Wrecking Crew (Marvel)
The Wrecking Crew are a comic supervillain team that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The Wrecking Crew were a team of humans that were linked to the supervillain known as the Wrecker. (Defenders v1 #17)
After being sent to prison, he made the acquittance of three other in-mates. In exchange for their aid, he offered them power where they helped him escape the prison. It was then that the Wrecker revealed that he had hired people to locate his long-lost crowbar which was a success. At first, his comrades did not believe him but the Wrecker offered to showcase the Norn magic within it by sharing the power of the crowbar. Touching it, the four were hit by magical lightning by the latent power within the item where they were transformed into superhuman forms similar to the Wrecker. Gaining powers, the Wrecker decided to name themselves the Wrecking Crew as they worked as a supervillain team. (Defenders v1 #18) Dr. Franklin then requested the aid of his comrades to recover a creation of his own which was a gamma bomb that was the size of a hand-held sphere. Prior to being sent to prison, Franklin had worked for Richmond Enterprises who stole his creation and all his research notes behind. In an attempt to recover it, the gamma bomb fell into a vat of molten metal and was lost when Franklin was arrested. Thus, Thunderball looked to recover the bomb to prevent it from prematurely detonating and devastating the city. The Wrecker thus led his comrades as they attacked the Richmond Enterprises buildings in search for the gamma bomb. (Defenders v1 #19)
Whilst there, they came to battle the Defenders and Power Man Luke Cage where their mystically enhanced strength allowed them to overpower the team of superheroes. This allowed them to try and reach their objective only for Thunderball to find that the Adamantium casing for his gamma bomb was empty. Rather than work with the heroes, the Wrecking Crew went about to knock them unconscious and went in search of the bomb. It was learnt that a boy had actually found it and mistaken the spherical device for a ball and started playing with it at the the Harlem Boy Club. This led to the Wrecking Crew going at the scene where in their rough handling of events they started causing damage to the place. One of the young teenagers called out to Power Man for help who led the Defenders to the scene. This led to a battle ensuing which began damaging the club leading to their fight going outside. Individually, the Defenders decided to deal with each of the Wrecking Crew. The Hulk managed to take all the hits given by Thunderball and shattered his wrecking ball before knocking him out. Nighthawk evaded Bulldozer's charges and attached a rocket pack to the villains back sending him flying into the ground and leaving him unconscious. Power Man came to outfight Piledriver and sent the villain flying with a mighty punch. Finally, Doctor Strange fought the Wrecker himself and overloaded his magical crowbar leaving him to fall unconscious from the surge of mystical energy. Unable to destroy the crowbar, Doctor Strange sent it to another dimensional plane to help neutralise the threat of the Wrecking Crew. The gamma bomb was then recovered where the Hulk reverted to Bruce Banner who disarmed the device thus saving the city. (Defenders v1 #19)
Secret Wars
The Wrecking Crew was sent to prison in the aftermath of the incident where they lost their powers after the loss of Wrecker's crowbar. However, one day, Phillip Masters fashioned his radioactive clay in the Wrecker's image. This allowed him to not only control the man but the weapon as well thus dragging it across dimensions back into Wrecker's hands. Under Puppet Masters control, he was sent to rob banks until he encountered the Fantastic Four and fought a depowered Ben Grimm. Ultimately though, the Wrecker was defeated by the timely intervention of Luke Cage. Due to another matter, the heroes left the defeated Wrecker to the police who believed the villain to had lost his abilities. However, Wrecker retained his superstrength and quickly escaped the police wagon. Going underground, he managed to evade the most intensive manhunt conducted by the FBI whilst spending time in libraries going through newspapers to find the fate of the rest of the Wrecking Crew. Finding their locations, the Wrecker target each of their prison cells to free them and gave them back their powers. Thunderball he found in Attica whilst Bulldozer was confined at a federal pen in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas with Piledriver at Yellowstone Prison in Wyoming. With the Wrecking Crew restored, the Wrecker decided that they worked on big jobs now and decided to prove their worth by targeting one of the strongest superheroes thus setting their sights on Thor Odinson. (Iron Fist v1 #11)
Alpha Flight
Dark Reign
Harrow decided to test the Power Dampener against the Avengers where he modified it so that the supervillains would be immune to its effects. This allowed the Wrecking Crew to ambush the New Avengers were crippled by the effects of the device. (New Avengers v1 #56) This was used by Jonas Harrow as a demonstration to Norman Osborn as the gang of allied supervillains wanted whatever deal he had made with the Hood. When Norman refused, Harrow turned the Power Dampener against the Dark Avengers stripping them of their power and leaving them powerless against the Wrecking Crew. (New Avengers v1 #57)
Overview
In appearance, the Wrecking Crew were a team of superpowered beings all of whom possessed similar powers as the Wrecker with their names being themed around building equipment. (Defenders v1 #17) Leadership of the group fell to the Wrecker himself who directed their actions. It was said that the Wrecking Crew were partners as they worked as a team together. (Defenders v1 #18)
It was noted that their power was derived from the magic of the Norn Queens. (Iron Fist v1 #11) Thus, it came from the immortal Asgardian gods whose magic infused the Wrecker's crowbar. By sharing the Norn magic within, it was able to empower others with a range of mystical abilities. Touching it released a lightning that unleashed the latent power within the mystical artifact. A danger though was that if the magic did not empower its bearers then it had the risk of killing them. However, if successful then it magically transformed those that touched it giving them superhuman physiques where they became much more muscular and stronger as a result. As the powers of the Wrecking Crew as magical in nature, those with command over magic was able to draw on it to weaken them. (Defenders v1 #18)
Members
