Joshua Ayers (Earth-616)

## Joshua Ayers/Miracle Man

**Joshua Ayers** was an American magician and criminal known as the **Miracle Man**.

## Biography

### Early Life

**Joshua Ayers** became a stage magician and honed his skill of hypnotism. Ayers began using the name of **Miracle Man** as his stage name.

### Fighting the Fantastic Four

One night while performing, Ayers noticed the Fantastic Four in the audience. Ayers called out the Fantastic Four and hypnotized the crowd into seeing him commit great feats of magic. Ayers then challenged the Thing to a test of strength: who ever was able to destroy a log more easily would win the competition. The Thing needed several swings to shatter the log, while Ayers hypnotized everyone into believing that he had cut the log in half with a single finger. The Thing then attempted to assault Ayers, but Ayers used his hypnotism to make the Thing believe that he had been hit. The rest of the Fantastic Four then subdued the Thing and left the theater.

That night Ayers decided it was time for him to make his criminal debut. Ayers decided to use his hypnotism to convince everyone that a huge promotional statue for the film *The Monster From Mars* had come to life. After successfully fooling the entire city, Ayers sent a letter to the police commissioner that he intended to conquer the Earth with his mystical abilities. The Fantastic Four were dispatched to stop the "rampaging" monster and Ayers. Ayers spotted Mr. Fantastic fighting the monster, and threw a brick at Mr. Fantastic's head, knocking him out.

Ayers then attacked a military depot, but the Human Torch arrived to combat the "monster". Disguised as a soldier, Ayers used foam to defeat the Human Torch and used his hypnotism to make the Thing believe that the ground opened up beneath him. Ayers then stole an experimental atomic tank and drove to his hideout in a remote junkyard. Ayers' guard dog began barking and while Ayers was initially confused he realized that the Invisible Girl had stowed away. Ayers then hypnotized the Invisible Girl to follow his will. Ayers had the Invisible Girl fire a signal for the rest of the Four so he could lead them to an ambush. Mr. Fantastic and the Thing arrived via helicopter and Ayers began firing at them with a machine gun he had hypnotized them to believe was a large key. When Ayers ran out of ammo, he grabbed the Invisible Girl and jumped in the atomic tank. The rest of the Fantastic Four began giving chase in an antique car, and while Ayers attempted to shoot out their tires Mr. Fantastic formed one from his body. The Human Torch then flew in front of the tank and created a flare that blinded Ayers. Ayers was captured and forced to release the Invisible Girl from his control. Mr. Fantastic explained he had determined that Ayers was not actually practicing magic and only using hypnosis because of the discrepancies between his actions and boasted abilities. Ayers was then taken into custody of the police.

## Personality

Ayers was a criminal that seemed to have some delusions of grandure judging by his boasts of his superiority.

## Appearance

Ayers was a man of average height and weight. Ayers had somewhat angular face with black hair and a goatee.

### Outfits

**Miracle Man Outfit**

Ayers' main outfit was a blue/blck pinstripe suit with matching blue pants and shoes. Ayers also wore a white shirt with a black bowtie. Ayers also wore a black cape/cloak with a red/violet inside. Ayers also seemed to have red or blue sash underneath his suit jacket. Ayers is occasionally potrayled with white gloves, however this was not a consistant potrayal.

**Incognito**

Ayers wore a brown trench coat and matching hat over his regular outfit in order to conceal his identity somewhat.

## Attributes

### Powers

**Hypnosis**: Ayers had a powerful hypnotic power that could fool large crowds. Ayers' power is aparently telepathic in nature as he did not physically put people on his thrall, rather they would simply fall under his control. Aparently, Ayers could use his powers through telivision or other camera.

## Paraphernalia

### Weapons

**Machine Gun**: Ayers may or may not have had a machine gun in his possession. It's unclear whether the gun was an illusion and it was in fact a key, or the gun was real and the illusion was that it was disguised as a key. I choose to believe the gun was real.

**Atomic Tank**: The Miracle Man stole an experimental atomic tank that the Fantastic Four created for the army. He never got to use it and it was taken back by the army.