Molecule Man, Molecule Man / Doing the things a molecule can
/ What’s he like, it’s not important / Molecule Man
Among the common threads of Marvel’s Secret Wars stories is Owen Reece, the Molecule Man, the
supervillain scientist who, at times of mental clarity, would really much
rather have a nice, quiet, suburban life, except the Beyonders keep mucking it
up for him.
The basics: Molecule Man was created by Stan Lee and Jack
Kirby and first appeared in 1963’s Fantastic
Four #20.
1. He’s a god, man: The nuclear mishap that gave MM his
powers allows him to control matter at the molecular level, hence the name. It
basically means he can do whatever he wants, though there was a time when he
believed his powers could not affect organic matter, to the point that the
Fantastic Four disguised themselves as statues to trick him into defeat. How he
hadn’t destroyed the world prior to the latest Secret Wars and why he’d rather not be a supervillain with that
skills set is Beyond me.
2. He and Harry Potter have a couple things in common: In
addition to powers, the accident gave MM lightning bolt scars all over his
face, like if Voldemort had designed Mike Tyson’s face tattoo. MM also occasionally
uses a wand, which turns out to be unnecessary, because THE MAGIC WAS IN HIM
ALL ALONG! Actually, for a while, MM’s consciousness resided in the wand, and
he would try to possess whoever held it, from Reed Richards to a hobo to a little
girl to a snake.
3. He may find himself living in a beautiful house with a
beautiful wife: MM met his future wife, Volcana, during the first Secret Wars. She was an Earth woman
who’d been pulled to Battleworld and, while there, was given lava powers by Dr.
Doom. After the war, they found a nice little place in Denver (Both are native
Coloradans). They separate for a time in the ’90s, and he attempts to win her
back by carving her likeness into Mount Rushmore. Your move, Lloyd Dobler.
4. Every time he gets out, the Beyonder pulls him back in: In
the gift that keeps on giving, the accident that gave MM powers also caused a
dimensional rift that allowed the Beyonder to discover the 616 reality (or
maybe the Beyonders caused the
accident so MM could destroy reality; more on that later). MM had retired from
villainy before the first Secret Wars,
but he was still among the baddies pulled to Battleworld by the Beyonder. Later,
in Secret Wars II, the Beyonder shows
up at the Reeces’ doorstep, during his wacky quest to understand humanity, and
MM ends up engaging in a fairly epic battle with the extradimensional entity,
to the point where he appears to have exhausted his powers. The two characters even
merged for a time in the ’90s, forming a Cosmic Cube.
5. He’s a multiversal bomb: In New Avengers #33, the last
issue before Secret Wars, MM explains
that he is the same in every reality, and in every reality, he is the
Beyonders’ tool for the destruction of that reality. As such, Dr. Doom has been
going from reality to reality killing Molecule Men with the help of the
doomsday cult he built for himself. Not that it did any good.
Read this: 1985’s Secret
Wars II, in which the Beyonder tries to crash on the couch of his good
buddy Molecule Man, and Spider-Man teaches the Beyonder how to poop (not
a joke). A Stan-and-Jack creation though he may be, Secret Wars scribe and former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter had
a big hand in crafting MM’s personality beyond that of generic
purple-and-green-clad villain.
Watch that: Marvel’s kid-friendly Super Hero Squad Show, which ran from 2009-11 and is available on
Netflix. Specifically watch the episodes “Villainy Redux Syndrome,” in which
the retired and mistakenly summoned MM frees Dr. Doom, MODOK and the
Abomination from prison, and “When Strikes the Surfer,” in which MM gives
Nebula a new mouth after her old one was removed by an Infinity Gauntlet-fueled
Silver Surfer. Volcana also appears in both episodes. No sign of the Beyonder,
though. Comedian Fred Stoller voices MM in both episodes.
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