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Black Goliath
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Real Name
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Dr. Bill Foster
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First Appearance
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Avengers # 32,(September 1966) [as Dr. Bill Foster], Power Man # 24,
(April 1975) [as Black Goliath]
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Creators
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Stan Lee, Don Heck
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Team Affliations
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Champions, Defenders, Project: Pegasus, Centers for Disease Control
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Aliases
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Giant-Man, Goliath, Rockwell Dodsworth
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Base of Operations
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New York City
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Powers
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Size/Mass Changing, Super-Strength (while giant)
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Skills and Abilities
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High Intelligence, expert in biochemistry
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Black Goliath (Dr. Bill Foster) was a super-hero in the Marvel Universe and a former assistant to Dr. Hank Pym. He began as a recurring supporting character in the Marvel universe before becoming a super-hero and eventually graduating to his own book.
He is currently dead, having fallen in the events of the Super-Hero Civil War.
History
Born in Watts, Las Angeles, California, Bill Foster was an exceptionally smart young man who grew up in a poor neighborhood. He joined the miilitary and saw combat in southeast Asia, where he ran afoul of a shady CIA agent named Geoffrey Ballard, who later became the super-villain known as Centurion. He later became an expert on biochemistry at the California Technical Institute and married medical student Claire Temple. He eventually built a strong reputation as a biochemist in Tony Stark's Baltimore factory in the Plans and Research Division, though it came at the cost of his marriage, which ended in divorce.
Eventually, Foster was asked to work with super-hero and scientist Hank Pym to help cure him after he found himself stuck at 10 feet tall. After months of working together, Foster and Bill gained each other's trust and Foster was given access to Pym's laboratory in New Jersey and the Avengers Mansion (so they could work together) and even gave assistance in some of the Avenger's adventures, including their work against the Sons of the Serpent and Whirlwind's attempt to kill Pym and the Wasp.
After a cure was found for Pym's condition, Foster returned to Stark Enterprises, this time in the Los Angeles branch. Interested in continuing the research that he and Pym worked on, Foster successfully synthesized a formula that would grant a person the same size-changing powers as Hank Pym. After giving himself such powers, he decided to take a vacation in the hopes that he could use his newfound powers to win back Claire Temple. He wrote her a letter claiming that his powers had him trapped in giant form as Hank Pym, despite the fact that he was perfectly fine, had been and asked for her help in the hopes that the ruse would get them back together. When she agreed, they decided to meet at a travelling circus, where Foster claimed to be living to make enough money to continue his research. He began performing there as the "Black Goliath" with a custom outfit made for him.