I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to come up with this year’s quiz in time for the summer.  Last year, I went with general Silver-Age DC questions, so this year it was Marvel Comics’ turn.  And when it comes to the mighty Marvel universe, it’s always harder to gin up questions that can’t be answered in two minutes by an on-line search.  That lets the air out of most of the “Hey, I didn’t know that!” questions that I like to ask.  Usually, I keep a few good posers on any given topic in my hip pocket, but for this summer’s challenge, I had to start from scratch, and it took me the better part of the year to work it up. 

 

That includes, in the last couple of days, tossing out two questions because I discovered, at the last minute, they were ineligible for use.  I finally came up with their replacements last night, so this quiz is about as fresh as it can be.

 

The rules are the same as always.  But for anyone who stumbled across this page thinking it was an on-line chandlery and deciding, what the hell, he'll give the quiz a try, here they are.  (I’ll let you old hands know when this part’s done.)

1.  All of the questions, and answers, are drawn from Silver-Age material. That is, anything produced by Marvel Comics from 1956 to 1968, which I demark as the end of the Silver Age.  If your answer comes from outside that period, then it is invalid.  For example, if I were to ask “Who taught Hawkeye archery?” and you answered “Trick Shot", you would be wrong.  During the Silver Age, it was established that the Swordsman trained Hawkeye in the bow and arrow; "Trick Shot" was a 1987 revision.

 

Fair warning:  forgetting the Silver-Age limitation has been the single most responsible cause of folks getting an answer wrong.

2.  I’m definitely not infallible, also something to which the veteran quiz-takers will attest. I might have missed something, somewhere, in twelve years of Marvel publication.  If you come up with an answer that meets the criteria of the question and can cite the Silver-Age reference, then I will gladly award you credit.  “But I always thought . . . “ explanations won’t cut it, though.

3.  I’ve got no problem with anybody using a search engine to look for answers. I try to make my questions as Google-proof as possible.  The right answers are difficult to find with a search engine, though I cannot say impossible.  At least once, I tripped myself up when an article I had written for another site contained the answer to a question from that year’s quiz, and one of the players found it.

4.  There are no prizes. You’re playing for bragging rights.

 

(O.K., the rules are done, now.)

 

Is everybody ready?  Then what are we waiting for?

 

 

1.  The Hulk was awarded a Presidential pardon for defeating which villain?

 

2.  When he is in top shape, what is the maximum distance Mister Fantastic can stretch his limbs without discomfort?

 

3.  When Aunt May wants to make Peter Parker’s favourite breakfast, what does she prepare?

 

4.  Three men attempted the same feat.  One man did it to get a job with a carnival; another did it to impress his girl friend; and the third, to prove to his co-workers that he was as athletic as a super-hero.  They all failed miserably and drew the attention of the N.Y.P.D.  What were they trying to do?

5.  Who trained the crows used by the Scarecrow to commit his crimes?

 

6.  Every year, for one day, Thor’s costume changes in what distinctive way?

 

7.  How does ex-Howling Commando Percival Pinkerton make his living as a civilian?

8.  For a time, Giant-Man and the Wasp swallowed capsules to alter their heights up and down.  But how could they tell if it was a shrinking capsule or a growing capsule before popping it into their mouths? 

 

9.  By curious circumstance, the Marvel universe’s analogue for the real-world spy show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. became a television series in real life, too, with virtually the same title.  Name it.

10.  The cosmic cube is the most powerful object in the Silver-Age Marvel universe.  It converts any wish of its possessor into reality.  Yet, upon coming into possession of the cube, who discarded it as a “worthless bauble”?

Good luck!

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  • 1) The Metal Master (Incredible Hulk #6)

    6) Thor's costume would turn gold as Odin's reward for a victory.

    7) He ran a Playboy Club-like nightclub in Swingin' London! Oh behave!

    8) The color and size of each pill corresponded to a different height. He must have had in every color of the rainbow and more! (Tales To Astonish #49)

    10) I'm going with the Sub-Mariner!

  • 5) A man named Thorton who was on the same bill as the Scarecrow when he was an escape artist. The act was "Thorton and his Trained Crows" which escaped Ed Sullivan's attention! But to be fair, the Scarecrow taught the crows to commit crimes.

