Stilt-Man is the name of two supervillains in Marvel Comics.

Publication history

Stilt-Man first appeared in Daredevil vol. 1 #8 and was one of his earliest enemies. He is a criminal wearing a suit of armor with powerful telescopic legs (useful for high-story heists).

The character did not age well, as his powers were more a curiosity than a real threat. As of 2006, Stilt-Man is seen as a mere footnote and as an example of the arguably weird rogues' gallery Daredevil had in his early, pre-Frank Miller days — indeed, during Miller's Daredevil run, Stilt-Man was portrayed as a miserable loser.

Fictional character history

Wilbur Day

Wilbur Day was born in New York City. As a scientist, he engineered a pair of extremely long, telescopic metal legs, which allowed him to tower high over the ground.

Stilt-Man had a long, unsuccessful career against Daredevil. He also once took on Thor in a special adamantium armor suit, but lost the fight and was stripped off his suit by the victorious thunder god. Stilt-Man was cold-cocked and had the armor stolen by Turk, a small-time crook and an even greater loser than Day, who took on the Stilt-Man identity, contacted the Kingpin and offered to become his new assassin, only to be refused, being told "It does not matter what armor or weapons you may have acquired, Turk. You are an idiot. I do not employ idiots". Stilt-Man attacked the Fantastic Four, probably in an attempt to impress the Kingpin, during the Acts of Vengeance. Even though he had several other villains with him, he failed miserably.

Enraged by Turk's audacity, Day contacted Daredevil and informed him of a weakness in the armor. Thanks to Day's information, Daredevil easily disabled the auto-gyroscopes necessary for the armor to keep its balance and brought Turk down. Day later modified the armor to prevent Daredevil for using this newfound knowledge against him. In the 2006 issues of Heroes for Hire, a version of Stilt-Man's armor can be found in a police storehouse with other villains' equipment under their names. The armour seen here is labelled "Case: NYC v. Turk ("Loser")"., and is used by Scorpion during her battle with Paladin.

Stilt-Man continued to make sporadic appearances in various Marvel comics, wherein he has continued his criminal career and fought several superheroes, but without much success. One of his most prominent appearances during this time was during the Iron Man storyline "Armor Wars", where he was one of the many armored super-villains whose armors had been secretly upgraded with technology stolen from Tony Stark; Iron Man quickly defeated the villain in their confrontation by throwing one of his own hydraulic legs at him to knock him out.

Later, Daredevil's secret identity of Matt Murdock was exposed by a local newspaper, with Murdock denying the allegations. On hearing of this news, Wilbur visited the law offices of Nelson and Murdock, announcing he was sick of the whole ordeal and that he was retiring as Stilt-Man. He left his armor in a suitcase on Murdock's desk, and was forcibly removed when he began yelling his paranoid conclusion that Murdock was the real Kingpin. Murdock then jokingly asked his law partner, Foggy Nelson, if he'd like to be the next Stilt-Man, an offer he quickly declined.

During this period, Day romanced and eventually married Circus of Crime member Princess Python.

Then, when the Superhero Registration Act offered Day a chance at redemption, he signed up with the government and was outfitted with a new suit of armor to serve as a law enforcer during the Civil War. Unfortunately for Day, one of his assignments led him into conflict with the Punisher, who paralyzes him with a M72 LAW, and then shoots him at point-blank range, killing him.

Day's funeral was held in the Bar With No Name, and was attended by his fellow also-rans of the crime world. Sadness turned to remembrance, which turned into high spirits, which eventually led to a full-scale fight breaking out. The appearance of Spider-Man put an end to the violence, but the bar was then promptly blown up by the Punisher in an attempt to kill all the villains inside. It was later mentioned that "they all had to get their stomachs pumped and be treated for third-degree burns."

Successor

During Day's absence from the world of costumed crime, an as-yet-unnamed criminal acquired the Stilt-Man armor, and after upgrading its telescoping abilities, was defeated in the pages of Marvel Team-Up by Daredevil and Luke Cage; the fight only lasted as long as it did because Daredevil was afraid of knocking the villain out at his current height as the fall would have killed him. He was next seen being dispatched by Ms. Marvel in her new series.

Powers and abilities

Day is a competent, although perhaps not genius, engineer and inventor.

Day often uses a gun capable of producing a potent stun gas. He has also used gas grenades, an electrified exterior for his suit, and various conventional weaponry.

Stilt-Man designed and constructed his battle suit, which increases his strength 10 times more than normal. The suit's telescopic legs contain hydraulic rams which allow them to be used as battering rams, able to stretch up to 250' and also allow him to walk up to 30 miles per hour. His legs are also coated with a silicone compound that prevents Spider-Man's webbing from adhering to them.

Other media

Television

• Stilt-Man also made a guest appearance on the Iron Man animated series voiced by Dorian Harewood. His armor was based on Stark's Iron Man technology when he is seen when he was trying to rob a building from the outside. Iron Man used his drill armor to take out one of the legs and then attached a Negator Pack on him.

Video games

• He is mentioned in the Spider-Man 3 video game.
• Due to his somewhat laughable status as a villain and strange powers, he is made a joke villain in Marvel Renegade: The Story.

Toys

• In spite of his lackluster status, (or, perhaps because of it) Stilt-Man appears in the Sinister expansion to WizKid's HeroClix collectible miniature game, alongside his nemesis Daredevil.
• He appears on a card in the VS System trading card game and its subsequent video game adaptations.

References

External links

• Spider-Fan's Stilt-man bio
• Stilt-Man bio
• Stilt-Man on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
• Turk Barrett Bio