Frederick Foswell

This article is about Marvel comics characters called Big Man. For other uses, see Big man (disambiguation).

Frederick Foswell
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Amazing Spider-Man #10 (Mar 1964)
Created by	Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
In-story information
Alter ego	Frederick Foswell
Team affiliations	Daily Bugle Enforcers
Notable aliases	Patch; Big Man
Abilities	He was adept at disguise and an excellent marksman with handguns.

Frederick Foswell is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.

Publication history

Frederick Foswell first appeared, as the Big Man, in The Amazing Spider-Man #10 (March 1964), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

The character subsequently appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964), Amazing Spider-Man #23-27 (April–August 1965), #29-34 (October 1965-March 1966), #37 (June 1966), Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3 (1966), Amazing Spider-Man #42-47 (November 1966-April 1967), #49-52 (June–September 1967). The Big Man also made appearances in Marvel Team-Up #40 (December 1975) and Marvels #2 (February 1994).

The Big Man received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #16, and in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man #1 (2005).

Fictional character biography

Frederick Foswell was born in Queens, New York. He was one of Spider-Man's first opponents. He worked at the Daily Bugle for evidently quite a number of years, though the sliding timescale puts some of the hints of this into question: in the Night Raven story in Marvel Super-Heroes (UK)#394 (February 1983), Foswell is referred to as a friend of Scoop Daly and as having attended Scoop Daly's funeral. A man named Fredrick was shown working for the Bugle in Sgt. Fury#110.

A reporter for the Daily Bugle, Foswell led a double life behind a mask as The Big Man, head of New York's crime and the boss of the notorious Enforcers. Although he did not possess any actual superpowers, he was a slippery opponent. However, following a confrontation with Spider-Man, his identity was exposed and the police brought him in (Although Spider-Man had initially assumed that the Big Man was J. Jonah Jameson due to Foswell using padding to make himself appear larger as the Big Man).

After Foswell was released from prison, Jameson rehired him, an act of trust which immediately earned Foswell's gratitude. When another masked crime lord called the Crime-Master arose, working in collusion with the Green Goblin, Spider-Man suspected Foswell, but it turned out to be someone else. However, Foswell had indeed been wearing a mask - a patch-eyed face that he used as an alter ego, Patch. Acting as a stool-pigeon, he tipped off the police to planned crimes while getting scoops.

At one point, Foswell actually discovered Spider-Man's secret identity, but Spider-Man was warned by his spider-sense and managed to trick Foswell into believing that he wasn't Peter Parker, faking a conversation between his two identities and then rapidly creating a 'dummy' by filling his costume with webbing and sending it swinging away while Foswell was watching. Parker and Foswell occasionally worked together, with Peter tipping off Foswell as Spider-Man before a major bust and then taking pictures to go with Foswell's stories.

When Spider-Man gave up the costume in Amazing Spider-Man #50, the Kingpin entered and took over New York's underworld. Foswell, believing that he could take over from the Kingpin, returned to crime, but the Kingpin outwitted him, instead forcibly enlisting him as a lieutenant. When the Kingpin kidnapped Jameson because of his editorials on the new crime wave, Spider-Man returned and tried to rescue him, but was beaten by the Kingpin. The Kingpin tried to kill both Jameson and Spider-Man by drowning them, but Spider-Man used his webbing to create an air bubble that kept them both alive.

The attempted murder of Jameson turned Foswell against the Kingpin, who, sensing this, tried to kill him. However, Spider-Man entered and stopped him just in time. While the Kingpin and Spider-Man battled, Foswell ran into the basement of the Kingpin's building to try to help Jameson. When he found Jameson, Foswell protected him from the thugs trying to kill him, and took a bullet meant for Jameson. The Kingpin escaped, and Foswell died a hero, having repaid his debt to Jameson. For this, Jameson memorialized him as a hero in the Daily Bugle.

Janice Foswell

Janice Foswell
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Marvel Team-Up #39 (Nov 1975)
Created by	Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema
In-story information
Alter ego	Janice Foswell
Team affiliations	Enforcers
Abilities	She was adept at disguise and an excellent marksman with handguns.

The daughter of the original Big Man, Janice Foswell sought to follow in the footsteps of her father and gain control of the New York underworld. She was soon joined by a new Crime-Master and Sandman. She and her Enforcers were defeated by Spider-Man, the Human Torch and the Sons of the Tiger. Over a dispute about eliminating Spider-Man and the Sons, Janice was killed by the Crime Master, who turned out to be her fiancé and son of the original Crime-Master, Nick Lewis Jr; both had separately pursued vengeance against Spider-Man without knowledge of each other's identity.

Other versions

Ultimate

In the alternate, Ultimate Marvel universe, Foswell (aka Mr. Big) was introduced as a mobster and the head of Wilson Fisk's Enforcers. Foswell was scheming to overthrow Fisk, using Spider-Man as his secret weapon. The plan backfired and when Fisk learned that Foswell was the one responsible for Spidey's assault on his office, he crushed the mobster's head with his bare hands.

Another Frederick Foswell also exists in the Ultimate universe. His name is seen on a byline in The Daily Bugle in a published story on the death of Spider-Man and revealing his identity as Peter Parker.

MC2

In the MC2 universe, Henry Pym Jr., inheriting his father's size changing powers, takes the name Big Man. He is briefly a member of the Revengers, before going straight and joining a government-sponsored team.

In other media

Television

• Frederick Foswell is a minor character in The Spectacular Spider-Man voiced by James Arnold Taylor. During several scenes at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson mentions Foswell. This series version of Foswell even appears briefly in Market Forces, with blonde hair, a mustache, and a green business suit. Later The Invisible Hand, shows Foswell working as a Bugle employee. Twelve years ago, he won a Pulitzer for writing an expose on the criminal activities of Silvermane, and put him behind bars. At the office, he is asked about the Big Man by Peter Parker. The only other related name Parker learned was "Lincoln," and Foswell cites rumors that "L. Thompson Lincoln" was the Big Man, though Foswell admits that his investigation has led him to believe that Lincoln is not the Big Man. Foswell's "Patch" persona appears in the episode "Reinforcement". Spider-Man asks him about the Master Planner. He later uses it again in "Accomplices" to obtain information about an auction between the factions of the Big Man, Dr. Octopus, Silvermane, and Roderick Kingsley. He bugs Donald Menken (the auctioneer), and combined with Peter's photos of the event, they convince Jonah to run a story about the gang war. Foswell is later undercover as Patch in "Gangland" during the Valentine's Day Summit, and writes an article exposing Tombstone as the Big Man.

Video games

• Frederick's daughter Janice is mentioned by a henchmen in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. She is mentioned to be Hammerhead's girlfriend. When Fancy Dan was flirting with her, Hammerhead had Crime Master kill him and put him in a garbage can. Snake Marston has also attempted to seduce her.

External links

• Profile at Spiderfan.org
• Profile of Big Man II, Foswell's daughter, at Marvunapp.com