H.A.M.M.E.R.

Latest revision as of 13:01, 17 January 2022

Norman Osborn as Iron Patriot and Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. from Invincible Iron Man v1 #19.

H.A.M.M.E.R. is an organization that featured in Marvel Comics.

History

H.A.M.M.E.R. was an organization that formed in the wake of the Skrull's Secret Invasion against Earth. At the height of the conflict, the alien queen Veranke was slain by Norman Osborn who was hailed as a hero for ending the threat. Afterwards, Tony Stark was removed from his position as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. with both him and the peacekeeping agency disgraced as well as dismantled. Osborn was placed in charge of creating a successor body where he created H.A.M.M.E.R. that absorbed all the assets of Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. with himself as Director of the agency. Within his new position, he recruited Victoria Hand to serve as his Deputy Director whilst he himself took the Iron Patriot Armor and formed the Dark Avengers as the world's leading superhero team. (Dark Avengers v1 #1) Osborn consolidated power and recruited the first agents of H.A.M.M.E.R. that was assembled as an elite strike force as well as peacekeeping organization. (Dark Avengers v1 #2) A news helicopter discovered the new Hawkeye having murdered people leading to Director Osborn sending H.A.M.M.E.R. forces to shutdown any potential broadcast and arresting the media staff to prevent the footage from being broadcast. The media company was dismantled and all video evidence was erased or destroyed to prevent it from being discovered. The incident was later spun as Hawkeye having responded to a sighting of the criminal Bullseye and had fought with the supervillain to explain the disturbance as well as the damage. (Dark Reign: Hawkeye v1 #2)

After an Atlantean terrorist cell struck the surface, Director Osborn decided to respond to the threat by sending in the Sentry to eliminate the danger and take back one survivor. The lone survivor was taken into H.A.M.M.E.R. custody for questioning where he was secretly fed to Venom whose host was Mac Gargan. (Dark Avengers v1 #6) Osborn called the agency to apprehend the New Avengers when they were tracked to a hospital where they only found Luke Cage who had surrendered after he was suffering from cardiac arrest. (New Avengers v1 #58) After he was treated, he was placed in recovery on-board the Helicarrier where he was under arrest for being a fugitive. The New Avengers scouted the Helicarrier and decided to launch a two-pronged attack to free him. Half the superhero team struck at Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. as a distraction to draw out the Dark Avengers whilst the other half attacked the Helicarrier where they succeeded in recovering Luke Cage after which they took him back to their hideout. (New Avengers v1 #59)

Among the briefings given to Osborn was of the Weapon Plus facility known as The World where he sought control over the laboratory. To that end, he authorised the use of Project: Deathlok whereby a number of corpses were outfitted with cybernetics to turn them into Deathlok agents who were sent to secure the target. Despite their efforts, all agents deployed were destroyed and the project was seemingly abandoned. (Dark Reign: The List - Wolverine v1 #1)

In the aftermath, the U.S. President had H.A.M.M.E.R. shut down with all those responsible being arrested for their crimes. (Siege v1 #4) militia of former H.A.M.M.E.R. agents came to operate under Superia where they began helping her in setting up a new facility. (New Avengers v2 #9) It re-organised under Norman Osborn's leadership once again after his followers freed him from the Raft where he took Superia with him as he gathered allies from Hydra, Hand and A.I.M. where he received support from Madame Hydra along with the Gorgon. (New Avengers v2 #17) The organization then launched a series of attacks against the Avengers using operatives that were empowered with Avengers abilities. (Avengers v4 #21)

Ultimately, Osborn was defeated when the Avengers overwhelmed his Adaptoid physiology with their combined powers thus leaving him in a coma and being arrested. The heroes then rounded up 3300 members of the H.A.M.M.E.R. organization that were arrested with the group seemingly being dismantled as a result. Members that managed to escape were rounded up by Madame Hydra where they were used to bolster a new unified Hydra that was armed with the genetic research that H.A.M.M.E.R. had managed to acquire before its fall. (Avengers v4 #24) Former members of H.A.M.E.R. came to join rogues from other government agencies that gathered into the Orchis organization that looked to eliminate Mutants following the formation of the nation of Krakoa. (House of X v1 #1) Maria Hill and Nick Fury, Jr. came to learn the existence of the Rubicon Trigger and looked to eliminate the doomsday weapon after gaining the killcodes from Norman Osborn. For this mission, they came to recruit Taskmaster to help them gather the necessary body signatures held by key intelligence heads around the world which allowed for the shutdown of the satellites. (Taskmaster v3 #5)

Overview

It was considered an elite force to replace S.H.I.E.L.D. as a peacekeeping task force. Their initial membership consisted of those that were loyal to the Thunderbolts Initiative or the stellar actions of former S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra agents. These operatives were tasked with going out into the world to defend it and keep it safe from those that would harm it. They were tasked with doing this swiftly and also with letting the world know that it was safe from danger. (Dark Avengers v1 #2)

Much of its authority as a peacekeeping agency was established under the H.A.M.M.E.R. Act that allowed them to shutdown facilities including media ones and arrest people to be sequestered under national security grounds. (Dark Reign: Hawkeye v1 #2)

A project developed by the agency was the Rubicon Trigger that was a doomsday weapon. It consisted of stealth death-spore satellites placed around the Earth that could be triggered with the device. Killcodes held by the Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. could be used to shutdown the system. (Taskmaster v3 #5)

They also established a detention facility on Alcatraz Island that served as their West Coast Headquarters. (Dark Avengers v1 #7)

Members

• Norman Osborn : male founder and Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. who also operated as the Iron Patriot who led the Dark Avengers. (Dark Avengers v1 #1)
• Victoria Hand : female former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was recruited to be H.A.M.M.E.R.'s Deputy Director. (Dark Avengers v1 #1)
• Alisandra Morales :
• Alvin Murphy :
• Carolina Washington :
• Derek Richardson :
• Jebediah Young :
• Viola Reichardt :

Notes

• H.A.M.M.E.R. was created by Brian Michael Bendis where their first appearance in Secret Invasion v1 #8 (January, 2009).
• Brian Michael Bendris commented that the agency was radically changed after Osborn's fall where it changed from being the top United States espionage agency to a premier mega-crime organizaiton. In this time, its ranks swelled with fanatical followers of Norman Osborn in addition to other criminal enterprises such as A.I.M., HYDRA and the Hand. The majority of these consisted of untrustworthy individuals though some were loyal followers of Osborn:

"H.A.M.M.E.R. is the ultimate fallout of everything that has been going on in the Marvel Universe over the last 10 years. It's a collection of ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agents; Norman Osborn enthusiasts who came together when Norman's time in prison made him into a cult figure. They've drawn the attention of HYDRA, the Hand, and A.I.M. All of these groups have had similar goals and struggles against the super-powered community, so they decide if they all team-up under the mantle of Norman's leadership, they win. It's just simple math. They were a threat on their own. Now that we have these four angles of the Marvel Universe's anti-authority organizations coming together, that's it. They are the authority."

In other media

Television

Appearances

• Secret Invasion v1: (2009)
• Dark Avengers v1:
• Dark Reign: Hawkeye v1:
• Invincible Iron Man v1:
• New Avengers v1:
• Avengers v4:
• Siege v1:
• New Avengers v2:
• House of X v1:
• Taskmaster v3: (2020)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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