Healing is one of the most useful abilities a hero can have because if they can recover from the damage they have received quickly enough, there is nothing that can stop them, and defeating them becomes nearly impossible. Popular names like Wolverine and Deadpool come to mind when we think of mutants with the strongest healing factors, and while they have excellent regeneration abilities, there is one lesser-known, undervalued hero whose healing factor is probably the best of all time.
Mister Immortal was first created by Marvel Comics in 1989 when John Byrne took over the writing and drawing of the West Coast Avengers with Issue #46. A lightheartedly presented character has evolved into one with a dark past and a healing factor that is linked to the cosmos itself. Mr. Immortal is the subject of today’s video.
The one that introduced Mr. immortal in style – the first comic book appearance explored
Issue #46 of the West Coast Avengers introduced us to Mr. Immortal and the gang. The book opens with a costumed hero who intervenes in a bank robbery, skilfully evading their attacks and taking them out in style, but his gymnastic and fighting abilities are only effective for a short time before the burglars shoot him down, killing him. The thieves then realize their hostages were being rescued by a flat, stretching ribbon and they themselves were being stalled by a gigantic obese woman who is immune to their bullets, as well as a flying dinosaur woman who flies directly into the bank through the wall.
As they try to flee, they are confronted by the hero they thought they had shot dead, who begins to thrash them mercilessly. The flat hero who saved the hostages restrains him until the dinosaur lady uses her hypersonic voice to calm him down. When the heroes appear in front of the Milwaukee television news cameras, they introduce themselves as The Great Lakes Avengers.
The first segment shows us a couple of important things, the composition of the Great Lakes Avengers, all their different powers and abilities, and most importantly, how Mister Immortal’s healing ability is super useful in combat situations. However, it also shows how regeneration takes a toll on him, making him more violent and angry with only Dinah Soar being able to calm him down.
The news of this new team of Avengers spreads like wildfire and reaches the ears of the ‘real’ Avengers who don’t take lightly to their name being used and thus come Hawkeye and Mockingbird to check in on the GLA.
Hawkeye and Mockingbird take a trip to Milwaukee to see the Great Lakes Avengers. The Great Lakes Avengers arrive in Milwaukee at the Germania Building, where an A.P.B. has been triggered by an unexplained light show. The doorman uses his abilities to turn his body into a portal, allowing Flatman to enter the building without causing any damage.
Dinah Soar flies to the top, where she’s caught in a net and uses a whistle to alert her teammates. Mr. Immortal rides on Big Bertha’s back in response to the call, and she uses her mighty bulk to lift him to the building’s roof, before comfortably falling down to ground level herself, shielded by her great mass.
Mr. Immortal is confronted at the top by Hawkeye, whom Mr. Immortal believes to be an impostor in Hawkeye’s costume. When Mockingbird reacts to Mr. Immortal’s attack, kicking him, he mistakenly believes she is an imitator as well and leaps to his death from the roof. This makes her question herself and then, out of concern, Mockingbird enquires about Mr. Immortal’s death, and it is here that Flatman informs her that he is immortal and thus the lack of worry from their side when their teammate literally jumped to his death.
Later, at Big Bertha’s luxurious home, which serves as the Great Lakes Avengers headquarters, she discloses that she used to be a high-paid supermodel with a superpower. Hawkeye analyses the situation and sees the Great Lakes Avengers as a serious group of heroes and decides that by leading them, he can turn them into “a heckuva team.” Thus, actually acknowledging the powers of Mister Immortal and the gang.
Not a bad introduction for our immortal superhero! All his skills are on show in this one!
The price of Immortality – origins explored
Craig Hollis is the name of the man that went on to become Mr. Immortal. Deathurge, a cosmic entity, had been a part of his life ever since he was a newborn and this foreshadowed what was to come. Deathurge is an entity that acts as Oblivion’s herald, bringing and assisting death. In some cases, he acts almost benevolently as an Angel of Death, guiding souls to whatever lies ahead for them in the afterlife. In other cases, he furthers Oblivion’s goals across the universe, suffocating anyone who stands in their way.
Deathurge first appeared in Craig’s life when he was a newborn baby, right before his mother’s untimely death. Deathurge promised his mother that he would look after Craig, and he did so in his own special way ever since then. Deathurge was dubbed “D’urge” by Craig, and the two grew close over time.
