Ironically, this criminal probably has the most successful marriage in all of Marvel. Introduced in Journey into Mystery #114 (1965) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Creel was actually the boxer that Daredevil’s father was fixed to lose to. When Jack Murdock refused to take the fall and beat Creel in the ring, Creel boxing career took a nose dive and eventually he began working for the Owl. He eventually wound up in jail where he was given his absorbing powers by Loki. He would fight Thor but was defeated. He would battle Thor a few times but would later turn his attention to Hulk.

He was later one of many villains (and heroes) selected by the Beyonder to take part in the Secret War. During this he would met and fall in love with new villain Titania. The couple would later join with Helmut Zemo’s Masters of Evil and invaded the Avengers mansion. The couple would eventually be be married and would battle many heroes either together or separately. When Spider-man was framed for murder by Osborn, they pretended to be new heroes similar to the Thunderbolts. During Fear Itself, after his wife was choosen by the Serpent as one of his Worthy, Creel went to look for another hammer so that he could become another Worthy, eventually becoming Greithoth: Breaker of Wills. He was recruited by Magneto to fight the Red Onslaught and would be forced to switch sides during Axis, saving the world as a member of the Astonishing Avengers. He sought revenger against SHIELD after having his life rewritten in Pleasant Hill. He was eventually recruited by the US Army to hunt down the Immortal Hulk, gaining new powers and a new red color. However, after absorbing the demon One Above All, which left him traumatised, he joined other Hulk friends as part of the new Gamma Flight. He would remain in GF until Henry Gyrich took over. He seemingly died later but has always come back.

Absorbing Man has been a character that has battle most heroes. As such he has received a few figures over the years. His first ML scale figure was part of the Toybiz’s Hulk Classic line, which would see a re-release in the Spider-man Classics 2-packs with Spider-man. Hasbro would later release their own version as part of the Hulk Fin Fang Foom wave. Later, they would remake him as the BAF in a Spider-man wave, with swappable parts.