Fictional character biography
Franklin Hall is a Canadian [2] physicist involved in an experiment in a private research facility in the Canadian Rockies. A mistake in Hall's calculations causes graviton particles to be merged with his own molecules, and Hall later discovers that he can mentally control gravity. [3] Hall at first tries to hide his newfound ability, but becomes tempted by the potential power, and donning a costume adopts the alias "Graviton". [4]
When Graviton takes over the research facility and forbids all communications with the outside world, a fellow scientist sends a distress signal to the superhero team the Avengers. A furious Graviton then lifts the facility several thousands of feet into the sky and threatens to kill the scientist. The Avengers then arrive and attack but are all defeated when trapped in a gravity field. Graviton then proceeds to bring the facility to New York, and demands the U.N. to hand over world power or he will destroy the world's cities. At Avengers Mansion a returning Black Panther learns of their plight and joins with Thor, having also been on leave from the team, and the two head to the facility. As Thor battles Graviton with Iron Man's help, the Panther frees the captive Avengers, but Graviton defeats them again until he is tricked into thinking a fellow scientist he cares for has committed suicide. Graviton then panics and causes the entire facility to collapse on him, forming a giant stone sphere that is dropped into a river by the Avengers. [5]
Graviton later reappears, although is suffering from amnesia and is flickering in and out of existence. Somehow guided to the female scientist he has feelings for, Graviton attempts to abduct her but is stopped by the Thing and Black Bolt. During the battle, Graviton describes himself as becoming a "living black hole" and morphs into a colossal humanoid. Graviton is then attacked until he loses concentration, implodes, and is presumed dead. [6] Graviton is eventually able to reform his body, and decides to seek a bride. Elevating a Bloomingdale's store into the sky, he takes several women hostage until tricked by Thor. Thor then maroons a defeated Graviton in an alternate dimension. [7]
Graviton is able to return when an anomaly opens a portal to Earth. Arriving in Los Angeles, Graviton attempts to unite all criminal elements under his leadership, but is defeated by the West Coast Avengers. [8] Graviton was among the villains recruited by Mister Bitterhorn into Mephisto's Legion Accursed. They were used in part of a plot to kill the Beyonder with Mephisto's Beyondersbane weapon, but were delayed by the Thing until the weapon melted down. [9] Graviton then recruits the supervillains Halflife, Quantum, and Zzzax as allies, but they are once again defeated by the West Coast Avengers. [10] Graviton then defeats Spider-Man, [11] and after a skirmish with the Fantastic Four, [12] is defeated in turn by a cosmic-powered Spider-Man. [13]
Graviton then attacks the Avengers again, but is defeated when they overload his powers, banishing him to yet another alternate dimension. [14] He then sends out a distress signal, which is noticed by the villains Techno and Baron Zemo. Graviton is eventually freed and attacks the teams the Thunderbolts and Great Lakes Avengers, but is persuaded by Moonstone to rethink his priorities. [15] Desiring still more power, Graviton recruited a team of criminals and looted San Francisco, until eventually defeated by the Thunderbolts – currently aided by Angel – with the use of technology from Machine Man, whose flight capabilities cancel gravity, allowing them to use arm-bands based on his technology to shut down Graviton's powers. [16]
Banished once again to the same alternate dimension, Graviton becomes insane from the constant defeats and exile from Earth, and returns with the goal of total world conquest, accompanied by an adult-level P'tah named M'reel. Seeking revenge on the Thunderbolts, Graviton storms their headquarters to discover they have disbanded and been replaced by the Redeemers. Graviton kills almost the entire team before being defeated by a reformed Thunderbolts. Discovering that M'reel was channeling his power to create a dimensional warp enabling the P'tah to invade Earth a furious Graviton apparently dies stopping the alien invasion and saves the Thunderbolts. [17]
Under unrevealed circumstances, Graviton returned to Earth once more and was rendered powerless long enough to be imprisoned on the Raft with other superhuman criminals. However, when Electro shorted out the Raft's defenses to free Sauron, Graviton and dozens of other inmates escaped, only to be confronted by the heroes who would soon organize as the latest incarnation of the Avengers. [18] Although recaptured, Graviton evidently sustained a head injury that somehow greatly dampened his powers, making him much less powerful than at his previous encounter with the Thunderbolts. He also was more megalomaniacal than ever during his next escape, declaring himself capable of forgiving and punishing sins. The reorganized Avengers again fought him at Ryker's, and after wounding Captain America and Spider-Man, Graviton was downed and almost killed by an Extremis-enhanced Iron Man. [19]
After battling Iron Man once again, having been framed for murder by an associate of the Mandarin who possessed similar gravity-manipulating powers to his own – he uses his powers to trigger an aneurysm in his brain, concluding that he will never receive a fair trial and wanting to end things on his terms. [20]
A 2010 storyline reveals that Graviton has a son with the same powers as he has, a criminal named Singularity, but he was revealed to be a normal child unrelated to Graviton, who had been brainwashed and mutated by the evil son of the Leader called Superior. [21]
Graviton turns up alive as part of the new High Council of A.I.M. (alongside Andrew Forson, Jude the Entropic Man, Mentallo, Superia and an undercover Taskmaster) as the Minister of Science. [22] When the Secret Avengers attempted to assassinate Andrew Forson, Graviton attacked them but was quickly stopped by an attack by sentient Iron Patriot armors led by the Hulk. [23]
In "Avengers: Standoff!", Graviton was shown in a training video for the S.H.I.E.L.D. Cadets working in the gated community Pleasant Hill being subjected to Kobik, which turned him into a mild-mannered Pleasant Hill chef named Howie Howardson. [24]
In "Secret Empire", Graviton joins Helmut Zemo's Army of Evil. [25]
