT the only writer who uses this quote!?

Seriously, I associate that quote with Roy Thomas so much I just had to check he wasn’t at least the editor. He’s not.

Meanwhile, Graviton is completing his action figure collection. This is definitely the most remembered scene of the story.

Time for Thor to show up. Perhaps unsurprisingly, turns out that gravity beats thunder.

Thor takes this about as well as you’d expect.

There’s no way around it: Graviton just straight up defeats Thor.

Some Thor fans dislike the idea that he could be defeated by mortals and come up with the excuse that Thor always holds back when he’s fighting on Earth.
And I really, REALLY dislike that rationalization.
Because sure, I can understand Thor not giving his all to knock down a street criminal… but you mean to tell me he’s not taking seriously people like Graviton or Ultron when lives are on the line?
I much prefer the idea that, in the Marvel Universe, there are things that can kick a god’s butt.

Meanwhile Iron Man manages to break free once he realizes Graviton augmented the rock’s gravitational field, so all he has to do is gain a little distance.

But it’s actually Black Panther to come up with a way to free the others.
Told you he was perfecting his Batman.

Not that it matters. Even the entire team is no match for Graviton.

But it’s a bittersweet victory, because during the battle the blonde killed herself.

Graviton blames this on the Avengers, because of course he does, and he unleashes all his power.

Which turns out to be a very, VERY bad idea.

And so we end with the Avengers preventing the sphere, which weights like an island, from crashing on New York…

…and the revelation that the blonde is SOMEHOW still alive.

Well there IS an explanation…

…but I have a different theory.

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Historical significance: 6/10
Graviton never really rises to be a threat to the whole Marvel Universe, but he is an important if surprisingly infrequent Avengers villain.

Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Graviton is VERY old-fashioned here. I almost expected him to twirl his moustache.

Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Not exactly the best Graviton story, and honestly a bit weak compared to the rest of this run.
The Avengers barely have any characterization and most of them are utterly useless in this situation. Granted, Graviton is a powerhouse so I don’t expect Wasp or Beast to defeat him alone… but this is a lineup with FOUR super-geniuses (Yellowjacket, Iron Man, Black Panther and Beast) so I was a bit surprised none of them came up with a scientific way to nullify Graviton’s powers.
But it’s refreshing to see Thor not being used as the way to resolve a difficult fight: way too many times he shows up at the end just to defeat on his own a villain that was giving trouble to the rest of the team (something for which he will be called out in later, and much better, Shooter stories).
While the Avengers are far from invincible, it was surprising to see the lack of acknowledgment that this new guy was able to wipe the floor with the entire team.

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How close is this to the modern character? 8/10
Graviton is not a complex character. Which ironically is why I really like him as a villain.
The comparison with Magneto is inevitable and really showcases the difference between the two.
Graviton should, in theory, be the most dangerous one. But despite his scientist background he has very basic goals and desires, plus while the way he uses his powers is versatile enough it pales in comparison to the absurd feats of Magneto.
There’s little question that Magneto is the better character overall, but sometimes you DO need a stupidly overpowered supervillain that is easy to understand.
I’m not aware of any story that has both Graviton and Magneto, which is kind of weird when you think about it.

Graviton kind of returns in 1979 in one of the worst Marve Two-In-One stories I remember, when he SOMEHOW transforms into this giant monster. Why bring Graviton back in the first place if you’re not going to use Graviton!?

He then fights Thor in 1982, which is also the last time we meet the blonde…

…and she unwillingly gives him the idea to get another woman.
Which Graviton, in his usual dumbassery, decides means he’s going to steal a whole clothing store that he’s going to gift to his bride.

Eventually, Thor dumps him into space.

This is a very, very silly story.

Graviton then basically becomes the nemesis of the West Coast Avengers, both in their first and second series.

This is where his sleazeball tendencies, already there from the start, really take off.

He even got to fight Spider-Man during Acts of Vengeance; he was the one to demolish the first Daily Bugle building!!!

Spider-Man BARELY gets out of this alive.

Spider-Man gets a rematch in the aftermath of the crossover, by which point he had obtained the powers of Captain Universe.

He has a few appearances here and there, but his real breakout story is in 1997 on the pages of Thunderbolts where Kurt Busiek really explores his personality and just how terrifying his powers could be.

Unfortunately, Moonstone’s speech just motivated Graviton into turning into a better supervillain in 1999. Which, in Graviton’s mind, means declaring his floating island a sovereign nation and surround himself with hot women who are granted gravity powers.

Told you he’s a simple guy.

Honestly? Forget taking over the world, 99.99% percent of people would use godlike powers this way.

Still, love that Moonstone STILL calls him out for what a loser he is.

At this point Graviton had pretty much moved on as the Thunderbolts nemesis, returning in 2001 in possibly his most powerful incarnation yet.

Since then, Graviton has popped up here and there, with his threat level severely lowered.
From 2006’s Invincible Iron Man #8, where all it takes to defeat him is a single repulsor blast…

…and he even kills himself in 2007 by creating an aneurysm on his own brain (!!!) to stop Iron Man from arresting him.

But he inexplicably showed up again in 2013 to be the “Minister of Science” of A.I.M.

He had a surprisingly small role in that capacity, and he wouldn’t return to full form until 2017. But the new costume stuck.
Also he’s 100% nuts now, so I guess he didn’t completely get over that aneurysm.

He’s defeated by Rogue of all people, who gets a taste of his madness.

His latest appearances to date are in 2019, one to fight Black Panther’s sister Shuri of all people…

…and since the same year featured a short-lived new version of the West Coast Avengers, he just HAD to cameo there despite not doing anything.

Graviton has a very, VERY weird journey in live action: his civilian identity is introduced in the first season of “Agents of SHIELD”, but it’s Glenn Talbot (of all people!!!) who gains his powers in a very convoluted way in season five.
Which while sounding really dumb, it resulted in a surprisingly faithful adaptation of his looks and his attitude.

His best adaptation is unquestionably “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”, where he is the first villain they face as a team.
He’s absolutely AMAZING there, plus the fight included one of the best Hulk hero moments ever.

It takes Thor doing THIS, somehow without destroying all of New York, to take him down.

In retrospect, I suppose I can give SOME credit to Thor for holding back sometimes.