Facts About Blue Marvel – Marvel’s Black Superman:
First appearing in Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel, Blue Marvel is a relatively new superhero who became a part of the mainstream Marvel Comic Book Universe continuity after the events of the Civil War. After his first appearance in 2008, Blue Marvel has become an increasingly popular character. But it was only after 2013 that Blue Marvel became the legend he is known as today. And many consider him to be Marvel’s answer to a Black Superman. He is now a major part of the Marvel Comic Book Universe.
1. Defeated King Hyperion in single combat
King Hyperion is a very powerful foe. Hailing from Earth – 4023, he is the evil and corrupt version of Hyperion of Squadron Supreme. The goal of King Hyperion is to use genocide and chaos to conquer the entire Multi-Verse and he will stop at nothing to do so. Each Universe has its version of the typical superheroes of the Mainstream Universe.
King Hyperion has conquered many such universes by defeating these superheroes by him-self. Hercules, Thor, Sentry, the Hulk, Eternals – all fell to the wrath of King Hyperion. But it was Blue Marvel he could not defeat. Adam Brashear was the first person to defeat King Hyperion in a no holds barred single combat bare-fisted fight.
2. His arch-nemesis is his best friend
Like Adam Brashear, Connor Sims was also a very promising young man. He too took part in the Korean War and fought alongside Adam. Both became the best of pals. When the Anti-Matter explosion blew up in Blue Marvel’s face, it also exposed Connor to heightened levels of anti-matter radiation.
Connor became the Anti-Man. While Blue Marvel’s body stabilized in response to the explosion, Connor’s body became highly unstable, giving the guy a flurry of unique abilities. Connor decided to use his powers to defeat global racism but he used radical and extremist tactics to do so. As a result, Adam had to stand in the way. They have been at odds ever since.
3. Multi-Talented even before he got his superpowers
Blue Marvel is not just a superhero. He was way talented even before he became a vigilante for justice. During his college days, he was a sports icon and a very popular athlete in Cornell University. He was actually a Full-Back in his college team. When he was in his twenties, Adam joined the Marine Corps and became a soldier and earned several Silver Stars for his acts of bravery. When the Korean War was over, he came back to the United States and used his scientific acumen to head a very ambitious energy project supported by the US government. Blue Marvel excels in multiple fields.
4. Victim of Racism
It was the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The entire United States was in a state of disarray due to increasing racial tensions. If a superhero that was basically a God showed up and even though he only had the best of America’s interests at heart, turned out to be African-American, the hillbillies at the White House would surely take notice.
President John F Kennedy himself asked Blue Marvel to let go of his superhero career and hang his blue cape for good. Blue Marvel could have easily said no and continued doing what he does best. But since it was the President who asked him to and Adam Brashear was still a soldier at heart, he could not say no. Bleu Marvel was the earliest example of racial hatred taking down a very promising individual’s superhero career.
5. Married an FBI spy
Marlene Frazier was a dedicated FBI agent who loved her country. The Government was not ready to leave Blue Marvel, a being that was capable of leveling Washington DC with one swipe alone. Since it was the highest of the Civil Rights movement, Frazier was tasked to seduce Blue Marvel and become his close confidante.
She did way more than that. Frazier ended up marrying Adam Brashear and as his wife, even after giving birth to multiple of his children, kept tabs on him and sent information to the FBI. When the truth was revealed, Adam was devastated. He left Marlene. Later during a fight with Anti-Man, Marlene was killed and her death inspired Blue Marvel to continue fighting the good fight.
6. Is a walking Anti-Matter PowerHouse
Adam Brashear served in the US Army and is a veteran of the Korean War. After the war was over, Brashear was involved in a secret government experiment to harness anti-matter energy. His goal was to create a clean, endless, and powerful source of energy that could be used by the whole world to address their energy problems.
The Anti-Matter reactor exploded and Adam was exposed to unknown radiation emanating from the Event Horizon that separates the universe from the Negative Zone. As a result, Adam gained superhuman physical attributes, energy manipulation and access to endless supplies of anti-matter energy. He states himself as a walking anti-matter reactor.
7. Is almost immortal
Blue Marvel was a superhero who operated during the 1960s. So to see him as the same age as he was back then in the present times is sure to raise some questions. And there is a novel answer to that dilemma. The accident that gave Blue Marvel his powers was also responsible for giving him the power of longevity and invulnerability. Blue Marvel actually ages ridiculously slowly up to a point he looks almost immortal and ageless.
He is still in his thirties and even his wife Candace has somehow been affected by being exposed to Blue Marvel and she too ages very slowly. Blue Marvel is also very durable. Once a Hydrogen Bomb exploded in Blue Marvel’s hands! He did not even get a scratch.
8. Turned Galactus into the Life-Bringer
Galactus is known as the Devourer of Worlds for a reason. His role in the universe is to consume beyond all measures. He is sometimes known as the entity of hunger. But that is not what the Universe originally meant for Galactus to be. The Ultimates, the superhero team Blue Marvel is a part of, discovered that Galactus was originally meant to become the one that gives life, not takes it.
They force Galactus into the ship that was responsible for the transformation process that turned Galactus into a cosmic entity, supplied it with a ridiculous amount of energy, and thus completed the process that was halted halfway through. Galactus became the Life Bringer of the Universe.
9. Is a member of the Ultimates
Adam Brashear had lost his popularity before the Ultimates came into the scene. Led by Captain Marvel and consisting of powerful heroes like Monica Rambeau, Miss America, Black Panther, and Blue Marvel, the Ultimates generally stick to adventures that force their jurisdiction into outer space and the greater beyond.
Many fans are hailing the Ultimates as the next step in the Avengers’ evolution implying that this new team will one day replace the Avengers. Amongst the many adventures the Ultimates had partaken in, some of them involve saving entire alien civilizations from almost certain doom and stopping Galactus in his tracks.
10. His son is a God
Blue Marvel’s children are barely mentioned in the comic books. But they are there and rest assured, they can do some serious damage. One of the sons of Blue Marvel, Kevin Brashear, was mutated into a being of pure energy while Blue Marvel was fighting a supervillain in another dimension. Adam’s youngest son Max Brashear believed that his father had abandoned them and went to embrace a life of crime and super-villainy as Doctor Positron.
Kevin, on the other hand, used his energy powers to exit the Multi-Verse and after that, the entire Omni-Verse. Turns out, Kevin had become so powerful that the energy he radiated would have destroyed multiple universes. It is not that he does not want to come. He cannot come back. Kevin did manage to drag one of the most powerful cosmic supervillains out of the Omni-Verse.
