Walrus (comics)
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| The Walrus | |
|---|---|
 The Savage Walrus |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Defenders #131 (May 1984) |
| Created by | J. M. DeMatteis |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Hubert Carpenter |
| Partnerships | The White Rabbit |
| Abilities | enhanced strength and resistance to injury, good at crossword puzzles, ability to distract enemies by making them laugh hysterically |
The Walrus is a minor Marvel Comics supervillain of Spider-Man who first appeared in Defenders #131 (May 1984).
Fictional character biography
The Walrus is a supervillain and foe of Spider-Man. He wears a costume that resembles a walrus (or a giant plush toy) and despite being physically strong, proved to be completely inept and pointless. Where most supervillains are interested in stealing money or taking over the world, the Walrus was content with mindless property damage. He considered his role as a supervillain as that of a "mass-destructionist".
The man who would one day don the guise of the savage Walrus, was once a cab driver named Hubert Carpenter (a minor reference to Alice in Wonderland's The Walrus and the Carpenter). Hubert's uncle Humbert (a mad scientist/eccentric janitor) used devious experimental technology to endow Hubert with the attributes that would surely make him into the pre-eminent supervillain of all times. Hubert, now with the "proportionate speed, strength and agility of a walrus", started causing havoc.[volume & issue needed]
He fought the New Defenders and Frogman II, before collapsing. Then he teamed up with the deadly and nefarious White Rabbit, forming the Terrible Two. He and his sidekick fought Spider-man and were easily beaten. One of their common goals was to murder Frogman, who had humiliated them both in the past. However, it was soon revealed that Frogman had little to worry about as the Walrus is the sort of supervillain that has to wear velcro shoes in order to avoid accidentally tying his shoes to each other. The Walrus is not the smartest villain, as he tends to make the most stupid remarks, which made even Spider-Man laugh uncontrollably at the Walrus, allowing the Walrus to punch Spider-Man and knock him down. The fact that the Walrus also wears a large rainbow "W" on the front of his costume also tends to make his enemies laugh at him.[volume & issue needed]
Walrus later appears with Mr. Fish in an exotic night club. Walrus is seen admiring an overweight dancer.[1]
During the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Deadpool sees the chaos caused by the Worthy and manipulates Walrus into thinking that he has been chosen to wield a magical hammer so that he can improve his security consolation.[2] However, his plan goes awry when the hammer turns out to be property of a group of werewolves called the Moon-Born. The hammer exhibits special properties under the full moon which Deadpool discovers when he engages Walrus in battle.[3]
Powers and abilities
Hubert claimed to have the proportionate speed, strength, and agility of a walrus. However, he demonstrated little evidence of superhuman powers as a walrus is neither fast nor agile on land; his speed, agility, reflexes, and endurance seemed to be inferior to that of a normal human. The Walrus did demonstrate feats that would require enhanced strength and resistance to damage. He was actually able to hit Spider-Man with sufficient force to knock him flying and rip a metal lamp post in half, as well as withstanding razor sharp and explosive carrots fired at him by the White Rabbit as a test.
It was revealed that he had been mutagenically altered by his uncle with walrus DNA, which would presumably add certain walrus characteristics to his physiology, such as a layer of blubber to keep him warm in freezing water and the ability to hold his breath for a much longer time than a human. None of these abilities would be very useful to a supervillain who never goes anywhere near water; however, the layer of blubber could explain his resistance to injury.
The Walrus' durability was such that Spider-Man was able to defeat him by flicking him with his index finger, which knocked the Walrus out. As Spider-Man pointed out during their first encounter, since Hubert is smaller than an average walrus, having the "proportionate speed, strength and agility" of one would make him less fast, strong and agile than his namesake.[4]
The Walrus was noticeably unintelligent, but was good at crossword puzzles.
