Biography

Mark Gruenwald

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Mark Gruenwald was a prolific comic book writer and editor, associated with Marvel Comics for most of his professional career. He also had a few credits as a penciller (artist) in his early career, primarily remembered for his art for a "Hawkeye" limited series in 1983. As a writer, he is mostly remembered for lengthy runs as the main writer for Captain America (1985-1995) and Quasar (1989-1994), and for being the main writer for the encyclopedia guide "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe". Gruenwald created several popular new villains and supporting characters for Captain America, including the skilled mercenary and martial artist Crossbones/Brock Rumlow, the reformed assassin Diamondback/Rachel Leighton, and the rather brutal antihero U.S.Agent/John Walker.

Gruenwald was married to the professional singer Belinda Glass for most of the 1980s. He died from a sudden heart attack at age 43, due to a congenital heart defect. He was cremated, and his ashes were mixed with the ink used to print the first printing of the trade paperback compilation of Squadron Supreme (which was his his favorite among the various series he had written). As a tribute to him, most clone agents of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) depicted in various Marvel series have been drawn to resemble Gruenwald.
- IMDb mini biography by: Dimos I

Gruenwald had a detailed knowledge of Marvel's older stories, and he often revived and revamped underused characters.
As a writer, Gruenwald created the fictional organization "Scourge of the Underworld", depicted as a team of assassins which targets super-villains as victims and ambushes them when their guard is down. He used this plot device to get rid of villains who he viewed as redundant, ill-conceived, or largely outdated.

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