Henry Peter Gyrich

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Henry Peter Gyrich (/ˈɡaɪrɪk/) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a liaison of the United States government who is often opposed to the superhuman community.

The character was portrayed by Matthew Sharp in the live-action feature film X-Men (2000). In animation, the character has been voiced by Barry Flatman, Don Brown, and Jim Ward.

The character first appeared in Avengers #165 (November 1977) and was created by writer Jim Shooter and penciller John Byrne.

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.^[1] The Avengers have to accept Gyrich's "suggestions" or have their Quinjets and other sensitive equipment confiscated.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Gyrich's 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 was instrumental in creating a mutant team to counter the foreign mutants threat.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Gyrich is later involved in war efforts against the Dire Wraith extraterrestrials. This time, he works alongside the mutant Forge 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 Rogue for breaking into a government facility. In an encounter with Rogue, Storm and government forces, Gyrich accidentally shoots Storm with his specialized weapon which strips his target's mutant abilities (which return some time later).^[6] 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.^[7]

After Onslaught's events, Gyrich's involved in hunting the Hulk and harasses Rick Jones, Betty Banner, Thunderbolt Ross and Doc Samson while doing so.^{[8][9][10][11]} During this time, writer Peter David attempted to humanize the character with a backstory which touched upon his family life, revealing his father died of Alzheimer's and he "took a year's leave to care for him so he wouldn't be watched over by strangers that [his] 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?'".^[12]

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 to which Gyrich's punched by Cable.^[13] Gyrich is a key player in Bastion's program of which he's a faithful believer.^[14][15] However, he's an accidental target of the Prime Sentinels and being rescued by Spider-Man, Marrow and Callisto.^[16]

Gyrich is promoted to be Valerie Cooper's successor as the CSA's head. While there, Baron Strucker secretly places Gyrich under the control of nanites. Gyrich uses Commission resources and remolds the vigilante Jack Monroe into the assassin Scourge and attempts to live out his "fantasy" of killing all the world's superhumans, before being stopped by the Thunderbolts.^[17]

Afterwards, he's reassigned to the US State Department and the Black Panther's liaison as well as the Avengers' new liaison to the United Nations (by Captain America's suggestion).^[18] During this time, he redeems himself in the eyes of the Avengers when he refuses to deliver information to the Red Skull (disguised as Dell Rusk); he never breaks under severe torture which impressed the others. Now a faithful liaison officer to the Avengers, Gyrich's job comes to an end after the United Nations' relationship with the Avengers ends.^[19]

Following the Civil War storyline, Gyrich is the Secretary of the Superhuman Armed Forces. His base of operations is the superhuman training facility in Stamford, Connecticut. It is under his orders that Gauntlet is drafted as the facility's drill instructor, after Gauntlet saves him from an attack by HYDRA in Iraq.^[20] Gyrich gives orders to cover up MVP's death, and secretly conspires with Baron Von Blitzschlag involving illegal cloning despite Hank Pym's objections. He makes arrangements to provide a special tutor to Trauma through Beast;^[21] the tutor is revealed to be depowered mutant Dani Moonstar,^[22] but the two don't get along well and Gyrich fires Moonstar for training Trauma to use his powers to help people with debilitating phobias instead of using these abilities as a weapon. Additionally, it's revealed that Gyrich's greatest fear is contracting the same disease that killed his father.^[23] After KIA's debacle,^[24] Gyrich had to take part in an inquiry involving the Initiative program, and gets into a heated argument with Iron Man in which Gyrich exclaims "[Iron Man] got Captain America's blood on your hands!". Gyrich is removed from his position and makes a statement claiming at a press conference he had decided to "retire" to spend time with his family; a reporter points out that Gyrich has no living family to which he declines to elaborate.^[25]

