Vault (comics)

Vance Astrovik was sentenced to imprisonment in the Vault, after being found guilty of the manslaughter of his father. While he was en route to the facility, a group of his teammates in the New Warriors overwhelmed the Guardsmen, whom Vance has befriended and attempted to aid his escape. Astrovik chose to stay in captivity and serve his time.[10][11] While incarcerated, he helped foil a riot. Part of Vance's success was his willingness to campaign for better living conditions. For example, Terraformer (a captured member of Force of Nature) simply desires a plant in his cell. Vance manages to give one off the warden's desk. This serves to lessen the ire of many of the prisoners.[12] Astrovik was released from the prison.[13]

On at least one occasion, a criminal was not freed from the Vault itself, but rather while they were en route to the Vault. The mutant terrorist group attacked a prisoner transport van, killing or incapacitating the Guardsmen operating the van, and freed the mutant criminal Mentallo.

The second large-scale breakout, instigated by Loki, was one of the major contributing factors to the numerous supervillain attacks on various heroes during the "Acts of Vengeance" crossover.[14] The villains enjoyed more freedom then expected as the warden accidentally calls Damage Control before the Avengers. The facility was restored to functionality after Loki's alliance of criminal masterminds had collapsed and most of the escaped inmates had been recaptured.[15]

Another breakout was recounted in a flashback.[16], although only a handful of escapees were named. The fourth and final mass breakout occurred with the facility was destroyed by the U-Foes.[17]

As a result of the facility's destruction, the US government abandoned the concept of a single penitentiary for super-humans, instead dispersing the detainment of such criminals in a number of normal prisons such as Seagate Prison and The Raft (a part of Ryker's Island located on an adjacent island).

Later the idea of a dedicated institution was revived, this time in drastically different fashion with the experimental Lang Memorial Prison also known as the "Ant Hill" or "Big House", where criminals were reduced dramatically in size through the use of Pym Particles; a method of escape was deduced by an android duplicate of the Mad Thinker, and in the aftermath of the chaos that followed the project was abandoned.

Another dedicated prison, nicknamed "The Cage", is an isolated island in international waters with a force field nullifying all superhuman powers. It is unclear whether the Raft or the Big House are still in operation as both have recently suffered major prison breaks[18]. However, Carol Danvers later stated that the Raft was still the location where supervillains were "dropped off".[19] and Titania appeared in a shrunken form after escaping The Big House.

During the "Civil War" event, a new maximum-security prison for superpowered individuals was created by the government in the very place that no superhuman could escape from unaided — the Negative Zone. The Prison was nicknamed 'Fantasy Island' by its inmates and 'Prison 42' by designers Tony Stark & Reed Richards as it had been their 42nd idea out of a hundred for 'A Safer America' after the Stamford Disaster.

In the "Mutant X" storyline, the Vault also operates as a prison, it is featured in issue #26. One of its many inmates is the classic vampire Dracula imprisoned in a technological coffin. Forces attack the Vault, killing many Guardsmen and taking Dracula. For lack of any better options, government employee Henry Peter Gyrich calls in "The Six" superhero team to fix the situation as best as possible.

The Vault is present in this reality. Known inmates are Destiny, Mimic, Rhino, and Mister Hyde.

