Can YOU
Name This Marvel Villain??
In Harlem, the man to see when you needed connections and resources that, shall we say, skirted the boundaries of the law... or even just a simple favor, provided you were all right with the prospect that he'd come to collect on it one day... was Morgan Black--gangster, mob leader, drug dealer, racketeer, crime lord, and no doubt having his hands in other avenues of finance that we'd probably rather not know about. If you ask him, he'll say he's just a businessman; if you'd rather stay under his radar, you'll leave it at that.
With the character's introduction in 1972, however, Morgan was unfortunately on the Falcon's radar whenever there were ripples of criminal activity in Harlem. From their first meeting, it was fairly clear that the only way Morgan's organization and the Falcon were going to hit it off would be literally.
Even so, Morgan knows a valuable resource when he sees one (or when one threatens to flatten him), and so with each visit Morgan makes overtures to gain the Falcon's services. You and I know there's not a chance in hell of that happening, of course--but this man is far too cagey and business-savvy to allow the Falcon to get under his skin and force his hand, at least in these early stages of their, eh, negotiations.
And so with each encounter, they strike up more of a... well, we shouldn't call it a rapport... for now, let's call it more of an understanding between them, one that's clearly getting under the Falcon's skin.
Eventually, it makes sense that Morgan would be in a position to help the Falcon--and that moment comes when Morgan has information that could bust wide open a case that Falc and Captain America are working on. To get that help, all the Falcon has to do is to sign on the dotted line.
And speaking of Morgan's backbone... he finally shows it when he has the good sense to arm his bodyguards, and makes the Falcon an offer he'd be wise not to refuse the next time they lay eyes on each other.
But Morgan's patience wears thin--and when the villain named Lucifer returns by anchoring himself to two men, Morgan sees a way to rid himself of the man who continually threw his offer back in his face.
Or, as I like to call it, Strike One.
Followed by Strike Two:
And our unseen umpire leaves it to the Falcon to call Strike Three.
Morgan, needless to say, is adept at dusting himself off, however--and so he goes on to cross paths with other heroes including Power Man, Daredevil, and Iron Fist. And despite his disdain for downtown, he knows a lucrative opportunity when he sees one, with a scheme that would come to involve enlisting the services of the Hitman.
Unfortunately, where the Vulture is concerned, you can usually find Spider-Man.
All right, I'll say it: another stee-rike! ;)
It's amazing that even today there are gangsters who try to make it big in New York without employing some sort of Specialist. No palooka, no matter how impressive he might be to Joe Citizen, is going to last a minute against any costume.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a decades-old trope in comics. I mean, of all the little towns in the Midwestern USA, look at how many crooks decided to knock over the bank in Smallville.
Batman should have said "Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious, and stupid lot."
Murray, I probably wouldn't go so far as to classify Morgan as a palooka--his hired muscle, surely, but not so much Morgan himself, who despite his lack of success with handling/managing super-types remains a savvy player who's carved a steady and lucrative "business" for himself (albeit using deplorable methods that would hardly put him on the cover of Fortune) and knows how to keep his finger on the pulse of Harlem in order to stay one step ahead of the game. That said, the Falcon sizes him up well enough--and a man whose claim to fame is running the rackets in an area of New York that was struggling to lift itself up will always reduce those who sing his praises to a party of one.
ReplyDeleteAh, an obvious misunderstanding there. I wasn't meaning Mr. Edge was the palooka. By no means. A devious mind of savage cunning, to be sure.
ReplyDeleteMy comment referred to the goons he surrounded himself with, expecting these palookas to stop the likes of Falcon or Spider-Man.
And he's not the first, nor the last, "kingpin" to fail to see the flaw in that strategic thinking. (Which I guess does give him a streak of palooka)
I guess if you're a big time gangster, it doesn't hurt to have a supervillain or two on the payroll. But this latest incarnation of Lucifer...
ReplyDeleteInasmuch as it was Lucifer. Rather, a couple of human pawns he was acting through. Who knows what he was thinking.
What was that guy after, anyway? Did he originally come to earth to prepare it for an invasion? Like Tana Nile, the Super Skrull or Eric the Red?
These efforts seem half-hearted at best. You would think they'd send more than one guy at a time.
Tana Nile did have that whole Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra thing going for her, however. You just can't stay mad at her!
M.P.
From his first two attempts, M.P., it looks like Lucifer and his masters preferred a more covert approach to conquest, staying under the radar until they were ready to strike decisively. Luckily, the X-Men encountered Lucifer before that point was reached. As for Aries and Rafe Michel, they were only the means by which he'd attempted to escape his unwilling stay in another dimension--an imperfect solution he was probably still trying to manage by the time Morgan made his offer to him.
ReplyDeleteNice bllog post
ReplyDelete