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| Source: Marvel Comics |
is for Goliath.
Goliath was a name used by quite a few heroes, throughout the years....including:
- Henry "Hank" Pym who, originally, adopted the name. Also going by Giant Man, Yellowjacket, and Ant Man.
- Clinton Francis Barton who started his heroic as Hawkeye and, later, took the name from Pym.
- Bill Foster....who've we already seen on "B" day as Black Goliah. He has also gone by Goliath as well as Giant Man.
- Tom Foster who was Bill's nephew and MIT genius. He cracked the secret of the "Pym Particle" and took on the mantle of Goliath after his uncle's death.
- Erik Josten, who started as the villain known as Power Man, later adopted the Goliath identity after joining the quasi-hero group, The Thunderbolts.
For this entry, though, we'll be focusing on Clint Barton....aka Hawkeye...aka Goliath.
Clinton Francis Barton and his brother, Barney, lost their parents early on in life. With not many options, Clint did what a lot of young kids dreamed of doing.....he ran off to join the circus. Coming under the wing of an archer called "Trick Shot", Clint became an expert archer and traveled around the country.
Upon seeing Iron Man in action, Clint decided to use his archery skills to help his fellow man. Unfortunately, on his first outing as a hero he was mistaken for a crook and became a wanted man. On the run, he meets Russian spy Natasha Romanova (aka The Black Widow) and falls in love with her. After a botched attempt by the pair to steal technology belonging to Tony Stark, the two are confronted by Iron Man and the Widow is injured. It's then that Clint decides really get back on the straight and narrow.
Eventually, after saving the life of Edwin Jarvis (the butler for the super group, The Avengers) Clint is sponsored for membership into the group by....of all people....Iron Man. Hawkeye becomes one of the core members of the group and comes to the fore during the days of "Cap's Kooky Quartet". Consisting of Captain America, Hawkeye, The Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver, the quartet has many adventures together and Hawkeye grows as a hero and a person.
It took his bow breaking to make Clint realize that, sometimes, gadgets can be a liability so he decides he wants "real" super powers. He adopts the Goliath identity and dons one of the most ridiculous costumes in comics. It was hard to tell if he was a superhero or a pro wrestler, from the look of his outift.
Of course it wasn't quite as bad as a later modification he wore during his Hawkeye days.....
.....yeah, we'll pretend we didn't see that one.
Anyway, Clint goes back to being Hawkeye, leaving the Goliath identity behind after the Kree-Skrull war and proving that not all superheroes with powers have to be scientists.
As Goliath, Clint could grow to the "standard" fifteen feet (give or take a few) and had the proportionate strength and durability of a giant.
While in the Hawkeye identity, Clint was an outstanding archer and in top physical shape. Another hero trained by Captain America, he was proficient in hand to hand combat as well as used all sorts of trick arrows in his fight against crime.
Even though he only had a brief stint as Goliath, Clint is one of my favorite incarnations. Of course, I was never a fan of the costume, but sometimes you have to overlook things when reading comics....and that was one of them.
Tune in tomorrow when I 'buzz' about one of the 'wildest' comic book heroes of all time!
No...seriously....
