Real Name: En Dwi Gast
Occupation: Game player
Identity: The Grandmaster's existence is unknown to the general populace of Earth
Legal Status: None
Other Aliases: None
Place of Birth: Unrevealed planet in now dead galaxy
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Base of Operations: Unknown planet in unspecified location
Group Affiliation: Elders of the Universe
First Appearance: AVENGERS #69

History: Like those of all the Elders of the Universe, the Grandmaster's origin is lost in the early history of the universe. It is known that he is one of the oldest living beings in the universe. Like the other Elders, he is the survivor of one of the intelligent races that evolved in one of the first galaxies to form after the "Big Bang," the cataclysmic event in which the universe was created. Although his race became extinct and even his native galaxy died as the ages passed, the Grandmaster, like the other Elders, lived on, having become virtually immortal. As the relatively few survivors of the earliest period of the universe, the Elders regard themselves as figuratively being brothers.

The Grandmaster has spent his extraordinarily long life in pursuit of amusement through the playing of games. He has traveled throughout the known universe, studying many civilizations' forms of games and play to the point of mastering them. He then began to devise his own types of tournaments and contests, challenging various opponents to games of skill and chance for high stakes.

Capable of traversing space, time, and the dimensions, the Grandmaster once journeyed to the alternate Earth inhabited by the Squadron Supreme to stage a contest of champions with the time traveling Scarlet Centurion. The Grandmastsr's standard method of playing games was to choose a team of champions to do combat with another team selected by his opponent. The Grandmaster used the Squadron as pawns for his games, while the Centurion assembled several of the Squadron's enemies as the Institute of Evil. Winning the contest, the Grandmaster determined to create his own Squadron, since the original Squadron was unwilling to participate in further games.

He returned to his own universe and transformed three Earthmen into counterparts of Squadron members Nighthawk, Dr. Spectrum, and the Whizzer. He also created a counterpart to Squadron member Hyperion out of non-living extradimensional matter and invested it with consciousness and artificial memories. These four counterparts became the criminal team known as the Squadron Sinister. (The Squadron Sinister's Whizzer is now called the Speed Demon.) The Grandmaster then journeyed to the time period of Kang the Conqueror (a temporal counterpart of the Scarlet Centurion) and engaged him in a game. After Kang's champions, the Avengers, defeated the Squadron Sinister, the Grandmaster drafted the World War II heroes, the Invaders. If Kang won, the Grandmaster would briefly grant him the power of either life or death; if Kang lost, the Grandmaster would destroy the Earth. Fortunately, Kang's champions, the Avengers, triumphed.

Later, having returned to the 20th century, the Grandmaster used Daredevil and the Defenders as his pawns in a game against the Prime Mover, a robotic computer created by Doctor Doom. Winning this match, the Grandmaster decided to take control of the Earth as a breeding ground for superhuman-powered pawns for his games, but gave up the Earth after losing a bet with Daredevil.

Although the Grandmaster can resurrect most living beings after their deaths, he cannot do so with virtually immortal beings like himself who are killed. Therefore, the Grandmaster was unable to resurrect his "brother" Elder, the Collector, after the latter had been murdered. Greatly distraught over the Collector's death, the Grandmaster challenged Death itself to a game. If the Grandmaster won, then the Collector would live; if he lost, then the Grandmaster too would die. The Grandmaster and Death each selected teams from among Earth's superhumans, and sent each team to find and do battle over possessing sections of a "golden globe of life." The Grandmaster pledged that if his team won, he would never use Earth people as pawns in his games again. The Grandmaster's team indeed won, but then Death revealed that in order to use the golden globe to resurrect the Collector, the Grandmaster would have to forfeit his own life. Compelled by his sense of gamesmanship to see the game through to its conclusion, the Grandmaster died, and the Collector returned to life.

However, Death then challenged the Collector to a game, apparently with the resurrection of the Grandmaster as the stakes. If the Grandmaster won, then the Collector would live; if he lost, then the Grandmaster too would die. The Grandmaster and Death each selected teams from among Earth's superhumans, and sent each team to find and do battle over possessing sections of a 'golden globe of life.

The Grandmaster pledged that if his team won, he would never use Earth people as pawns in his games again. The Grandmaster's team indeed won, but then Death revealed that in order to use the golden globe to resurrect the Collector, the Grandmaster would have to forfeit his own life. Compelled by his sense of gamesmanship to see the game through to its conclusion, the Grandmaster died, and the Collector returned to life.

The Collector eventually played a game of his own with Death, pitting the East Coast and West Coast Avengers against each other. The battle acted as a diversion so that the Grandmaster could absorb Death's powers, but he was later distracted by Hawkeye and Death was freed.

Since that time the Grandmaster has allied with the other Elders in a scheme to kill Galactus. Due to the interference of the Silver Surfer, the plan failed.

