Oddball

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Powers and Abilities

Oddball is a decent athlete and a superior juggler, adept at using the latter skill in combat. He actually managed to catch, juggle and throw back trick arrows shot at him by Hawkeye.

His speciality is juggling balls of various sizes and weights. Thus, he carries a number of trick balls to use as deadly projectiles. The documented ones are :

• Weighted balls.
• Spiked weighted balls.
• Gas balls.
• Stun balls.
• Electro-zappers.
• Fireballs.
• Nitric acid balls.
• Eight ball. Oddball chiefly uses those as a calling card, though he may have stopped doing this after he realised there is a villain called Eight-ball.

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History

Oddball is the first Death-Throws member who was encountered, in 1983. He and his friend Bombshell were hired by Crossfire to kill Hawkeye and Mockingbird.

They first tried to do the deed by booby-trapping the house where the two heroes lived. However, Mockingbird’s S.H.I.E.L.D. training allowed her to detect that their apartment had been tampered with. Hawkeye then remotely detonated the bomb.

Since Bombshell’s approach had failed, they switched to Oddball’s approach. They ambushed the couple in the subway. Oddball led the heroes on a chase, allowing Bombshell to take Mockingbird out by surprise. Meanwhile Oddball was defeated by Hawkeye. But Bombshell came in and blasted the archer unconscious.

Oddball and Bombshell delivered their marks to Crossfire. However, they were later knocked out when Hawkeye managed to escape – before they could collect their fees.

Oddball then trained Bombshell in juggling, reportedly in the hope that she’d become his girlfriend. She proved good enough to join the Death-Throws, and they operated along with the rest of the roster.

See the article about the Death-Throws for more about this era.

A whole new ball game

During the 1990s Oddball was solely seen operating solo and with other teams. He joined a strange, minor version of the Masters of Evil assembled by Dr. Octopus to loot the Avenger’s HQ. But this initiative failed and Oddball was defeated by Talon, of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Oddball was later hired by the Albino (Augusta Seger), which provided him with another go at Hawkeye. However, Hawkeye was accompanied by the telekinetic Justice (Vance Astrovik). Astrovik made short work of Oddball.

Oddball later made the strange decision to enter the Madripoor Bloodsport Tournament, despite having no documented close combat skills. He was swiftly dispatched by his first opponent, Headhunter.

Whether he was killed is unclear from the scene. Especially since many supposedly killed contestants during the Tournament later turned up alive (say, Anaconda). But all secondary sources indicate that Elton Healey died that day.

Extra ball

Years later, the Death-Throws were seen operating with a new Oddball. This guy apparently uses the same costume, skills set and equipment. This man, who was in London when the team was hired by RAID, is reportedly named Orville Bock.

One secondary source postulated that Bock might be the same man as the Mad Juggler, an obscure mercenary with a costume and juggling balls almost identical to Oddball’s.

If so, Bock reportedly “sort of fought the Champion once” (perhaps a garbled reference to the Champions of Los Angeles, or to Imus Champion). He also briefly confronted Colleen Wing and Humbug while looking for a McGuffin to get a reward.

Description

See illustration.

Personality

Healey liked action and combat. He also seemed to be some sort of psychopath or sadist. He rarely played fair, and had no problem using hostages, ambushes, deceit, henchmen, etc..

He loved fighting and violence. He would try to prolong the fun by triggering chases — either fleeing or letting his opponent try to flee — uttering quips all the while. As he got more excited he would start singing old tunes with lyrics marginally relevant to the situation.

He had a huge ego, and hated other people reputed for their agility and accuracy, such as Hawkeye. He couldn’t stand being made fun of, and would react with violence.

Like his brother, Healey liked giving childish nicknames to people. Crossfire was “Crossy”, Bombshell was “Bomby”, etc.. Hawkeye got a little more variety though, such as “Cockeye”, “Hawknose” or “Bowlegs”.

Extra ball

Next to nothing has been seen of Orville’s personality, though it may not be very different. If he used to be the Mad Juggler, then he’s a loser with limited intellect and guile – quite gullible and pliable, in fact.

Quotes

“Seen one burning building, you see them all. C’mon, dollface. Your way may have been quickest, but mine’ll be a lot more fun.”

“Hold it right there, Hawknose ! One of these four balls that I, Oddball, the greatest juggler on Earth, am juggling is a bomb designed to go off if it drops to the ground.”

“Great shot, Bowlegs, if you were aiming at this post, that is. We’re having fun now, all rightee !”

“Don’t give me that, Crossy. I understood your message plain as day.”

“I love fighting you, Hawkeye ! Not only do you make me laugh, but I also take special pleasure in deflating your rather enormous and totally unjustified ego !”

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Marvel comics.

Helper(s): Chris Cottingham.