| Frederick J. "Fred" Dukes Blob | |
|---|---|
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The X-Men #3 (January 1964)[1][2] |
| Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Frederick J. "Fred" Dukes |
| Species | Human mutant |
| Team affiliations | Secret Empire X-Cell Brotherhood of Evil Mutants X-Corps Factor Three Freedom Force Defenders |
| Notable aliases | Blob Freddie Dukes |
| Abilities |
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TheBlob (Frederick J. "Fred"Dukes) is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an adversary of theX-Men. Amutant originally depicted as a morbidly obese circus freak, the Blob claims to be immovable when he so desires.[3] He possesses an extreme amount of pliable body mass, which grants him superhuman strength. Possessing the demeanor of a bully, he mostly uses his powers for petty crime on his own, leading him to occasionally battling crimefighting superheroes likeSpider-Man, and as a member of theBrotherhood of Mutants andFreedom Force.
In live-action, Fred Dukes appeared inX-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), played byKevin Durand. "Giant" Gustav Claude Ouimet had a cameo as Blob inX-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and Mike Waters had a cameo as the character inDeadpool & Wolverine (2024).
Created by writerStan Lee and artistJack Kirby, he first appeared inX-Men #3 (January 1964).[4]
Born inLubbock, Texas, Fred J. Dukes starts out as a member of acircussideshow under the name "The Blob".[5] His act was that he could remain stationary when others tried to move him. He is detected and contacted byCharles Xavier viaCyclops, who sees his performance and tells him that he (Dukes) is a mutant, and asks him to join the X-Men. At theX-Mansion, the other X-Men dislike Dukes for his obnoxious attitude. Iceman uses his power against Dukes to create an ice block around his foot, but the Blob easily escapes. The Blob refuses Xavier's invitation, saying he is better than the other X-Men. When Xavier tries erasing his mind of what has transpired, the Blob escapes the X-Mansion despite the efforts of the Beast and uses the sewer to get away without being followed. He tells the manager of the carnival he is taking over, then gathers up the other circus members and they attack the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, as he plans to get technology from the X-Men and take over the world. Meanwhile, Xavier works on a device which will allow him to erase the memories of many people. The carnival succeeds in defeating the X-Men despite a warning from Angel. They tie up the X-Men and leave them on the lawn. They then enter the X-Mansion to find the Professor and his technology. Xavier telepathically contactsMarvel Girl and tells her to remove her blindfold using her telekinesis, then levitate a knife from a performer's tent to cut through her bonds, after which she frees the other members. Xavier is able to wipe everyone's minds after the carnival is stopped by a wall of ice, and the Blob goes back to the circus.[6]
The mutantMagneto soon seeks out the Blob to recruit him into hisBrotherhood of Evil Mutants, restoring his memory through a jarring blow to the head. The Blob temporarily accepts the invitation, but leaves when it is revealed that Magneto has no real concern for the Blob's safety after he is hit by explosives which were launched at the X-Men. He goes back to the Circus.[7] He teams up withUnus the Untouchable due to the alienLucifer, who soon becomes his confidant. They disguise themselves as X-Men and commit crimes.[8] The Blob also serves as a member ofFactor Three.[9] He briefly works as an operative for theSecret Empire, where he fightsBeast.[10] With the reorganized Brotherhood, the Blob fightsProfessor X and theDefenders. He is reverted to infancy byAlpha the Ultimate Mutant.[11] The Blob is later returned to adulthood, and fights theChampions of Los Angeles.[12]
He later winds up in prison, but is freed byMystique to recruit him into her incarnation of the Brotherhood.[13] He becomes part of the plot to assassinateRobert Kelly, the event which leads to the apocalyptic alternate future ofDays of Future Past.[14] He also battles theAvengers as a member of the Brotherhood.[15] With Unus, he battles theHulk.[16] With the Brotherhood, he battles the X-Men once more.[17] He witnesses the apparent death of Unus, then goes berserk and attacksSpider-Man andBlack Cat.[18]
He remains with the Brotherhood, becoming a special operative of the federal government when the Brotherhood is reformed as the government-sponsoredFreedom Force. On the team's first mission, they help capture Magneto.[19] They then battle the X-Men in San Francisco.[20] Blob also participates in Freedom Force's capture of the Avengers for the federal government.[21] With Freedom Force, he attempts to captureRusty Collins, then battlesX-Factor.[22] With Freedom Force, he battles the X-Men in San Francisco,[23] and later assists in the attempt to arrest the X-Men in Dallas,[24] battling theNew Mutants in Dallas as well.[25] With Freedom Force, he finally captures Rusty Collins and fellow New MutantSkids. He helps to captureCable, but is defeated by Cable and then bySunspot during an attempt to recapture Cable.[26]
After Freedom Force's dissolution, the Blob participates in other versions of the Brotherhood, including one led byToad and another led by Professor X; the Blob takes over as leader of the latter when Xavier leaves.
