Matthew Liebowicz (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

Two-Gun Kid

Gallery

Real Name

Matthew Liebowicz

Current Alias

Two-Gun Kid

Aliases

Matthew J. Hawk, Clay Harder

Identity

Secret

Affiliation

Sunset Riders, Avengers

Relatives

Nancy Carter Liebowicz (wife); unnamed daughter

Universe

Earth-616

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Height

5' 9"

Weight

160 lbs (73 kg)

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Brown

Status

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Married

Occupation

Lawyer, Gunfighter

Origin

Origin

Place of Birth

Boston, Massachusetts

First appearance

Two-Gun Kid # 60

History

Matth Hawk (born Matthew Liebowicz) was a Harvard-educated Boston lawyer who settled in 1870s Tombstone, Texas after the Civil War. Shortly after arriving in Tombstone, Matt was attacked by a gang of toughs led by Clem Carter. Clem's sister, schoolteacher Nancy Carter, intervened and convinced them to leave Hawk alone, befriending Matt in the process. Later, Matt saw Clem's gang harassing an elederly man and came to the old man's aid. The old man turned out to be legendary gunfighter Ben Dancer, who scared off Clem's gang by drawing his gun. Grateful for Matt's attempts to help him, Dancer volunteered to train Matt as a fighter. Matt practiced until he became Dancer's superior as a gunfighter, and also trained intensively in horsemanship, unarmed combat and the use of the lasso; however, Dancer encouraged Matt to conceal his newfound talents. If Matt's marskmanship skills were common knowledge, thugs like the Carter gang would harass him in hopes of making a name for themselves, the same way they had harassed Dancer. To avoid this, Matt created a masked identity for himself as the Two-Gun Kid, an identity he would assume whenever he found it necessary to use his fighting skills. When Clem Carter's gang ambushed Dancer in an attempt to kill him, Matt went into action as the Two-Gun Kid for the first time and defeated the Carter gang alongside Dancer. Dancer moved out East to live a quieter life, while his pupil lived a daring double life in Tombstone as lawyer Matt Hawk and the Two-Gun Kid. As Two-Gun, Matt fought a wide array of criminals, ranging from common gunfighters to exotic costumed criminals like the Hurricane and the Rattler.

An insightful thinker, a skilled fighter and a phenomenally accurate sharpshooter, the Two-Gun Kid became one of the most celebrated of the old western heroes. When the hero team Avengers battled the time-travelling villain, Kang, in the 1870s, Two-Gun was intrigued by the team, struck up a fast friendship with longtime Avengers member Hawkeye and allied himself with the Avengers against Kang, accompanying them back to the 20th century once their battle was won. Two-Gun offered his services to the Avengers and was awarded reserve membership in absentia while he explored 20th century America with Hawkeye as his guide. Two-Gun became increasingly homesick, though, and later returned to his own era.

Since then, the Avengers made a second visit to Two-Gun's time period, during which he helped rescue the Avenger Mockingbird from the vigilante Phantom Rider. He declined an offer to return to the 20th century and rejoin the Avengers, though he didn't rule it out as a future possibility.

Years later, Matt's life seemed to have wound down. He married Nancy and had a daughter, but mother and child both died, as did his best friend Boom Boom Brown. These deaths, which might have been prevented with the modern medicine Two-Gun saw in the future, made Matt cynical and fatalistic, an attitude reinforced by historical records of his own death that he had seen in the future. When the dates of his "deaths" as both Matt Hawk and the Two-Gun Kid drew near, he faked his death as Matt Hawk so he could devote his Two-Gun Kid identity to foiling an international conspiracy aimed at controlling the world's economy. The Kid and several allies were seemingly killed in the conclusion of that conflict when the Two-Gun Kid destroyed a massive oil deposit the conspiracy had hoped to exploit. In actuality, the Kid and his allies survived the explosion, and for a time, they rode together as a band of adventurers called The Sunset Riders.

The Sunset Riders soon drifted apart, though, and Matt decided to begin life anew. He resumed his legal career under the alias Clay Harder, taking his new name from a fictional Two-Gun Kid depicted in the dime novels of his day. He was determined to remain retired from the realms of gunfighting and adventuring, but when some of his old gunfighter peers approached him to help protect the town of Wonderment, Montana from corrupt business interests trying to wipe out the community, Matt donned the mask of The Two-Gun Kid once more. Alongside Gunhawk, Caleb Hammer, Reno Jones, Kid Colt, The Outlaw Kid and The Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid rode into action one last time. Wonderment was saved, but Gunhawk, Kid Colt, The Outlaw Kid and The Two-Gun Kid were ultimately killed in the conflict.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

None known.

Abilities

He is one of the fastest and best gunfighters of his time, rivaled only by Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid. He is also an excellent,han-to-hand combatant, a superb horseback rider and a master of the lasso.

Strength level

He possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age,height and build who engages in intensive regular exercise.

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: Horse.
Weapons: Two guns.

Notes

• No special notes.
  

Trivia

• This character appears in TSR Inc.'s RPG adventure The Weird, Weird West, and is a playable character at certain points of the plot. In the plot, he had forged an alliance with Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid and the Phantom Rider due to a time crisis that had eventually left 1871 Dodge City raided by tiranossaurus rex. The western heroes had met time traveler Albert Einstein and decided to help him find a solution to the crisis, protecting him from "Faro" John Hobart's desperado gang while he worked. An initial fight with the player characters's time travelling heroes eventually led to an alliance where the western heroes helped them to forge an alliance with three warrying generals (Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte and Genghis Khan) against a common alien threat.

See Also

• Appearances of Matthew Liebowicz (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Matthew Liebowicz (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Matthew Liebowicz (Earth-616)
• Quotations by Matthew Liebowicz (Earth-616)

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• Search News for: Two-Gun Kid · Matthew Liebowicz · Matthew Liebowicz (Earth-616)
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Links and References

• None.