THE TUMBLER

The Man who would become the Tumbler was born John Robert Keane, at some point during the latter half of the twentieth century. We know little of his childhood, save that he had a younger brother named Matthew Kenneth Keane. His childhood was seemingly troubled, since he claimed to have had few friends and he was a High-School dropout. He also appears to have turned his back on his mother and brother, stating that he had "no family". Eventually, the troubled young man turned to crime. Yet even in this he had difficulties; attaching himself to a gang of professional thieves, he was seen as little more than a useless punk and was eventually rejected by them after he attempted to persuade them to let him join them on their biggest haul. After being ordered to leave, the angry young man announced that he was tired of being pushed around and could contribute to the gang's heist, a claim which earned him a beating and permanent expulsion from the group. It was this rejection that set him on the road to super-villainy; feeling utterly alone and bitter, he now thought of nothing but revenge, but was unable to think of a way to achieve this. That changed when one day, alone in his bed-sit, he read a newspaper article about Captain America and suddenly got the inspiration he had been seeking.

Captain America was Steve Rogers, a once-weak and sickly man who in the early 1940s had volunteered for a Super-Soldier Program in order that he might serve his country during the Second World War; unable to join the army because of his health, this had been the ideal solution. Accepted for the Super-Soldier Program, code-named Project: Rebirth, Rogers had been injected with a serum invented by one Doctor Erskine, which had altered his body, giving him the physique, strength and reflexes of a man at the peak of human fitness. He had been the first successful Super-Soldier, but was also the last - mere moments after his injection; Doctor Erskine was shot and killed by a Nazi agent. Throughout the rest of the War, Rogers, under the alias of Captain America, had fought against the Nazis with the aid of his partner Bucky, real name James Buchanan Barnes. As the War drew to a close, the duo had faced their long-time enemy and Nazi War Criminal Baron Heinrich Zemo [see file 4: Baron Zemo] for one final time; whilst attempting to diffuse a rocket launched by the Baron, Bucky had been killed, and Captain America had plunged into the icy waters of the ocean and had been preserved in suspended animation thanks to a freak side-effect of the Super-Soldier serum. Decades later he had been found and revived by the fledgling group of super-heroes known as the Avengers and had joined their ranks, once more using his skills to fight crime both with the group and on his own.

Keane knew of Captain America from news reports and from the simple fact that the Sentinel of Liberty had become a legend over the years. Despite the Super-Soldier Serum, Captain America had no bona fide super-powers, but was nevertheless considered one of the most agile acrobats and best hand-to-hand combatants in the world. It now occurred to Keane that he too could obtain such skills by working out and training his body to the peak of human fitness - if he achieved this, he could become as great a fighter as Captain America and this would enable him to exact the revenge he craved upon the gang which had abandoned him. Determined to pursue this course of action, Keane thus joined a traveling circus and began to train with the tumblers. Soon, he had reached a level of skill which he believed put him on a par with Captain America. He next began to weight train with the Circus strongman, until he was stronger than him, and finally honed his speed and agility by training with the jugglers until he could avoid the clubs he had asked them to throw at him with ease. Thus trained, he was now ready not only to take his revenge, but also to begin a career as a professional "Super-Villain"; years of rejection had left him not just mad at those who had been responsible for that rejection, but also at the world in general. He designed a close-fitting pink costume with black and white trim and a black and white helmet and thus, the Tumbler was born. Fate however, had robbed him of his chance at revenge, since he now discovered that the police had long ago arrested the members of his old gang. This was unfortunate, but by now Keane had built up his ego along with his body, and was confidant that he could make a successful criminal career as the Tumbler. He decided to not only continue along this path, but also to test his newfound abilities by putting his skills to the ultimate test - he decided to confront Captain America and defeat him in hand-to-hand combat. If the Tumbler could defeat the World's greatest acrobat and fighter, his reputation would be made. He thus set out to find the Sentinel of Liberty.

The Avengers headquarters was a New York Mansion owned by billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, who was also secretly the armored Avenger Iron Man. Captain America had also been living there since his resurrection and it was a simple matter for the Tumbler to stake out the premises until only the Captain, and the Avengers' loyal butler Edwin Jarvis, were present. Using his acrobatic abilities to safely navigate the Mansion's defenses, the Tumbler somersaulted through a window in a shower of broken glass and wood and confronted Captain America. Or so he thought, for the man who the Tumbler now confronted was not the real Star-Spangled Avenger, but the mysterious Adaptoid. The Adaptoid was the latest creation of the scientific terrorist organization known as AIM, an acronym of Advanced Idea Mechanics. The Adaptoid was an android created with the ability to take on the powers and appearance of anyone with whom it interacted, with such precision that it as physically indistinguishable from the original. It was thus the perfect espionage weapon and had been specifically created to destroy and replace Captain America and destroy the anti-terrorist organization SHIELD, with which Captain America was affiliated; both the Avenger and SHIELD had repeatedly thwarted AIM in the recent past, and the Adaptoid was their response. In fact it was more than just an android, it had been imbued with artificial life thanks to a sliver of the reality-altering Cosmic Cube, AIM's greatest and deadliest creation. t the climax of Captain America's most recent encounter with AIM, the Adaptoid had been activated and had made its way to Avengers Mansion, where it had knocked out Jarvis and had replaced him, secretly administering a hypno-sedative to Rogers. When the Tumbler made his dramatic entrance, the real Captain America was unconscious and bound in an adjacent room and the Adaptoid was testing the weight of his legendary indestructible shield. It was thus the Adaptoid that the Tumbler now faced.

Tumbling into the room, Keane greeted his opponent and introduced himself, even as he landed his first blow on the disguised Adaptoid's jaw. The android responded with a kick to the Tumbler's face, but the villain expertly rolled with the blow and channeled the momentum of the blow into a somersault, landing elegantly on his feet. He then dodged "Captain America's" clumsy shield swing by diving over him, then he seized the Adaptoid's torso between his legs, flipped him over and delivered another blow to his jaw which left him stunned; despite his artificial nature, the Adaptoid was as vulnerable to physical attack as whoever he was impersonating. Scarcely able to believe that he had so easily defeated the Living Legend of World War II, the Tumbler now picked up the Avenger's famous shield and began to toy with it whilst explaining his story to the disguised Adaptoid. This served merely to give the robot time to recover, and as Keane finished his tale, it now leapt to its feet and prepared to meet the Tumbler's next attack. Initially, it had hoped to avoid battling the Tumbler since it preferred to continue its mission, but Keane had refused to back down from a fight with Captain America, and the Adaptoid had been unwilling or unable to reveal its true nature. Now however, it felt itself adapting more and more into the Captain America persona and it could feel its abilities improving accordingly. It informed the Tumbler of this as he threw the Avenger's shield at it, and it sidestepped, picked up the shield and hurled it back. Despite the Adaptoid's newfound confidence however, the Tumbler, who had dismissed its claim not to be the real Captain America as some attempt to confuse him, dodged the shield and once more punched the Adaptoid. This time, he attacked the false Captain America so ferociously that he sent it crashing through a door and into the next room. Weakened and on the verge of shutting down, the Adaptoid staggered back to its opponent and attempted to defeat the Tumbler one last time, desperate now to adapt to Keane, since he was clearly a better fighter than Captain America. But with one final blow, the Tumbler sent him back through the shattered doorway again and into the darkened room beyond. The Adaptoid finally shut down and lay inactive in the darkness.

