Blackout (Marcus Daniels)

Blackout (Marcus Daniels) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Patrick Brennan portrayed the character in two episodes of the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Blackout first appeared in Nova #19 and was created by Marv Wolfman, Carmine Infantino, and Tom Palmer.^[1]

Marcus Daniels was born in Flushing, Queens, New York City. He works as a laboratory assistant to Abner Croit, a physicist hoping to build a device capable of tapping into energies from other dimensions. Croit looks down on Daniels, making him feel useless. An accident bathed Daniels in Darkforce energy, giving him the ability to control it. Despite his powers threatening to go out of control, he escapes from Croit's attempts to cure him and flees.

Blackout returns to Croit's laboratory to find a stabilizer device needed to control his energy. Slowly losing his sanity, Blackout comes to believe that Croit had been researching energies from "Black Stars" and willfully subjected him to experimentation in exchange for dropping charges against him.

Nova encounters Blackout on his way to exact revenge and is easily defeated. Before Nova can catch up with him, Blackout returns to the labs, killing Croit and his new assistant by shunting them into the Darkforce. Following another skirmish with Nova, Blackout vanishes into the Darkforce when he falls onto the stabilizer, destroying it.^[2]

The stabilizer ends up at Project Pegasus, a government energy research laboratory. An attack by the Lava Men and the presence of Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) activates the device, which returns Blackout to Earth. Believing that Croit is still alive and out to harm him, Blackout attempts to escape. He is coerced by another Project Pegasus captive, Moonstone, into freeing her, Electro, and Rhino to gain revenge on their captors. Blackout and Moonstone escape after causing the nuclear core of the complex to melt down as a distraction.

Moonstone, a former psychiatrist, treats Blackout to learn his true origin, but he remains in an irrational state. When the Avengers track them down, Blackout sucks himself and Moonstone into the Darkforce.^[3] Moonstone helps Blackout navigate through the dimension, eventually arriving on the surface of the Moon. The two encounter the Inhumans and their ally, Dazzler, who return them to Earth.^[4]

Blackout and Moonstone are recruited by Helmut Zemo into the Masters of Evil. By this time, Blackout has entered a nearly catatonic state, only responsive to Moonstone's commands. Zemo, with the help of the Fixer, creates a device to mentally force Blackout to obey his commands. Blackout assists in Zemo's takeover of the Avengers Mansion by transporting it into the Darkforce. Doctor Druid uses his psychic abilities to break through Zemo and Moonstone's manipulations, restoring some of Blackout's mental faculties. Blackout resists Zemo's mental commands, which causes him to suffer a fatal cerebral hemorrhage.^[5][6]

Years later, Blackout's body is taken by Baron Zemo and manipulated like a puppet on strings to serve as a member of his team as he confronted the new Thunderbolts over the life of their member Photon. During the battle between the two teams, Zemo reveals that Blackout was merely a shell in which he kept the Smuggler trapped. This had the desired effect of turning his brother, Atlas against his team, and Zemo gained the upper hand.

During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Blackout is seen living as a married family man under the alias of Bob Hofstedder until he is found by Baron Zemo, who persuades him to join the Army of Evil.^[7] Blackout helps Zemo surround Manhattan in a Darkforce dome to further Hydra's plot.^[8] Maria Hill locates Blackout and kills him, destroying the dome.^[9]

During the "Damnation" storyline, Blackout is revived when Doctor Strange uses his magic to restore Las Vegas.^[10]

Blackout was exposed to cosmic radiation, giving him the power to tap into the Darkforce, a source of infinite dark energy, and to manipulate it in various ways. He could project Darkforce as concussive energy with tremendous force. Blackout could mentally open portals to and from the Darkforce. He could create and control simple, solid geometric shapes from Darkforce, such as discs, cubes, spheres, cylinders, and planes. These objects absorbed energy directed against them, and would remain solid as long as he exerted conscious control over them. He could psionically levitate Darkforce objects, and could fly by riding on them. Blackout was mentally unstable due to his time spent in the Darkforce, and sometimes entered a nearly catatonic state. His control over Darkforce was dependent on his mental clarity, and would weaken when he was fatigued. Training with Moonstone allowed him to maintain his Darkforce constructs for a considerably longer period of time. Blackout wore a costume with circuitry that helped him confine the Darkforce within his body. The costume was designed by Dr. Abner Croit. Blackout had a master's degree in physics, especially in the study of radiation.

Marcus Daniels appears in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed by Patrick Brennan.^[11] Daniels worked as a laboratory assistant before he was exposed to Darkforce energy, gaining the ability to absorb all forms of energy. He was subsequently captured by Phil Coulson and incarcerated in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility called the "Fridge". In the episode "Providence", Hydra takes over the Fridge and frees the inmates.^[12] In the following episode, "The Only Light in the Darkness", Daniels pursues Audrey Nathan, whom he considered his personal light. He is confronted by Coulson and his team, who overload him with spotlights modified to produce gamma radiation and cause him to explode.^[13]

• Blackout appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 via the "Cloak and Dagger" DLC.^[14]

• Blackout I at Marvel.com
• Blackout I at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe