Vault (Marvel Comics)

Vault
First appearance	Avengers Annual #15 (1986)
Publisher	Marvel Comics

Vault was the widely used nickname of a fictional prison facility for technological-based superhuman criminals (predominantly supervillains) appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Vault first appeared in Avengers Annual #15 (1986). The prison's full official name is the United States Maximum Security Installation for the Incarceration of Superhuman Criminals.

Publication history

The Vault first appeared in Avengers Annual #15 (1986) by writers Steve Englehart and Danny Fingeroth, artist Steve Ditko and Editor Mark Gruenwald. It is unclear whether Englehart, Fingeroth or Gruenwald (or all three) originated the concept.

The Vault was not the first super-human detainment facility to appear in comic books. Marvel had shown their characters detained in various penitentiaries (usually alongside regular criminals) prior to Avengers Annual #15, most often at "Ryker's Island" (a fictionalized Rikers Island). Also, while DC Comics' more well-known Arkham Asylum predates the Vault by over 12 years, Arkham is technically a psychiatric hospital, not a prison. There is also Takron-Galtos, a prison planet which incarcerated many of the Legion of Super-Heroes' villains which first appeared in Adventure Comics #359 (August 1967).

However, the Vault was the first prison said to be built specifically and exclusively for the detention of supervillains, and the first to be widely used across a line of comic books. Similar institutions in other comic book universes, such as "the Slab" and Iron Heights in the DC Universe, first appeared years later.

After its debut, the Vault quickly began to appear throughout Marvel's line of titles as it became the standard destination of imprisoned superhumans in the Marvel Universe. Several storylines were based around the notion of superheroes being imprisoned in the facility or a number of inmates coordinating a prison break. In 1991, the facility was the subject and main setting for Marvel Graphic Novel No. 68 - Avengers: Death Trap - The Vault (later republished as Venom: Death Trap - The Vault) which was written by Danny Fingeroth with art by Ron Lim.

The facility was destroyed in Heroes for Hire #1 (February 1997), although the facility still occasionally appears in flashbacks in various Marvel publications.

Afterwards, the concept was abandoned. Comic book writer Kurt Busiek explained some the reasoning for this in a Usenet posting in February 2001

"the Vault is a dramatically-flawed idea -- either villains escape a lot (which is what happened) and the result is that this supposedly-cool place looks like it's made of cardboard, or they don't, in which case villains get captured and vanish from the Marvel U. Forever, since Marvel time mitigates against their sentences ever being naturally completed."

Fictional history

Prior to the Vault, superhumans in U.S. custody were usually imprisoned in Ryker's Island's special wards; however, concern about the danger posed to non-superhuman inmates by the prison's frequent breakouts by the superhuman population led to those wards being closed.

Another venue, the energy research facility Project Pegasus, was also briefly used, though the unsuitability of such an institution for use as a general prison led to the imprisonment of most criminals there being discontinued eventually. The U.S. government then set about building a unique penitentiary dedicated and designed exclusively for the detainment of super-human criminals. Using expertise, research and technology pioneered at Project Pegasus spearheaded by Dr. Henri Sorel, and extremely robust materials such as adamantium and osmium steel, they built an underground three-level structure over 40 feet (12 m) below ground level in the Rocky Mountain range in Colorado.

Prison security guards wore armoured Guardsmen uniforms, similar to the original Guardsman's armor, used technology adapted from Iron Man's designs. As a part of the Armor Wars storyline, Iron Man originally disagreed with this unauthorised use of designs and this led to Iron Man to forcibly remove all technology, resulting in a jailbreak, though the escapees were quickly recaptured. Iron Man's opinion later partially changed and went on to contribute to a later Guardsman design, limited to work only in the Vault itself and the close environs thereof.

The Vault's first individuals to be detained were 11 members of the Avengers' East and West Coast branches who were suspected of treason. Though they eventually escaped, it was only with outside aid as they found the facility internally impenetrable. They were eventually cleared of all charges.

After those events, the prison filled with inmates, as superhuman criminals were transferred there from all over the country. It quickly became the site of numerous breakouts and break out attempts. One of the most frequent escapees was the villain Venom escaping from the institution at least twice, killing many people in the process.

