Graviton (Marvel)

Graviton is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Franklin Hall was a scientist working at a private physics research facility called Research City in the Canadian Rockies on a practical teleportation device. In the midst of an experiment, Hall attempted to align a set of matrices and induce teleportation, but only succeeded in overloading the power handling capacity of his equipment, causing an explosion that intermingled his molecules with the sub-nuclear graviton particles that were being generated in a nearby series of companion particle accelerators. Recovering from the accident, Hall discovered that he could mentally control gravity. At first he tried to hide his vast powers, believing he would be shunned as a freak of nature, but the urge to use them was too great to resist, and soon Hall used his abilities openly. To his pleasure, people began to fear him, and he started to take whatever and whomever he desired. (Avengers v1 #158)

Eventually Hall, a man of great ambition, designed a costume, and began to call himself Graviton, taking over the research facility, and forbidding all communications with the outside world. Realizing the danger, one of Graviton's former colleagues, a young man named Joe, managed to send a distress signal to the Avengers in New York. Furious, Graviton used his power to lift the facility several thousands of feet into the sky before threatening to 'make an example' of Joe by crushing his body. Joe was only saved when his wife Judy Parks, the unwilling object of Graviton's affections, used her influence with Graviton to make him stop his torture. During Graviton's attempts to court Judy, the Avengers tried to rescue the facility. Despite their best efforts, the team quickly discovered that they were no match for the new master of gravity, who was full of confidence in his vast powers and wielded them with great skill. (Avengers v1 #158)

With the Avengers as his prisoners, Graviton brought Research City to a halt over New York itself, were he engaged in a titanic battle with Iron Man and Thor. In the fury of battle, Graviton was tricked into thinking that Judy had committed suicide, and angrily unleashed sufficient power to cause the matter of the sky-borne laboratory to collapse inwardly around him. The matter of the facility was infused with the atoms of his body for a time, giving his new 60-foot form a massive gravitational field. Eventually, however, he was able to separate his organic atoms from the atoms of the land mass he had merged with. (Avengers v1 #159)

He was later brought together with a number of other villains by the Scientist Supreme Andrew Forson where they became the new High Council of A.I.M.. Hall served as the Minister of Science in the new Barbuda-based A.I.M. government. (Secret Avengers v2 #2)

Franklin Hall came to be possessed by Gravitation who was the abstract being representing the spirit of the big crunch and was the daughter of Eternity. Alongside Explosion and Entropy, the cosmic beings looked to bring about the end of the universe with Graviton sent to attack the Starbrand and Nightmask. (Starbrand & Nightmask v1 #3)

Notes

• Graviton was created by Jim Shooter and Sal Buscema where he made his first appearance in Avengers v1 #158 (April, 1977).

In other media

Television

• In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Graviton appeared in the animated television series in the episode "The Breakout" where he was voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore. Franklin Hall was a brilliant but arrogant physicist working for S.H.I.E.L.D. who became obsessed with unlocking the fundamental secrets of gravity. During a high-stakes experiment involving a graviton generator, Hall ignored the warnings of his colleague, Leonard Samson, and pushed the machine beyond its safety limits, resulting in a catastrophic explosion that infused his very cells with graviton particles. Driven to the brink of insanity by the sheer magnitude of his new powers, Hall was deemed too dangerous to remain free and was subsequently imprisoned in the Big House, a subatomic prison where he was kept in a state of constant sedation for years. When the massive breakout occurred, orchestrated by the Leader, Hall was finally liberated from his microscopic cell and immediately sought vengeance against Nick Fury and the world that had discarded him. Rebranding himself as Graviton, he effortlessly defeated the initial efforts of S.H.I.E.L.D. and even held the combined might of Earth’s strongest heroes at bay, lifting entire city blocks of New York into the sky to demonstrate his god-like authority. It was only through the desperate, coordinated teamwork of Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Wasp, and Ant-Man that he was eventually overwhelmed; the heroes combined their unique abilities to strain his concentration and push his powers to a breaking point. Ultimately, the strain of maintaining such a massive gravitational field caused Hall to lose control, resulting in a massive implosion that seemingly dissipated his physical form, though his brief but terrifying reign served as the primary catalyst for the official formation of the Avengers.
• In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Franklin Hall appeared in the live-action television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the episode "The Asset" where he was portrayed by actor Ian Hart. He was a Canadian physicist who discovered the existence of a new element known as Gravitonium that had the power to manipulate gravity and worked alongside his lab partner Ian Quinn in attempting to control it.

Films

• In Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, Graviton appeared in the animated film in a non-voiced role. Graviton was among the supervillains that attended the Leviathan weapons auction. He participated in the high-stakes auction held by the organization’s leader, Orion, where the prize was an army of brainwashed super-soldiers created from the stolen blood of the Avengers. During the film's climax, when the Punisher and Black Widow infiltrated the Leviathan base in Slorenia, Graviton was mobilized as part of the elite defense force tasked with protecting the facility. He used his immense gravitational powers to engage the Avengers—who had arrived as reinforcements—holding his own in a chaotic battle against Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Ultimately, despite his threat status, he was overwhelmed by the combined tactical assault of the team and the relentless interference of Frank Castle, leading to the collapse of Leviathan's immediate plans.

Appearances

• Avengers v1: (1977)
• Secret Avengers v2:
• Starbrand and Nightmask v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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