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Quote1 Stop... Hammer Time! Quote2
Slapstick

History

Early Life[]

Steve Harmon (Earth-616) from Marvel Legacy The 1990s Handbook Vol 1 1 001

Steven Harmon

Steve Harmon was born in Plainview, New Jersey. Since then, he has always been a problem child, often breaking his own things and dressing up in strange costumes.[3]

Scientist Supreme of Dimension X[]

In a plan to get back at his archrival Winston for sending him to detention, Steve dressed as a clown to blend into the crowd at a strange new carnival. Before Steve could enact his plan, Winston and his date, Heather, were kidnapped by several clowns. Steve picked up a mallet as a weapon and followed them. The group entered the carnival fun-house and entered a portal disguised as a mirror. As it was closing, Steve followed. At the moment of entry, an energy burst raced across Steve's world, alerting the senses of several beings, such as Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, and Howard the Duck.[3]

His molecules stretched across 3741 dimensions and Steve ended up in the realm of the Scientist Supreme of Dimension X (who resembled Groucho Marx). The scientist helped Steve master his new form, a body composed of living unstable molecules dubbed Electroplasm. This essentially made him a living cartoon character. The scientist, who had been ousted from his position by the Overlord, theorized that Steve had come to his new form because he was slightly out of synch when entering the fun-house portal. Using his new powers and a map the scientist had, Steve freed many captive Earthlings from the evil Clowns from Dimension X and their ruler, the Overlord. It was learned that this was what the scientist had intended all long. The Overlord's plan had been to brainwash Earthlings enough so their belief would be sufficient to give Overlord whatever he desired. The Overlord's plans were foiled when the belief that held up his castle gave way as the humans regained their right minds. The castle crashed. The captured humans ran to the portal, followed quickly by the monstrous clowns. Steve destroyed the mirror, eradicating the clown's influence on this reality. Minutes afterward, Steve was found by his best friend, who agreed to assist him.[3]

Slapstick[]

Steven Harmon (Earth-616) from Slapstick Vol 1 1 0001

Slapstick

Steve had other villains to confront: a Punisher copycat called the Overkiller attacked Steve because he thought he was a mutant. The two fought in a mall, destroying most of it. Steve ended the fight by literally kissing Overkiller and then walloping him while the man reacted with disgust. Spider-Man assisted with the battle.[8] There was also Oliver Denton, an actual mutant child with extreme intelligence who built a robotic teddy bear to destroy his babysitter and her boyfriend. Unfortunately for Oliver, Beth was the crush of the hero Slapstick who came to her rescue, fighting off Denton until the teddy went haywire, necessitating a truce between them. Oliver and Slapstick destroyed the bear, and afterward, Slapstick spanked Oliver until his parents came home and scolded him for building androids without their permission.[9] Lastly, there was a homeless man, the Neutron Bum, with the power to cause explosions. The vagrant was furious over the price of coffee and decided to take it out on society by blowing up random parts of New York, such as a local Tower Records. Neutron Bum, despite his fixation on the unfairness of high coffee prices, seemingly could not keep the actual price of it straight. Despite the gathering of dozens of superheroes willing and planning to fight the man, Slapstick simply neutralized the situation by getting Neutron Bum what he had been yelling for all along, a cup of coffee (and then blindsiding the man from behind while he was drinking it). He also teamed up with the Ghost Rider.[10]

New Warriors[]

He was a friend of Speedball of the New Warriors and was described as "The hero who doesn't fight crime but rather plays cruel tricks on it."[11] Later, Slapstick teamed up with the New Warriors to fight Dr. Yesterday, partly because doing so would impress women. He wasn't seen for some time. It was established that at some point prior to Justice and Firestar leaving the New Warriors to become Avengers, Slapstick and Ultra-Girl were made official members of the Warriors and given communicators, after helping the team stop a Badoon invasion.[12][7]

Civil War[]

Slapstick helped the surviving members of the New Warriors find Hindsight Lad, the young man and former Warrior responsible for outing the secret identities of past Warriors and allies to the public.[13] LaFroyge was stopped, arrested by the authorities, before Slapstick's identity was made public.[14]

Initiative[]

Steven Harmon (Earth-616) from Avengers The Initiative Vol 1 6 001

Slapstick was later seen on the bus of new recruits arriving at Camp Hammond as part of the Initiative training program.[15] He was later seen, with other heroes, confronting the Thing as part of a training mission.