The Tumbler was elated by his victory, but still did not realize that he had not fought the real Captain America. This was to change however, as the real Captain America now emerged from the broken doorway. The room beyond was the place where the Adaptoid had left him after drugging him earlier; he had now awakened and had freed himself, just in time to encounter the Tumbler. Furious at his treatment by the Adaptoid, and overhearing the triumphant Tumbler announce that he was "a dozen times the fighter Captain America was", the angry avenger delivered a devastating blow to Keane's face sending him flying. Astonished and suddenly worried, the Tumbler renewed the battle, and hurled the Avenger's shield at him. Captain America caught his it in mid-air and flung it straight back at the Tumbler, skillfully ricocheting it around the criminal. As the Tumbler sprang out of its way, his opponent shoved a heavy wooden desk into the small of his back, slamming him painfully into a wall. Seizing what he thought was his chance, the Tumbler immediately pushed backwards, hoping to thrust the table back at the Captain America, but the Avenger had predicted this and ducked nimbly underneath it. He then smacked the Tumbler with his shield, to Keane's anger and despair. Unable to understand how the tide of battle had turned, he prepared himself for one last attack, but the experienced Captain America saw his muscles tense and knew what he was planning; he raised his shield with perfect timing, and the Tumbler stunned himself by smashing into it. The Avenger quickly trussed him up and summoned the police, citing his Avengers priority code; soon, the bound Tumbler was in custody, leaving Captain America to examine the Adaptoid. Keane's plan had failed.

Exactly what happened after the Tumbler's first defeat at the hands of Captain America is unclear, but most of it can be speculated with reasonable confidence. Firstly, we know that he was arrested, and that Captain America learned his real name at this time. We do not know how long he served, if indeed he served any time at all. But we do know that after this initial defeat, he remained in the Super-Villain business, and having recognized the danger to himself involved in his chosen vocation, he decided to take out life insurance. However, following his capture, he could not easily find an insurance company that would be willing to sell life insurance to a known super-villain. This changed, when he approached the Guardian Life Insurance Company, or GLIC. GLIC agreed to sell an insurance policy for $1,000,000 to Keane, and he nominated his mother as the recipient. It seems likely that despite his earlier abandonment of his family, the Tumbler's arrest had brought him back into contact with his mother, and he felt guilty for losing touch with her and subsequently embarrassing her with a relatively high-profile arrest. Unbeknownst to Keane however, GLIC had no intention of ever paying out; they secretly specialized in selling life-insurance policies to known Super-Villains, whilst simultaneously planning to refuse payment purely on the grounds that their clients were criminals. They reasoned that any relatives of these Super-Villains would be too embarrassed to challenge them in court, and so they would make a massive profit. As well as the Tumbler, their clients included Jonathon Powers (a.k.a. the Jester), Otto Octavius (a.k.a. Doctor Octpus), Calvin Zabo (a.k.a. Mr Hyde), Klaus Vorhees (a.k.a. the Cobra), Silas King (a.k.a. Solarr), and Samuel Smithers (a.k.a. Plant-Man). The Tumbler was unaware of this fraudulent scheme however, and would remain so for the rest of his life.

Several months passed. Whether or not the Tumbler engaged in criminal activity during thsi time, we do not know, but eventually, he came to the attention of the Secret Empire. The Secret Empire was a terrorist organization devoted to seizing power for itself. This was the second incarnation of the Empire, and its leader, known only as Number 1, sought control over the entire United States of America. Number 1 himself was a high-ranking government official already, but he sought totally mastery over the United States of America through blackmail; the Empire planned to announce that it had planted nuclear bombs in every major American city, which it would detonate if Number 1's demands were not met. However, the nihilistic terrorist and Secret Empire member known as the Viper knew that any move she or her colleagues made would be fiercely opposed by Captain America, and for this reason they had decided to discredit him in the eyes of the American public. They had begun with an advertising campaign that had questioned Captain America's right to fight crime and denounced him as a vigilante; now however, they had a new plan to bring him into disrepute and for this they recruited the Tumbler. The plan was quite simple; Quentin Harderman, who had been hired by the Secret Empire to front the publicity campaign against the Star-Spangled Avenger, would go on television and further denounce Captain America. Harderman could legitimately do this as leader of the Committee to Regain America's Principles, which had been recruited by the Secret Empire. With this most brazen attack on the Sentinel of Liberty to date, Harderman and his colleagues knew that he would undoubtedly be visited by Captain America in his offices, and he ordered the Tumbler to be prepared to noisily rob a nearby liquor store, thus attracting Captain America's attention. The Tumbler was then to let Captain America pursue him and confront him. Harderman told him that if he did this, it would help to discredit the Avenger, but he did not understand how. Nevertheless, the Secret Empire had agreed to meet his fee, so he agreed to do the job and wait and see how events played out.

