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At the beginning of the 20th century, the race for the tallest building in the world started. The Chrysler Building at 405 Lexington Avenue was the first building to top the then-highest building, the Eiffel Tower in Paris. New York City would keep the highest building in the world until 1974, when the Sears Tower was built in Chicago.

For Walter P. Chrysler, from the car manufacturer, building the highest building in the world was a status symbol. The Chrysler building was in a race with the Bank of Manhattan for obtaining the title of highest building in the world. It looked like the Bank of Manhattan would win the race, with an expected height of 283 meters against the around 230 meters for the Chrysler building. But the spire of the Chrysler building was constructed in secret inside the tower.

Just one week after the Bank of Manhattan had reached its top, the spire of the Chrysler building was put in place, making it 319 meters high, thus beating the Bank of Manhattan as the highest building in the world. It would not keep this title for long: one year later the Empire State Building was erected.

Chrysler Building from World War Hulk Aftersmash Damage Control Vol 1 3 001

Displaying sentience

Sentience and Freedom[]

After the Hulk and his Warbound were defeated in World War Hulk, Hiroim, Korg, and The Thing combined their powers to seal a fault line in Manhattan by infusing it with shadow-stone. In the process, they infused shadow-stone into the foundation of the Chrysler Building. The shadow-stone, a mineral with psychoreactive properties, imbued the Chrysler Building with the echoes of hopes, dreams, and feelings of every human to have ever stepped foot inside the building. The building came to life, growing a stone face and arms.

The Chrysler Building expressed a general disdain for remaining where it was and demanded it be allowed to stretch its legs (which it didn't have). At the same time, Damage Control and several superheroes demanded that it remained still, both to limit collateral damage and to keep the building doing its job. A short battle ensued, during which the Chrysler Building defeated all the super heroes present in a matter of seconds.

Eventually, John Porter negotiated a deal with the structure. Damage Control mounted the building on an anti-gravity platform, allowing it to travel wherever it wanted for the entirety of August once a year. Its first vacation was to Japan, where the Building claimed to have a fabulous time and was treated as a celebrity.[1]

Alternate Realities[]

Age of X (Earth-11326)[]

Chrysler Building (Earth-11326) from Age of X Alpha Vol 1 1 0001

In this reality, the Chrysler Building served as a temporary refuge for Forge and a handful of mutants he was helping escape to Canada until Magneto used it and a few other skyscrapers to build their new base.


Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)[]

The Chrysler Building can easily be seen from the Baxter Building in this reality.[2] Vampire X had a meeting with his legion of vampires atop the Chrysler Builidng. During the meeting, Anthony used the power of Iron Man's armor to remove a tracking device by hand from Nerd Hulk's chest. [3] When the world-devouring Galactus arrived on Earth and was confronted by Thor, he threw the God of Thunder through one of the top floors of the building. [4]


Chrysler Building from Spider-Man (1994 animated series) Season 1 4 001

Spider-Man (1994 animated series) (Earth-92131)[]

In this reality, a fortress resembling the Chrysler Building served as the Kingpin's base of operations.[5]


Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)[]

During the Battle for New York between the Avengers and the Chitauri, Thor used the top of the Chrysler Building as an amplifier for a lightning attack he used to ravage the Chitauri reinforcements coming from a portal atop Stark Tower.[6]

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Links and References

References

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