Master Menace
Encyclopedia
Dr. Emil Burbank, also known as Master Menace, is a fiction
al Marvel Comics
character. Two different versions of the character appear in two separate (but related) continuities, Squadron Supreme
and Supreme Power
.
with elements of Doctor Doom
. This Master Menace is a supergenius inventor and is gifted in numerous fields of physical science. He usually wears a suit of powered armor with an arsenal of built-in weapons, which enables him to fight superhuman
s on a more equal basis (especially his arch-nemesis, Hyperion).
and Wayne Boring
.
The character subsequently appears in Squadron Supreme #6-8 (February–April 1986), #10-12 (June–August 1986), Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe (1989), and Squadron Supreme: New World Order (September 1998).
Master Menace received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89
#5.
Burbank claimed that exposure to Hyperion's "flash vision" caused his hair to grow wildly (whether this is true or not remains speculative); the origin of his enmity pastiches the Silver Age Luthor, who blamed Superman for his baldness.
On this occasion, Burbank worked with the evil Hyperion of the mainstream Marvel Universe, and held captive the visiting Thor
. Burbank was taken captive but later found himself in an interdimensional vacuum as he attempted to escape confinement.
It is unclear what happened to Burbank between his capture by Thor and the time the extradimensional Overmind
took control of President Kyle Richmond (a.k.a. Nighthawk
) of Earth-712, home of the Squadron Supreme
and through Richmond that Earth's United States of America. While the Squadron concentrated on rebuilding America, Master Menace (as he now called himself) concentrated his efforts on conquering the Middle East. He gave shelter to three of Nighthawk's enemies: Remnant
, Pinball
, and the Mink
. He sent the Mink, Remnant and Pinball to Earth-616
. Master Menace pulled Hyperion through the interdimensional gulf and revealed his true origins. He supplied the Redeemers
with a way to reverse the brainwashing technology of the Squadron.
In Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe, Emil Burbank aged fifteen years after going into the 41st century with Scarlet Centurion to build a device to stop the Nth Man
.
In Squadron Supreme: New World Order, Emil Burbank is a wheelchair-using old man, at the mercy of large, multi-national corporations and using the Squadron's own Utopia technologies.
. In DC's Post-Crisis continuity, Luthor was a young genius who arranged the death of his parents in a car crash and began his empire using the life insurance policy that he took out on their lives. In DC's Pre-Crisis continuity, Luthor had a sister named Lena, and in the Superman novels written by Elliot S! Maggin
, used multiple identities. Emil Burbank's origin is a combination of both interpretations of Lex Luthor.
, Chemistry
, Metallurgy
, Psychology
, Economics
and literature
from three different universities. As a child, he sexually abused his older sister by drugging her unconscious with chemical compounds, eventually leaving her in a permanent catatonic state. At 18, his parents died in a car accident, which he arranged and boasts about even while trying to say it was an accident. Emil is noted for malicious and homicidal retribution against those he feels have wronged him. A school bully and a professor who accused him of cheating were both caught in fires started by Emil.
After Emil agrees to work for the government, General Alexander sends Emil, Nuke
, Arcanna
, and Shape
to apprehend or destroy Hyperion. While fighting Hyperion, Arcanna's quantum powers, Nuke's radioactive blast, and Hyperion's flash vision combine to create an effect that sends them all to an alternate reality, where Hyperion and most of the other heroes wage war against Earth's governments, to "save" humanity. However, the "alternate" reality is actually the same reality, only years in the future. Emil and Hyperion are the only two members of the Squadron aware of this information after the five are returned to the correct time stream.
Emil was to be on the covert operations team after Hyperion's return to America, but after Mark informs reporter Jason Scott of the project and gives him a list of the super-humans working for the government, the U.S. President gives a press conference and announces the formation of Squadron Supreme.
