Molecular Man: comic book villain, origin story, powers and abilities

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

As a fictional comic book character, Molecule Man has gone far beyond the Marvel multiverse. The same invented, but no less interesting. In the article we will talk about the biography and creation of the Molecular Man, his name and special abilities. After all, today not only teenagers, but also the older generation are fond of comics and cartoons about superheroes.

Appearing in the arena

This character - Molecule Man - first appears in 1963 comics published by the successful entertainment division of Marvel Enterprises and Toy Biz, Inc. The character, whose real name is Owen Reece, originated in this "House of Ideas" along with Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Blade and many others.

They all live and fight in a universe called Earth-616.

Over the image and character of the comic book character MolecularA lot of people worked as a man, the main ones being editor and writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. After all, it was they who founded the famous “Marvel method”, when both the author and the artist work on the image of the character, and after all the final polishing of the image takes place.

Marvel Universe

This fictional space zone consists of many smaller universes, as well as parallel worlds. Here you can find yourself in the zombie universe, Earth 1610, the X-Men universe.

The main action and the struggle between good and evil takes place in the main or main universe - Earth-316. It is in many ways similar to the one that is familiar to readers. There was also the Second World War and other famous events.

But here on Earth-316, in addition to people, there are superheroes, supervillains, mutants and other cosmic entities. There are hundreds of alien races that have different levels of intelligence. And some mutants are sure that they will completely replace the human race in the future.

Molecular Man Beginning

It all started with the fact that a modest laboratory assistant in the Akme nuclear corporation makes a fatal mistake and receives a huge dose of radiation exposure. To his surprise, he did not die, but changed a lot. Until that time, Owen was a simple guy, constantly dissatisfied with his position and the failure of his own life. After this event, Molecular Man appeared instead of him, who is subject to the molecular foundations of everything in the world.

The first test of his strengthtook place when he was fired. Molecule Man (Marvel Comics) froze the corporate building.

But that was not the only consequence of the lab accident. The resulting explosion of the particle accelerator caused the formation of a passage. And through this passage, various otherworldly entities began to penetrate into the "Marve" universe.

Superpower

So, after the accident, Molecular Man gained power over the molecular world. He was able to turn one object into another, matter into energy and energy into matter, create additional holes in space.

Build a palace on the football field? Cover the city with a cap? Move a mountain? All this is just nothing for our hero.

But his powers didn't extend to living beings. But this is for the time being.

Over time, his strength grew. And if at first his abilities were tied to a magic wand (a steel rod), later he could already direct them without it. He learned to change himself.

Antihero period

After an accident, Marvel's Molecule Man renounces his former beliefs and surrenders to his dark side.

He wanted to be the only law in New York and fought the Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Lady, Human Torch and Thing).

The confrontation was growing, and the destructive power of the Molecule Man was growing. The first attempt to defeat him at the four heroes failed. But they turned to Alicia Masters, and she made plaster statues of them. Atinteracting with them, Owen's powers weakened, and Observer Uatu managed to capture Molecule Man and place him in another universe.

Short period of silence

In the parallel dimension, our hero was bored. He was surprised to find that time here runs much faster. Fearing to grow old and die, he uses his powers to create a creature that will become his son.

This is how Aaron Rick appears, the son of Molecule Man, to whom his father gives his magic wand and asks to avenge his exile.

Unsuccessful revenge

Aaron returns to Earth and is looking for the Creature to avenge his father, whom he believes is dead. However, so do all readers of comics.

During the battle between Aaron and the Creature, the unforeseen happened - the Creature managed to separate the newly appeared Molecular Man from the magic wand. This caused Aaron Rick to disintegrate into molecules.

But the wand is not missing.

Journey of the Wand

That's when it turned out that Owen did not die. He transferred his consciousness to the rod that his son brought to Earth. Now everyone who touched her became a receptacle for the evil mind of the Molecule Man.

Owen the schoolgirl was defeated by Iron Man, Owen the boxer and Owen-Reed Richardson were defeated by the Fantastic Four, and Owen the bum was defeated by a microverse explorer.

New body

All these wanderings are tired of our hero, and he still created a new humanbody. Here our hero had a fateful meeting with the Silver Surfer, who told him about Galactus - the most terrible creation of the cosmos. The molecular man, who has a stronger body, decided to become the same "devourer" of the Earth.

This greatly alarmed the Silver Surfer, and he turned to the Avengers (Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk) for help. However, they could not defeat our hero: Cap's shield, Iron Man's armor, Thor's hammer were destroyed by him.

And then the young Avenger Tiger came to the rescue. It was she who managed to find a way to the soul of the Molecular Man and convince him to give up and undergo a course of psychotherapy to correct his emotional blocks.

New round

Owen decided to be a good guy. He underwent a course of psychotherapy and saw new perspectives for himself: to find love and true friendship, to have a home and a normal life. But this was not destined to come true. Our hero is kidnapped, and he finds himself in the company of villains on the planet Battleworld, which was created by the Creator (Otherworld). This almighty invisible being in the form of a man with fair skin and black hair is preparing a war with the heroes of the Earth. His goal is to destroy the universe and capture the planet.

Favorite Volcano

In one of the battles of the Secret War, Owen meets Vulcana, who will become the love of his life. During this period, our hero understands how to influence organic matter, his powers grow and require implementation.

In the end, Owen decides that it's time for him to live only for himself andhis volcanoes. He transports her and several criminals back to Earth. Here Owen and Vulkana plan to live calmly and measuredly.

New war

And at this time the Creator flies to earth. And our hero takes the side of good trying to stop the destruction that the Otherworld is doing.

The battle with the Creator was not easy. The universe is collapsing, the earth's crust is cracking, but Molecular does not give up. After the battle, our hero is left almost completely powerless. Molecular uses the last of his powers to protect everyone close to him from the destruction created by the Beyonder.

But the war continued. Our hero, along with the Silver Surfer, managed to prevent the rebirth of the Otherworlder and prevented the destruction of the Earth and healed it. Molecular then decides to hide his powers from everyone and return to normal.

Space Cubes

A few months have passed, and our hero meets the Cube, a creature from the Cosmic Cube. It is he who tells Molecular about the origins of his power. As it turns out, the powers of the hero and the Beyonder have the same origin and, when combined, can create a new Cosmic Cube. In addition, Kubik explained to Molecular that in every universe there is such a character and that his death is directly related to the death of the universe.

That's exactly what's happening. Vulcana believes that Owen died while creating a new cosmic being. In fact, the newly created Cube took the power from the Molecular and rejected him.

Return to Earth

Rejectedand exhausted, our hero returned to Earth. He decided to live as a hermit - after all, his strength has disappeared and he has nothing to give to his beloved. But Vulcana found him. They did not have time to reconcile - they were attacked by a secret agent of a criminal structure, who tried to take away from Vulcana that part of the power that Owen managed to transfer to her in due time.

In the battle, Vulcan gives power to Owen, and he becomes Molecule Man again. He defeats all the agents and arrogantly boasts about it. This pushed Vulcana back again.

They broke up, but our hero continues to love and hopes to prove his devotion to his beloved in the future.

Outside comics

This character was often used by animators. In the animated series Fantastic Four and Super Hero Squad, Molecule Man appears as an anti-hero. And in the Avengers Assemble cartoon, we already meet his son Aaron Rick.

And in Berlin, Molecule Man stands on the banks of the Spree River. This monument of three figures, 30 meters high and weighing 45 tons, is the work of American sculptor Jonathan Borofsky. As conceived by the author, it symbolizes the unity and integrity of man and the molecule, and the commonality of everything with everything in this universe.