Plantman
Encyclopedia
Plantman aka Blackheath is a fictional character
, a supervillain
in the Marvel Comics universe
. The character first appeared in Strange Tales vol. 1 #113.
orphan, Samuel Smithers found refuge and work as a lab assistant with a famous botanist who was researching the intelligence of plant life. After the botanist's death, Smithers traveled to the United States, hoping to pick up where his mentor left off — inventing a device capable of communicating with plants. Smithers was laughed out of the scientific community and could only find work as a gardener. However, a freak lightning storm struck Smithers' plant ray-gun, allowing it to control and animate plant life. With his "Vege-ray" and a disguise as the Plantman, Smithers wanted revenge on his former employers but was stopped by Johnny Storm, the Human Torch
. Another attempt at revenge, this time on the Human Torch, finally remanded the Plantman to prison. He broke out, however, and traveled to the southwestern United States to grow more plants, this time with his own spliced cells. Here he had partial control, but was also sensitive to the plant's whims. When at one point he thought he had killed Tony Stark, he decided to go directly for world domination, but was foiled by Iron Man
.
Count Nefaria
broke the Plantman and several others out of prison to serve him as his lieutenants to help bolster his prominence in the Maggia
crime family. To this end, the Plantman, the Eel
, Unicorn
, Porcupine
, and Scarecrow
captured the X-Men
in an extortion attempt, but the mutants turned the tables on their captors. At least the Plantman managed to pilfer technology from the Maggia before his escape. He used this to create a monstrous Leviathan out of animated seaweed to terrorize London. It was stopped by Namor and Triton
of the Inhumans
, but managed to escape.
The Plantman has often used plant "simuloids" to create duplicates of himself for mercenary endeavors, raising quick cash to continue his research. One of the first known activities of his simuloids was to join his former allies and the original Viper
in a crime wave under the command of the Cowled Commander (only to be stopped by Captain America
and the Falcon
). Another time, a simuloid kidnapped wealthy businessman Kyle Richmond (Nighthawk
) for ransom, but Nighthawk's allies in the Defenders
helped rescue him, and Nebulon
subdued the simuloid. Spider-Man
and the Falcon
discovered an exotic plant-breeding nursery, where they encountered and defeated the caretaking Plantman-simuloid. Another Plantman-simuloid's scheme to rob a bank was thwarted by two Micronauts.
Next, with an army of 1,000 plant simulacra, the true Plantman captured the U.S. President by taking over an American military base. He attempted to take over S.H.I.E.L.D.
using simuloids. The Avengers
rescued the President, despite the Plantman's army and contending with a 100 feet (30.5 m) tall tree-man and the Plantman's escape. Hawkeye and the Orb
stumbled upon Plantman's mobile plant-growing factory, and he expelled them. During the Acts of Vengeance
, Plantman joined with a group of villains to attack the Fantastic Four. Soon after he tries a solo attack on the Avengers, who are visiting a construction site. He is defeated by the site's employees, who fear the battle might destroy their hard work.
During Smithers subsequent prison sentence in Seagate Federal Penitentiary, he was contacted telepathically by Mentallo
, who was being held in a stasis field in the same prison. Mentallo was still capable of using his powers, and he used them to orchestrate a break-out of his fellow prisoners, which included the hero Hawkeye
, who was serving time for crimes he performed while a member of the team the Thunderbolts
, and Headlok
whom Mentallo had possessed. The criminals, remotely "chained" to one another, escaped as the so-called Chain Gang. The Chain Gang reluctantly agreed to work together to search for a way to survive, deactivate their security manacles, and search for a weapon of great power left behind by the death of the criminal industrialist Justin Hammer
. The weapon had come to the attention of Mentallo by Hammer himself before he died, as Hammer awakened Mentallo's powers while he was in the stasis field. Unknown to his associates, Hawkeye was actually working undercover on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Ultimately, the Chain Gang was tracked down by Hawkeye's former teammate Songbird
, who helped Hawkeye defeat the villains. They discovered that Hammer's legacy was a biological toxin that had been ingested by every single villain who had ever worked for him. Smithers was the carrier. Hawkeye, Songbird, and Smithers began a new search for the trigger that would release Plantman's toxin so that it would not fall into the wrong hands.