The team is sent to Uganda
to apprehend John M'Butu, a fast-rising tribal leader gifted with a powerful verbal suggestion ability, who calls himself the Voice. Burbank reveals that he has developed counter measures to defend himself from everyone on his team, except for Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum
. Before Amphibian
attacks him, he defeats her with a powder he designed to kill her by suffocation.
On a mission codenamed "Long Walk", to take down insurgents of the Ilam Province in Iran, Emil developed technology that disrupts the functionings of the inner ear
, incapacitating the soldiers, who Emil then proceeded to shoot. After Edith Freiberg
found a little girl whose mother had been stoned by relatives for the perceived dishonor of being raped, Edith, using Emil Burbank as a translator, finds the relatives and buries them up to their necks. She then gives the girl a steel bar with which to kill them. After "Long Walk", Emil Burbank is at the conference to act as a bodyguard.
that had been released from Hyperion's spacecraft and bestowed superhuman abilities on numerous people around the world. Even though Emil's enhanced intellect is a direct result of the retro-virus, Emil denies it, insisting that his genius is his own doing.
Though not displaying any physical super powers, Emil demonstrates that he can defend himself in combat situations by the use of certain types of technology (Squadron Supreme #4)
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
character. Two different versions of the character appear in two separate (but related) continuities, Squadron Supreme
Squadron Supreme
The Squadron Supreme is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Squadron Supreme first appeared in Avengers #85 - 86 The Squadron Supreme is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Squadron Supreme first...
and Supreme Power
Supreme Power
The Squadron Supreme is a fictional superhero team that appears in publications under the mature-audience MAX imprint by Marvel Comics. The team first appears in Supreme Power #1 and was created by writer J...
.
Squadron Supreme
Master Menace is an analogue of Lex LuthorLex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
with elements of Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom
Victor von Doom is a fictional character who appears in Marvel Comics publications . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #5 wearing his trademark metal mask and green cloak...
. This Master Menace is a supergenius inventor and is gifted in numerous fields of physical science. He usually wears a suit of powered armor with an arsenal of built-in weapons, which enables him to fight superhuman
Superhuman
Superhuman can mean an improved human, for example, by genetic modification, cybernetic implants, or as what humans might evolve into, in the near or distant future...
s on a more equal basis (especially his arch-nemesis, Hyperion).
Publication history
Master Menace first appeared in Thor (vol. 1) #280 (February 1979), and was created by Roy ThomasRoy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
and Wayne Boring
Wayne Boring
Wayne Boring was an American comic book artist best known for his work on Superman from the late 1940s to 1950s. He occasionally used the pseudonym Jack Harmon....
.
The character subsequently appears in Squadron Supreme #6-8 (February–April 1986), #10-12 (June–August 1986), Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe (1989), and Squadron Supreme: New World Order (September 1998).
Master Menace received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications...
#5.
Fictional character biography
Originally, Hyperion encountered Dr. Emil Burbank (a.k.a. Master Menace) on Earth-712 (sometimes called "Earth-S"). In his first appearance, he battled Hyperion while the hero was filming a movie directed by Burbank's brother, L.L. Burbank.Burbank claimed that exposure to Hyperion's "flash vision" caused his hair to grow wildly (whether this is true or not remains speculative); the origin of his enmity pastiches the Silver Age Luthor, who blamed Superman for his baldness.
On this occasion, Burbank worked with the evil Hyperion of the mainstream Marvel Universe, and held captive the visiting Thor
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
. Burbank was taken captive but later found himself in an interdimensional vacuum as he attempted to escape confinement.
It is unclear what happened to Burbank between his capture by Thor and the time the extradimensional Overmind
Overmind (comics)
-Fictional character biography:The Overmind is an alien belonging to the Eternals of Eyung, and was born uncounted millennia ago on the planet Eyung . Grom acted as one of their warlords, leading massacres of entire species. He was also the reigning champion in their gladiatorial arenas...
took control of President Kyle Richmond (a.k.a. Nighthawk
Nighthawk (Marvel Comics)
Nighthawk is the name of several fictional characters that appear in publications published by Marvel Comics. There have been five versions of the character: a supervillain-turned-superhero from the mainstream Marvel Universe continuity, Kyle Richmond, who belonged to the team Squadron Sinister;...
