William Lemuel "Willie" Lumpkin is a fictional supporting character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is best known as the mailman of the Fantastic Four in their self-titled comic book.
Willie Lumpkin was portrayed by Stan Lee in the 2005 film Fantastic Four.
Publication history Newspaper comic strip
The character was originally created for a syndicated daily comic strip by writer Stan Lee and artist Dan DeCarlo. Lee recalled in a 1998 interview that,
Willie Lumpkin drew humor from the people and situations Willie would encounter along his mail delivery route in the small town of Glenville. The daily strip ran from December 1959 to May 6, 1961. A Sunday strip ran through May 28.
Marvel Comics Lee then introduced the comic book version of Willie Lumpkin in Fantastic Four #11 (Feb. 1963), featuring art by Jack Kirby. The comic book Lumpkin is depicted as significantly older than in the comic strip, though the character's good nature was retained, as were references to his past as a mail carrier in Glenville, which the comic book placed in Nebraska.
In his first comic book appearance, Lumpkin is represented as having befriended the Fantastic Four, to whom he makes regular fan mail deliveries at their Baxter Building headquarters in New York City. He half-jokingly requests to join the team on the grounds that he has the "power" to wiggle his ears.
Lumpkin appeared in his own solo feature in Marvel Comics Presents #18 (May 1989). In this parody of A Christmas Carol, he is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past who had intended to haunt cantankerous Spider-Man nemesis J. Jonah Jameson, but could not find his address. The story concludes with the normally amiable postman deciding he hates Christmas.
Fictional character biography Willie Lumpkin is a mail carrier whose Manhattan route includes the joint home and office of the Fantastic Four. On occasion he falls into the danger that typically surrounds the adventuring heroes. Examples include a story in which he is forced to spend Christmas Eve locked in a closet while the Fantastic Four fight the Super-Skrull,Marvel Comics Presents #18 (May 1989) or when he helped to save the team from the Mad Thinker. This incident involved Reed's trust in Lumpkin; he had hired the mailman to manipulate the machinery as part of a safety routine.Fantastic Four #15 (June 1963)
Lumpkin briefly dates Peter Parker's Aunt May.The Amazing Spider-Man #343 (January 1991) When May briefly appears to have died, Lumpkin grieves and is seen to befriend a new companion named Doreen Greenwald.Spider-Man Holiday Special (December 1995)
Lumpkin has since retired, and his niece Wilhemina "Billie" Lumpkin has taken his position as the Fantastic Four's mail carrier.Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #2 (February 1998)
He was interviewed about the Fantastic Four on the news show Lateline,Fantastic Four #543 (April 2007) saying how though the group took on cosmic menaces, they always found time to greet him. Sometime later, the Fantastic Four enter Lumpkin's body in miniature form to remove an otherwise inoperable brain tumor.Fantastic Four #606 (July 2012)
Lumpkin was later hired as a biology teacher for the Future Foundation, a school founded by the Fantastic Four.FF (vol. 2) #5 (May 2013)
Other versions An alternate universe version of William Lumpkin appears in Ultimate Fantastic Four. This version is a government agent for the Baxter Foundation.Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 (February 2004)
In other media Willie Lumpkin appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "My Neighbor was a Skrull", voiced by Colin Murdock. Willie Lumpkin appears in Fantastic Four, portrayed by Stan Lee. Willie Lumpkin appears in Marvel's Iron Man VR, voiced by Dwight Schultz. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
References
External links Willie Lumpkin at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. from the original on September 16, 2015. Willie Lumpkin at Marvel Wiki Willie Lumpkin at Comic Vine