Having done this, the Grandmaster journeyed to the time period of Kang the Conqueror (a temporal counterpart of the Scarlet Centurion) and engaged him in a game. After Kang's champions, the Avengers, defeated the Squadron Sinister, the Grandmaster drafted the World War II heroes, the Invaders. If Kang won, the Grandmaster would briefly grant him the power of either life or death; if Kang lost, the Grandmaster would destroy the Earth. Fortunately, Kang's champions, the Avengers, triumphed.

Later, having returned to the 20th century, the Grandmaster used Daredevil and the Defenders as his pawns in a game against the Prime Mover, a robotic computer created by Doctor Doom.

Upon winning this match, the Grandmaster decided to take control of the Earth as a breeding ground for superhumanly powered pawns for his games, but gave up the Earth after losing a bet with Daredevil.

Although the Grandmaster can resurrect most living beings after their deaths, he cannot do so with virtually immortal beings like himself who are killed. Therefore, the Grandmaster was unable to resurrect his brother Elder, the Collector, after the latter had been murdered. Greatly distraught over the Collector's death, the Grandmaster challenged Death itself to a game. If the Grandmaster won, then the Collector would live; if he lost, then the Grandmaster too would die. The Grandmaster and Death each selected teams from among Earth's superhumans, and sent each team to find and do battle over possessing sections of a 'golden globe of life.' The Grandmaster pledged that if his team won, he would never use Earth people as pawns in his games again. The Grandmaster's team indeed won, but then Death revealed that in order to use the golden globe to resurrect the Collector, the Grandmaster would have to forfeit his own life. Compelled by his sense of gamesmanship to see the game through to its conclusion, the Grandmaster died, and the Collector returned to life.

The Collector eventually played a game of his own with Death, pitting the East Coast and West Coast Avengers against each other. The battle acted as a diversion so that the Grandmaster could absorb Death's powers, but he was later distracted by Hawkeye and Death was freed.

Since that time the Grandmaster has allied with the other Elders in a scheme to kill Galactus. Due to the interference of the Silver Surfer, the plan failed.

Height: 7 ft. 1 in.
Weight: 240 lbs.
Eyes: Red, no visible pupils
Hair: White

Strength Level: The Grandmaster's level of strength is unknown, but it is probably no more than that of a normal Earthman of his height and build in the prime of his life.

Known Superhuman Powers: As an Elder of the Universe, the Grandmaster possesses a virtually immortal body, immune to the cellular deterioration of aging and to disease, and impervious to conventional injury. Only the dispersal of a major portion of the molecules of his body (as occurred when he sacrificed himself to resurrect the Collector) could prevent his regenerative powers from functioning.

The Grandmaster possesses the ability to utilize his cosmic life force (the "power primordial") to resurrect dead beings no matter how badly their bodies have been damaged or dispersed, and to restore to full life beings who are on the verge of death. This power is simply an outward projection of the cosmic life force that makes all Elders virtually immortal, it has been hypothesized that the Grandmaster can only revive those who have been dead for less than about 29.5 hours (Earth time). After that, it has been hypothesized, not even his powers are capable of reassembling all of the organism's cells in the appropriate configuration to revive it as it was. The Grandmaster cannot resurrect virtually immortal beings like himself who are somehow killed.

The Grandmaster can also use his cosmic energies to kill other living beings simply by willing their deaths. It is unclear whether or not he can affect other virtual immortals with this power. His power of death was once used by Kang to nearly kill the Asgardian god Thor, but the Asgardians are not immortal in the same way as the Elders, since the Asgardians lack such high degrees of resistance to aging and injury.

The Grandmaster can bestow either his power of life or his power of death upon a mortal being for no more than a few Earth minutes. If he endows a mortal with the death power and the mortal does not use it on someone else, then the empowered mortal himself or herself will die as a result.

The Grandmaster possesses a keen superhuman brain that is able to mentally compute diverse low information probabilities to the tenth decimal place with ease, and that can retain many millions of rules to the games known throughout the universe. He has certain mental perception abilities, the precise nature of which are unknown that enable him to receive information about his surrounding environment through extrasensory means.

The Grandmaster can levitate himself. He can project powerful energy blasts by an act of will, apparently without needing to gesture in the direction of the blast.

The Grandmaster has exhibited many other powers of tremendous extent. He can traverse space, time, and other dimensions. He can teleport other beings through space, time, and dimensions as well. The Grandmaster can transform and rearrange the molecular structure of matter on a planetwide scale. The Grandmaster apparently performs all of these feats unaided, through the use of his vast psionic powers. The Grandmaster maintains a psionic link with the highly advanced computers of the unknown world that he uses as a base, and it is possible that he utilizes such advanced technology to perform certain feats, (The Grandmaster once asserted that it was his computers that created the Squadron Sinister, but this statement is contradicted by other accounts.)