) of Earth-712, home of the Squadron Supreme
Squadron Supreme
The Squadron Supreme is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Squadron Supreme first appeared in Avengers #85 - 86 The Squadron Supreme is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Squadron Supreme first...
and through Richmond that Earth's United States of America. While the Squadron concentrated on rebuilding America, Master Menace (as he now called himself) concentrated his efforts on conquering the Middle East. He gave shelter to three of Nighthawk's enemies: Remnant
Remnant (comics)
Remnant is a fictional character, owned by Marvel Comics, who exists in the universe of the Squadron Supreme.Remnant, along with Pinball and Mink was originally an enemy of the Squadron Supreme's Nighthawk. When Nighthawk quit the Squadron Supreme he formed a new team, known as the Redeemers, to...
, Pinball
Pinball (comics)
Pinball is a character from Marvel Comics' original Squadron Supreme series. He is apparently a loose pastiche of the Penguin a frequent Batman villain from DC Comics, and Bouncing Boy.-Fictional character biography:...
, and the Mink
Mink (comics)
Mink is a fictional character who appeared in the Marvel Comics series Squadron Supreme, and is based on Catwoman. She is a former criminal, who became a part of Nighthawk's America Redeemers, who attempted to stop the Squadron from taking over the world.Mink has no superhuman powers, but is highly...
. He sent the Mink, Remnant and Pinball to Earth-616
Earth-616
In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 or Earth 616 is the name used to identify the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place.-Origin of Earth-616:...
. Master Menace pulled Hyperion through the interdimensional gulf and revealed his true origins. He supplied the Redeemers
America Redeemers
The America Redeemers, or Redeemers, as the team is more commonly known, is a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe. The Redeemers existed in the Earth-712 universe, the same place from which the Squadron Supreme originated...
with a way to reverse the brainwashing technology of the Squadron.
In Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe, Emil Burbank aged fifteen years after going into the 41st century with Scarlet Centurion to build a device to stop the Nth Man
Nth Man
Nth Man is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:Thomas Lightner first appeared as Blacksun in Marvel Two-in-One #21-23 , and was created by Bill Mantlo and Ron Wilson....
.
In Squadron Supreme: New World Order, Emil Burbank is a wheelchair-using old man, at the mercy of large, multi-national corporations and using the Squadron's own Utopia technologies.
Supreme Power
This version of Emil, as with the previous version, is based on Lex LuthorLex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
. In DC's Post-Crisis continuity, Luthor was a young genius who arranged the death of his parents in a car crash and began his empire using the life insurance policy that he took out on their lives. In DC's Pre-Crisis continuity, Luthor had a sister named Lena, and in the Superman novels written by Elliot S! Maggin
Elliot S! Maggin
Elliot S. Maggin, also spelled Elliot S! Maggin , is an American writer of comic books, film, television and novels. He was a main writer for DC Comics during the Bronze and early Modern ages of comics in the 1970s and 1980s...
, used multiple identities. Emil Burbank's origin is a combination of both interpretations of Lex Luthor.
Fictional character biography
Emil Burbank is a man with many aliases and possibly the greatest intellect on the planet. He has Doctoral Degrees in BiologyBiology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, Metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
, Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
from three different universities. As a child, he sexually abused his older sister by drugging her unconscious with chemical compounds, eventually leaving her in a permanent catatonic state. At 18, his parents died in a car accident, which he arranged and boasts about even while trying to say it was an accident. Emil is noted for malicious and homicidal retribution against those he feels have wronged him. A school bully and a professor who accused him of cheating were both caught in fires started by Emil.
