Henry Peter Gyrich (person)

If government corruption has a face in the Marvel Universe, that face is Henry Peter Gyrich. The character was introduced in an Avengers storyline in which the United States government began exercising its influence to force changes within the Marvel Universe's premier hero team. Feeling that the group was too lax in their security measures and in who they allowed to be members of the team, the U.S. government revoked the Avengers' clearances, cutting off their access to government computers and grounding their air transports, the quinjets.

Gyrich, the Avengers' government contact, forced the Avengers to abide by criteria set up by the governemnt, including a limit on the number of active members and a more culturally diverse membership. The group agreed to the changes to get their clearance back.

Gyrich continued to be a thorn in the Avengers' side, until he was reassigned to Project Wideawake, a government project to assess and contain what the public perceived as the growing "mutant menace." Gyrich worked with the mutant Forge to construct a weapon that would strip a mutant of their powers. It was Gyrich who used the weapon against the X-Man Rogue, accidently striking Storm and stripping her of her weather controlling abilities for many years. Gyrich also used the neutralizer in defending the Earth against the extraterrestrial menace of the Dire Wraiths.

Gyrich has cropped up a number of other places over the years. Wherever the government is up to no good, Gyrich is usually at the forefront. Most recently, Gyrich employed the former hero Nomad in a scheme to eliminate all super- powered heroes. Implanting the hero with devices that allowed Gyrich to control him, Nomad took the costumed identity of Scourge and began to hunt down and kill members of the villains-turned-heroes team, the Thunderbolts. Only when Scourge was captured were Gyrich's plans revealed. He has since lost his place as a member of the National Security Council.