Soon, Captain America was in Harderman's office, confronting him about the television smear, but for all his complaints he could legally do nothing - Harderman had every right to voice his opinion, and Captain America was utterly oblivious to his connection to the involvement of the Secret Empire. As he left, Harderman signaled the Tumbler, who entered the shop, beat the owner into unconsciousness, and then left through the back door with the contents of the till. Right on cue, Captain America heard him and set off in pursuit, immediately recognizing the Tumbler's costume. Soon, the Tumbler was forced to confront the Avenger in the blind alley behind the shop, which he had been told would enable Harderman to discredit him. Keane had seemingly been in training since his last encounter with Rogers, since Captain America quickly noted that the Tumbler's acrobatic skills were greater than his own, which was not the case when they last met. Despite this, the Tumbler was soon in trouble, having received two painful blows from his foe. Deciding that he had enough, he elected to escape. Playing possum after captain America's second blow, Keane suddenly leapt up and sprang at the Avenger, who raised his shield automatically. This was exactly what the Tumbler had planned, and he used the raised metal disc as a springboard to catapult himself over a wall and to safety. He then returned to Harderman.

Harderman had intended for the Tumbler to escape this fight, and on the Tumbler's return he now set up his coup de grace, which was designed to seriously compromise Rogers' reputation. It involved two elements; firstly a charity-boxing match arranged by Harderman's organization, which he had earlier invited Captain America to participate in order that he might prove his noble intentions; and secondly a hired assassin named Moonstone. Moonstone was Lloyd Bloch, Harderman's partner in crime who had gained super-human abilities including enhanced strength from a mysterious alien gem of unknown origin, which had been christened the Moonstone. Bloch was now set up in a sniper's nest in the ceiling of the building set to house the boxing match, and he settled down to await the arrival of captain America. The next day, Keane arrived at the match with Harderman, having been further hired to be Captain America's opponent. Despite his fears that the Avenger would recognize him, Harderman assured him that all would be well and that the set-up would be fun. He reluctantly agreed. Unfortunately for him, as soon as Captain America arrived, Harderman introduced the Tumbler by his full name of John Robert Keane, a name that Captain America recognized from the Tumbler's original arrest. The Avenger was furious with the Tumbler, who had seriously injured the liquor storeowner during the previous day's set-up, and he immediately attacked. The panicked Tumbler instantly tried to escape, but the Avenger could move faster whilst Keane was dressed in his cumbersome civilian and soon blocked off his escape. As he dragged the fleeing tumbler back into the room, the concealed Moonstone opened the ceiling panel behind which he was concealed and aimed a sliver-thin laser beam at the struggling duo, and fired it - straight though the skull of John Robert Keane, alias the Tumbler, killing him instantly. This had been the plan all along and with the Tumbler seemingly killed by captain America's attack, the Secret Empire had all it needed to not only discredit him, but frame him for murder. Ultimately however, Captain America would defeat Moonstione, Harderman and their fellow Secret Empire members and uncover their agent in the American government. They would however gain one small victory; upon discovering the identity of this agent, Steve Rogers would realize that the government of the country he loved so much had been corrupted at the highest level, he would become disillusioned and for a while he would give up the identity of Captain America.

With John Robert Keane dead, this biography is at an end, save for one final footnote. Following his death, his brother Mike would attempt to claim his life-insurance policy on behalf of their mother, only to discover GLIC's fraudulent intentions. Traumatized by the death of her oldest son and further distressed by financial difficulties that the life insurance money would have alleviated, she died a broken woman. Seeking justice, Mike Keane would adopt the identity of the Tumbler and, teaming with Captain America, he would not only expose GLIC, but he began a crime-fighting career inspired by his brother's greatest enemy. John Robert Keane may have died, but the Tumbler would live on.

References: The Tumbler first appeared and battled the Adaptoid and Captain America in Tales of Suspense issue 83. He reappeared and was killed by the original Moonstone in Captain America issue 169. His brother took up the mantle of the Tumbler in Captain America issue 291.