Willie Lumpkin

Willie Lumpkin's History

A mailman for a small midwestern town, Willie Lumpkin always dreamed of working for the U.S. Postal Service in a major metropolitan area. When his long-time girlfriend, Lila Brown, spurned him for the affections of his best friend, Charlie Boomer, Willie felt there was nothing left to stop him from pursuing his dream. Willie moved to New York City where he maintained a steady mail route which included the Baxter Building. He worked the same standard beat for many years before the Fantastic Four moved to the top five floors of the complex. His life had become dreary and monotonous up until this point. The Fantastic Four's reputation as super heroic adventurers had preceded them, and when Willie first met Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four, he half-jokingly petitioned for membership on the grounds that he had the ability to wiggle his ears. Reed responded with equal humor and told Willie he'd keep him in mind. Although he was never invited to become a member, Willie has played unwitting roles in several Fantastic Four adventures. Once he rang a certain bell in the Baxter Building's lobby which activated a fail-safe circuit breaker. This act allowed the Fantastic Four to escape the capture of the Mad Thinker. Another time he spent Christmas eve locked in a reinforced closet while the Fantastic Four battled the Super Skrull. Willie also accidentally activated Doctor Doom's time machine under the direction of the temporal super-villian called Tempus. Willie traveled backward to another dimension and began to play havoc with that dimension's space-time continuum. But the Fantastic Four rescued him. Willie was also once impersonated by a Skrull who wanted to gain access to the Baxter Building. Willie is Currently semi-retired, still working as a mailman on a part-time basis. He refuses to enter full-retirement because he feels there are still many adventures to be had with the Fantastic Four. His nephew, Freddie, feels that Willie is too old to be living alone in Manhattan and wishes to set him up in a nursing home. Willie's response to this decision remains to be seen.