Following the Secret Invasion storyline involving the Skrulls, Gyrich is the main antagonist for Kieron Gillen's and Steven Sander's series S.W.O.R.D. where he joins S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) as a co-leader of the Peak space station alongside Abigail Brand.^[26] Due to his desire to deport aliens, Gyrich manages to kidnap several notable aliens, including Noh-Varr, Adam X, Jazinda, Karolina Dean and Hepzibah, and arrests both Brand and Lockheed.^[27] Gyrich gets berated by Norman Osborn and arrested Sydren.^[28] Gyrich survives an alien takeover of the installation simply by being too dosed on intruder-neutralization gas to be much of a threat. Brand, Beast and several super-powered beings takes back the job and blackmails Gyrich into leaving S.W.O.R.D. alone.^[29]

While it's unknown if he was brainwashed by HYDRA or it was by his own will, Gyrich worked along HYDRA to control Dennis Dunphy and turn into the new Scourge to kill criminals and "fix the system". After Captain America tended him a trap, he was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.^[30]

During the Civil War II storyline, Gyrich represented the United States as a member of the Alpha Flight Space Program's Board of Governors.^[31]

Gyrich's reach extended to Gamma Flight. He visited the Alpha Flight space station to taunt the Hulk before Joe Fixit knocked out Gyrich and the guards.^[32] After he's threatened by Doc Sasquatch for trying punitive action on Gamma Flight, Gyrich enlists the U-Foes to go after the Hulk.^[33][34]

Gyrich initiated a plan to discredit the mutant nation Krakoa.^[35][36] He recruited Wiz Kid as a mole for ORCHIS and the Guardian as support with an assassination attempt on the Shi'ar empress Xandra as a distraction, to which he's able to arrange the Peak crashing to Earth.^[37] However, Cable and Manifold redirected the satellite towards Australia and back into orbit respectively to which Gyrich learned Wiz Kid's true allegiance before being confronted by Brand who shot him out of an airlock, sending him to die in space and made to look like a suicide.^[38]

• An alternate universe variant of Henry Peter Gyrich appears in the Age of Apocalypse. Following a failed attempt to destroy Angel's club, Heaven, he loses his legs amidst "the offensive to blow the Seattle power core" and becomes the leader of a human resistance movement against the titular Apocalypse.^[39]
• An alternate universe variant of Henry Peter Gyrich appears in Mutant X #26. This version is a government liaison to the Avengers who displays animosity towards Captain America.^[40]
• An alternate universe variant of Henry Peter Gyrich appears the Ultimate Marvel series Ultimate Spider-Man. This version is a blonde who works for an FBI strike team.^[41] Additionally, a clone works for the CIA to establish oversight on Nick Fury and the Ultimates appears as well.^[42][43][44]
• An alternate universe variant of Henry Peter Gyrich appears in What If...? vol. 2 #30. Under the U.S President's orders, he attempts to assassinate Mary Richards during her presidential campaign by disguising himself as Captain America, only to be thwarted by Mary and the Thing and confronted by the real Captain America.^[45]

• Henry Gyrich appears in X-Men: The Animated Series, voiced by Barry Flatman.^[46] This version displays a vendetta against the X-Men. Throughout the first season, he works with Bolivar Trask to oversee the Sentinels' production until Master Mold betrays the two. In the series finale "Graduation Day", Gyrich speaks at an anti-mutant summit and attacks Professor X with a sonic gun, psychotically claiming mutants are dangerous before being taken by security.
  • Henry Gyrich appears in X-Men '97, voiced by Todd Haberkorn.^[46] He has been imprisoned in Ryker's Island, but he later breaks out of prison before he's killed by Bastion.
• Henry Gyrich appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Imperious Rex", voiced by Don Brown.^[46]
• Henry Gyrich appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Jim Ward.^[46] This version is the director of S.W.O.R.D.

Henry Guyrich appears in X-Men (2000), portrayed by Matthew Sharp.^[47] This version is Senator Robert Kelly's assistant who is killed by the Brotherhood of Mutants and replaced by Mystique.

• Henry Peter Gyrich at Marvel.com