Henry Peter Gyrich

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Henry Gyrich
Henry Peter Gyrich in a panel from Avengers Vol. 3 #61, with artwork by Gary Frank.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Avengers Vol. 1 #165 (February 1978)
Created by	Jim Shooter George Pérez
In story information
Full name	Henry Peter Gyrich
Team affiliations	The Initiative U.S. Superhuman Armed Forces Department, Commission on Superhuman Activities Office of the Chief of Protocol National Security Agency National Security Council Operation: Zero Tolerance Project: Wideawake Thunderbolts (liaison) Avengers (liaison)

Henry Peter Gyrich is a fictional character from the Marvel Comics Universe, who was named after a relative of Marvel Comics one time editor-in-chief, Jim Shooter. The fictional character Gyrich is most notable for his work in the United States government. He first appeared in Avengers Vol. 1 #165 (November 1977) and was created by Jim Shooter and George Pérez.

Contents 1 Fictional character biography 1.1 Commission on Superhuman Activities 1.2 Operation: Zero Tolerance 1.3 Destroy Earth’s superhumans 1.4 Return to the Avengers 1.5 The Initiative 2 Alternate versions 2.1 Age of Apocalypse 2.2 Mutant X 2.3 Ultimate Marvel 3 In other media 3.1 Television 3.2 Films 4 Bibliography 4.1 List of titles 4.2 Significant stories 5 References

[edit] Fictional character biography

Henry Peter Gyrich was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he first appeared, he was the first person to be given the title of US Government Liaison to the Avengers by the National Security Agency later by the National Security Council. With his status, Gyrich was one of only two humans (the second being the President of the United States) who could affect the Avengers in many difficult ways. During his tenure with the Avengers, Gyrich revoked their priority status after noting several (in his mind) problems with the team. The Avengers had to accept Gyrich’s “suggestions” or not be able to use their Quinjets and other sensitive equipment again. He limited the Avengers’ active membership to seven members, forced the Falcon to join against his will to fill a quota and installed various security measures for the team.

Gyrich oversaw the Avengers’ activities for the next several months without incident, until he forbade them to go on a mission to help Quicksilver. The next incident involved a security leak. Gyrich took part in a Senate investigation involving the Avengers which claimed they were threats to national security. When the investigation was over, the Senate committee gave the Avengers new guidelines to follow; they also named Raymond Sikorski as his successor.

Writer Peter David has indicated that Shooter based Gyrich on himself. Although Gyrich is an Avengers character, David attempted to humanize him by giving him some backstory in Incredible Hulk #456 (August 1997), which touched upon Gyrich’s family life. After Betty Banner criticizes Gyrich for appearing callous and unfeeling when she mentions the pain of her father dying in her arms, Gyrich cuts her off, saying, “My father died of Alzheimer’s, lady. I took a year’s leave to care for him so he wouldn’t be watched over by strangers that my crummy salary couldn’t even afford. I cleaned up after him, tended to him, and his last words as I cradled his dying body were, ‘Who in heck are you?’ ”^[1] As a result, it is revealed in Avengers: The Initiative that Gyrich’s greatest fear is contracting the same disease that killed his father.

[edit] Commission on Superhuman Activities

Gyrich became a member of the Commission on Superhuman Activities, the oversight body on superhuman activities in the United States; there he was part of the team that forced Captain America to resign. Gyrich also took part in Project Wideawake as a special consultant. This project was a covert government commission designed to deal with the problems concerning mutants in the America. The project was instrumental in creating a team of mutants to counter the threat of foreign mutants. This team was called Freedom Force.

Gyrich later became involved in the United States’ war efforts against the alien Dire Wraiths. This time, he worked alongside Forge, a mutant who worked as a weapons maker for the U.S. government & S.H.I.E.L.D.. Gyrich took a specially designed superhuman power-neutralizing gun of Forge’s to capture the mutant Rogue because she had broken into a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. In an encounter with Rogue, Storm, and government forces, Gyrich accidentally shot Storm. This specialized weapon stripped Storm of her powers and abilities as a mutant, although she regained them some time later. Gyrich continued attempting to use Forge’s own version of the Spaceknight Rom’s Neutralizer, planning to use an orbital version to wipe out all superpowers on Earth. He was stopped in the attempt by Rom and Forge, and could only watch, tied up, as Rom banished Wraithworld instead of destroying all the heroes and villains. Gyrich was also involved in hunting the Hulk after the events of Onslaught.

[edit] Operation: Zero Tolerance

Gyrich became a key player in Bastion’s Operation: Zero Tolerance. He was a faithful believer in the operation until he himself became a target of Prime Sentinels. After being rescued by Spider-Man, Marrow, and Callisto, Gyrich demanded the operation be shut down.

[edit] Destroy Earth’s superhumans

He was promoted to succeed Valerie Cooper as the head of the Commission on Superhuman Activities. While there, Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker secretly placed Gyrich under the control of nanites. Gyrich used Commission resources and remolded the vigilante Nomad into the assassin Scourge and attempted to live out his “fantasy” of killing all the world’s superhumans, before being stopped by the Thunderbolts.

[edit] Return to the Avengers

Following that incident, he was reassigned to the U.S. State Department and was made the liaison for Black Panther as well as the Avengers’ new liaison (this time, by Captain America’s suggestion) to the United Nations. During this time, he redeemed himself in the eyes of the team when he refused to deliver information on the Avengers to the Secretary of Defense, Dell Rusk (secretly the Red Skull). He never broke, even under severe duress, which impressed the others. Gyrich was a faithful liaison officer to the Avengers. Gyrich’s job came to an end after the United Nations ended their relationship with the Avengers^[2].