At another point, he led a revolt among the inmates which necessitated both the Avengers' and Freedom Force's intervention. Truman Marsh goes insane over stress of the breakout, setting off the Vault's self-destruct which was going to destroy half the state (due to several mistakes), killing millions. Marsh was fully willing to kill all the innocents in order to destroy the supervillains by the time Venom kills the warden. Iron Man, Hank Pym and Thunderball neutralize the bomb.

One of Venom's escapes resulted in Guardsman Hugh Taylor's death, inspiring his father to assemble a group of embittered former staff from the Vault illegally using modified Guardsman armour to exact revenge against Venom.

Better living conditions

Vance Astrovik was sentenced to imprisonment in the Vault, after being found guilty of the manslaughter of his father. While he was en route to the facility, a group of his teammates in the New Warriors overwhelmed the Guardsmen, whom Vance has befriended and attempted to aid his escape. Astrovik chose to stay in captivity and serve his time. While incarcerated, he helped foil a riot. Part of Vance's success was his willingness to campaign for better living conditions. For example, Terraformer (a captured member of Force of Nature) simply desires a plant in his cell. Vance manages to give one off the warden's desk. This serves to lessen the ire of many of the prisoners. Astrovik was released from the prison.

On at least one occasion, a criminal was not freed from the Vault itself, but rather while they were en route to the Vault. The mutant terrorist group attacked a prisoner transport van, killing or incapacitating the Guardsmen operating the van, and freed the mutant criminal Mentallo.

The second large-scale breakout, instigated by Loki, was one of the major contributing factors to the numerous supervillain attacks on various heroes during the "Acts of Vengeance" crossover. The villains enjoyed more freedom then expected as the warden accidentally calls Damage Control before the Avengers. The facility was restored to functionality after Loki's alliance of criminal masterminds had collapsed and most of the escaped inmates had been recaptured.

Another breakout was recounted in a flashback, although only a handful of escapees were named. The fourth and final mass breakout occurred with the facility destroyed by the U-Foes.

Successors

As a result of the facility's destruction, the U.S. government abandoned the concept of a single penitentiary for superhumans, instead dispersing the detainment of such criminals in a number of normal prisons such as Seagate Prison and the Raft (a part of Ryker's Island located on an adjacent island).

Later the idea of a dedicated institution was revived, this time in drastically different fashion with the experimental Lang Memorial Prison also known as the "Ant Hill" or the "Big House", where criminals were reduced dramatically in size through the use of Pym Particles; a method of escape was deduced by an android duplicate of the Mad Thinker, and in the aftermath of the chaos that followed the project was abandoned.

Another dedicated prison, nicknamed "the Cage", is an isolated island in international waters with a force field nullifying all superhuman powers. It is unclear whether the Raft or the Big House are still in operation as both have recently suffered major prison breaks. However, Carol Danvers later stated that the Raft was still the location where supervillains were "dropped off". and Titania appeared in a shrunken form after escaping the Big House.

During the "Civil War" event, a new maximum-security prison for superpowered individuals was created by the government in the very place that no superhuman could escape from unaided — the Negative Zone. The prison was nicknamed 'Fantasy Island' by its inmates and 'Prison 42' by designers Tony Stark and Reed Richards, as it had been their 42nd idea out of 100 for 'A Safer America' after the Stamford disaster.

Staff

• Howard G. Hardman - A warden.
• Truman Marsh - A warden who is later killed by Venom.
• Eric Jzemlico - A warden.
• Andrew Lewis - A designer of the Vault's two incarnations who has a personal vendetta against Mister Fantastic.

Notable inmates

• the Absorbing Man
• Angar the Screamer
• the Armadillo
• Bullet
• Cactus
• Captain America
• the Controller
• the Corruptor
• Crossfire
• the Eel II (Edward Lavell)
• Electro
• the Flying Tiger
• Force of Nature
  • the Aqueduct
  • Skybreaker
  • Terraformer
• Frenzy
• Gargantua
• Goliath
• the Gorilla-Man II (Arthur Nagan)
• the Green Goblin II (Harry Osborn)
• the Grey Gargoyle
• the Griffin
• Hawkeye
• Hydro-Man
• Iron Man
• Klaw
• the Mad Thinker
• the Man-Bull
• the Mandrill
• Mentallo
• Mister Fear IV (Alan Fagan)
• Mister Hyde
• the Molten Man
• Moonstone
• Nekra
• Orka
• Powderkeg
• Quill
• the Radioactive Man
• the Recorder 451
• the Rhino
• the Scarecrow
• Shrunken Bones
• Screaming Mimi
• the Speed Demon
• Starstealth
  • Major Kalum Lo
  • Bo’Sun Stug-Bar
  • Zamsed
• the Super-Skrull
• the Tarantula
• Titania
• the U-Foes
  • Ironclad
  • Vapor
  • X-Ray
• Vance Astrovik
• Venom
• the Wizard
• Vermin
• Warlord Krang
• the Wrecking Crew
  • Piledriver
  • Thunderball
  • the Wrecker
• Yetrigar

