Stonewall (comics)

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caption=Art by Kerry Gammill
character_name=Stonewall
real_name=Louis Hamilton
species=Human Mutant
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Uncanny X-Men" #215 (March 1987)
creators=Chris Claremont
Alan Davis
alliances=Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, Freedom Force
aliases=
powers= Superhuman strength, endurance, resilience|

Stonewall is the codename of a fictional mutant vigilante turned government agent in the Marvel universe. He has most frequently appeared as an adversary or an ally of the X-Men. His real name is Louis Hamilton.

Fictional character biography

Stonewall and his allies, Crimson Commando and Super Sabre, were all super-powered U.S. veterans of World War II. The trio wished to continue their government service after the war by combatting communism during the Cold War, but they were rebuffed by the U.S. government and forced into retirement. Angered by what they perceived as a decline in morals in the United States, the trio became vigilantes. The trio captured criminals, whom they released and hunted in the wilderness of upstate New York. The trio killed the criminals, both to reduce the criminal element in society and for the enjoyment of hunting them.

Mistaking Storm (the leader of the X-Men) for a criminal, the trio captured and hunted her. When Storm and Wolverine eventually defeated the trio, Stonewall and Crimson Commando agreed to turn themselves in to law enforcement authorities and confess their vigilantism.

Stonewall, Crimson Commando, and Super Sabre (who had been presumed dead) agreed to join Freedom Force, a U.S. government sponsored team of superhumans, in exchanged for a commutation of their sentences. Stonewall's first mission with Freedom Force took place during The Fall of the Mutants storyline. Freedom Force tried to prevent the X-Men from entering a building in which Destiny had prophesied that they would die. In the aftermath of the Fall of the Mutants, Stonewall aided Freedom Force in protecting Forge from the New Mutants and attempting to apprehend Cyclops and Marvel Girl. In an attempt to lure the pro-mutant terrorist group known as The Resistants into a trap, Freedom Force staged a fake trial of an evil mutant. For the fake trial, Stonewall used his legal background to act as one of the lawyers.

Stonewall was part of the Freedom Force's expedition to defend Muir Island from the Reavers. During that mission, Stonewall was killed by Donald Pierce while trying to protect Mystique.

ecret Invasion

During the Secret Invasion storline, a man named Jerry Sledge is recruited by Daisy Johnson to be a member of Nick Fury's new Howling Commandos. While in battle, Daisy refers to Jerry as "Stonewall". ["Secret Invasion" #4]

Powers and abilities

Stonewall's mutant physiology granted him tremendous superhuman strength and endurance, including incredible resistance to physical injury. He was especially resistant to blunt physical force, resisting blows from Rogue and the Blob without falling. He was also a skilled physical fighter.

He could, however, be grappled and made to lose his footing through indirect attacks. In these cases, his dense body could put him at a disadvantage, as he nearly drowned in a mountain lake after Storm threw him in. Unable to get back to shore on his own, she had to help pull him out.

Stonewall was also vulnerable to energy based attacks that were not kinetic in nature-Donald Pierce killed him with electrocution, flooding his body with electrical energy.

Trivia

Like his allies Crimson Commando and Super Sabre, Stonewall has a codename with military significance. Stonewall was the nickname of Confederate general Thomas Jackson. In addition, his codename evokes the stone walls of a castle. As part of the castle motif, Stonewall's costume design contains a pattern resembling the crenellations atop a wall or tower.

Stonewall was a lawyer and an admirer of the works of Irish author James Joyce.

References