The search ended with Hammer's daughter, Justine, who turned out to be the Crimson Cowl, leader of the Masters of Evil
. Hawkeye convinced several members of the Masters of Evil to side with him and Songbird against Crimson Cowl and their former allies, pointing out the dangers of the super-weapon, which would either blackmail or kill them. Hoping to throw off suspicion, Hawkeye made the villains reinvent their costumed identities, thus creating a new team of Thunderbolts, and Smithers joined the group as Blackheath.
Beginning with his time in prison, Smithers had noticed that his body was in the process of mutating, drawing him closer to the energy field that he manipulated to control plants. When the Thunderbolts finally confronted the Crimson Cowl, Smithers was captured and experimented upon to reveal the secrets of the bio-toxin. During this procedure, Smithers' spirit connected with the energy field, the so-called Verdant Green, the embodiment of the Earth's biosphere. The Verdant Green pointed out that Smithers could release the toxin, removing humanity from the biosphere and allowing the plants to flourish as in its pre-industrial days. Instead, Smithers chose to release an antidote for the toxin into the atmosphere and appeared to die in the attempt
The Thunderbolts ultimately defeated the Cowl and her Masters of Evil, but they were confronted by the Elite Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. who caught up with them and wanted the remains of Blackheath's body. Finally, Smithers was able to revive himself by sucking the moisture from the villain Hydro-Man
, leaving Hydro-Man's body desiccated. The Thunderbolts were aided against S.H.I.E.L.D. by the arrival of the true Citizen V, who needed the team's immediate help with his agency's ship — the engines of which were made of alien technology that had begun distorting, threatening to suck the Earth into the null space of a white hole. In so doing, the Thunderbolts encountered the original Thunderbolts, who emerged from the void after severing the alien ship's presence from where they had been trapped on Counter-Earth. The two teams of Thunderbolts combined forces to plug the void and shunt the alien ship from Earth, similar to the manner in which Baron Zemo's team stopped the threat on Counter-Earth
.
After much discussion, most of the costumed heroes and villains chose to part ways. Smithers elected to join the Thunderbolts, hoping that their new mission, to rule the world in order to save it, would closely match his own goals of protecting the Verdant Green from humans. He increasingly began to lose touch with his humanity, increasingly motivated by his connection to the Green
Blackheath joined the Thunderbolts in many acts of questionable heroism under Zemo's leadership, where the ends justified the means. Zemo's ultimate plan involved the creation of "the Liberator," a device that would drain abnormal uses of energy throughout the world and hopefully reduce global threats, eliminate superhuman terrorism, and stabilize the world's status quo. The Thunderbolts succeeded in launching the Liberator, only to be confronted by the Avengers
. Feeling betrayed, Moonstone
absorbed the powers that the Liberator had harnessed, combining them with her already-increased powers of the moonstone. The Thunderbolts and the Avengers teamed up to defeat Moonstone, ultimately removing the alien gems that gave her her powers.
The members of the Thunderbolts then agreed to go their separate ways, and Smithers agreed to return to prison, hoping to reconnect with his human nature that he felt he was slowly losing.
In one instance, a Simuloid gained independence to the point that it became a separate, sentient entity, re-christening itself Terraformer and becoming part of the ecological/elemental-themed supervillain team, the Force of Nature
.
Plantman has extensive knowledge of gardening, and an aptitude towards gadgetry.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, a supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
in the Marvel Comics universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
. The character first appeared in Strange Tales vol. 1 #113.
Fictional character biography
A poor LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
orphan, Samuel Smithers found refuge and work as a lab assistant with a famous botanist who was researching the intelligence of plant life. After the botanist's death, Smithers traveled to the United States, hoping to pick up where his mentor left off — inventing a device capable of communicating with plants. Smithers was laughed out of the scientific community and could only find work as a gardener. However, a freak lightning storm struck Smithers' plant ray-gun, allowing it to control and animate plant life. With his "Vege-ray" and a disguise as the Plantman, Smithers wanted revenge on his former employers but was stopped by Johnny Storm, the Human Torch
Human Torch
The Human Torch is a fictional character and superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, he is a member of the superhero team the Fantastic Four, debuting in The Fantastic Four #1...
