Grandmaster (Marvel Comics)

The Grandmaster (En Dwi Gast) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in The Avengers #69. The Grandmaster is one of the ageless Elders of the Universe and has mastered most civilizations' games of skill and chance. Different media appearances depict him as the Collector's brother.

Jeff Goldblum portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and in a cameo during the closing credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). Additionally, Goldblum voices alternate universe versions in the animated series What If...? (2021).

The Grandmaster first appeared in The Avengers #69 (Oct. 1969). The character was created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema.

Although his exact origin is unknown, he is one of the oldest living beings in the universe, coming from one of the first intelligent races to evolve after the Big Bang. He once possessed the Mind Gem, one of the six Infinity Gems, but he lost it to Thanos. He is a cosmic game player whose preferred game is pitting two opposing teams against each other. He has used the Squadron Sinister, Daredevil, the Defenders, the East and West Coast Avengers, Malibu Comics's Ultraforce, and DC Comics' Justice League of America.

In his first appearance, the Grandmaster played a game against Kang the Conqueror for the power to resurrect Ravonna or destroy Kang's planet, using the Avengers and Squadron Sinister as pawns. However, Kang's efforts failed due to the intervention of the Black Knight meaning that the Avengers did not technically win their fight, causing Kang to sacrifice the power to resurrect Ravonna for the power to kill the Avengers, with this attempt failing again when the Grandmaster's gift literally gave Kang the power to kill only the Avengers rather than the currently-unaffiliated Black Knight. He next used the Defenders as pawns in a game against the Prime Mover.

The Grandmaster later challenged Death to a game of strategy, with the power to resurrect his fellow Elder the Collector as prize. A large collection of Earth heroes were used as pawns by both sides of the game; the Grandmaster promised that, if he won, he would never again use Earth's heroes as his pawns. The Grandmaster won, only to learn the resurrection power could only be used if someone else died in the resurrectee's place. Nonetheless, the Grandmaster felt the game would be incomplete unless the power was used, noting "Never, in a thousand games on a thousand worlds, have I quit the table ere the game was through!" Death suggested he use the heroes' lives instead, but, unwilling to break his promise to never again manipulate them, he instead sacrificed his own life to resurrect the Collector.

The Grandmaster returned from beyond his grave to plague the East and West Coast Avengers during one of their annual games of baseball, reasoning that, since he was dead, he was free from his vow to leave Earth's heroes in peace. After he and the Collector tricked the teams into battling each other, the Grandmaster succeeded in his true plan: to capture Lady Death and usurp her powers. He forced the Avengers to participate in a competition with the Legion of the Unliving in order to stop a series of powerful bombs, the stakes being all of creation. Captain America and Hawkeye were the only two heroes to survive; the rest of the Avengers were slain, only to instantly join the Legion. As the Grandmaster was preparing to force the pair to fight the Legion again, Hawkeye convinced him to lay it all on the line with one last game of pure chance. Hawkeye held one arrow in each fist, the tips hidden in his hands. Grandmaster would win if he chose the one with Hawkeye's last arrowhead. The one he picked was headless (Hawkeye admits to Captain America that he had cheated: he quickly snapped off the arrowhead as the Grandmaster chose the correct arrow), and his distraction allowed Lady Death to escape her bonds and banish the Grandmaster from her realm — in other words, making them effectively immortal. As a reward, she returned the deceased Avengers to life. This incident is what led Death to ban the Elders from dying, confirmed by the Grandmaster in the issue's final panels, just before he expresses interest in the Avengers' renewed baseball game.

He and a group of ten other Elders then conspired to kill Galactus and restart the universe; they felt that being banned from Death's realm would make them the sole survivors to continue their obsessions in a whole new universe. The Grandmaster battled Galactus and the Silver Surfer, and was one of the five Elders captured and consumed by Galactus. The devoured Elders caused Galactus "cosmic indigestion" from within until they were forced out of him by Master Order and Lord Chaos. When the Silver Surfer asked the five Elders to aid them in helping Galactus to defeat the In-Betweener the Grandmaster refused because it would nullify a solemn wager the Elders had made so the Champion physically restrained him until the battle was over. Moments later, the five Elders used their Infinity Gems to escape Galactus and his vengeance.