Gravity (character)

Gravity
File:99780-18300-107112-1-gravity super.jpg Cover art for Gravity #1 (2005). Art by Mike Norton.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Gravity #1 (Aug. 2005)
Created by	Sean McKeever Mike Norton
In-story information
Alter ego	Greg Willis
Team affiliations	Great Lakes Avengers Heavy Hitters Initiative Young Allies
Partnerships	Firestar
Abilities	Gravity manipulation

Gravity (Greg Willis) is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in Gravity #1 (Aug. 2005) and was created by Sean McKeever and Mike Norton.

Publication history

Gravity's first appearance was in his own limited series Gravity #1-5 (2005) which was later released as a digest formatted graphic novel as part of the Marvel Next imprint aimed at younger readers. In the same year, Gravity went on to feature in Marvel Holiday Special 2005 (2005) in a minor role.

The characters next appearance was in the crossover storyline Beyond! #1-6 (2006) which was followed up by a related appearance in Fantastic Four #545-546 and #550 (2007). Gravity then had minor roles in Fantastic Four #556 (2008), Avengers: The Initiative #17-19 (2008-2009), Avengers: The Initiative Special #1 (2009), Fantastic Four #563 (2009) and Avengers: The Initiative #25 (2009).

A solo appearance in Age of Heroes #2 (2010) provided the prologue to Gravity's next appearance as a member of the Young Allies in Young Allies #1-6 (2010-2011) then later in Onslaught Unleashed #1-4 (2011). Gravity featured prominently in the Fear Itself tie-in series Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #1-7 (2011).

Fictional character biography

Greg Willis was born and raised in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. During the summer after his high school graduation, while onboard his families yacht, Greg was sucked into a mysterious black hole. He was found alive and well hours later by his parents. After the incident, Greg found that he was able to manipulate the gravitational force around his body and nearby objects. Looking to take advantage of his new powers, Greg moved east to New York City to study licensing and merchandising at New York University and become a marketable member of the superhero community known as Gravity.

On his first outing, Gravity encountered a battle between Rage and Black Death. Unfortunately, Gravity accidently mistook Rage as a villain and allowed Black Death to escape. His confidence begins to waver as life as a superhero proves tougher than he first thought. But after he saves the life of a frail old woman, and meets new friends Lauren Singh and Frog, Gravity slowly becomes more competent in his double identity. His later battles prove to be more fruitful, defeating the likes of Rhino, Shocker and Whirlwind. However, Black Death takes a special interest in Gravity, appearing numerous times to humiliate the new hero. Black Death then masquerades as a hero known as the Greenwich Guardian (which was Black Death's identity before he became a supervillain) to further break Gravity's confidence and use him in a plot to destroy the university. Ultimately, his resolve is too strong for Black Death and the villain is defeated. After the battle, Gravity is congratulated by Spider-Man, filling him with confidence. Finally feeling accepted, Gravity begins a relationship with his friend Lauren and continues his superhero career. Gravity later reveals his double identity to Lauren.

Beyond

After defeating a villain called Brushfire, Gravity stumbles upon a mysterious structure in Central Park and is transported to an alien world where he meets Spider-Man, Henry Pym, the Wasp, Venom, Kraven, Firebird, and the Hood. A mysterious voice claiming to be the Beyonder explains to the gathered heroes and villains that they must slay their enemies to win their reward.

During their attempts to survive the hostile alien world, the group meet Michael Collins, who helps them survive and come to the realisation that the Beyonder has seemingly brought them together to evaluate them and see who wins in a battle amongst themselves. Eventually, the group battle one another, and Henry Pym emerges as the victor when he seemingly kills the other heroes and villains. He then deceives the Beyonder into revealing his true identity as the Stranger and restores the rest of the group who were shrunken down using Pym Particles. An angered Stranger was about to destroy the group until Uatu appeared. The presence of a Watcher unnerved the Stranger, who then allowed the group to leave peacefully, and disappeared. Without the Stanger's power, the planet began to pull itself apart. Gravity used his powers to hold the planet together and allowed the rest of the group to escape. He used the last of his power to join the goup on the spaceship, but died shortly afterwards. The remaining heroes and villains attended Gravity's funeral to pay their respects for his actions. Later, Uatu stands by Gravity's grave, waiting to witness a cosmic destiny.

Return and Initiative

When Gravity's grave is desicrated and his body is stolen, Michael Collins enlists the help of the new Fantastic Four (now consisting of Black Panther and Storm as well as the [[Human Torch (Johnny Storm and the Thing) to find his fallen comrade. Following a cosmic residue left behind at the graveyard, the team venture into deep space to discover that Gravity's body was stolen and resurrected by Epoch as the new Protector of the Universe. to protect Epoch from being consumed, Gravity emptied his new cosmic-level powers into Galactus and returned to his Earth to see his parents and Lauren once more. Later, when the Fantastic Four are fighting along with Doctor Strange and the Silver Surfer to save Eternity from dying, Uatu enlists Gravity's help to act as a 'scalpel' to cut out the 'infected' portions of the universe. Fulfilling his cosmic destiny, Uatu informs Gravity that his secret identity has been restored.

