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Grey Gargoyle

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Grey Gargoyle
The Grey Gargoyle battles Thor on the cover of Journey Into Mystery #107 (Aug. 1964). Art by Jack Kirby.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceJourney into Mystery #107 (Aug. 1964)
Created byStan Lee
Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter egoPaul Pierre Duval
Team affiliationsMasters of Evil
AIM
The Worthy
Notable aliasesPaul St. Pierre, Mokk: Breaker of Faith
AbilitiesStone touch
Superhuman strength and durability

The Grey Gargoyle (Paul Pierre Duval) is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #107 (Aug. 1964) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Fictional character biography

Paul Pierre Duval first appears in the title Journey Into Mystery, and is established as a French chemist who courtesy of a chemical accident gains the ability to turn anything to stone by touching it. Turning his body to stone, Duval dons a mask and cape and becomes a criminal with the alias the Grey Gargoyle. The character, however, becomes bored and decides to try and achieve immortality by confronting the Thunder God Thor and stealing his mystic hammer, Mjolnir. Thor is tuend to stone in their first battle, but turns back to Don Blake when he falls over and strikes the floor with his hammer. As Blake he defeats the Gargoyle by luring him into Hudson River in New York City, using a projection of Thor, leaving the villain burried at the bottom.[1] The character eventually reappears after being hauled up from the river, whereupon he turns to stone two people examining him. Thinking he can help him find Thor, goes after Don Blake, who has just had the power of Thor removed from him. He pursues them through the streets, becoming angry at their escaping him and deciding to eliminate Don finally. However he isdelayed by an Asgardian blinding him with an arrow that gives of light, after which the Asgardian restores the Thunder God's power. The Gargoyle is incapacitated by Thor once again as he uses his hammer to trap the Grey Gargoyle by tapping a lampost power source and sending a bolt which fuses the Gargoyles limbs. His power is then fully restored ot him by Odin.[2]

The Grey Gargoyle appears in the title Tales of Suspense, attempting to steal and experimental device for use against Thor, but is stopped by his fellow Avenger Iron Man.[3] The character continues to play the role of industrial saboteur in the title Captain America, attempting to steal an experimental chemical called Element X before being stopped by Captain America; the Falcon and Nick Fury.[4] An appearance in the title Marvel Team-Up against Captain America and fellow hero Spider-Man ends with the Gargoyle being trapped in a rocket and launched into deep space.[5]

The character reappears in the title Thor, and is revealed to have been rescued by the crew of the Alien spaceship the Bird of Prey and nominated their captain. After a battle with Thor the character is lost in space once again.[6] The Gargoyle eventually returns to Earth in a meteorite in the title Avengers, and battles briefly before being defeated and imprisoned.[7] The character reappears in the title as part of the fourth version of the Masters of Evil. In an encounter with the Avenger the Black Knight, the Gargoyle grasps the hero's enchanted sword and is reverted back to human form, his power temporarily neutralized.[8]

In the title Iron Man the Gargoyle adopts the false identity of sculptor "Paul St. Pierre", and intends to make a fortune in the art world by selling persons transformed to stone as authentic sculptures. The ruse, however, is discovered by Iron Man, who defeats the villain.[9] The character is recruited by arch villain Doctor Doom during the Acts of Vengeance storyline, and paid to neutralize the monster the Hulk. The Hulk, however, resists the Gargoyle's power and then humiliates him by breaking his arm.[10]

The Gargoyle appears in the title She-Hulk[11] and as the pawn of an alien shapeshifter in the title Fantastic Four. The Gargoyle's power temporarily incapaciates Fantastic Four member the Thing, who recovers with the added benefit of being able to now transform between human form and his superstrong rock-like form.[12] After another appearance in the title Thor and almost instant defeat by the god slaying entity Desak,[13] the Gargoyle features in the title New Avengers with other criminals attempting to escape the prison facility The Raft.[14]

After a brief appearance in the humorous title She-Hulk,[15] the Grey Gargoyle battles heroines Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel in the title Civil War: The Initiative;[16] appears briefly in the fourth volume of the title New Warriors[17] and in the Spider-Man title published under the Marvel Adventuresimprint.[18] The character is recruited to join a "crime army" formed by the villain the Hood in the title New Avengers,[19] and during the Dark Reign storyline features in the limited series Dark Reign: Lethal Legion. Grey Gargoyle is recruited by former Avengers foe the Grim Reaper to join a new incarnation of the Lethal Legion, who oppose criminal mastermind Norman Osborn.[20]

During the Heroic Age storyline, it is revealed that he has a discarded and disavowed daughter named Mortar.[21]

