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Destroyer (Golden Age)

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Mystic Comics #8 (March 1942). Cover art by Al Gabriele.
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Mystic Comics #8 (March 1942). Cover art by Al Gabriele.

The Destroyer is a Golden Age superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. This character is distinct from Marvel's Drax the Destroyer, created in the 1970s, and the Thor antagonist the Destroyer.

One of the World War II-era heroes of Timely Comics, the Golden Age predecessor of Marvel, the Destroyer was less popular than the company's "big three" stars, the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America. Yet the Destroyer's sleekly dark costume with a skull motif, his skintight blue mask that made him appear inhuman, and his occasional cover appearances together worked to make the character more memorable than many others of his era. He is significant as well as one of the earliest creations of industry legend Stan Lee. As comics historian and former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas notes: "Stan's most popular superhero creation before the Fantastic Four was the Destroyer, debuting in Mystic Comics #6 (Oct. 1941)".1

Contents

Golden Age

The character's origin, highly similar to that of Captain America, posits American journalist Keen Marlow being captured for spying while reporting behind-the-lines in Nazi Germany. While imprisoned in a concentration camp — that specific phrase being used, though before its association with the Holocaust — Marlow is given a super-soldier serum by fellow prisoner Professor Eric Schmitt, an anti-Nazi German scientist. Responding to the chemical (minus the "Vita-Rays" also used on Cap), Marlow becomes a prime human specimen who escapes, dons a costume, and adopts a fearsome identity with which he fights the Nazis on their own turf. He was occasionally abetted by an Allied agent with the, in retrospect, rather unfortunate name of Florence von Banger. Antagonists included the Scar, Herr Sin and Von Maus.

Artists associated with the feature include pencilers Al Gabrielle and Mike Sekowsky, and inkers Vince Alascia and Allen Bellman. Comic-book giant Jack Kirby, inked by either Syd Shores or Joe Simon (sources differ), contributed the Destroyer cover of Mystic #7 [link] [link].

Modern-day

In 1970s retcon appearances, the same origin is recounted except for the reporter's identity. Now he is Brian Falsworth, brother of Spitfire (a member of the World War II superhero group The Invaders) and son of Montgomery, Lord Falsworth, who had been the World War I hero Union Jack. "Keen Marlow" was explained as simply a fictitious name. Brian Falsworth gave up the Destroyer identity in order to become the new Union Jack, while his friend and lover Roger Aubrey became the new Destroyer. This Destroyer has made present-day guest appearances in such titles as Thunderbolts and Citizen V & the V-Battalion, where he was the leader of the titular V-Battalion before eventually stepping down in favour of the original Human Torch. After the Torch's death, Aubrey reassumed command of the V-Batallion.

Other media

In the 1990s television program , Keen Marlow was introduced as the Destroyer, an old colleague of Captain America, now past his prime with his powers fading. He appeared as one of the "Six Forgotten Warriors" in the story arc of the same name. He was also a friend of Peter (Spider-Man) Parker's Uncle Ben.

Bibliography of appearances

Golden Age

Modern

Golden Age reprints

:"The Beachhead Blitz" (from All Winners Comics #12)
 Note: Marvel Super-Heroes lists Don Rico as artist; The Golden Age of Marvel Comics lists Mike Sekowsky

References

Footnotes

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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