Digger

Origin

Digger's story started on July 3, 1957 at the Goldigger Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Seven mob bosses from New York and Nevada, along with their lieutenants were going to meet to try and peacefully resolve issues involving control of Vegas casinos, money laundering, and the prostitution business. That night the bosses realized that one person was missing, Morris Forelli. Forelli had recently learned that his consigliere, George Sims (who was Forelli's lieutenant in attendance), was working with a rival family and arranged the assassination of one of Forelli's sons. Seeing that George Sims, was there the rest of the bosses didn't get suspicious that Forelli hadn't shown up, they figured that he must have been delayed and would arrive soon. Instead Forelli had ordered a hit on the entire assembled group, successfully killing all thirteen men. Forelli's hit-men then hauled the bodies out into the Nevada dessert where they dumped them into a mass grave, a pit that had once been used by factories to illegally dump chemical waste. Many years later (modern day), at that same site the United States government tested a pocket Gamma device. A bomb that irradiated the pit and caused the body parts of the "Vegas Thirteen" (as they were known) to pull together and create Digger in the process.

Creation

Digger was created by J. Michael Staxzynski and John Romita Jr. and first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man Vol.2 issue 51 (2003).

Major Story Arcs

Revenge

Digger rose from his grave and made his way to New York to try and take down Morris Forelli's empire. He started out by sending a message to Forelli by taking down one of his prostitution houses, saying, "Tell him... that the boys are back in town.". Then Digger, looking to find a place to relax went to a club he frequented 46 years earlier, he found it difficult to adapt to the strange new world around him and trashed the place. This is where he had his first encounter with Spider-Man. They fought for a little while, but Digger soon escaped to the sewers. While he recuperated he read up on current events and tried to cope with the current day and age, he was frustrated by the state the world was in. He quickly went back to his work of bringing down the Forelli empire, attacking his businesses. His frustration grew, as Digger wanted to do to Forelli what Forelli did to Digger, take away everything of importance to him. Soon Digger found a new target in Forelli's daughter, Lynne.

Defeat

While attacking one of Forelli's clubs, Digger again encountered Spider-Man, who at this point had been hired as a personal bodyguard to Forelli. They both fought, until a hit crew armed with machine-guns showed up to try and take Digger down. They failed to kill him, but did manage to hurt him. Spider-Man noticed Digger had been hurt, but Digger managed to escape under the cover of the gun fire. Digger began to realize that he was running out of time. The more he fought, the more damage he had been taking and his body couldn't fully regenerate. Digger decided now to go straight to Forelli. He made an assault on Forelli's mansion, going straight for Lynne's room, but Spider-Man was there waiting. Spider-Man began a relentless assault on Digger, while moving him away from the house and again Digger attempted to escape into the sewers, but this time Spider-Man followed. Digger and Spider-Man fought hand to hand, but eventually Digger's body broke down and he literally fell apart in the sewer water, finally being killed for good.

Green Door

Digger was able to return to the land of the living when the Green Door opened allowing gamma mutates to leave the Below Place.

Physical Attributes

• Height: 7'4"
• Weight: 755 lbs
• Eye Color: Glowing Pink
• Hair: None

Powers and Abilities

Gamma radiation gives Digger his superhuman strength, speed, and agility, much like the Hulk. He is strong enough to lift approximately 100 tons, tough enough to take small arms weapons using conventional ammunition without damage, although sustained fire of high velocity ammunition can destroy his body. Since Digger is already dead, he has no critical points to attack, making it even more difficult to take him down. Despite this, since his body already struggles to hold itself together, a long enough fight will not give him the chance to rest and regain enough energy to sustain his strange form. This means anyone with enough stamina can wear him out and defeat him. Nonetheless, Digger is a dangerous foe, as his strength rivals that of a calm Hulk.