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The Religious Affiliation of
Stonewall
Stanley Buchovitz

Religion: Stonewall Brigade (leader) CBR Scale: M

Name: Stonewall

Alter Ego: Stanley Buchovitz

Other Names: Stanley "Stonewall" Buchovitz

Classification: villain villain  

Publisher(s): Marvel

First Appearance: Heroes for Hire (vol. 1) #17 (Nov. 1998): "Power Play!"

Creators: John Ostrander, Martin Egeland, Hector Collazo

Number of Appearances: 1

Enemy of: Heroes for Hire

Occupation: criminal mastermind

Nation: USA

Birth Place: Long Island, New York, USA

Gender: male

Stanley "Stonewall" Buchovitz was a 22-year-old man who used his significant inheritance to fund the creation of the Stonewall Brigade and a compound for them to live in. "Stonewall" Buchovitz had fanatical followers who threatened to kill themselves if their demands were not met. Buchovitz wanted to be given control of Long Island. Luke Cage and She-Hulk of Heroes for Hire were brought in to assist the FBI with the situation. They didn't really care whether or not Buchovitz and his followers killed themselves, but the Stonewall Brigade group also had kidnapped women for their harem, and threatened to kill these innocent women as well. The heroes managed to save the day without bloodshed.

The nature of the Stonewall Brigade is not entirely clear. There are elements of a militia as well as elements of a dangerous religious sect (or "cult") within this story. One would need to read the story carefully to discern the extent to which this group is secular or criminal or authentically religious. There may be some parallels between this situation and the Branch Davidian situation in Waco, Texas that culminated in 1993. But this doesn't appear to be an attempt to precisely mirror the Waco story. Regardless of the precise beliefs and practices of the Stonewall Brigade, it is clear that Stanley Buchovitz's primary identity was his role as leader of this group and it is clear that he had fanatical followers who seemed willing to die for the group.

It is also not clear whether the name of this group - "Stonewall" - is an allusion to the Stonewall Inn and the famous Stonewall riots that took place there in October 1969, birthing the Gay Rights movement. The Stonewall Brigade was located on Long Island in New York, and not in New York City's Greenwich village, which was the location of the Stonewall Inn, but the name is the same and both stories involve threats of violence and demands for government recognition of desired rights and conditions. Nevertheless, the use of the "Stonewall" name in these stories may have been a coincidence with no GLBT allusions intended by writer John Ostrander.


This character is in the following story which has been indexed by this website:
Heroes for Hire (vol. 1) #17 (Nov. 1998): "Power Play!"


Suggested links for further research about this character and the character's religious affiliation:
  - http://www.leaderslair.com/gammapeople/she-hulk8.html
  - http://www.comicboards.com/marvelguide/b3.html
  - https://www.comics.org/issue/62266/