Grandmaster (August 12, 1969) This Day In Comics

Although his exact origin is unknown, En Dwi Gast is one of the oldest living beings in the universe, coming from one of the first intelligent races to evolve after the Big Bang. He once possessed the Mind Gem, one of the six Infinity Gems, but he lost it to Thanos. He is a cosmic game player whose preferred game is pitting two opposing teams against each other. He has used the Squadron Sinister, Daredevil, the Defenders, the East and West Coast Avengers, Malibu Comics’s Ultraforce, and DC Comics’ Justice League of America. In his first appearance in The Avengers #69 (August 12, 1969), the Grandmaster played a game against Kang the Conqueror for the power to resurrect Ravonna or destroy Kang’s planet, using the Avengers and Squadron Sinister as pawns.

However, Kang’s efforts failed due to the intervention of the Black Knight meaning that the Avengers did not technically win their fight, causing Kang to sacrifice the power to resurrect Ravonna for the power to kill the Avengers, with this attempt failing again when the Grandmaster’s gift literally gave Kang the power to kill only the Avengers rather than the currently-unaffiliated Black Knight.