William Foster grew up in the Watts ghetto, but his innate intellect made it easy for him to navigate the challenges of his youth. Foster, after a stint in the military, attends the California Technical Institute where he is discovered and hired by Tony Stark.
Comic Origin
Foster debuts in Marvel’s Avengers #32 as the brilliant scientist—recommended by Stark—who works with Hank Pym (aka Ant-Man) when Pym gets stuck in his super form as Giant-Man. While Pym and Foster work to develop the cure for Pym’s giantess problem, Foster becomes the target of a racist cult, The Sons of the Serpent. The Avengers publicly oppose the cult after they attack Foster, and The Serpents retaliate by kidnapping Captain America and demanding the Avengers align with their agenda or they will kill Captain America. Fortunately, the Avengers refuse to give into hate-mongering and work with S.H.E.I.L.D. to save Captain America. Foster and Pym move forward with their research and discover Pym’s Particles. Their combined intellects and the discovery of Pym Particles allow Hank to return to his normal size.
Foster’s character is next seen in Luke Cage’s series Power Man #24. Returning to Stark Industries, Foster uses Pym Particles on himself in an attempt to win back the love of his ex-wife Claire Temple. Naming himself Black Goliath, Foster joins a circus and convinces Claire that he is now stuck at a large size, like Pym before him. Sadly, Goliath sabotages himself when he accidentally joins The Circus of Crime and is forced to team up with his ex-wife’s boyfriend, Luke Cage, to defeat the Ringmaster. Head hung in defeat, Foster, for a time, hangs up his super suit and returns to his work as Head of Biochemistry at Stark Industries.
As Black Goliath (and sometimes Goliath and Giant-Man), Foster joins the Avengers periodically in various comic book editions. For example, he works with Iron Man to find The Hulk and develops a cure to save Spiderman from cellular degeneration. He even begins work with the CDC and tries to use Pym Particles to cure world hunger. In his short comic run, Goliath—before handing the title back to Ant-Man—encounters the Atom-Smasher, Vulcan, Stilt-Man and High Evolutionary, to name a few.
He is also saved from radiation poisoning through a blood transfusion from Spider-Woman and assists as a consultant for Project Pegasus. His untimely end is met during the Superhuman Cold War when a blast of lightning from the hammer of Thor’s clone Ragnarök, tears through his chest. Goliath was the first casualty in the Civil War and his death caused a greater rift in the divide between Superhumans, causing some to switch sides.
However, that was not the end of Goliath! After Iron Man paid for nearly 40 grave sites to bury Foster, Bill’s nephew dug up one of his bones and synthesized Pym’s Particles from Foster’s remains. Tom Foster unlocked the secrets of the Pym Particles and took up the mantle as Goliath in the wake of his uncle’s death. But Bill Foster’s influence does not stop there!
It turns out Pym had created a virtual reality program to upload Bill’s consciousness to after his death. Foster becomes part of a supercomputer and is seen in later comics when members of A.I.M try to hijack the program. Pym defeats A.I.M with the help of the new Ant-Man, Eric-O-Grady.
MCU History
In the MCU, Foster is alive and thriving, having been left out of the narrative for Civil War. As a professor at Berkeley, he plays a huge role in the life of Ghost, the antagonist of Ant-man and The Wasp. Perhaps he will return for another movie, but what does that mean for his comic book origin? Maybe his story is being rewritten and a new series of Black Goliath will grace the shelves in the years to come!
