Publisher Marvel Comics Abilities Inflatable First appearance Squadron Supreme | Created by Mark Gruenwald Creator Mark Gruenwald Affiliation Redeemers | |
Team affiliations Institute of Evil
Redeemers | ||
Pinball is a character from Marvel Comics' original Squadron Supreme series. He is apparently a loose combination of the Penguin a frequent Batman villain from DC Comics, and Bouncing Boy.
Fictional character biography
Pinball was a member of the criminal group known as the Institute of Evil, who was captured by the Squadron Supreme and subjected to the Behavior Modification process invented by Tom Thumb. This process was intended to give former criminals a more "law-abiding" personality. Ironically, at the time, the Squadron itself was engaged in the highly illegal act of subverting every known government on Earth, in order to implement their own rule, known as the "Utopia Project". As the name implies, they intended to use their own superior abilities and technology to eliminate every problem humanity had ever faced, from the common cold to death itself. However, in order to do so, they felt they needed to control everything that could possibly happen, in order to assure only positive outcomes, thus eliminating free will.
Nighthawk, a founding member of the Squadron, objected to these plans and left to form his own group, the Redeemers, to oppose the Squadron in their efforts. He reversed the Behavior Modification on several supervillains and recruited them into the Redeemers. Pinball was one such individual, and when the Squadron and the Redeemers finally fought each other, Pinball was one of those killed in battle, when his spine was shattered by Blue Eagle.