Whirlwind (comics)

Whirlwind is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The character first appeared in Tales To Astonish #50 (Dec. 1963) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Fictional character biography

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, David Cannon is a mutant that could move at great speeds. After discovering his powers at an early age, he turns to a life of crime. This eventually brings Cannon, using his first alias the Human Top and pursuing his career as a jewel thief, into conflict with Giant-Man and the Wasp on several occasions.^[1] Defeated each time, Cannon then redesigns his costume and adopts the alias of "Whirlwind", and adopts the identity of Charles Matthews, chauffeur of Janet van Dyne.^[2] Whirlwind joined the supervillain group the second Masters of Evil, and participated in a plot to destroy the Avengers.^[3] He joined the third Masters of Evil, and participated in a Vermont battle against the Avengers.^[4] With Batroc and Porcupine, he went on a mission for the Red Skull.^[5]

Cannon continues with the Charles Matthews identity,^[6] first with the intent of robbing van Dyne, later with the intent of hitting on her. In the role of Charles, he pines for Janet, making advances when Hank Pym is presumed to be dead during his run in Marvel Feature.^[7] Charles is later fired for trying to embezzle Janet's money,^[8] and Hank finally discovers that Charles is Whirlwind later on in the series, forcing Whirlwind to abandon the identity.^[9]

Whirlwind is then employed by master villain Count Nefaria and joined the Lethal Legion. Nefaria temporarily amplifies the abilities of Whirlwind and super-powered team-mates Power Man and the Living Laser before sending them against the Avengers. The effect, however, is temporary and their combined abilities are drained by Nefaria subsequently defeated by the Avengers.^[10] Whirlwind joined the third Masters of Evil in a plan to destroy the Avengers, but caused their defeat by attacking prematurely.^[11] Whirlwind later upgrades his costume when joining a new version of the Masters of Evil formed by Baron Zemo.^[12] Whirlwind partnered with the Trapster, obtained a new battle armor and weapons from the Tinkerer, and battled Captain America in an attempt to bolster his criminal reputation.^[13] He then partnered with the Tiger Shark, traveled to San Francisco to steal an experimental "psycho-circuit", and battled the West Coast Avengers.^[14] Whirlwind also shows signs of an obsession with the Wasp, as he forces prostitutes to dress in Wasp's past costumes and then assaults them.^[15]

Whirlwind and the Trapster end up fighting, due to a bounty placed on the former by the up-and-coming criminal mastermind Ricadonna. Trapster glues Whirlwind to the floor just at the start of his spin. He continues twirling, breaking many of his bones, including his spine.^[16] He makes a full recovery and is forced to join Baron Zemo's team of Thunderbolts.^[17] After leaving them, he gathered a group of villains together and tried to extort money from the new Thunderbolts director Norman Osborn, but was viciously beaten by Osborn and is now forced to work secretly.^[18] In Dark Reign: Zodiac, Cannon is shown as a mole for Zodiac, working as Norman's chauffeur.^[19]

Whirlwind later attacks Hank blaming him for Janet's death during the Secret Invasion and outraged by Pym taking the Wasp codename. He is defeated by the Avengers Academy student Striker. In a conversation between Striker and his mother, it is revealed that she hired Whirlwind to stage the attack to gain publicity for Striker.^[20]

Whirlwind was recruited by the Mandarin and Zeke Stane into joining the other Iron Man villains in a plot to take down Iron Man. Whirlwind receives a new costume from Mandarin and Zeke Stane.^[21]

During the Infinity storyline, Whirlwind was seen with Blizzard II robbing banks when they are approached by Spymaster. Spymaster enlists Whirlwind and Blizzard to help him and the villains he recruited to attack the almost-defenseless Stark Tower.^[22]

Whirlwind was hired by Power Broker II's "Hench" App to kill Ant-Man as part of the App's demonstration to Darren Cross. When Cross was unwilling to give Power Broker the 1.2 billion dollars he demanded for investment in the Hench app, this caused Power Broker to cancel the demo and cancel Whirlwind's assassination on Ant-Man.^[23]

During the Avengers: Standoff! storyline, Whirlwind was an inmate of Pleasant Hill, a gated community established by S.H.I.E.L.D. Using Kobik, S.H.I.E.L.D. transformed Whirlwind into a teenager named Scotty. When Baron Zemo and Fixer restored everyone's memories, Whirlwind went on a rampage with Absorbing Man. When the Hood and Titania show up to retrieve Absorbing Man, Whirlwind joins Absorbing Man in siding with Hood's Illuminati.^[24]

Powers and abilities

Whirlwind is a mutant who possesses the ability to rotate his body around its lengthwise axis at great speeds, without impairing his ability to see, speak, or interact with his environment (for instance, pick up objects or change clothes). Although he can rotate at subsonic speeds he can only travel in a straight line for a limited time, or fly like a helicopter for an even shorter length of time. He possesses superhuman agility, reflexes, coordination, and balance, and often uses himself as a human battering ram. Whirlwind has the ability to focus air currents generated by his rotation into a jet stream powerful enough to blast a hole through a brick wall, as well as create a windscreen able to deflect matter as massive as a falling boulder. He also has the ability to create small tornadoes.

Whirlwind wears full body armor. Since upgrading his armor, Whirlwind has added to his offensive capabilities via the use of two 10-inch-diameter (250 mm) hardened tool-steel sawblades mounted on metal wrist bracelets, which are driven by two DC servo-motors each and activated by palm switches. He also uses thrown shuriken and razor sharp jacks, whose damaging potential is greatly increased by the velocity of his whirling powers.