• The Vault appeared in the Iron Man animated series. The episode "The Armor Wars" [Part One] was an adaptation of the 'Armor Wars' storyline. After filling the ventilation with sleeping gas, Iron Man breaks into the Vault to disable the Guardsmen armors. Iron Man ends up fighting Hawkeye and the Guardsmen which ends with Hawkeye being defeated and Iron Man using the Negator Packs on the Guardsman uniforms (though Iron Man later learns that they do not actually use Iron Man's technology). Blizzard, Grey Gargoyle and Whirlwind were shown as the Vault's inmates.
• The Vault is featured in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. At the end of the episode "Strings", it's where the Puppet Master gets incarcerated. The facility is later mentioned in the episode "De-Mole-ition" by the Thing where Mole Man was going to go.
• The Vault appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series. In the episode "Opening Night", the security system gets tested by Spider-Man hired by Norman Osborn in the event of an escape. However, the Green Goblin ends up taking the security system's controls and even releases the prisoners. The Black Cat also infiltrates the prison to free Walter Hardy. Mysterio, Rhino, Montana, Ox, Fancy Dan, Molten Man and Silvermane are shown as the Vault's inmates.
• The Vault appears in The Super Hero Squad Show. Its used to store Infinity Fractals, objects of power retrieved by the heroes as well as imprison villains. It is shaped like a jagged hunk of rock.
• The Vault appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It's known to hold any technological-based supercriminals and their technology. The Vault's known inmates include Crimson Dynamo, Technovore, MODOK, Blizzard, Living Laser, Whiplash, Chemistro and Baron Strucker. In "Iron Man is Born", Nick Fury and some S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents drop off some HYDRA Agents following their attack on the United Nations. Fury interrogates Strucker until the Grim Reaper (disguised as a HYDRA Agent) infiltrates the Vault in a plot to spring Strucker from prison. The two are defeated by Fury and Strucker is taken back to his cell while Grim Reaper is also imprisoned. In "The Breakout", the Vault is one of the four major supervillain prisons mentioned as a successful mass breakout is staged along with the other three prisons releasing the prisoners from all four prisons. Iron Man had J.A.R.V.I.S. activate the Vault's self-destruct sequence.
• The Vault is mentioned in Iron Man: Armored Adventures. In "Line of Fire", It's where Black Knight and those involved in the Vibranium smuggling are sent after they were defeated by Iron Man and Black Panther and then arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. In "Control+Alt+Delete", it's mentioned that there were some A.I.M. operatives in the Vault disguised as guards that snuck Controller out of the Vault.
• The Vault appears in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.. In the episode "The Skaar Whisperer", The Agents of S.M.A.S.H. arrive at the Vault when Absorbing Man, Titania and the Wrecking Crew were planning to break out during a prison riot to which Absorbing Man escaped while Titania and the Wrecking Crew were defeated by the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. It's seen again when the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. were arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D after being framed for attacking the Helicarrier. There they were locked up in the part of the prison holding Absorbing man, Titania, and the Wrecking Crew. Abomination was also the warden there. While they were there, a riot started when the wrecking crew teases the agents and Red Hulk lands the first hit. From there all the prisoners fight and Abomination calls in the Hulkbusters to subdue them. Hulk is put in solitary and later Abomination releases Absorbing man and the Wrecking Crew so they can beat on the Hulk. Titania and She-hulk also grow closer and after realizing she doesn't want to be a villain anymore, she helps them and fights Abomination and the hulkbusters when he was exposed to Nick Fury. Abomination launched that part of the vault into the air attempting to destroy them all but they stopped him but he got away before Nick Fury arrives. In the end, Absorbing man, Titania, and the Wrecking Crew are lead away by S.H.I.E.L.D agents to be taken to a new facility.
• The Vault is seen in the Avengers Assemble animated series. The prison's inmates include Red Skull, MODOK, Nighthawk, Zarda, Speed Demon, Hyperion, Nuke, Crimson Widow, Typhoid Mary, Ghost, Abomination, Maximus the Mad, the Leader, Klaw, Whitney Frost, Crossbones, Taskmaster, Vulture, the Masters of Evil and the Circus of Crime.
  • A loose adaptation of Truman Marsh appears in Avengers: Ultron Revolution, voiced by William Salyers.[31] He plays a significant role as the Avengers' government liaison and later the Mighty Avengers' founder with the Inhumans' recent handling and is ultimately revealed to be Ultron in disguise.
  • The Vault is finally seen in Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: Black Panther's Quest. In the episode "Prison Break", the Crimson Widow allows herself to be captured by the New Avengers to the prison to engineer a prison break of the Vault's inmates, asking help from Zarda and Typhoid Mary for assistance. However, the female villains are defeated by Captain Marvel and the Wasp and the prison break gets foiled. In the two-part episode "Vibranium Curtain", Black Panther allows himself to be captured to get to Ulysses Klaue.

• The Vault is mentioned in the 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 where a news report says that the Rhino has escaped from the Vault, prompting Spider-Man to have a confrontation.

• A Vault esque prison appears in X2: Wolverine's Revenge called The Void. As mentioned by Professor X in the game's data files, it specifically contained mutant supervillains as opposed to human supervillains like the Vault. The prisoners included Magneto, Juggernaut, and Omega Red, but these three were freed by Sabretooth during the game.
• The Vault appears in the Fantastic Four game. The Fantastic Four are imprisoned in the Vault after one of Victor von Doom's robots causes serious damage while trying to kill Reed Richards. During a subsequent prison break, the Fantastic Four manage to calm the escaping prisoners, recapturing many of them and defeating Blastaar and Dragon Man before they can escape.
• The Vault is briefly seen in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. The Hulk is temporarily imprisoned in the Vault.
• The Vault appears in the Marvel Super Hero Squad video game.
• The Vault is referenced in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

• In 1998, Toy Biz released a small line of "Vault"-themed action figures featuring villains from the Marvel Universe.[32] The line composed of figures of Stegron, Typhoid Mary and Ultron. The packaging of each was designed to resemble the interiors of a cell in "the Vault" as they had been presented in the comics. Toy Biz also released a Guardsman figure in their Spider-Man toy line (in the form of an unreleased mold from the Iron Man line from when that line was cancelled).
• In the Spider-Man edition of Monopoly, the properties the players must buy are replaced by various super-villains the players must capture, and the hotels are renamed Vaults.