Everyone assumed “D’urge” was a fictitious friend but what was extremely concerning was the fact that Deathurge was constantly urging Craig to put his life in danger – for example, playing on the road in oncoming traffic. However, every attempt on the boy’s life was foiled and he would always get saved one way or another.
Things took a horribly wrong turn when Deathurge once prompted Craig into a daring stunt on his eighth birthday. This stunt involved, first setting his house on fire and thereafter telling Craig to stay hidden under the house even though it was burning down. The firemen eventually rescued Craig, but he was forced to watch Deathurge take his father to the afterlife as he died as a result of the fire. Deathurge stopped visiting Craig after this incident and Craig had to move away because he was adopted by another family.
Mr. O’Doughan, his new father, was an abusive man, but Craig stayed strong because Terri, Mr. O’Doughan’s daughter, was in his life. She was his first true friend, and their friendship grew into love. They planned to shift out of the house and try to live solely on love because they were incredibly in love with each other.
Craig had to put in long and tough hours, but he persevered until Terri left, leaving only a Dear John letter on the table. Deathurge reappeared and this confirmed the fact that Terri had not just left, she had actually committed suicide. Craig, bereft of his loved ones, begged Deathurge to take him as well, but Deathurge rejected his pleas and left a hopeless and miserable Craig.
Craig wanted to commit suicide, and his first attempt resulted in him surviving a fall from a building. Every subsequent attempt at suicide, from using explosives to drowning, failed, and he realized he just could not die. Craig discovered his calling and decided to become a superhero after seeing the incredible potential of having superpowers. Mr. Immortal was born as a result of this realization.
Thus, Craig’s backstory is dark and twisted, having witnessed the death of all his loved ones and living with the knowledge that he would never receive the sweet kiss of death and would always outlive all the people he ever loved. This was the true price of immortality.
Mr. Immortal as the leader of Great Lakes Avengers
Another Avengers? Yes, you heard me right! Craig adopted the moniker Mr. Immortal as a result of his newly discovered ability. Mr. Immortal then decided to become a superhero and fight crime, and his first outing as a superhero was attempting to thwart a bank robbery.
However, Mr. Immortal was gunned down and left for dead during the incident. He obviously didn’t die, and instead decided that forming a team would allow him to put his abilities to better use because while he was immortal, he could use some help with other abilities like speed and strength. As a result, he forms the Great Lakes Avengers, a regional offshoot of the Avengers based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Mr. Immortal as its leader, after placing an advertisement.
Flatman, Doorman, Big Bertha, Dinah Soar, and Leather Boy were the other founding members. Craig grew to love Dinah Soar over time, as he was the only one who could communicate with her in her native tongue. They turned out to be soul mates, and he was her ageless love, as she had a degree of immortality herself.
The Great Lakes Avengers met Hawkeye and Mockingbird, who was conducting an investigation into their unofficial Avengers franchise after they had already been working together for a while. The official Avengers chose to stay on to assist the GLA in their training, and Hawkeye even attempted to gain formal status from both branches.
The Great Lakes Avengers aided the Avengers on occasion, such as rescuing an abducted Scarlet Witch or trying to delay the arrival of Terminus. The team also battles the mercenary Deadpool after assisting the Thunderbolts against the villain Graviton. Interestingly, they spend most of their time playing cards when they are not fighting crime, making them quite the wholesome superhero team, eh?
Mr. Immortal and the GLA changed their names to the Lightning Rods after the Avengers vanished against Onslaught, in order to capitalize on the new heroes, the Thunderbolts’ fame. When the Thunderbolts were discovered to be the Masters of Evil, this proved to be a mistake. After that, the Lightning Rods teamed up with S.H.I.E.L.D. to hunt down the renegade Thunderbolts.
Craig was on the verge of disbanding the GLA however, he reconsidered when he learned that the real Avengers had disbanded, causing him to joyfully proclaim that they were now the real Avengers. Dinah Soar was killed in their next battle with Maelstrom, and Deathurge appeared to take her to the afterlife. His and Deathurge’s previous friendship came to a bitter end as a result of this.
Mr. Immortal would run into Deathurge once more at Dinah Soar’s funeral, where Deathurge voiced his regret and demonstrated that he had genuinely come to love Mr. Immortal as a son. Mr. Immortal, on the other hand, was tremendously angry at Deathurge for taking away everything he had ever loved and cared about, and attacks Deathurge, but to no avail. Craig then falls into a deep depressive episode, repeatedly drinking heavily and attempting to kill himself inside GLA headquarters while dressed as Dinah Soar, all while the others look on.
