Ravage

Ravage
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Rampaging Hulk vol. 2 #2
Created by	Glenn Greenberg
In-story information
Alter ego	Gregory Crawford
Abilities	Can transform into a green-skinned creature who is stronger and more intelligent than the Hulk himself

Ravage (Professor Gregory Crawford) is a fictional character in Marvel Comics. He is also one of the Hulk's enemies.

Fictional character biography

Dr. Gregory Crawford was a physics professor at Desert State University who took undergraduate Bruce Banner under his wing and became his mentor. Years later, Banner went to his teacher for aid in finding a cure for the Hulk. At this time Crawford was a sick man, but he was nevertheless able to create a machine that could be used to filter the gamma radiation from Bruce's body. Crawford also saw this as a way to cure himself; by obtaining some of the Hulk's DNA, he knew he would be able to use the Hulk's recuperative powers on himself. First Crawford reconfigured his own DNA so that it was a match with Banner's. This turned him into a stronger beast than the Hulk: the monster called Ravage.

Ravage is stronger than the Hulk and is slightly larger. The key element which makes Ravage such a dangerous enemy is that he still has Dr. Crawford's mind and a lust for power. Just after his first transformation, Ravage attacks Hulk, but he soon returns to being Crawford at sunrise, much like Banner initially transformed into the Hulk at sunset and returned to being Banner at sunrise. Crawford turns Banner over to General Ross for fear of being stopped from becoming Ravage again.

Crawford adjusts his machine so that it will change him into Ravage permanently. He then as Ravage attacks the university and terrorizes those who had pitied him as Dr. Crawford. Ravage is only stopped when the Hulk and General Ross formed an unlikely alliance that allows the army to trap the villain in a state of suspended animation.

Ravage was set to reappear in future issues and become a more monstrous creature. However, due to the cancellation of the Rampaging Hulk title, this story never materialized.

Powers and abilities

Like Bruce Banner, Crawford was also exposed to gamma radiation. Like the Hulk, Ravage has superhuman strength, which he uses to battle the Hulk, although it would appear that he lacks the Hulk's ability to grow stronger as his rage increases. Ravage also possesses a healing factor similar to the Hulk, and it appears that he has strong leg muscles, also like the Hulk, which allow him to leap great distances.

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

• In the Ultimate Marvel universe, although Ravage/Dr. Gregory Crawford has never appeared, there are some links of him in other Hulk related characters. The character of Tyrone Cash, a vicious mobster with Hulk abilities is portrayed as a former mentor of Bruce Banner, and once was a frail scientist, Dr. Leonard Williams with MS ^[1], (much like Crawford) and the Ultimate Dr. Samuel Sterns is a bitter, old, wheelchair-using man who became a Hulk-like monster.^[2]

In other media

Video games

• Dr Gregory Crawford/Ravage appears as the secondary antagonist (although he serves as the primary target throughout the majority of the game) in the 2003 video game adaption to the 2003 Hulk feature film voiced by Dion Luther. Gregory Crawford initially appears as Bruce Banner's old mentor. In the game, he finds a cure for the Hulk by using the gamma orb, which draws out the gamma energy that created the Hulk. Then, the military plans to use it to defeat the Hulk. Crawford tells Banner to get to his lab before the military does. This version of Crawford is similar to the original in that he is needs to use a wheelchair for mobility, but he attempts to regain his health to walk again; however, after arriving in the lab, it is revealed that Crawford is just using Banner to get gamma radiation for himself, using it to become Ravage. Over the course of the game, it is revealed that Crawford is working with the Leader, who seeks to use the gamma energy from the orb to create an army of gamma warriors. During his boss fight, Ravage battles the Hulk alone at first before he summons two armed gamma creatures to assist him. After being defeated by the Hulk, he reverts back to his human form and apologises for his actions, realising that his treachery has given the Leader all he needs to create an army. At the end of the game, Crawford is seen apparently trying to get more gamma radiation, using the orb once more, but his search fails as the orb has returned all its gamma energy to the Hulk.

References

External links

• Ravage at Marvel.com