Rage (comics)

Rage (Elvin Haliday, sometimes "Holiday") is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. He is African American. Rage was created by Larry Hama and Paul Ryan in The Avengers #326 (November 1990). Rage has been a member of the Avengers and the New Warriors.

Publication history

Rage has appeared in the pages of The Avengers, New Warriors, and Night Thrasher.

Character biography

Origin

At 13, Elvin Haliday was exposed to toxic waste while hiding from a group of bullies. Returning to his grandmother's home, Elvin was nursed back to health. The chemicals caused Elvin to grow in strength and invulnerability, until he appeared to be a muscular man in his mid-30's. Encouraged by his grandmother to use his new found abilities for good, Elvin adopted a costume and name: Rage.

Avengers

Soon after his transformation, Rage confronted the Avengers demanding to be made a member. He scolded Captain America for the team's lack of any black members. Rage left after a brief scuffle. But Rage ended up assisting the Avengers in their next mission. After the team was reorganized under a new United Nations charter, Rage was invited to join as a probationary member.

After racial tensions escalated due to the machinations of the Hate Monger, Rage and the New Warriors battled the Sons of the Serpent. The Avengers joined the fray, but Captain America was ultimately able to calm the situation and forced the Hate Monger to retreat. During the battle, though, it came out that Rage was, in fact, only a teenager. Because of this, Cap told Rage that he could not be an Avenger, but could continue as a trainee if he wished.

New Warriors

Rage was dejected with the demotion. He soon helped the New Warriors steal one of the Avengers' Quinjets for one of their mission and was ultimately fired from the Avengers for that indiscretion. He soon joined the New Warriors as a full member.

During his time with the New Warriors Elvin's grandmother was killed by a street gang leaving him an orphan. Andrew Chord, the legal guardian of his teammate Night Thrasher, became Elvin's legal guardian.

Later, Rage and Night Thrasher were voted out of the New Warriors after they had been absent during the team's battle with the paramilitary group, Undertow, who enslaved teammate Namorita. After their expulsion from the New Warriors, for a short time, Rage and Night Thrasher acted as mentors to their former foes, Psionex.

Rage and Night Thrasher took it upon themselves to free Namorita from Undertow. After doing so, all three were soon back with the New Warriors. Soon, though, the team began to drift apart and Night Thrasher formally disbanded them.

Reserve Avenger

After the New Warriors broke up, Elvin left for boarding school. Speedball contacted him to join a new version of the team, but Elvin turned him down, preferring to concentrate on his studies.

Elvin remained inactive as an adventurer and only returned a couple of times when called on as a reserve Avenger. First, he assisted the team against Morgan le Fay after the heroes returned from the Heroes Reborn universe. More recently, he assisted them during the Avengers Disassembled situation.

Civil War

In She-Hulk vol. 2 #8 (July, 2006), Rage and former teammate Justice learned that people were hunting down former New Warriors members because of the deaths caused by Nitro in Civil War #1. They both sought out the legal services of Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk) in protecting the allies of the New Warriors. They eventually discovered that former New Warriors member Carlton Lafroyge, aka Hindsight Lad was responsible for the persecution and exposure of their teammates. Hindsight operated a website outing the identities of the twenty or so remaining Warriors; he was also operating a death pool. When John Jameson arrived, he arrested Hindsight Lad and Rage remained on the scene until Jameson asked She-Hulk to marry him. Both Rage and Justice have apparently decided to side with Captain America, and have refused to go along with the proposed super-human registration act.

Powers and abilities

Elvin's exposure to the radioactive waste gave him superhuman strength and resistance to physical injury. He becomes exponentially stronger with applied force, such as hitting.

External links

Bibliography

List of titles

Ant-Man's Big Christmas #1
The Avengers #326-339, 341-342, 501-503
Avengers (vol. 3) #1-4, 13
Avengers Annual #20
Avengers/JLA #4
Avengers West Coast Annual #6
''Captain America #385
Gravity #1
Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman #1
Incredible Hulk Annual #17
Infinity Crusade #1-3, 5
Iron Man #302-303
Marvel Comics Presents #122, 159-163
New Warriors #22-27, 29-34, 37-46, 49-53, 57, 60, 63-64, 72-75
New Warriors (vol. 2) #1
New Warriors Annual #3
Night Thrasher #6, 15-18, 20
Nova (vol. 2) #7, 10
Quasar #28, 60
Thunderbolts #8
Warlock and the Infinity Watch #19
Web of Spider-Man #104
Wolverine #134
X-Force #33

Significant stories

The Avengers #326 (November 1990); "Wind from the East" - Rage demands to join the Avengers.
The Avengers #329 (February 1991); "Starting Line-up" - Rage joins the Avengers as a probationary member.
The Avengers #342 (December 1991); "Rage of Angels" - Rage demoted by Avengers to trainee.
New Warriors #22 (April 1992); "Nothing but the Truth, Part 1: The Stolen Children" - Rage helps the New Warriors steal a Quinjet from the Avengers.
New Warriors #26 (August 1992); "The Next Stop" - Rage is released by the Avengers for stealing the Quinjet and then joins the New Warriors.
New Warriors #37 (July 1993); "Family Values, Part 1" - Elvin's grandmother is killed by a street gang.
New Warriors #57 (March 1995); "Breaking Points" - Rage and Night Thrasher are expelled from the New Warriors.
New Warriors #60 (June 1995); "The Only Constant" - Rage and Night Thrasher become mentors to Psionex.
New Warriors #74 (August 1996); "Surprise" - Rage and Night Thrasher rescue Namorita and rejoin the New Warriors.
Avengers (vol. 3) #1-3 (February 1998-April 1998); "Once an Avenger…, Parts 1-3" - Rage called in to assist the Avengers defeat Morgan le Fay.
Avengers #501-503 (October 2004-December 2004); "Avengers Disassembled: Chaos, Parts 2-4" - Rage called in to assist the Avengers during the Avengers Disassembled situation.
She-Hulk v2#8 (July 2006); "Civil War tie-in" - Rage and Justice find the one responsible for the public outing of the identities of former New Warriors members and allies. Civil War