Other versions

Mutant X

In the "Mutant X" storyline, the Vault also operates as a prison, it is featured in issue #26. One of its many inmates is the classic vampire Dracula imprisoned in a technological coffin. Forces attack the Vault, killing many Guardsmen and taking Dracula. For lack of any better options, government employee Henry Peter Gyrich calls in "The Six" superhero team to fix the situation as best as possible.

The Big M

The Vault is present in this reality. Known inmates are Destiny, Mimic, the Rhino, and Mister Hyde.

In other media

Television

• The Vault appears in the Iron Man episode "The Armor Wars" [Part One], with known inmates including Blizzard, the Grey Gargoyle, and Whirlwind.
• The Vault appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Strings", with the Puppet Master as one of its known inmates.
• The Vault appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man episode "Opening Night", with known inmates including Walter Hardy, an android double of Mysterio, the Rhino, the Enforcers, Molten Man, and Silvermane.
• The Vault appears in The Super Hero Squad Show. This version is used to store Infinity Fractals as well as imprison supervillains.
• The Vault appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This version of the prison specializes in holding technological-based super-criminals and their technology, with known inmates including the Crimson Dynamo, the Technovore, MODOK, Blizzard, the Living Laser, Whiplash, Chemistro, and Baron Strucker. In the episode "Iron Man is Born", Nick Fury and a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents drop off a group of HYDRA agents following their attack on the United Nations, realizing too late that the Grim Reaper was among them so he could break out Strucker. Fury defeats them, prevents Strucker from escaping, and imprisons the Grim Reaper. In "Breakout, Part 1", the Vault succumbs to a technological fault that allows all of its prisoners to escape. In response, Iron Man uses J.A.R.V.I.S. to activate the prison's self-destruct sequence.
• The Vault appears in Avengers Assemble, with known inmates including the Red Skull, MODOK, the Squadron Supreme, the Crimson Widow, Typhoid Mary, the Ghost, the Abomination, Maximus, the Leader, Ulysses Klaue, Whitney Frost, Crossbones, Taskmaster, the Vulture, the Masters of Evil, and the Circus of Crime.
• The Vault appears in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., with known inmates including the Absorbing Man, Titania, and the Wrecking Crew and the Abomination serving as the warden after he framed the agents of S.M.A.S.H. and has them temporarily incarcerated.

Video games

• A Vault-esque prison called The Void appears in X2: Wolverine's Revenge. The Void is specifically built to contain mutant supervillains as opposed to human supervillains, with known inmates including Magneto, the Juggernaut, and Omega Red before they are freed by Sabretooth.
• The Vault appears in the 2005 Fantastic Four film tie-in game. The eponymous characters are imprisoned in the Vault after one of Victor von Doom's robots causes damage while trying to kill Reed Richards. During a subsequent prison break, the Fantastic Four manage to calm the escaping prisoners, recapturing many of them and defeating Blastaar and the Dragon Man before they can escape.
• The Vault makes a brief appearance in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, during which the Hulk is temporarily remanded to the prison.
• The Vault appears in the Marvel Super Hero Squad video game.

Toys

• In 1998, Toy Biz released a line of "Vault"-themed action figures of Stegron, Typhoid Mary, and Ultron. Toy Biz also released a Guardsman figure in their Spider-Man toyline, in the form of an unreleased mold from the cancelled Iron Man line.
• In the Spider-Man edition of Monopoly, the properties the players must buy are replaced by various supervillains the players must capture, and the hotels are renamed Vaults.

See also

• Rikers Island

External links

• The Vault at Marvel.com
• Marvel Directory page on "the Vault"