Slapstick and other Camp Hammond members were sent out as crowd control when the Hulk led an attack on New York. Slapstick and other members were imprisoned by Hulk's forces in Madison Square Garden and neutralized with power-sapping technology.[16] They were rescued by black-ops forces associated with the Camp.[17] He volunteered with Damage Control to help with the clean up of New York after Hulk's reign. Bart Rozum was confused as to why Slapstick, an outright anarchist, would join the government, but Slapstick told him "I'm a masked vigilante who's registered with the government. That's more than crazy, that's practically Dadaesque!"[18]

It was revealed that the Slapstick who attacked and almost killed Gauntlet out of loyalty to the New Warriors, in retaliation for Gauntlet's frequent use of the team's name as an insult.[19] He had since tried to admit this to his teammates but was almost comically interrupted by the attack by KIA.[7] He later came in possession of a device containing the memory and personality of KIA, villainous clone of Michael Van Patrick, and decided to keep hold of it.[20]

Counter Force[]

Slapstick and several other former New Warriors were recruited by Justice and apparently deserted from the Initiative, after Justice found evidence of shady activities within the organization.[21] After helping to stop KIA's rampage, this new group officially quit the Initiative, intending to act as a form of independent oversight for the program; as legally registered heroes, they were free to act unless they broke the law while doing so.[22] When asked to change to his less conspicuous normal form, Slapstick admitted that he had not done so since joining the Initiative, and claimed that the mechanism that activated the change no longer works.[23] The team came to Camp Hammond to battle Ragnarok.[24] The "Thor clone" easily defeated the young heroes, leaving Slapstick as a puddle on the ground.[25] The truth about MVP was revealed to the world and the team left the camp.[26]

Avengers Resistance[]

After returning MVP's body to his family, the team reformed into the Avengers Resistance.[27] Tensions grew between Slapstick and the rest of the group due to his wacky antics.[28] Infighting began between the Initiative groups due to Norman Osborn's takeover.[29] They went to Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. to rescue Night Thrasher. They fought off H.A.M.M.E.R. super agents .[30] The demon Nightmare attacked the camp and Slapstick tried to face him but was overcome with nightmares. The team were able to escape with Night Thrasher.[31] He later returned for the final battle at Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. dressed as a spartan and attacked the H.A.M.M.E.R. agents.[32]

Fear Itself[]

During the War of the Serpent, Slapstick was one of the numerous young heroes that joined forces to battle the Worthy.[33]

Mercs for Money[]

Steven Harmon (Earth-616) from Deadpool Vol 6 2 001

Slapstick as a Merc for Money

When Deadpool founded the Mercs for Money, he employed the services of Slapstick, among numerous other vigilantes, to pose as him in order to extend his reach across the globe.[2] At that time, Steve was seemingly on the verge of depression, looking for the service of sex workers (though he lacked genitals) for comfort.[4]

The Mercs for Money eventually became disgruntled with Deadpool, from the way he treated them to the delays in their paychecks.[34] When they set out to create their own business, the Mercs discovered Deadpool had been skimming on them.[35] After retrieving and burning their contracts from a safety deposit in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, the Mercs and Deadpool parted ways.[36]

Attributes

Power Grid[42]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/None:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Virtually Indestructible:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (800 lbs-25 ton):Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Normal

Powers

  • Unstable Molecule Physiology: Slapstick's body is made out of Unstable Molecules,[37] making him invulnerable. A device in his left glove helps him stay cohesive, as well as allowing him to turn back into his normal form. Being hit with electricity or struck by lightning seems to make Slapstick much more powerful and sillier. Slapstick has Cartoon Physiology, meaning he can manipulate himself in impractical and outrageous ways.[38]
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Due to his cartoony nature Slapstick often liked to address the readers. Those around him just ignored this just thinking he was crazy.[10]

Weaknesses

Due to being made of Electroplasm, a counter charge at correct frequency will destroy his molecular bonds, thereby incapacitating him until bond cohesion is restored.[39]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

  • His gloves have special devices.[40]
  • Infinite Pockets: in proper Cartoon fashion, Slapstick is able to carry an arbitrarily large amount of stuff in his pockets, with no burden of space or weight. This is presumably the same space as the one his hammers come from. In one instance he removed dozens of toys from his pocket before he could find a beeping New Warriors communicator, though this may simply have been for comedic effect.[7]
    • Somewhere in his pockets Slapstick is carrying a copy of the brainwaves from KIA.[39]
  • Deadpool's Suit: as a member of the Mercs for Money he was provided with a version of Deadpool's suit.[2]

Weapons

  • Hammer Space: Slapstick can pull a number of weapons, most notably a giant hammer, from a subspace pocket in his right glove. He does this with a sleight of hand motion, making them seem to come out of thin air.[6]

Notes

  • Slapstick lacks genitals in his cartoon form. It was speculated that it was by overcompensation that he used a giant hammer (Though he was known for using big Mallets even back when he could switch between Toon and Human form).[4]
  • Slapstick was previously stated to be made of Ectoplasm.[39]

Trivia

  • Slapstick was voted as the best new character of 1992, narrowly edging out Carnage.[citation needed]

See Also

Links and References

References

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