Egghead (Marvel Comics)

Egghead is the name of two fictional supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The character was played by Michael Cerveris in Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Publication history
The original version (Elihas Starr) first appeared in Tales to Astonish #38 (December 1962), and was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Larry Lieber.

The second version first appeared in Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1 (July 2009), and was created by Paul Cornell and Mark Brooks.

Elihas Starr
Elihas Starr was born in Queens, New York. A gifted government research atomic scientist with an egg-shaped head, Starr was dismissed for espionage and resolved to use his intellect as a criminal mastermind. He was dealt a humiliating initial defeat by Ant-Man when he created a device to communicate with ants and tried to convince them to betray Ant-Man by leading into a fly paper trap. Ant-Man tricked him into thinking the ants had betrayed before revealing that the ants were friends and would never turn against Ant-Man. Egghead later captured the Wasp to try luring his nemesis into a trap involving several creatures, including an iguana and an anteater, but this failed. Egghead divided his remaining years between attempted world conquest and seeking revenge on his nemesis, often hiding out in the Bowery section of Manhattan in between.

Egghead allied with the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master in a plot to use a laser satellite to blackmail the United States government. He caused the death of Barney Barton, brother of Hawkeye, who was aiding the Avengers, hired the Swordsman to kidnap Hank Pym, and battled Clint Barton again, who had recently adopted the identity of Goliath.

Egghead later kidnapped his niece Trish Starr in order to test a device which allowed him to steal other people's intelligence, and wound up battling Pym as Ant-Man again. He would later cause her car to explode, causing her to lose an arm. He then formed the second Emissaries of Evil in an attempt to gain possession of the mystic ruby called the Star of Capistan. This team consisted of himself, the Rhino, Solarr and the Cobalt Man. Egghead and the Emissaries battled the Defenders. Egghead also fought Spider-Man on several occasions.

Egghead was obsessed with Pym and engineered the man's disgrace. Egghead approached Pym (who was operating as Yellowjacket at the time) with a prosthetic arm that he wished to give to Trish in order make amends for his previous deeds. After the arm was installed, Egghead informed Pym that the arm contained a bomb that would be detonated unless Pym complied with Egghead's commands. Egghead had Pym attempt to rob a national treasury of adamantium, and Pym was caught and arrested by the Avengers. With Pym apparently out of the way, Egghead then formed the third Masters of Evil as part of a plot against the Avengers.

Egghead then sent his Masters of Evil to kidnap Pym from his own trial, making it appear as if Pym himself had staged a rescue. The attempt was successful and Egghead instructed Pym to construct an anti-aging device. Subsequently, Pym goaded Egghead into letting him test the machine himself. However, the device turned out to be a weapon system, and he single-handedly defeated the assembled Masters of Evil. The Avengers arrived too late to be of assistance, but Hawkeye arrived at the laboratory in time to see the defeated Egghead about to shoot Hank in the back out of spite with his energy blaster. Hawkeye shot an arrow into Egghead's gun barrel. The gun misfired, causing an accidental explosion of the energy pistol which killed Egghead, avenging the death of Hawkeye's brother Barney Barton at Egghead's hands years ago. Days later, his ashes were scattered by Pym and Trish in a private ceremony.

Arnim Zola later created a proto-husk of Egghead as part of his Corpse Corps. Deadpool fought and killed Egghead's proto-husk, who then had a small bird pop out of its skull.

A flashback in Fall of the Hulks: Alpha showed that Egghead was a member of the Intelligencia.

Egghead later turned up alive thanks to a "rejuvetech serum" used on him. He was behind the A.I.Vengers that he had computer technician Raz Malhotra activate after placing a neural override on the man. Egghead's activities attracted the attention of Pym in his alias of Giant-Man and Ant-Man. After breaking free of the neural override, Raz shuts down the A.I.Vengers, and Egghead is knocked out by Pym.

Egghead is later hired by Darren Cross to work for Cross Technological Enterprises. To help control Cross's Pym Particle-related abilities, Egghead provides the Yellowjacket costume for him to wear. Egghead later accompanies Cross and Crossfire into attacking Scott Lang's trial.

Robot
A robot version of Egghead appears as a member of the new Young Avengers. Although his original programming was "to respect all human life", the female neo-Nazi Big Zero (who seems to have a relationship with him) has reprogrammed him to hate several minorities.

Egghead is later recruited by the villain Zodiac (who was the benefactor of the Young Masters) to join his army.

In the pages of Avengers Undercover, Egghead is with the Young Masters when they are seen in Bagalia as members of the Masters of Evil.

