Griffin Gogol (Earth-616)

Captain Ultra
Name	Griffin Gogol
Current Alias	Captain Ultra
Aliases	Superhero Who Can Do Anything Better Than You, Wonder Man, Captain Color Blind, Captain Ugh-Tra, Bubo the Clown; Captain Ultah, Captain Eyesore
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Formerly Revengers, Defenders for a Day, Nebraska Initiative team
Relatives	Unnamed parents
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′11″ (1.8 m)
Weight	175 lbs (79.38 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Brown
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human mutate (Extraterrestial enhancement)
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Pendleton, Ohio
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Adventurer, stand-up comedian; former plumber
Education	Vocational training
Base of Operations	New York City, New York Formerly Nebraska; Chicago, Illinois
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Roy Thomas, Mike Friedrich, George Pérez
First	Fantastic Four #177 (September, 1976)
First	Fantastic Four #177 (September, 1976)

History

When an elderly psychologist couldn't afford to pay plumber Griffin Gogol, he offered to cure Gogol's smoking habit via hypnosis. However, as Gogol later learned, the psychologist was an extraterrestrial, and the hypnosis unlocked Gogol's innate superhuman potential. Donning a staggeringly gaudy costume, Gogol became the superhero Captain Ultra; however, he suffered from severe pyrophobia (fear of fire).

Captain Ultra's first appearance was as an applicant to the supervillain team called the Frightful Four; he was at first enthusiastically accepted by the other three villains, ecstatic at his large array of powers. However, when one of them began to light a cigarette in celebration, he fainted in the presence of the match; he was promptly rejected. He eventually overcame his pathological fear of fire thanks to years of extensive therapy under Doc Samson.

Original costume

An unauthorized television program told of the Defenders. Captain Ultra was one of a large group to investigate by travelling to the Richmond Riding Academy on Long Island. There he worked with a small group to stop a crime spree back in New York. Like most of the other applicants, he was not pleased with the Defenders and never really petitioned the core group for membership.

Soon after, he moved to Chicago. He has since had a minor career as a solo superhero, often teaming up with heroes like Thor to battle minor villains.

Initiative

After the Civil War, he was listed as a potential recruit for the Initiative, and became the leader for the Nebraska team of the Initiative program, part of a government controlled superhero program. After Paragon, one of his team, killed fellow teammate Gadget, Griffin briefly fought Iron Man to protect the rest of his group. He was seen investigating the circumstances of Paragon and Gadget's tragic deaths with Doc Samson and Iron Man. During the course of their investigation, it was revealed that there were two new Initiative recruits in the process of being fast-tracked to the Nebraska team, although Captain Ultra expressed irritation at the prospect of having to "babysit the punks."

Later, he joined Wonder Man's Revengers and successfully attacked the Avengers Mansion. He was defeated by the combined forces of the Avengers and New Avengers, and while being interrogated, explained his participation by jealousy and bitterness for being ignored when he asked to join the Avengers.

Someone that looks like Captain Ultra was seen as an inmate of Pleasant Hill.

Captain Ultra was afterward shown incarcerated in the Cellar. During a riot, he attempted to convince his former Revengers teammate Tom Foster to help him and a few other escape, but Tom instead subdued him and the rest of the inmates when Ultra and his companions tried to brutalize or kill a guard named Moore.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

• Superhuman Strength: Captain Ultra's strength enables him to lift far in excess of 25 tons.
• Superhuman Stamina: Captain Ultra could sustain prolonged physical exertion without tiring or undo strain for an indeterminate period of time.
• Superhuman Speed: Captain Ultra could run at a velocity many times greater than that of a normal human being.
• Enhanced agility: Captain Ultra has the dexterity comparable to a world class athlete.
• Super-Breath: Captain Ultra possessed the ability to create hurricane force winds by blowing, and to chill an his breath in order to freeze a target.
• Invulnerability: Captain Ultra is virtually invulnerable to conventional attacks.
• Flight: Captain Ultra could fly by manipulating a planet's gravitational field.
• Penetrating Vision: Captain Ultra's penetra-vision makes him able to see through solid matter As part of his same Penetrating Vision power, Captain Ultra can use;
  • Telescopic Vision:, in combination with penetra-vision if desired.
  • Microscopic Vision: and is able to analyze fingerprints.
• Intangibility: Captain Ultra is able to phase through solid matter.
• Psychic Resistance:Captain Ultra is resistance to mind control and other psychic attacks.
• Ultra-voice: Captain Ultra is able to shatter solid objects with an incredibly loud and destructive sonic scream.

Abilities

Adept at creating balloon animals.

Weaknesses

• Pyrophobia (formerly): Captain Ultra would faint when seeing a flame, even in a lighter. With extensive therapy, he partially overcame this phobia.

Trivia

• Captain Ultra is a pastiche of the Martian Manhunter due to their shared pyrophobia. What Captain Ultra does not have is the Manhunter's ability to shapeshift.

See Also

• 22 appearance(s) of Griffin Gogol (Earth-616)
• 10 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Griffin Gogol (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) of Griffin Gogol (Earth-616)
• 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Griffin Gogol (Earth-616)
• 9 image(s) of Griffin Gogol (Earth-616)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Griffin Gogol (Earth-616)

Links and References

• All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 2