The Grey Gargoyle is later shown as an inmate of The Raft.[22] When an EMP surge shuts down the Raft's defenses, the inmates attempt an escape. Grey Gargoyle is compelled by the Purple Man to stop a door from closing by jamming his head into the mechanism.[23]

During the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Iron Man encounters Grey Gargoyle in Paris and discovers that he has lifted one of the Hammers of the Worthy which transformed him into Mokk: Breaker of Faith (one of the Serpent's Worthy). Mokk was the one who had turned the population to stone and eventually kills the survivors and batters Iron Man unconscious. Upon waking up, Iron Man realizes that the ensuing battle between Mokk and himself resulted in the destruction of thousands of "statues."[24] Iron Man feels more and more queasy as he struggles to accept that these are real people, not just statues. He later suggests to Pepper Potts that he reckons that Gargoyle managed to wipe out the entire population of Paris.[25]

Powers and abilities

During an experiment Paul Duval spilled an unknown organic chemical compound on his right hand, causing a mutagenic reaction that permanently transformed the hand into living stone. As a result, Duval can turn any matter touched with his "stone" hand to a similar substance, with the effect lasting for approximately one hour. Duval can also use the effect to transform himself into a being of living stone - with no loss of mobility - possessing superhuman strength and durability. Duval also has a master's degree in chemistry.

In other media

Television

  • Grey Gargoyle appears in the Mighty Thor segment of The Marvel Super Heroes.
  • Grey Gargoyle appears in the Iron Man TV series voiced by Ed Gilbert. He is one of the servants of the Mandarin alongside MODOK, Hypnotia, Dreadknight, Blacklash, Blizzard, Living Laser, and Justin Hammer. When it comes to fighting Iron Man and his team, he has a tendency to accidentally turn his fellow villains to stone.
  • Grey Gargoyle appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes voiced by Troy Baker. In the episode "The Man in the Anthill," Grey Gargoyle is seen as an inmate at the Big House. When Whirlwind demands the nearby inmates to use their powers to escape, Grey Gargoyle states to Whirlwind that he doesn't know where he is. In the episode "The Breakout" Pt. 1, Grey Gargoyle is among the inmates that escape from the Big House. He is seen turning some S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to stone. In the episode "This Hostage Earth", he aids Enchantress and Executioner in stealing the magic Norn Stones for Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil. After turning Karnilla (the guardian of the Norn Stones) into stone, Grey Gargoyle was betrayed and seemingly killed off-screen by Executioner. Enchantress stated to Baron Zemo that Grey Gargoyle "didn't make it."

Video games

  • The Grey Gargoyle appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Tom Kane. He is shown working for the Mandarin after he left the Masters of Evil. During the fight with him, he will turn some of the player's heroes to stone. He has special dialogue with Spider-Woman.
  • Grey Gargoyle appears in the PSP, PS2, and Wii versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. He is among the villains taken over by The Fold and will attack the heroes at the portal leading out of the Negative Zone's Prison 42 alongside Electro, Lizard, and Scorcher.

References

  1. ^ Journey Into Mystery #107 (Aug. 1964)
  2. ^ Journey Into Mystery 113 (Feb. 1965)
  3. ^ Tales of Suspense #95 - 96 (Nov. - Dec. 1967)
  4. ^ Captain America #139 - 142 (July - Oct. 1971)
  5. ^ Marvel Team-Up #13 (Sep. 1973)
  6. ^ Thor #257 - 259 (Mar. - Jun 1977)
  7. ^ Avengers #190 -191 (Dec. 1979 - Jan. 1980)
  8. ^ Avengers #271 (Sep. 1986)
  9. ^ Iron Man #235 - 236 (Oct. - Nov. 1988)
  10. ^ Hulk #363 - 364 (Dec. 1989 - Jan 1990)
  11. ^ Sensational She-Hulk vol. 2, #27 (May 1991)
  12. ^ Fantastic Four vol. 2, #38 - 39 (Jan. - Feb. 2001)
  13. ^ Thor vol. 2, #47 (Apr. - May 2002)
  14. ^ New Avengers vol. 4, #1 (Jan. 2005)
  15. ^ She-Hulk #10 (Oct. 2006)
  16. ^ Civil War: The Initiative (Apr. 2007)
  17. ^ New Warriors vol. 4, #1 (Aug. 2007)
  18. ^ Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man #29 (Sep. 2007)
  19. ^ New Avengers #35 (Dec. 2007)
  20. ^ Dark Reign: Lethal Legion #1 - 3 (Aug. - Oct. 2009)
  21. ^ Young Allies #1 (Aug. 2010)
  22. ^ Thunderbolts #145
  23. ^ Thunderbolts #147
  24. ^ Invincible Iron Man #504
  25. ^ Invincible Iron Man #505
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