Gravity later joined the Fifty State Initiative. After passing a leadership course, Gravity was made the leader of Nevada's Initiative team, the Heavy Hitters, where he was joined by Hardball, Nonstop and Telemetry.

The Heavy Hitters were one of the few teams not to be infiltrated by the Skrulls during their secret invasion. Gravity and the Heavy Hitters aided the rest of the Initiative to battle and defeat Skrulls posing as the Revolutionary, Equinox, Thor Girl and Great Lakes Avengers member Grasshopper. During the battle with the Skrull Grasshopper, Flatman invites Gravity to join his home-state team, which he quickly rejects. The surviving members of the Initiative (including Gravity) storm and retake Camp Hammond from the Skrulls. When Hardball confesses to Komodo that he has been forced to become a HYDRA double agent, Komodo enlists Gravity and the rest of the Heavy Hitters to help free him. However, the plan backfireed when Hardball felt betrayed by Komodo and his team. He forcibly quits the Initiative and joins HYDRA, swearing enmity to his former friends. After the invasion, when Norman Osborn gained control of the Initiative, he replaced Gravity as the leader of the Heavy Hitters with Prodigy. Gravity is transfered Wisconsin as leader of the Great Lakes Avengers, much to his dismay.

Young Allies

With the fall of Norman Osborn's Initiative, and the abolishment of the Superhuman Registration Act, Gravity quits the Great Lakes Avengers and considers giving up his position as a hero. While flying back to see his parents, Gravity attempted to save a young couple from a mysterious explosion. But before he could get them to safety, the couple were killed by Warhead, a member of the anarchist terrorist group known as the Bastards of Evil. In retaliation, Gravity beat the villain unconscious, and found renewed reason to continue to be a hero.

Returning to his studies at New York University, Gravity found himself with his friends Lauren and Frog once more. The return of Warhead and the Bastards of Evil, an anarchist group claiming to be the estranged children of supervillains, brought Gravity togther with Firestar. However, their team-up wasn't enough to stop Warhead from detonating his powers, killing himself and others around him at Ground Zero. Becoming obsessed, Gravity struggled to keep up with his double life. He managed to see the errors of his ways with the help of Frog and Firestar respectively. Later, Gravity and Firestar teamed-up with Nomad, Spider-Girl, and Toro to defeat Superior, the son of the Leader who created the Bastards of Evil. Teaming-up with the Secret Avengers, the Young Allies fought and defeated the entity known as Onslaught.

When Steve Rogers requested that Prodigy create a new Initiative to combat the growing fear within the nation, Gravity was among the former Initiative members that answered his call. Accompanied by Firestar, Gravity was appointed as co-team leader of one of the sections. His former Heavy Hitters teammate Harball, recognised as a hero due to his role in Camp H.A.M.M.E.R.'s downfall, taunted Gravity for his lack of leadership skills, leading to a confrontation. Komodo and Firestar quickly broke it up.

Powers and abilities

Acquiring his powers through mysterious circumstances, Gravity has the ability to manipulate gravitons (the hypothetical particles that cause gravity) allowing him to increase or decrease his own body mass or that of objects around him. Using his abilities, Gravity has increased strength, the power of flight, and can create a gravitational force field.

Other versions

Gravity has a minor cameo appearance in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (2007). He is seen attempting to eat Nova who manges to evade him. A primate version of Gravity appears in the Marvel Apes titles Marvel Apes: Evolution Starts Here #1 (2009) and Marvel Apes: Speedball Special #1 (2009).

Various alternative versions of Gravity appear in the What If? storylines What If? Secret Wars #1 (2009), What If? House of M #1 (2009), What If? Spider-Man of House of M #1 (2009), What If? Secret Invasion #1 (2010) in minor and cameo roles.

League of Losers

Gravity appeared in Robert Kirkman's "League of Losers" storyline in Marvel Team-Up vol.3 #15-18 (2006). A group of heroes including Gravity, Darkhawk, Dagger, Araña, X-23, Sleepwalker, and Terror go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes. It is revealed that Chronok is from the same time period as Kirkman's Mutant 2099; the group stays with him and his mentor Reed Richards to wait for Chronok, and during this time Gravity sparks a relationship with X-23. The team defeats Chronok, but at the end of the story, Richards reveals they can't go back to their present, due to time-travel and alternate timelines. The group decides to stay in the future, satisfied with the impact they made, however unnoticed.

Note: Due to Marvel universe's method for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story occurred in an alternate universe.

External links

• Gravity at Marvel.com
• Gravity at Comicvine.com
• Gravity at Marvel.wikia.com