The psychic entityOnslaught later recruits Blob, vastly upgrading his powers and abilities (in his powered-up state, his mutation becomes virtually identical to that ofPhat). During this time, the Blob fights the various members ofX-Force and is soundly defeated in each encounter. Months later, a powered-down Dukes joins the new Brotherhood led once again by Mystique, alongside Toad,Sabretooth, and thedaughter of the originalMastermind.
WhenExodus recreates the Brotherhood of Mutants, Blob offers to join but is quickly dismissed by Exodus, who considers him useless. This is a major blow to Dukes' already weak self-esteem, for which he seeks the counsel of therapistSean Garrison. After a session, Blob attacks the Xavier Institute, though he is defeated by the combined efforts of theNew Mutants and theHellions. He is then arrested byS.H.I.E.L.D.
Due to theScarlet Witch's depowering of 90% of Earth's mutants, the Blob is one of thethousands to lose their power, though his epidermis does not shrink to compensate for his loss of mass, leaving him with huge folds of loose skin. The depressed Blob attempts to commitsuicide, but his skin folds prevent him from cutting through to any major blood vessels on his throat or wrists.
Someone who resembles the Blob is seen apprehended by theThunderbolts and is seen in the Folding Castle's Detention Quadrant.[27]
Blob later resurfaces as a member of X-Cell, a group of depowered mutants who blame the government for the loss of their powers, attackingMutant Town in defiance of theDecimation. After mistakenly getting into a fight withRictor andMultiple Man and getting in a cheap shot on Rictor, he stole a car. With fellow X-Cell memberFatale, he attempted to flee, eventually hitting an open manhole and causing the car to crash leaving Blob hanging from the car. When both of them encounterMarrow, Blob is thrown from the car.
Through unknown means, Dukes loses the excess skin and his fortunes turn in his favor. Now known asFreddie Dukes, he has become a weight-loss guru in Japan, and is to star in an upcoming movie filmed in San Francisco made byKingo Sunen. He is also seen with Magneto and theHigh Evolutionary.[28]
In the miniseries "Magneto: Not a Hero",Joseph is resurrected under unknown circumstances and forms a new Brotherhood of Mutants withAstra and mutated deformed versions of Blob,Mastermind,Quicksilver,Scarlet Witch, andToad. It is soon revealed that these are actually clones created by Joseph.[29]
InUncanny X-Men #16, Fred Dukes is working with Mystique inGenosha and is once again shown as heavily obese and appears to have his powers restored.[30] Mystique has supplied him with Mutant Growth Hormones (MGH) extracted fromDazzler.[volume & issue needed]
Blob was later seen onKrakoa. He andAnole become the co-owners and bartenders of the tiki bar Green Lagoon.[31]
The Blob'smutantphysiology grants him a number of advantages. He had superhuman strength, endurance, and great resistance to physical injury. The Blob's elastic, blubbery skin is difficult to penetrate by gunfire, missiles, and evenWolverine's claws, though with sufficient force and a favorable angle, the claws can lacerate his flesh.[24] On one occasion, a concentrated optic blast fired byCyclops was sufficient to puncture a hole through his shoulder, much to the shock of Dukes himself. The magic swords of bothBlack Raazer and theArabian Knight were able to harm him.[volume & issue needed]
He could also alter his personal mono-directionalgravity field beneath himself to make himself virtually immovable as long as he was in contact with the ground, although an incredible force can uproot him, along with a chunk of whatever he is standing on. The only beings on record to have been able to move the Blob against his wishes are theHulk,[16]Juggernaut,[citation needed] andStrong Guy (powered-up near his limit by absorbingkinetic energy),[32] althoughColossus has managed to lift Dukes by digging underground and raising the piece of earth Dukes stands on, stating this as an exception to his immovability.[20] Magneto once was able to move the Blob by lifting the ground under the Blob's feet via metal pipes.[33] Despite his appearance, the Blob's speed and agility are those of a fairly athletic male of normal stature, a fact which frequently catches his opponents by surprise.