After Emil agrees to work for the government, General Alexander sends Emil, Nuke
Nuke (Squadron Supreme)
Nuke is a superhero from Earth-712 in the fictional Marvel Universe, a member of the Squadron Supreme and later its rebooted equivalent, Supreme Power.-Fictional character biography:...
, Arcanna
Arcanna
Arcanna is the name of two different fictional comic book characters in the Marvel Comics multiverse.The first debuted as a member of the team of superheroes called the Squadron Supreme in The Defenders #112 . The other first appeared in Supreme Power #18 , later joining a team of super heroes also...
, and Shape
Shape (comics)
-Squadron Supreme:-Fictional character biography:The Shape was born in Simak, Lowengard, in the U.S.A. of the alternate Earth of the Squadron Supreme, Earth-712...
to apprehend or destroy Hyperion. While fighting Hyperion, Arcanna's quantum powers, Nuke's radioactive blast, and Hyperion's flash vision combine to create an effect that sends them all to an alternate reality, where Hyperion and most of the other heroes wage war against Earth's governments, to "save" humanity. However, the "alternate" reality is actually the same reality, only years in the future. Emil and Hyperion are the only two members of the Squadron aware of this information after the five are returned to the correct time stream.
Emil was to be on the covert operations team after Hyperion's return to America, but after Mark informs reporter Jason Scott of the project and gives him a list of the super-humans working for the government, the U.S. President gives a press conference and announces the formation of Squadron Supreme.
The team is sent to Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
to apprehend John M'Butu, a fast-rising tribal leader gifted with a powerful verbal suggestion ability, who calls himself the Voice. Burbank reveals that he has developed counter measures to defend himself from everyone on his team, except for Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum
Doctor Spectrum
Doctor Spectrum is the name of several fictional characters that appear in publications published by Marvel Comics. There have been five versions of the character to date - three supervillains from the mainstream Marvel Universe belonging to the team Squadron Sinister and two heroes from different...
. Before Amphibian
Amphibian (comics)
Amphibian is the name of two different fictional characters that have appeared in publications from Marvel Comics.The first debuted as a member of the team of superheroes called the Squadron Supreme in Avengers #147 . The other first appeared in Supreme Power #2 , later joining a team of super...
attacks him, he defeats her with a powder he designed to kill her by suffocation.
On a mission codenamed "Long Walk", to take down insurgents of the Ilam Province in Iran, Emil developed technology that disrupts the functionings of the inner ear
Inner ear
The inner ear is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the temporal bone of the skull with a system of passages comprising two main functional parts:...
, incapacitating the soldiers, who Emil then proceeded to shoot. After Edith Freiberg
Inertia (Marvel Comics)
Inertia is the name of two separate, but related superheroes from the fictional Marvel Universe.-Various incarnations of Inertia:The first Inertia was a character from Earth-712 . Like most of the newer characters created for the Squadron Supreme mini-series, she bore no DC counterpart...
found a little girl whose mother had been stoned by relatives for the perceived dishonor of being raped, Edith, using Emil Burbank as a translator, finds the relatives and buries them up to their necks. She then gives the girl a steel bar with which to kill them. After "Long Walk", Emil Burbank is at the conference to act as a bodyguard.
Powers and abilities
Emil Burbank was recruited to the Squadron because he was tested by the military and found to have been exposed to the retrovirusRetrovirus
A retrovirus is an RNA virus that is duplicated in a host cell using the reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome. The DNA is then incorporated into the host's genome by an integrase enzyme. The virus thereafter replicates as part of the host cell's DNA...
that had been released from Hyperion's spacecraft and bestowed superhuman abilities on numerous people around the world. Even though Emil's enhanced intellect is a direct result of the retro-virus, Emil denies it, insisting that his genius is his own doing.
Though not displaying any physical super powers, Emil demonstrates that he can defend himself in combat situations by the use of certain types of technology (Squadron Supreme #4)