Jerry Morgan
Context
Jerome Morgan is one of the 1950s Atlas Publishing characters who were brought into the Marvel Universe. Marvel being the successor company to the Atlas brand.
These old stories were reprinted in Weird Wonder Tales (Dec. 1974), which inspired Defenders writer Steve Gerber to reuse their protagonists as super-villains.
These here notes are old and quick. They mostly reflect his mid-1970s appearances in Defenders, and need an upgrade.
Background
- Real Name: Dr. Jerome Morgan.
- Other Aliases: Shrunken Bones.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: None.
- Group Affiliation: Headmen.
- Base Of Operations: New York City, New York ; Westbury, Connecticut ; Norman, Oklahoma.
- Height: 5’7” Weight: 180 lbs.
- Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown
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Powers and Abilities
Jerry Morgan is a genius in cellular biology. Examples of achievements include :
- His cellular compression gas (which shrinks living beings exposed to it by a factor of 25).
- Increasing Chondu’s mystical powers through a chemical concoction.
- A fully functional clone of the She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) where the head was reduced to a vestigial nerve clump.
History
Jerry Morgan was first seen as the protagonist in a short, minor horror story (in World of Fantasy #11). A research pioneer in cellular biology, he attempted to recreate the Pym shrinking gas. Some sources, including Morgan, claim that Morgan’s discovery was made 10 years before Pym’s. The truth is unclear.
Although he succeeded, his experiments shrank his skeleton and internal organs to a height of 4’3”. This left his skin grotesquely oversized.
Embittered, he joined a cabal of misfits aiming for world domination assembled by fellow scientist Arthur Nagan. Despite their comparative lack of power, the so-called Headmen went pretty far by manipulating the Defenders. However, their first attempt failed due to Nebulon’s meddling.
Description
See illustration.
Personality
A bitter, pain-ridden man, Morgan is nonetheless intelligent and canny. This is true whether in the lab, on the figurative battlefield or when conducting business.
He of course avoids direct physical confrontation, and in fact completely panic in any kind of dangerous situation. He’s also pretty squeamish. While he has no qualms about contributing to the Headmen’s schemes in general, he can’t stand to personally witness any kind of violence or killing.
Quotes
“I warn you, don’t touch me ! I warn you — don’t — don’t force me to eliminate you also !”
DC Universe History
The basic concept of the Headmen is taking very minor characters from old horror stories and turning them into supervillains. Since DC has a very rich history of short horror stories, it could be amusing to conduct a similar project in the DCU.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
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Jerome Morgan
| Dex: 04 | Str: 02 | Bod: 02 | Motivation: Power |
| Int: 06 | Wil: 04 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Criminal scientist |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 04 | Resources: 011 |
| Init: 013 | HP: 020 |
Skills:
Medicine: 08, Scientist: 08
Advantages:
Genius, Scholar (bio-chemistry, business).
Connections:
Headmen (High), Business (Low).
Drawbacks:
Creepy Appearance, Public ID, MPR (nearsighted).
Equipment:
Cellular Compression Gas Gun [BODY 03, Fog: 06, Shrinking: 05, Note : Shrinking is active thorough the Fog (+1), is Usable on Others (+5), is Only Usable on Others (-1)].
Design notes
I didn’t use the “Diminution” power as using Shrinking was clear enough and wouldn’t confuse people not owning BOH:SE.
Source of Character: Defenders comics (Marvel Universe).
Helper(s): Jackson, JKCarrier, Kurt Busiek (for noting the WWT #7 reprint’s role on Twitter).