  • I don't think I even participated in last year's DC quiz, but a Marvel one is right in my wheelhouse. I haven't looked at the answers above, so there might be some duplication. Here are the ones I (think I) know.

    1. Rick Jones confided Bruce Banner's secret to President Johnson in Tales to Astonish #64 and we saw the President keeping that promise in #68, but it wasn't until issue #88 when Johnson granted him amnesty upon the approval of General Ross (witch the general promptly tore up). The answer to the question is the Leader's Humanoid.

    2. I don't have time to transcribe it verbatim, but the answer is 100 yards (from Fantastic Four Annual #1).

    3. Peter's favorite breakfast is "wheatcakes" (from way back in Amazing Fantasy #15).

    4. The men were trying to impersonate Captain America (Tales of Suspense #96).

    5. Umberto's crows were trained by Thornton, of "he act "Thornton and his Trained Crows" (Tales of Suspense #51).

    6. Thor's costume changed to the color gold for the "Tournament of Titans" (Thor Annual #2).

    8. The capsules were sorted by size and color (Tales of Suspense #49).

    10. It was the Mole Man who discarded the Cosmic Cube as a "worthless bauble" (Avengers #40).

    I don't have a clue about Percival Pinkerton, but I feel I should know the one about the Marvel analogue of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I'll have to give it some more thought. 

    Good quiz! The question about the Cosmic Cube was particularly tricky. (I almost answered Sub-Mariner.) Most of these (except for the one about "wheatcakes") I looked up primarily to verify the exact issue number.

  • 3) I was going to say "wheatcakes" too but that sounds too easy. It's basically a running gag when joshing about young Peter. It's like asking who Barry Allen's favorite super-hero was.

  • 1. Metal Master
    2.
    3 Wheatcakes
    4.
    5. Thornton and his Trained Crows was the act the Scarecrow ripped off.
    6.
    7. Teacher  ?  
    8
    9. Agents of SHIELD
    10. Namor

  • Reviewing the answers, I see two “Metal Man” answers to question one. (That does sound familiar now that I think of it.)

    OTOH, I see two “Sub-Mariner” answers to question ten, but I’m certain it’s Mole Man. (Subby used the Cube in Avengers #40 but lost it. Mole Man found it and threw it away.)

    “Nightclub owner” sounds right for question seven.

    I’m still not so sure about question nine, though.

  • Hi Commander! I’m giving this one a whack this year, and as usual, going mostly from memory. So I have no doubts that I’ll be a long shot from the rear. But dang, I do love my comic trivia, and you’re just so sharp at it!

     

    1) The Metal Master

     

    2) A half mile

     

    3) Wheat cakes

     

    4) Be Captain America

     

    5)

     

    6) I have absolutely no idea. Mmm… I’ll guess that it’s black, probably for mourning of some nature.

     

    7) He’s a haberdasher on Savile Row?

     

    8) The color of the capsules

     

    9) It’s too simple an answer, but I got nothing better than “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

     

    10) Namor

     

    Great questions as always, sir! I always enjoy these, and you always do a swell job. Thanks!

     

    SAF

  • I don't know the answers to any of these questions (and am looking forward to when they are revealed), but the Commander's dedication to making them difficult to find via a search engine tells me Peter Parker's favorite breakfast is something other than "wheatcakes."

    We shall see. 

  • They're difficult via search engine but much easier if you have the relevant issues. Although that's tougher with some questions than others: it's easy to pinpoint when the Scarecrow stole the crows, but who knows when Reed mentioned his maximum stretch (well obviously some people in these comments know, but you get my point).

    ClarkKent_DC said:

    I don't know the answers to any of these questions (and am looking forward to when they are revealed), but the Commander's dedication to making them difficult to find via a search engine tells me Peter Parker's favorite breakfast is something other than "wheatcakes."

    We shall see. 

  • Addendum to my first answers: #4 is, they dressed up as Captain America.

    I thought at first I was confusing this with the Bronze Age issue where several guys "become" Cap after the Secret Empire plotline convinces him to quit. But then I checked the first Epic collection and there it is in Tales of Suspense 96 (the cops refer to multiple other wannabes but they're all off-panel).

    It looks like they just attempted to do something acrobatic rather than beat up on hoods.

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