WRECKING CREW

 

WRECKING CREW

Roster: (l to r): Wrecker (Dirk Garthwaite), Piledriver (Brian Philip Calusky), Bulldozer (Henry Camp), and Thunderball (Eliot Franklin)

First Appearance: The Mighty Thor (Vol. 1) #148, January 1968 (Wrecker); Defenders (Vol. 1) #17, January 1974 (remaining members and team debut)

History/Powers: Years ago, Dirk Garthwaite, a small-time burglar wielding a crowbar, broke into a hotel room and overpowered its occupant, the Asgardian trickster god Loki, who had just requested mystical enhancements from Karnilla the Norn Queen. Accidentally receiving these enhancements, Dirk became the costumed Wrecker. After a battle with Thor caused his mystic power to be transferred into his trademark crowbar, Garthwaite was sent to Ryker's Island prison where he befriended fellow inmates Henry Camp, Brian Calusky, and physicist Dr. Eliot Franklin. Escaping from prison during an electrical storm, the foursome ventured to find Garthwaite's crowbar. Upon finding it, he had his three partners hold onto the crowbar with him during the lightning storm, and the resultant bolt of lightning split the Wrecker's superhuman strength between the four of them, creating Bulldozer, Piledriver, and Thunderball. Together, they formed the super-villain team known as the Wrecking Crew.

-The Wrecker possesses superhuman strength and a high degree of imperviousness to harm as a result of the magical power bestowed upon him by Karnilla the Norn Queen. The enchantment augmented his entire body, strengthening his bone, muscle, and flesh. The Wrecker possesses superhuman strength that enables him to lift (press) about 50 tons. Previously, when sharing his superhuman power with the other three members of the Wrecking Crew, the Wrecker could lift (press) about 10 tons. The Wrecker is capable of withstanding the impact of a .45 caliber bullet without it penetrating his skin.

 

The Wrecker has established a mental link with his enchanted crowbar. In the past when the Wrecker has lost his superhuman powers, the power has transferred itself into the crowbar. By making physical contact with the crowbar, the Wrecker can transfer the power back into himself. Also, by touching the crowbar, the Wrecker can magically transform whatever he is wearing into his costume. By concentrating on the crowbar, the Wrecker can use it to take mental possession of whoever touches it and cause an enchanted aura that can repel bullets to surround that person.

After first gaining his superhuman powers, the Wrecker was able to teleport individuals to Asgard from Earth and to create waves of force about him that could deflect bullets. It is not known whether the Wrecker is still capable of these feats.

The Wrecker wields a four-foot long cast iron crowbar which has become virtually indestructible through extensive contact with the Wrecker's enchanted skin. Wielded by the superhumanly strong Wrecker, the crowbar becomes a weapon of vast destructive potential. The Wrecker has used the crowbar to demolish entire buildings in minutes and to hold off the thunder god Thor in battle. The Wrecker has used the crowbar offensively as both a throwing weapon and a bat.

-Brian Philip Calusky was raised as a farmhand, but eventually turned to a life of crime. The Wrecker’s enchantment augmented his entire body, strengthening his bone, muscle, and flesh. Piledriver possesses superhuman strength that enables him to lift (press) about 10 tons. Piledriver has superhuman durability and is capable of withstanding the impact of a .45 caliber bullet without it penetrating his skin. He often uses large hands and feet as pistons, battering opponents or sending shockwaves through the ground.

 

-Henry Camp was a master sergeant in the United States Army who turned to a life of crime after a dishonorable discharge. The Wrecker’s enchantment augmented his entire body, strengthening his bone, muscle, and flesh. Bulldozer possesses superhuman strength that enables him to lift (press) about 50 tons. Bulldozer has superhuman durability and is capable of withstanding the impact of a .45 caliber bullet without it penetrating his skin. For his costume, Bulldozer has a specially-made armored helmet, neck and shoulder apparatus that gives him added protection and invulnerability when ramming an opponent. The helmet partially affects his peripheral field-of-vision.

-Dr. Eliot Franklin was a physicist who was nicknamed "the Black Bruce Banner" for his expertise in the gamma radiation research pioneered by Dr. Banner. Inventing a baseball-sized compact gamma bomb 10 times as powerful as Banner's original device, he was sent to prison after attempting to steal back his invention from an unscrupulous businessman who patented the device in his own name. The Wrecker’s enchantment augmented his entire body, strengthening his bone, muscle, and flesh. Thunderball possesses superhuman strength that enables him to lift (press) about 10 tons, though she has been temporarily boosted to Class 40. Thunderball has superhuman durability and is capable of withstanding the impact of a .45 caliber bullet without it penetrating his skin. Though originally empowered by Asgardian mystical energy imparted to him by the Wrecker's crowbar, Franklin's been frequently stripped of that energy, regaining his powers by absorbing either the same energy or replacing it with other forms of absorbed energy.

Thunderball was wearing the a chain-gang ball & chain when he was granted his powers, and the wrecking ball thus became his enchanted talisman much like the crowbar. The ball was virtually indestructible and could be hurled at a target, then return to his grasp much like Thor's hammer. Like the crowbar, it also served as a focus for the magic -- if his power began to weaken for some reason, Thunderball could revitalize his strength by coming into proximity with the ball or bar again. Dr. Eliot Franklin holds a Ph.D. in physics. He is a gifted physicist, as well as an expert tactician and planner.

-The Crew lost their power on many occasions, often with either Thor or Loki stealing their power away from them, or gathering it back into the Wrecker alone. On one extended period of powerlessness, Thunderball was recruited by the Secret Empire and designed his own powered-exoskeleton to fight in. It mechanical gave him at least Class 10 strength and protected him from physical injury. It could also produce high-voltage electricity, either on contact or channeled through the wire-guided wrecking ball which extended out from his right gauntlet to great lengths.

In recent years, the Wrecking Crew have been modified slightly so that they must draw upon outside sources of power in order to maintain their abilities -- thus, their strength and durability levels vary depending on how charged they are. They have proven capable of absorbing various forms of electromagnetic energy (both as ambient releases or from power blasts) and Asgardian magic to metabolize for their strength. Once they even managed to drain the mystically-enriched life essence of Hogun the Grim to power themselves.