Henry Peter Gyrich () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a liaison of the United States government who is against the superhuman community.
Publication history
The character first appeared in Avengers Vol. 1 #165 (November 1977) and was created by writer Jim Shooter and penciller John Byrne.
Fictional character biography
Henry Gyrich is the first person to be given the title of US Government liaison to the Avengers by the National Security Agency later by the National Security Council. With his status, Gyrich is one of only two people (the other is the President of the United States) who could affect the Avengers in many difficult ways. During his tenure, Gyrich revokes the Avengers' priority status after taking issue. The Avengers have to accept Gyrich's "suggestions" or have their Quinjets and other sensitive equipment confiscated. He limits the Avengers' active membership to seven members, forces the Falcon to join unwillingly to fill an affirmative action quota Gyrich sets, and installs various security measures for the team. Gyrich oversees the Avengers' activities for the next several months without incident, until he forbids the team to go on a mission to help Quicksilver. The next incident involves a security leak. Gyrich takes part in a Senate investigation involving the Avengers which claims the team are national security threats. When the investigation ends, the Senate committee gives the Avengers new guidelines to follow, and the committee designates Raymond Sikorski as his successor.
Writer Peter David attempted to humanize the character with a backstory which touched upon his family life. After Betty Banner criticizes Gyrich for appearing callous and unfeeling when mentioning the pain of Thunderbolt Ross dying, Gyrich cuts Banner off, saying "My father died of Alzheimer's, [Betty]. I took a year's leave to care for him so he wouldn't be watched over by strangers that my crummy salary couldn't even afford. I cleaned up after him, tended to him, and his last words as I cradled his dying body were, 'Who in heck are you?'". Avengers: The Initiative later revealed that Gyrich's greatest fear is contracting the same disease that killed his father.
Prior to his involvement with the Avengers, Gyrich was NSA Liaison to Canada's Department H. While there, he met and had repeated issues with Canada's chief agent Wolverine.
Gyrich becomes a member of the Commission of Superhuman Activities (CSA), the oversight body on superhuman activities in the United States; he's part of the team that forces Captain America to resign. Gyrich also takes part as a special consultant in a covert government designed to deal with the problems concerning mutants in the United States. The project is instrumental in creating a mutant team to counter the foreign mutants threat.
Dire Wraith
Gyrich is later involved in war efforts against the Dire Wraith extraterrestrials. This time, he works alongside the mutant Forge who works as a weapons maker for the US government and S.H.I.E.L.D. Gyrich takes Forge's specially designed superhuman power-neutralizing gun to capture the mutant Rogue for breaking into a facility S.H.I.E.L.D. In an encounter with Rogue, Storm and government forces, Gyrich accidentally shoots Storm and his specialized weapon strips Storm's powers and abilities as a mutant (but Storm's powers return some time later). Gyrich continues attempting to use Forge's own version of Spaceknight Rom's Neutralizer, planning to use an orbital version to wipe out all superpowers on Earth. Rom and Forge stop him, however, and he can only watch while tied up as Rom banishes Wraithworld (the Dire Wraith's home world) instead of destroying all the heroes and villains. Gyrich is also involved in hunting the Hulk after Onslaught's events.
Hunted by others
Gyrich is targeted for assassination by the current form of the Mutant Liberation Front (MLF), led by the energy-casting Reignfire. His lack of gratitude for being rescued is part of what led the mutant Feral to defect from X-Force to the MLF. Gyrich is a key player in Bastion's program. He is a faithful believer in the operation until he himself is a target of Prime Sentinels. After being rescued by Spider-Man, Marrow and Callisto, Gyrich demands the program be shut down.