Powers and abilities
Although he had no superhuman powers of his own, Eilhas Starr's genius level intellect made him a formidable foe. He was particularly skilled in the fields of robotics and engineering, and could absorb new ideas and knowledge at a seemingly superhuman rate. He had a degree in atomic science, and extensive knowledge in a wide variety of scientific and technological disciplines. Starr designed a wide variety of sophisticated weapons and technological paraphernalia.

As of Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1, the robot's powers have not been fully revealed. He has so far demonstrated the ability to fly and the power to phase his hand through a person's skull.

Television

 * The Elihas Starr iteration of Egghead appeared in The Avengers: United They Stand, voiced by Robert Cornell Latimer. In the episode "Egg-Stream Vengeance", Egghead (disguised as a long-legged clown) tampered with Hank Pym's Pym Particles at a Thanksgiving Day Parade, blowing special bubbles while Pym was fighting a dinosaur float. When arriving at Avengers Mansion with the press, Egghead used a countermeasure to restore Giant-Man's rightful height but later caused Pym to shrink. While the Wasp stays behind to watch Ant-Man, the Avengers hunt Egghead. After the Scarlet Witch deactivated his house security system, the Avengers apprehended and bring Egghead back to Avengers Mansion. When Ant-Man was cured by the Wasp, Egghead gets sprayed by his own serum with half-life Pym Particles that will leave him small for a few hours. Hawkeye manages to trap Egghead in a jar to give to the arriving police officers as the Scarlet Witch gives Egghead's recorded confession.
 * The Elihas Starr iteration of Egghead appears in The Super Hero Squad Show, voiced by Wayne Knight. In the episode "This Forest Green", he is assigned by Doctor Doom to help get into the Helicarrier in Egghead's shrinking pod after MODOK and the Abomination botched the recent Infinity Fractal retrieval. In the episode "Election of Evil", Egghead runs in the election against Super Hero City's mayor and wins via a mind-control device hidden in his tie. He then sets up rules that end up causing problems for the superheroes. Doctor Doom tells Egghead to work on the bills that will unlock Villainville's gate only to be defeated by Wolverine. In the episode "Too Many Wolverines", Egghead has been using Doctor Doom's abandoned base to make clones of Wolverine to send into the city. He tried to abduct science teacher Professor Wyndham (an expert on DNA) only to be thwarted in this attempt by Reptil and Firestar. Upon being joined by Wolverine, Reptil and Firestar find Egghead's hideout and fight Wolverine's mutated clones unleashed by Egghead. After Reptil and Firestar hit a button that destroys Wolverine's clones, the two heroes help Wolverine apprehend Egghead.
 * The Elihas Starr iteration of Egghead appears in the Avengers Assemble animated series, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal. In the episode "Spectrums", Egghead is mentioned among the villains that Scott Lang sold technology to. Elihas Starr appears in Avengers: Ultron Revolution. In the episode "Ant-Man Makes It Big", he is depicted as a disgruntled prop master who was fired because his props were too dangerous, and considers his Egghead alias to be an insult. Ant-Man, Black Widow and Hawkeye stumble onto his plot to disrupt the production of Human Ant and the Revengers with sentient robot suits and sentient Lava Men suits. At an abandoned studio where his checks are sent to, Egghead uses an egg-shaped exo-suit with chicken head-shaped hands to fight the three Avengers while also deploying the autopilot versions all over Los Angeles. With Black Widow's help, Ant-Man gets into the exo-suit to defeat Egghead which deactivates the autopilot exo-suits. Egghead is then arrested by the police.

Film

 * Elihas Starr appears in Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, voiced by Hiroki Tōchi in the Japanese version and by Grant George in the English dub. A former scientist of S.H.I.E.L.D. and love interest of Black Widow, this version works for Leviathan. Elihas managed to create an army of brainwashed super-soldiers via the blood of a few members of the Avengers.
 * Elihas Starr appears during flashbacks in Ant-Man and the Wasp, portrayed by Michael Cerveris. He was a colleague of Hank Pym and Bill Foster, and the father of Ava Starr. After being fired by Pym, Starr had stolen some technology to shortcut a Quantum Realm portal to redeem his scientific reputation, bringing along his wife Catherine Starr (portrayed by Riann Steele) and Ava. Unfortunately, Starr and Catherine are killed in a quantum explosion when his technology malfunctions; the same accident leads to Ava's phasing powers. Foster and Ava would claim that Hank was jealous of Starr, but Hank claims that Starr had stolen tech.

Video games

 * The Elihas Starr iteration of Egghead appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers.

Newspaper comic strips

 * Beginning in July 2016 and finishing in November of that year, The Amazing Spider-Man comic strip by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, and Alex Saviuk featured a storyline involving the Elihas Starr iteration of Egghead, in which he becomes the 51% owner of the Daily Bugle, having married J. Jonah Jameson's estranged sister without his knowledge and inherited her share of the newspaper upon her death.