. Another attempt at revenge, this time on the Human Torch, finally remanded the Plantman to prison. He broke out, however, and traveled to the southwestern United States to grow more plants, this time with his own spliced cells. Here he had partial control, but was also sensitive to the plant's whims. When at one point he thought he had killed Tony Stark, he decided to go directly for world domination, but was foiled by Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
.
Count Nefaria
Count Nefaria
Count Nefaria is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Avengers #13 and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.- Fictional character biography :...
broke the Plantman and several others out of prison to serve him as his lieutenants to help bolster his prominence in the Maggia
Maggia (comics)
The Maggia is a fictional international crime syndicate that has appeared in various comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The organization exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe...
crime family. To this end, the Plantman, the Eel
Eel (comics)
The Eel is an alias used by two fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first character to take up the identity was Leopold Stryke who first appeared in Strange Tales #112, while his successor, Edward Lavell, first appeared in Power Man and Iron Fist #92 .-Publication...
, Unicorn
Unicorn (comics)
Unicorn is the codename of multiple supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. The first Unicorn debuted in Tales of Suspense vol...
, Porcupine
Porcupine (comics)
Porcupine is the name of three fictional characters in Marvel Comics. Two of them are super-villains.-Fictional character biography:Alexander Gentry, was originally a scientist who worked as a weapons designer for the United States Army, conceived the idea of designing a battle-suit in imitation of...
, and Scarecrow
Scarecrow (Marvel Comics)
The Scarecrow is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics Universe, in which he is an enemy of Captain America, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and Iron Man. His first appearance was in Tales of Suspense #51....
captured the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
in an extortion attempt, but the mutants turned the tables on their captors. At least the Plantman managed to pilfer technology from the Maggia before his escape. He used this to create a monstrous Leviathan out of animated seaweed to terrorize London. It was stopped by Namor and Triton
Triton (comics)
Triton is a fictional merman published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Fantastic Four #45 , and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.-Fictional character biography:...
of the Inhumans
Inhumans
The Inhumans are a fictional race of superhumans, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This race appears in various comic book series published by Marvel Comics and exists in that company's shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe....
, but managed to escape.
The Plantman has often used plant "simuloids" to create duplicates of himself for mercenary endeavors, raising quick cash to continue his research. One of the first known activities of his simuloids was to join his former allies and the original Viper
Viper (comics)
Viper is the name of three fictional characters in the Marvel Comics universe. All three are villains.-Viper :The first known Viper was created by Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema and John Verpoorten and first appeared in Captain America #157 .-Fictional character biography:Jordan...
in a crime wave under the command of the Cowled Commander (only to be stopped by Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
and the Falcon
Falcon (comics)
The Falcon is a fictional comic book superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics.Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan, and introduced in Captain America #117 , the character is mainstream comics' first African-American superhero...
). Another time, a simuloid kidnapped wealthy businessman Kyle Richmond (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;...
) for ransom, but Nighthawk's allies in the Defenders
Defenders (comics)
The Defenders is the name of a number of Marvel Comics superhero groups which are usually presented as a "non-team" of individualistic "outsiders," each known for following their own agendas...
helped rescue him, and Nebulon
Nebulon (comics)
Nebulon is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Fictional character biography:Nebulon is an Ul'lula'n, a race of six-tentacled, finned, water-breathing extraterrestrials about in length...
subdued the simuloid. Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
and the Falcon
Falcon (comics)
The Falcon is a fictional comic book superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics.Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan, and introduced in Captain America #117 , the character is mainstream comics' first African-American superhero...
discovered an exotic plant-breeding nursery, where they encountered and defeated the caretaking Plantman-simuloid. Another Plantman-simuloid's scheme to rob a bank was thwarted by two Micronauts.
Next, with an army of 1,000 plant simulacra, the true Plantman captured the U.S. President by taking over an American military base. He attempted to take over S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage and a secret military law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 , it often deals with superhuman threats....
using simuloids. The Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
rescued the President, despite the Plantman's army and contending with a 100 feet (30.5 m) tall tree-man and the Plantman's escape. Hawkeye and the Orb
Orb (comics)
The Orb is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics supervillain, primarily an adversary of Ghost Rider. Created by writer Len Wein, penciller Ross Andru, and inker Don Perlin, he first appeared in Marvel Team-Up #15 ....
stumbled upon Plantman's mobile plant-growing factory, and he expelled them. During the Acts of Vengeance
Acts of Vengeance
"Acts of Vengeance" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through several titles published by Marvel Comics from December 1989 to February 1990.-Publication history:...
