Walrus (comics)

The Walrus

The Savage Walrus
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Defenders #131 (May 1984)
Created by J.M. DeMatteis
Peter Gillis
Alan Kupperberg
In-story information
Alter ego Hubert Carpenter
Partnerships White Rabbit
Abilities Minimal superhuman strength, agility and endurance
Good at crossword puzzles
Ability to distract enemies by making them laugh uncontrollably, hold his breath much longer than humans and survive in freezing water via his layer of blubber

The Walrus is a comedic Marvel Comics supervillain and an enemy of Spider-Man and Frog-Man.

Publication history

Walrus first appeared in Defenders #131 (May 1984) and was created by J.M. DeMatteis, Peter Gillis, and Alan Kupperberg.

Fictional character biography

The Walrus is a supervillain and foe of Spider-Man. He wears a costume that resembles a walrus and despite being physically strong, proved to be completely inept at villainy. While most supervillains are interested in stealing money or taking over the world, the Walrus was content with mindless property damage. He considered his role as a supervillain as that of a "mass-destructionist".

The man who would one day don the guise of the savage Walrus was once a cab driver named Hubert Carpenter (a reference to "The Walrus and the Carpenter" poem from Through the Looking-Glass). Hubert's uncle Humbert (a mad scientist/eccentric janitor) used devious experimental technology to endow Hubert with the attributes that would surely make him into the preeminent supervillain of all times. Hubert, now with the "proportionate speed, strength and agility of a walrus", started causing havoc.

He fought the New Defenders and the second Frog-Man, before collapsing.[1] Then he teamed up with the deadly and nefarious White Rabbit, forming the Terrible Two. He and his partner fought Spider-Man and were easily beaten. One of their common goals was to murder Frog-Man, who had humiliated them both in the past. However, it was soon revealed that Frog-Man had little to worry about, as the Walrus is the sort of supervillain that has to wear velcro shoes in order to avoid accidentally tying his shoes to each other. The Walrus is not the smartest villain, as he tends to make the most stupid remarks, which even made Spider-Man laugh uncontrollably at him, allowing the Walrus to punch and knock him down.[2] The fact that the Walrus also wears a large rainbow "W" on the front of his costume also tends to make his enemies laugh at him.

The Walrus later appears with Mr. Fish in an exotic night club where he's seen admiring an overweight dancer.[3]

During the Fear Itself storyline, Deadpool sees the chaos caused by the Worthy and manipulates Walrus into thinking that he has been chosen to wield a magical hammer so that he can improve his security consolation business.[4] However, his plan goes awry when the hammer turns out to be property of a group of werewolves called the Moon-Born. The hammer exhibits special properties under the full moon which Deadpool discovers when he engages the Walrus in battle.[5] Deadpool managed to trick Walrus into entering the windowless basement of a sheriff's office where the hammer became powerless and he could take advantage of the sheriff's weapon's cache.[6]

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel event, Walrus partners with White Rabbit and the new Goldbug for a plan that involves tampering with New York City's drinking water. The three are defeated by Spider-Woman, and taken to a new supervillain prison called the Cellar, which is secretly run by Regent. After being checked in, Walrus and Ox are separated from the other prisoners, and seemingly killed when they are sealed in power-siphoning tubes by Regent's servant Dr. Shannon Stillwell.[7][8]

Powers and abilities

Hubert claimed to have the proportionate speed, strength, and agility of a walrus.[2] This is an inaccuracy on his part, as a walrus is larger than a human, meaning someone with the proportionate abilities of a walrus would be slower and weaker than a normal human. However, the Walrus does appear to possess some measure of superhuman strength, agility and endurance. He was actually able to hit Spider-Man with sufficient force to knock him flying, rip a metal lamp post in half and withstand razor sharp and explosive carrots fired at him by the White Rabbit as a test. However, on another occasion, Spider-Man was able to defeat the Walrus by flicking him with his index finger, which knocked him out. He also has the ability to distract his enemies by making them laugh uncontrollably with his stupid remarks.

It was revealed that he had been mutagenically altered by his uncle with walrus DNA which would presumably add certain walrus characteristics to his physiology, such as a layer of blubber to keep him warm in freezing water and the ability to hold his breath for a much longer time than a human. While none of these abilities would be very useful to a supervillain who never goes anywhere near water, the layer of blubber could explain his resistance to injury.

The Walrus was noticeably unintelligent, but was unusually good at crossword puzzles.

References

  1. ↑ Defenders #131
  2. 1 2 Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 1) #185
  3. ↑ Daughters of the Dragon #4
  4. ↑ Fear Itself: Deadpool #1
  5. ↑ Fear Itself: Deadpool #2
  6. ↑ Fear Itself: Deadpool #3
  7. ↑ Dennis Hopeless (w), Javier Rodriguez (p), Alvaro Lopez (i), Javier Rodriguez (col), VC's Travis Lanham (let), Nick Lowe (ed). "What to Expect" The Amazing Spider-Man v4, #1 (7 October 2015), United States: Marvel Comics
  8. ↑ Dan Slott and Christos Gage (w), Paco Diaz (p), Paco Diaz (i), Israel Silva (col), VC's Joe Caramagna (let), Nick Lowe (ed). "The Cellar" The Amazing Spider-Man v4, #2 (7 November 2015), United States: Marvel Comics
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