Later, Leather Boy, disguised as Doctor Doom, infiltrated the team’s headquarters and killed Monkey Joe, Squirrel Girl’s sidekick. When Deathurge showed up in the form of a squirrel to take away Monkey Joe, his squirrel form left him defenseless and Craig was able to get his revenge by trapping him in the body of a squirrel.
Deathurge then revealed to Craig his destiny: to outlive everybody as the one true immortal, and then to discover the magnificent secret that will be disclosed at the end of time. Deathurge had tried to prepare Craig by taking away some of his loved ones so that he might truly live up to that ultimate fate, and the villain Maelstrom was at the point where he could indeed take away that purpose, ending the universe prematurely. This gave Mr. Immortal renewed vigour and purpose and he decided to stop Maelstrom at any cost.
The GLA barged into Maelstrom’s base, and it was Mr. Immortal who saved the universe in the end, albeit at the expense of his companion, Doorman. Getting close to Maelstrom, Mr. Immortal was able to play on his emotions, knowing that Maelstrom would be the one left alone in the end, and that was the big secret. Maelstrom was frightened by the thought and sought a way out, which Mr. Immortal provided.
The way put was suicide. Maelstrom killed himself, not knowing that Mr. Immortal would be able to recover from his injury while he would die for good, and Craig was able to hit the button that prevented the machine Maelstrom had designed to bring the universe to its end. The GLA saved everyone but received no credit. Even though they were forced to drop the Avengers moniker, the group persevered and became the GLX, short for the Great Lakes X-Men once they found out that all the members were mutants.
As the GLX they further went on many more adventures.
What makes him so powerful?
Immortality is no small feat, many have tried to achieve it over the centuries and now we have one such being that is truly immortal and can come back from any injury whatsoever, making him an immensely powerful being. He is also an extremely skilled acrobat and athlete.
Mr. Immortal is the only known person of the Homo supreme species, which evolved after Homo sapiens, or regular humans, and Homo superior, or mutants. Retroactive Immortality is the name of his special ability and this is because Mr. Immortal has the ability to resurrect and heal himself from any passing he suffers, no matter how he is killed. He is usually resurrected very quickly, often within a matter of seconds or minutes.
Additionally, he doesn’t seem to age at all. It has been seen that after being shot, crushed, exploded, drowned, incinerated, poisoned, decapitated, irradiated, and, stabbed, he has always made a full recovery. Mr. Immortal is destined to live to see the end of the universe, according to Deathurge. Mr. Immortal’s Healing Factor: Upon death and resurrection, Mr. Immortal can heal from any and all injuries. However, he will heal at a regular human rate if he sustains a non-fatal injury.
However, there is always a downside to dying and coming back so many times. Mr. Immortal is frequently enraged after resurrecting due to the pains of death and resurrection, and this fact happens to be his only known weakness.
To really understand the true extent of his power, it is important to compare and contrast his healing ability with that of two other Marvel characters – Wolverine and Deadpool. Wolverine’s and Deadpool’s ability to heal are linked to their biology, with Wolverine’s being due to his mutation and Deadpool’s being due to genetic enhancements.
Mister Immortal’s healing abilities are, on the other hand, complex: on one level, they are a result of a mutation, but on a much deeper level, they also have a cosmic component. Franklin Richards is set to become the next form of Galactus in the next cycle of creation, as previously stated—this is an important role in the Marvel Universe because it keeps creation balanced. Mister Immortal is the backup, which is a crucial role.
As a result, the universe needs Mister Immortal to continue living, and it will do whatever it takes to keep him alive, whether it means enlisting the Deathurge’s help or transforming him into Homo Supreme. The healing factors of Deadpool and Wolverine are essential to who they are, but Mister Immortal, who appears to have the universe’s protection, has the best healing factor in the Marvel Universe.
Mr. Immortal is thus quite the underrated superhero despite having what many people have died trying to acquire – immortality. His healing abilities easily put Deadpool and Wolverine’s regeneration powers to shame and put him on the map when it comes to heroes that are near impossible to defeat. He has been killed, brutally murdered even, countless times but he has always returned. What do you think about Mister Immortal? Let us know in the comments section below!