, Plantman joined with a group of villains to attack the Fantastic Four. Soon after he tries a solo attack on the Avengers, who are visiting a construction site. He is defeated by the site's employees, who fear the battle might destroy their hard work.
During Smithers subsequent prison sentence in Seagate Federal Penitentiary, he was contacted telepathically by Mentallo
Mentallo
Mentallo is a fictional comic book supervillain, a mutant who appears in books published by Marvel Comics.After having been fired for cause after attempting a covert takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D., he has since operated as both a freelance criminal and subversive and a high-ranking agent of...
, who was being held in a stasis field in the same prison. Mentallo was still capable of using his powers, and he used them to orchestrate a break-out of his fellow prisoners, which included the hero Hawkeye
Hawkeye (comics)
Hawkeye , also known as Goliath and Ronin, is a fictional character that appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #57 and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck. Hawkeye joined the Avengers in Avengers Vol. 1 #16 Hawkeye...
, who was serving time for crimes he performed while a member of the team the Thunderbolts
Thunderbolts (comics)
The Thunderbolts are a Marvel Comics superhero team, which consists mostly of former supervillains. The group first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #449 , and was created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley.-Publication history:...
, and Headlok
Headlok
Headlok is a fictional character from the Marvel Universe who first appeared in West Coast Avengers #10 in July 1986.-Publication history:...
whom Mentallo had possessed. The criminals, remotely "chained" to one another, escaped as the so-called Chain Gang. The Chain Gang reluctantly agreed to work together to search for a way to survive, deactivate their security manacles, and search for a weapon of great power left behind by the death of the criminal industrialist Justin Hammer
Justin Hammer
Justin Hammer is a fictional character that has appeared in various comic book series published by Marvel Comics. As a frequent adversary of the superhero Iron Man, Justin Hammer exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe...
. The weapon had come to the attention of Mentallo by Hammer himself before he died, as Hammer awakened Mentallo's powers while he was in the stasis field. Unknown to his associates, Hawkeye was actually working undercover on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage and a secret military law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 , it often deals with superhuman threats....
Ultimately, the Chain Gang was tracked down by Hawkeye's former teammate Songbird
Songbird (comics)
Songbird , formerly known as Screaming Mimi, is a fictional character, a superheroine and former supervillainess in the Marvel Comics Universe.-Publication history:...
, who helped Hawkeye defeat the villains. They discovered that Hammer's legacy was a biological toxin that had been ingested by every single villain who had ever worked for him. Smithers was the carrier. Hawkeye, Songbird, and Smithers began a new search for the trigger that would release Plantman's toxin so that it would not fall into the wrong hands.
The search ended with Hammer's daughter, Justine, who turned out to be the Crimson Cowl, leader of the Masters of Evil
Masters of Evil
The Masters of Evil is a name for a number of fictional supervillain teams that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first version of the team appeared in The Avengers #6 , with the lineup continually changing over the years....
. Hawkeye convinced several members of the Masters of Evil to side with him and Songbird against Crimson Cowl and their former allies, pointing out the dangers of the super-weapon, which would either blackmail or kill them. Hoping to throw off suspicion, Hawkeye made the villains reinvent their costumed identities, thus creating a new team of Thunderbolts, and Smithers joined the group as Blackheath.
Beginning with his time in prison, Smithers had noticed that his body was in the process of mutating, drawing him closer to the energy field that he manipulated to control plants. When the Thunderbolts finally confronted the Crimson Cowl, Smithers was captured and experimented upon to reveal the secrets of the bio-toxin. During this procedure, Smithers' spirit connected with the energy field, the so-called Verdant Green, the embodiment of the Earth's biosphere. The Verdant Green pointed out that Smithers could release the toxin, removing humanity from the biosphere and allowing the plants to flourish as in its pre-industrial days. Instead, Smithers chose to release an antidote for the toxin into the atmosphere and appeared to die in the attempt
The Thunderbolts ultimately defeated the Cowl and her Masters of Evil, but they were confronted by the Elite Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. who caught up with them and wanted the remains of Blackheath's body. Finally, Smithers was able to revive himself by sucking the moisture from the villain Hydro-Man
Hydro-Man
Hydro-Man, also spelled Hydro Man , is a fictional character that appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics...