[edit] The Initiative

Gyrich is the Secretary of the Superhuman Armed Forces^[3]; his base of operations appears to be Camp Hammond, the superhuman training facility in Stamford, Connecticut. It is under his orders that the Gauntlet is drafted as the camp’s Drill Instructor, gives orders to cover up the death of MVP. He makes arrangements to provide a special tutor to Trauma through his old friend Hank McCoy^[4]. The tutor is revealed to be depowered mutant Dani Moonstar^[5]. They do not get along well and Gyrich fires her for training Trauma to use his powers to help people with debilitating phobias instead of to be used as a weapon. After the KIA debacle, Gyrich was removed from the Initiative program completely by Iron Man^[6].

[edit] Alternate versions

[edit] Age of Apocalypse

In the “Age of Apocalypse” alternate timeline storyline, Gyrich is an anti-mutant suicide bomber that threatens to destroy Heaven, Angel’s club. He is defeated by the Bedlam Brothers.

[edit] Mutant X

In the Mutant X comic, Gyrich is the government’s liaison to the Avengers. In issue #26, he calls for the aid of the Six to search for Dracula after forces break the vampire out of the prison the Vault. In this continuity, he again has a serious problem with Captain America.

[edit] Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, Gyrich works for the CIA. He is trying to establish a check and balance system for Nick Fury’s super police force. He visually looks the same, except for blond hair.

In his first appearance, it seems as though Gyrich hired Richard Parker, Peter Parker’s father,^[7] after he survives an assassination attempt by Bolivar Trask, to continue and develop the Venom project in order to have the firepower to oppose Nick Fury and his super soldiers. However, it is revealed that the Richard Parker who seems to have revealed himself to be still alive was, in fact, a clone of Peter Parker whose aging was accelerated and his memories implanted.^[8] It is unknown how much of the experience he had dealing with Gyrich was something he actually experienced or was made to believe he remembered. Gyrich, however, is indeed a real person, and makes his first real appearance at the end of the Clone Saga arc. During a battle between the Ultimate Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man, Nick Fury distracts Gyrich by asking him confusing questions and confronting him about the supposedly illegal Super-Soldier program that had been going on behind Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s back ^[9].

[edit] In other media

[edit] Television

• Gyrich appeared in the first episode of the X-Men animated series, “Night of the Sentinels (Part 1)” and “Night of the Sentinels (Part 2),” and was voiced by Barry Flatman. He also appeared in the season one finale “The Final Decision,” the season four episode “Courage” and the series finale “Graduation Day.” Gyrich’s personality in the series was an extreme take on that of his appearances in the Avengers and X-Men comic books as he supported mutant oppression and possibly even extinction, whereas in the comics he was merely distrustful of superhumans in general. In the series finale, he quickly revealed that Professor Charles Xavier was a mutant by calling on a force wave with a remote control, which revealed his power of telepathy at a worldwide conference. This weakened Xavier and almost killed him by the end of the episode, although he was taken to the Shi’ar homeworld by Lilandra to recuperate. This attack also nearly wounded many other people at the conference. Gyrich was taken away to custody because of his insanity, but warned everyone not to trust anyone because they might well be a mutant.
• Henry Peter Gyrich appeared in the Fantastic Four episode “Imperious Rex” voiced by Don Brown.

[edit] Films

• Gyrich made a brief cameo in the X-Men movie (played by Matthew Sharp) as an aide to Senator Robert Kelly, although it was quickly revealed that “he” was actually Mystique, who had murdered the real Gyrich and taken his place. At the end of the movie, a television news report can be heard saying that Gyrich’s body was found, apparently mauled by a bear (in reality Sabretooth).

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] List of titles

• Avengers Vol. 1 #165–166, 168, 172, 175, 181–184, 186, 189–192, 221, 228, 231, 243, 280, 368–369 & 389
• Avengers Vol. 3 #35, 57–61, 64, 66–70 & 83
• Avengers Annual #9 & 15
• Avengers: The Initiative #1–2
• Black Panther Vol. 3 #30, 34–35, 40–47
• Cable #45
• Captain America Vol. 1 #332–333, 347, 350 & 354
• Captain America Vol. 3 #50
• Civil War: The Initiative Vol. 1 #1
• Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #335
• Force Works #16
• Hawkeye Vol. 3 #8
• Incredible Hulk Vol. 2 #437–439, 441, 447, 449, 451–452, 455–456, 458, 462–463 & 465
• Iron Man Vol. 1 #319–320 & 325
• Iron Man Vol. 3 #75 & 79
• New Mutants Vol. 1 #1–2 & 13
• New Thunderbolts #13–14
• New Warriors Vol. 1 #29–30
• Nomad Vol. 1 #1–4
• Nomad Vol. 2 #2
• Power Pack Vol. 1 #5
• Rom #61–66
• Onslaught: Epilogue
• Thunderbolts #21, 26–27, 29, 33–37, 39–40, 47 & 50
• Uncanny X-Men #142, 176, 186–186, 190, 299, 344, 346 & 359
• West Coast Avengers Annual #1
• Wolverine Vol. 2 #116
• X-Factor Vol. 1 #148
• X-Force Vol. 1 #5, 19–20 & 27–28
• X-51 #1–8
• X-Men Vol. 2, #26, 65 & 68-69
• X-Men Annual #2
• X-Men Unlimited Vol. 1 #2

[edit] Significant stories

• Thunderbolts #47–50 (February 2001–May 2001, Marvel Comics)—Gyrich is responsible for all the events surrounding Scourge.
• Avengers Vol. 3 #64–70 (April 2003–October 2003, Marvel Comics)—Gyrich helps Falcon & the Avengers expose the Red Skull. Resists torture in order to save others.

[edit] References