Other versions

Heroes Reborn

In the Heroes Reborn reality, Whirlwind is featured as well. This version wears a streamlined suit of armor with multiple blades.^[25] He was hired by Hydra to attack Tony Stark. To this end, Whirlwind kidnapped Stark's secretary Pepper Potts and blackmailed Stark to come to the Stark International office on Long Island alone without his "bodyguard" Iron Man (unaware that Stark himself was in reality Iron Man). Going to the office without his Iron Man armor, Tony was more than ready to deal with Whirlwind without his armor. Using various gadgets to defend himself and Pepper, Stark had Whirlwind chase him down to a Stark International Lab. There Tony activated a Kinetic Intake Converter that threatened to destroy Whirlwind if he didn't surrender. Refusing to do so, Whirlwind was engulfed with the converter's energy and killed.^[26]

JLA/Avengers

Whirlwind is among the enthralled villains guarding Krona's stronghold. He tries to attack Thor from behind as Thor helps Red Tornado but is shot by Hawkeye.^[27]

Old Man Logan

In the pages of Old Man Logan, the elderly Logan awoke on Earth-616 and had a flashback to where Whirlwind, Red Skull, Baron Blood, Count Nefaria, and Spiral were standing over the dead bodies of the superheroes the day when the villains rose and the heroes fell.^[28]

In other media

Television

• Whirlwind appears in the 1994 Iron Man animated series voiced by James Avery and later by Dorian Harewood. He is a henchman of the Mandarin.
• Whirlwind appears in The Avengers: United They Stand, voiced by Peter Windrem. In the episode "Command Decision", he is a member of the Masters of Evil.
• Whirlwind is featured in The Super Hero Squad Show. In the episode "A Brat Walks Among Us", he helps Doctor Doom, the Abomination, MODOK, Melter, Screaming Mimi, Toad, Sabretooth, the Juggernaut and the Wrecking Crew in claiming the Infinity Fractal from a tiara worn by Brynnie Braton.
• Whirlwind appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Troy Baker. Introduced in the episode "The Man in the Anthill", he goes on a rampage in town after stealing a sonic emitter from a college and he fights the Wasp. When Whirlwind chases after the Wasp, he gets tricked into heading right into a swarm of flies. When he breaks free using his powers, Whirlwind charges Ant-Man and the Wasp, but is taken down by the Wasp. Whirlwind ends up incarcerated at the Big House. He overrides the power dampener that prevents him from using his powers and goes on a rampage against the Ultron synthezoids until he learns the hard way why the prison is called the Big House when he ends up pinned down by Ant-Man's finger. It turns out that Whirlwind was hired by Ulysses Klaw to steal a sonic emitter. When Clay Quartermain discovers that Whirlwind is actually a mutant, the power on Whirlwind's power dampener gets doubled and the Mutant Response Division are also notified. While Whirlwind is in his cell, he gets in a conversation with the Mad Thinker on why there hasn't been an escape attempt yet. Mad Thinker tells Whirlwind that the Big House is one of the four major supervillain prisons and that every supervillain will be free when the security systems break down. In the episode "The Breakout", a technological problem at the Big House allows its inmates to escape. Whirlwind fought and almost killed Ant-Man until he collided with Griffin. In the episode "Masters of Evil", Enchantress impersonates Whirlwind in order to lure the Wasp into a trap. In the episode "Assault on 42", Whirlwind is apprehended by the Avengers and placed in Prison 42. When Annihilus leads the Annihilation Wave into attacking Prison 42, Whirlwind is among the villains that help fight the Annihilation Wave and is killed during the attack.
• Whirlwind appears in various Marvel cartoons seen on Disney XD, voiced by Tom Kenny.
  • Whirlwind appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series. In the episode "Me Time", he is hired by Doctor Octopus. Whirlwind causes havoc in town while in a fight with Spider-Man. Spider-Man defeats Whirlwind by webbing off his helmet and knocking him out with it. Spider-Man, due to becoming dizzy in the tornado, throws up in Whirlwind's helmet and that Nick Fury might want to have the helmet washed before returning it to Whirlwind. Norman Osborn later watches footage of Spider-Man's fight with Whirlwind.
  • Whirlwind appears in Avengers Assemble. He was among the many villains that Scott Lang had sold technology to as a way to make money to. In the episode "Spectrums", Whirlwind plots to rob a Roxxon laboratory but is confronted by Ant-Man wanting the technology back, leading to Whirlwind attacking Ant-Man. With unlikely help from Hawkeye and Black Widow, Ant-Man grows in size and defeat Whirlwind. Ant-Man then takes back Whirlwind's technology.

Video games

• Whirlwind appears as the first level's boss in the video game Captain America and the Avengers.
• Whirlwind appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced by Adam Jennings. He is among the supervillains controlled with the special nanites. When the nanites take over, Whirlwind is among the villains that attacks both sides. He will attack the heroes alongside the other nanite-controlled inmates (including Diamondback and Moonstone) at the portal when Prison 42 in the Negative Zone is going to explode. He later attacks the heroes at the Fold's tower.
• Whirlwind appears as a boss and playable character in the Masters of Evil DLC in Lego Marvel's Avengers.
• Whirlwind appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2.^[29]

References

External links

• Whirlwind at Marvel.com