, leaving Hydro-Man's body desiccated. The Thunderbolts were aided against S.H.I.E.L.D. by the arrival of the true Citizen V, who needed the team's immediate help with his agency's ship — the engines of which were made of alien technology that had begun distorting, threatening to suck the Earth into the null space of a white hole. In so doing, the Thunderbolts encountered the original Thunderbolts, who emerged from the void after severing the alien ship's presence from where they had been trapped on Counter-Earth. The two teams of Thunderbolts combined forces to plug the void and shunt the alien ship from Earth, similar to the manner in which Baron Zemo's team stopped the threat on Counter-Earth
Counter-Earth (comics)
In the fictional Marvel Universe, there have been three versions of the hypothetical planet known as Counter-Earth, each one a near-duplicate of Earth.-Publication history:...
.
After much discussion, most of the costumed heroes and villains chose to part ways. Smithers elected to join the Thunderbolts, hoping that their new mission, to rule the world in order to save it, would closely match his own goals of protecting the Verdant Green from humans. He increasingly began to lose touch with his humanity, increasingly motivated by his connection to the Green
Blackheath joined the Thunderbolts in many acts of questionable heroism under Zemo's leadership, where the ends justified the means. Zemo's ultimate plan involved the creation of "the Liberator," a device that would drain abnormal uses of energy throughout the world and hopefully reduce global threats, eliminate superhuman terrorism, and stabilize the world's status quo. The Thunderbolts succeeded in launching the Liberator, only to be confronted by the Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
. Feeling betrayed, Moonstone
Moonstone (comics)
Moonstone is a fictional character, both a supervillain and superheroine in Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe.-Publication history:...
absorbed the powers that the Liberator had harnessed, combining them with her already-increased powers of the moonstone. The Thunderbolts and the Avengers teamed up to defeat Moonstone, ultimately removing the alien gems that gave her her powers.
The members of the Thunderbolts then agreed to go their separate ways, and Smithers agreed to return to prison, hoping to reconnect with his human nature that he felt he was slowly losing.
Powers and abilities
Originally, Plantman used various devices to control plants. He used a chloro-blaster gun which promoted rampant plant growth, a vega-ray gun able to animate any plant, and spore-shooting pistols. He also used large scale cannons able to do what the hand-held chloro-blaster and vega-ray gun do on a larger scale. Plantman also has the ability to control the movements of his animated plant creatures, called simuloids. Simuloids are humanoid plant life constructs grown from alien spores; they are made of wood and capable of movement and mimicking human life, and are capable of speech and can be programmed as extensively as any hi-tech robot. There are two basic kinds of Simuloids: "Heavies" and "Replicas". Certain Plantman simuloids were programmed with Samuel Smithers' brain patterns to believe they were the original Plantman, thus it is not always clear whether any appearance of the Plantman is the actual Plantman.In one instance, a Simuloid gained independence to the point that it became a separate, sentient entity, re-christening itself Terraformer and becoming part of the ecological/elemental-themed supervillain team, the Force of Nature
Force of Nature (comics)
The Force of Nature is a group of super villains in the Marvel Comics Universe who each have elemental themed powers: earth, fire, water, and wind...
.
Plantman has extensive knowledge of gardening, and an aptitude towards gadgetry.
Television
- Plantman appears in The Super Hero Squad ShowThe Super Hero Squad ShowThe Super Hero Squad Show is an American cartoon series by Marvel Animation. It is based on the Marvel Super Hero Squad action figure line from Hasbro, which portray the characters of the Marvel Universe in a cartoonish super-deformed-style...
episode "O Captain, My Captain" voiced by Charlie Adler. He uses an Infinity Fractal to control the plants in the Amazon causing Captain America's International All-Captains Squad (with Wolverine as Captain Canada) to fight him and his plant army. He was defeated when Wolverine used the reflective glass to direct the sun beams toward the plant army.
External links
- Plantman at Marvel.com