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Mad Viking
The Mad Viking
Aliases: Mad Viking
Continuity: Marvel Universe
Notability: Antagonist
Type: Psychopath
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Location: Citrusville, Florida
Relatives: Astrid Josefsen
Status: Deceased
First: Man-Thing #16
Final: Man-Thing #18

The Mad Viking is a fictional psychopath and a recurring antagonist featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in The Man-Thing #16 in April, 1975 in a story titled "Decay Meets the Mad Viking". He made three canonical appearances in total, not including flashbacks and reprint stories.

Biography[]

Josefsen was a longshoreman who was still strong and virile even after he passed the age of sixty. Josefsen had an idea that "real men" were always macho and didn't like "wussy men" that he saw the younger generation as being. When his granddaughter Astrid brought home a hippie boy, that was the final straw. Eventually establishing a costumed identity of the "Mad Viking", Josefsen chased his granddaughter, Astrid into the swamps outside Citrusville to teach her a lesson. This brought him into conflict with the Man-Thing who was drawn to the Mad Viking's negative emotions.

Fighting off the Man-Thing, the Viking caught up to his granddaughter who tried to seek the help of shock-rocker "Star" Spangler, who had taken up residence in the old Sallis cabin for inspiration for his next album. The Viking would murder Spangler and his followers until he was ultimately stopped by the Man-Thing who ended up burning the Viking's hand when he finally gave into his fear. [1]

When the police began hunting down Mad Viking following his murder spree, Viking hid from the law in Citrusville. However, he went from public enemy number one, to a hero in the eyes of an angry mob that had formed in Citrusville that believe that books teaching sex education and other concepts outside of their Christian worldview as indecent and worth of being burned.

The Viking led the mob to Citrusville High School where they attempted to burn the textbooks there. When confronted by Richard Rory and Astrid, they tried to shake him of his macho beliefs by showing everyone that Astrid was the product of his upbringing. The Mad Viking responded by killing his own granddaughter.

Although the mob succeeded in burning the books, the Mad Viking was killed when the Man-Thing (who had been reduced to a being of chemical suds from a trip through the Citrusville sewage treatment plant) slew the Mad Viking at a touch. As the chemicals dissolved the Mad Viking's body, the Man-Thing was restored to normal. [2][3][4]

Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • None: Josefsen is by all accounts a normal human being with no superhuman abilities to speak of.

Skills[]

  • Peak physical condition: For a man who was in his early sixties, Josefsen was in peak physical condition.

Equipment[]

  • Battle-axe: Josephsen wielded an axe similar to those wielded by Viking Norsemen from days of old.

Notes & Trivia[]

  • Josefsen is the character's surname. His given name is unrevealed.
  • His chosen code-name not withstanding, The Mad Viking is not an actual Viking. However, his surname suggests Nordic or Icelandic heritage, so it is possible that he is descended from a Viking bloodline.

Body Count[]

See also[]

External Links[]

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. Man-Thing 16
  2. Man-Thing 17
  3. Man-Thing 18
  4. Marvel Database; Marvel Fandom; Mad Viking (Josefsen) (Earth-616), History. See History for a full list of contributors.
  5. Man-Thing 16


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Includes characters featured in the Man-Thing line of comic book titles published by Marvel Comics.
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