Absorbing Man

The Absorbing Man, legal name Carl "Crusher" Creel, is an American villain and former boxer. He is capable of "absorbing" the powers of other superbeings close to him, as well as of taking on the material properties of anything he touches.

Biography

In mid-1965, Carl Creel was serving time in prison for unknown crimes. While he was having a meal, the Asgardian Loki, watching from his far-away realm, magically fed him a potion that granted him the powers of absorption. The malicious Creel quickly took to his newfound power and effortlessly escaped from prison. As planned, Creel—the Absorbing Man—was soon discovered by Loki's powerful brother and nemesis, Thor in a swamp in rural New York. Thor tried to subdue Absorbing Man, but soon found fighting him to be an utterly fruitless endeavor. Eventually, Thor disappeared mid-battle, summoned away by the Bifrost. Left confused by this chain of events, Absorbing Man looked to take refuge in a nearby suburban house while he contemplated his next move. He terrorized the couple that was living there until Thor returned to face him once more. Now knowing what to expect, Thor defeated Absorbing Man by turning him to helium, causing him to float helplessly into space.

Some weeks later, Loki used advanced Asgardian magical equipment to locate Creel's helium form in space and blasted him with organic matter to return him to solidity. He encased Absorbing Man in an elastic bubble and guided him safely back down to New York, where Creel emerged and immediately saw and attacked Thor in the streets of Manhattan. Absorbing Man again proved to be an extremely formidable foe, even demonstrating his newly discovered ability to essentially combine his transfigured body with other objects of the same material and thereby grow himself to gigantic size. Though Creel initially overwhelmed the Asgardian, Thor soon realized that he couldn't "absorb" his speed, wit, and valor, and used these traits to his advantage. Just as Absorbing Man began to seem desperate, he was pulled away by a beam of light: Loki had transported Creel to Asgard. Creel was initially hostile, but Loki threatened him into submission with his powerful magic. Loki sought to usurp the throne of Asgard from his stepfather Odin and to use Absorbing Man as a means to that end. The two made their way to Odin's throne room, and Asgardian warriors on the way attacked. They proved no match for Absorbing Man, as he simply absorbed their power and became ever stronger. They confronted Odin, who recklessly blasted Absorbing Man with a beam of cosmic energy, thereby transforming him into that selfsame substance. hor soon arrived to intervene and informed his father of the villain's unique power. With his victory seemingly assured, Loki demanded that Odin hand rule over to him. Odin seemingly submitted, handing Loki his ceremonial scepter. Loki insisted that Absorbing Man kneel before him, but Creel had grown attached to his own potential for power, and tried to take the scepter himself. The two soon found that their hands were magically sealed to the scepter: this was naturally Odin's doing, and he sent the scepter along with the two of them flying into space, to hurtle through the void indefinitely until it pleased Odin to stop them.