Tom Foster

Tom Foster is a male character who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Tom Foster was a male African-American born in the modern age where he was the nephew of Bill Foster.

During the Civil War, his uncle was killed in the conflict leading to Tom being angry at the Pro-Registration forces for their part in the incident. This led to him swearing to continue Bill Foster's legacy with him intending to replicate the formula that created the Pym Particles that gave him his power. Tom and his family were visited by King T'Challa and Queen Ororo of Wakanda with the Black Panther vowing to assist him in anyway he could once Tom had finished his studies at M.I.T.

In World War Hulk, the Earth was attacked by the Hulk at the head of his Warbound who intending to get revenge on the Illuminati for the deaths on his adoptive world of Sakaar. He was amongst a group of Hulk-supporters who defied government orders to evacuate Manhattan, and made their way to the Madison arena to watch the Warbound extract their brand of justice on the city's superheroes. Before the gladiatorial matches began, he delivered a speech in which he criticised the way Reed Richards and Tony Stark were, in his view, responsible for killing his uncle, declaring himself 'ready for the Hulk's justice'- in this case, death by combat After the Hulk and Warbound were defeated and removed from Manhattan, Tom used the chaos to sneak into the abandoned labs of the Avengers Mansion, in which he located a vial of liquefied Pym Particles. Upon gaining powers and becoming Goliath, he sought out and assaulted Iron Man in retaliation for his uncle's death, but was interrupted by an internal struggle between the captured Warbound. Following this conflict, Tom turned away from confronting Tony Stark. Tom Foster began assisting Damage Control with their repairs of the city which involved stopping a runaway Chrysler Building that was animated by one of Hulk's destroyed machines.

Afterwards, he decided to take the name Goliath and was recruited by Wonder Man to be part of his team of Revengers. This group assembled by Williams intended to be forcibly disband the Avengers and plotted to defeat them with the ranks of the Revengers consisting largely of anti-heroes. They came to ambush the heroes at Avengers Mansion and even planned to strike at Avengers Tower leading to a confrontation with the New Avengers, Avengers and the Secret Avengers leading to their defeat as well as the Revengers being arrested. During the interrogation, Tom stated that he took part in the scheme due to his need for revenge for the death of his uncle. (Avengers Annual v4 #1)

Tom was later transported to the new super-prison known as the Cellar. A few years later, the Mad Thinker tries to recruit Tom during a massive prison break. Tom refused the offer. Once his power dampeners are removed, Tom uses his abilities to defeat the villains and save the lives of several guards. For his heroic actions, Tom is released from the Cellar on parole.

During the War of the Realms, the forces of the Dark Council from the realms of Asgard invaded the Earth to claim it for themselves. As the heroes resisted the onslaught, Freyga decided to assemble a team to assassinate the Frost Giants progenitor Ymir. This led to an assembly of size-shifting heroes that included Scott Lang, Raz Malhotra' and Erik Josten so that they could infiltrate the Frost Giant claimed region of Florida in order to get close enough to kill Ymir. (Giant-Man v1 #1) They ultimately discovered the Ice Giant to be a prisoner who was being harvested to create new primal giants for use in Laufey's army with Malhotra freeing him thus allowing them to achieve their mission. (Giant-Man v1 #3)

Overview

Powers and abilities

Using the Pym particles, Tom Foster can manipulate the size and shape of his body at will, enlarging himself to giant size. In his large form, his strength and durability increase to superhuman levels.

Notes

• Tom Foster was created by Reginald Hudlin, Greg Pak and Koi Turnbull where he made his first appearance in Black Panther v3 #23 (December, 2006).
• On CBR, writer Greg Pak commented on the characters origin in Commentary Track where he said, "Way back when I was starting my first outline of "World War Hulk," I had this crazy notion that Bill Foster, the original Black Goliath, would end up siding with our Green Goliath. Shortly thereafter, I learned that Bill was picking up a toe-tag in the pages of "Civil War." But in the back of my head, something kept ticking, and eventually I pitched the idea of introducing a new character named Tom Foster as one of the supporting players in the "Incredible Hulk" tie-in issues to "World War Hulk." Assistant Editor Nate Cosby informed me that Reginald Hudlin had had a similar brainstorm for "Black Panther." So the offices coordinated a bit and a mysterious nephew of Bill Foster appeared in "Black Panther," then showed up later in "Incredible Hulk" #107 as one of the humans taking the Hulk's side during World War Hulk. Tom played a major role in "World War Hulk" #4 as one of the humans who testified about the supposed crimes of Illuminati. My nefarious plan was always to have him take his uncle's mantle. And while I was brainstorming the "Aftersmash" one-shot with Mark and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, I had this image of a giant splash page of Tom as the new Goliath helping rebuild Manhattan. I said, "I know the last page of the book," and things went from there. Now we're bouncing the character over to Dwayne for a star turn in "Damage Control" -- I can't wait to see what happens next!."

Appearances

• Black Panther v3:
• Incredible Hulk v2:
• Avengers Annual v4:
• Giant-Man v1:

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.