Deathgrip was a Marvel comics supervillain and enemy of Dazzler.
History[]
Dr. Piper had a daughter, Melissa. He neglected his daughter. She left home and went to Los Angeles. She started to take drugs. She became nearly catatonic after a Dazzler's concert. The doctor said that it was the drug's fault and the Dazzler's light only triggered the shock, but Dr. Piper believed the real guilty party was Dazzler. Piper hospitalized Melissa at the Los Angeles medical center but he took her away before she finished the cure. Instead he performed a personal plan, involving Dazzler, to cure his daughter. He hired Mrs. Shaw to attend Melissa.
Piper used his knowledge in engineering and chemistry and built a suit of armor using the resources at International Technology. He tested its gripping/burning powers on rats for a while.
One afternoon, after the last test, while he was going back home he was present while Dazzler saved some children from falling from a cliff. Later, at sundown, he arrived at home and gave some free time to Mrs. Shaw, Melissa's maid. When they were alone, Piper wore his Dearhgrip suit and showed it to Melissa thinking she could understand his purposes.
Dazzler climbs the sign and Deathgrin pursues her - That night, at Sweet Sue's, a night club out of the town, Dazzler sang. Dr. Piper asked Mrs. Shaw to bring Melissa at the club. He wanted Melissa to assist while he slew Dazzler, thinking it could cure his daughter. Piper severed all the building's phone lines and fixed all the cars in the parking to prevent them from leaving and calling for help.
In his Deathgrip suit, Piper noticed an armed man in a phone cabin near the Club. Afraid he might call somebody or interrupt his revenge action, Deathgrip crashed the phone booth with the man inside: O.Z. Chase, a professional bounty hunter. The strong tremor brought Dazzler out of the club. Piper didn't listen her try to talk, instead charging his hands with frizzling energy triggering Dazzler's reaction. His suit protected him from the resulting flare burst. He grasped Dazzler's arms, but she freed herself with an acrobatic move.
A man tried to defend Dazzler, but Deathgrip hit him with a shock wave. Dazzler then ran on the building's floor and the two fought under the club's huge glittering sign. Deathgrip tried to follow Dazzler onto the sign's cage support. Dazzler's agility let her avoid him during the struggle and weaken the helmet's lock with her laser beams. The weight of the two had the sign's structure collapse. Deathgrip lost the helmet and was falling down, but Alison gave him her hand. Just then Melissa returned to reason and called her father, but he was too focused on his objective. Piper grabbed the Dazzler's hand, intending to kill her - so Dazzler was forced to use her full light power on Piper. The light stunned Piper who fell into a nearly catatonic state, as his daughter had before. Melissa, now sane, accompanied him in the ambulance.
Powers / Abilities[]
None, Piper is a normal human. He was a brilliant engineer. He used a suit of armor with defensive and offensive abilities focused on neutralize Dazzler's powers: an exoskeleton that amplified his strength, special polarized lenses on the helmet to protect his eyes from strobe/blinding/disorienting light, an energetic grip focused on the mutant's physiology to ignite the brain cells and burn the nervous system, shock waves, and the metallic parts had a refractory coating to deflect laser beams.