The Blob's superhuman strength greatly increased over the years, in a manner similar to that of theThing. This improvement is said to be a result of his ongoing mutation.[volume & issue needed]
The Blob is vulnerable to attacks directed at his face, as his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears do not have the same protection as the rest of his body. Dukes is also susceptible to psionic attacks and psychic manipulation, and he can be incapacitated by sensory assaults; for example,Banshee was able to render Blob unconscious solely through the use of his sonic scream. On another occasion,Sleepwalker defeated the Blob by using his warp beams to wrap a steel girder around the villain, crushing his blubber and causing him great physical pain. The Hulk once took the opposite approach, harming the Blob by grabbing and stretching his flab. While he is all but invulnerable to direct kinetic attacks, such as punches, kicks or gunshots, he is susceptible toconcussions and other harm resulting from sufficiently powerful impacts, asDaredevil knocked him out by luring him underneath a massive bell and then having it dropped on him with the aid of a young female mutant.[34]
Dukes can be incapacitated by drinking alcohol, although due to his immense mass, a large amount of alcohol is required.
An alternate universe version of Blob appears inAge of Apocalypse. He is initially introduced as a test subject ofHenry McCoy, who experiments on him in a direct violation of the Kelly Pact thatApocalypse signed to keep the Human High Council occupied.[36] After escaping, Blob goes on to joinMister Sinister'sSinister Six as well asWeapon X's Black Legion. Through unspecified means, Blob had his powers altered in a manner that allows him to project his gravitational field outward.[37][38]
In the "Final Execution Saga" story line inUncanny X-Force, Blob appears as a member of theBrotherhood of Mutants led byDaken with the aim of taking down X-Force and turningEvan Sabahnur into a newApocalypse.[39]Nightcrawler kills Blob by teleporting a live shark into his stomach, causing him to be devoured from within.[40]
In the alternate universe created byNate Grey inAge of X-Man,[41] Blob is the leader of the X-Tremists. This version of Fred Dukes is a dramatic departure from previous representations; he is "soft-hearted, bookish, kind and gentle".[42] Blob has romantic feelings for his teammateBetsy Braddock. According toX-Tremists writerLeah Williams, "My hope in removing the villainy aspects of his character for X-tremists was to make people confront how they feel about fatness in general by utilizing an intriguing aspect of AoX: there is no bodily prejudice."[43]
An alternate universe version of Blob appears inThe Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants.[44]
Deadpool's search for Cable across alternate timelines forces an encounter with the Blob of "an age of Apocalypse" (not to be confused with theX-Men story arc of the same name). In this reality, Blob has taken the mantle ofFamine, one of theHorsemen of Apocalypse.[45]
An alternate universe version of Blob appears in House of M. He is introduced as a prisoner of an internment camp followingBolivar Trask's rise to power before being freed in a raid orchestrated by Magneto.[46] Blob later appears as a member of theMarauders and the Brotherhood, an NYPD strike team.[47]
In theMarvel Noir reality, Eric Magnus is Chief of Detectives and Fred Dukes appears as a member of his Brotherhood, a cabal of bent policemen.[48]
An alternate universe version of Blob appears inMarvel Zombies. He is introduced being pursued by a horde of zombies and is later transformed into a zombie himself.[49][50]
InUncanny Avengers, the Blob is an enforcer on the alternate universe (Earth-13133) when theApocalypse Twins skew the time lines and create a mutant utopia called "Planet X".[51]
TheUltimate Universe version of Blob, real nameFranklin Dukes,[52] is a member of theBrotherhood of Mutant Supremacy. InUltimatum, the Blob is killed byHank Pym after eatingWasp's corpse.[53][54]
It is revealed that Blob wasLiz Allan's estranged genetic father after she discovers her own mutant abilities and becomes known asFirestar. He had impregnated Liz's mother while working for a circus sideshow.[55] It was also shown that the Blob fathered a son (Theodore "Tubby Teddy" Allan) by an unknown woman. Teddy is in high school and has his father's same bulky appearance and similar abilities.[56] He later joinsQuicksilver's new Brotherhood as the second Blob.[57]
The Blob appears inPlanet X as aholodeck simulation.
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