- Wrecker : Dirk Garthwaite was a human male who years ago was transformed into a superpowered being by given an enchanted crowbar by Loki who set him against Thor. After losing his powers in a fight with the Thunderer, he was sent to prison where he met three other in-mates who helped him escape to find his enchanted crowbar. He then shared the latent power within it to transform himself and the others into magically superpowered forms where he became the Wrecker with his partners being named the Wrecking Crew. (Defenders v1 #18)
- Pile Driver : Brian Calusky After his escape from prison, he touched the Wrecker's enchanted crowbar thus releasing its latent Asgardian power which gave him superhuam abilities. Following his transformation, he gained a superhuman physique with fists capable of smashing through objects and shaking the earth itself. It was shown that he could slam his fist into the ground to cause a localised earthquake that projected from the point he hit towards a target. (Defenders v1 #18)
- Thunderball : Dr. Eliot Augustus Franklin was a black male human who grew up to be an accomplished scientist. (Black Panther v6 #16) A young up-and-coming nuclear physicist whose intelligence led to people calling him the 'Black Bruce Banner' as he also specialised in gamma radiation research starting at CalTech before moving to Richmond Enterprises with his work. Dr. Franklin developed a version of the gamma bomb that was 10 times stronger than the original and was miniaturised to the point it could fit in a person's hand. However, one morning, Dr. Franklin found his invention and all his research notes having been taken by the company and its head Pennysworth who patented it under their name. Franklin attempted to steal his creation back at night but it fell into a vat of molten steel. Caught on the night by security, Franklin was sent to prison but he longed to recover his creation to prevent it from detonating and devastating the city. (Defenders v1 #19) Joining the Wrecker's escape from prison, he touched the mystical crowbar and its power was shared with him giving Franklin superpowers. He wielded a wrecking ball that was a massive demolition ball attached to a chain that he could swing and throw. Mystical enchantments allowed the ball to move with a mind of its own where it could avoid obstacles in order to hit its intended target. After striking its target, it was shown that the ball magically returned to Thunderball's hands under its own power. (Defenders v1 #18)
- Bulldozer : Henry Camp . It was noted that he had been an ex-U.S. Army Master Sergeant. (Iron Fist v1 #11) After escaping prison, he touched the Wrecker's enchanted crowbar thus releasing the latent magical energy within it which gave him superhuman abilities. In his case, the mystical energies provided him a superhuman physique where he could run far faster than a normal human with his super-strength and durability allowing him to smash through anything within his path. (Defenders v1 #18)
- Bulldozer : Marci Camp was the daughter of Henry Camp and inherited her fathers abilities where she worked alongside him on missions.
- Excavator : Ricky Calusky
- Demolisher : a dark skinned brunette haired female who was armed with a wrecking ball. (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur v1 #34)
Notes
- The Wrecking Crew were created by Len Wein and Sal Buscema where they made their first appearance in Defenders v1 #17 (November, 1974).
Alternate Versions
- In Ultimate Spider-Man v1 #86 (2005), an alternate version of the Wrecking Crew appeared in the Ultimate Marvel reality designated as Earth-1610 in the Multiverse. The Wrecking Crew served as employees to Damage Control in dealing with repairing public damages caused by superhuman battles. The Crew involved in various repairs includes Omega Red's attack on one of Roxxon Corporation's docks and seeing Peter Parker and May Parker's damaged house caused in the scuffle between Carnage, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Spider-Slayers.
- In Old Man Quill v1 #2 (2019), an alternate version of the Wrecking Crew appeared in the world designated as Earth-807128 that was home to Old Man Logan. Around 50 years ago, they participated in the massacre of the world's superheroes by its supervillains. Afterwards, they came to serve as enforcers with them operating for Emperor Doom from his territory of New Latveria with grandchildren of the original Wrecking Crew members operating on the team. They were send to collect tribute from a town that had fallen behind on its payments and when the people lacked the money they decided to teach them a lesson. However, the Guardians of the Galaxy arrived where they helped in killing the Wrecking Crew.
In other media
Television
- In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Wrecking Crew made several appearances in the setting of the animated television series. The Wrecking Crew were hired by Loki posing as the Leader to steal a Gamma Energy Emitter from Stark Industries. The Crew attacked a dock and fought with the New York Police Department and Thor. They were defeated but they served their purpose. They were meant as a distraction for Thor while Loki attacked Asgard with the Frost Giants. They were later seen in the Cube as prisoners until the Breakout. After the escape, they remained in that abandoned prisons under the Leader's influence. They were given Gamma Enhancers to boosts their powerful strengths as they're able to hurt and defeat Thor and Samson until Black Panther had destroyed the Gamma Generator,which its blast radius had knocked out everyone inside the Cube within its range.
- In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the Wrecking Crew appeared in the setting of the live-action television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the episode "The People vs. Emil Blonsky". The Wrecker and Thunderball were portrayed by Nick Gomez and Justin Eaton respectively whilst Piledriver and Bulldozer were portrayed by uncredited actors. This version of the group came to be associates of the Intelligencia who wielded Asgardian construction equipment, with Bulldozer wearing a helmet and Piledriver wearing a pair of gloves whilst Wrecker and Thunderball retained their tools.
Films
- In Heroes United: Iron Man and Captain America, the Wrecking Crew were referenced but not shown in the 2014 animated film where it was said that Captain America had defeated them.
Video games
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, the Wrecking Crew appeared in the setting of the video game.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, the Wrecking Crew appeared in the setting of the video game.
Appearances
- Defenders v1: (1974)
- Amazing Spider-Man v1:
- Secret Wars:
- Civil War v1:
- New Avengers v1:
- Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur v1:
- Old Man Quill v1:
External Links
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