In #93, we get the first appearance of Radioactive Man. I always think of him as an Iron Man foe, but here he is, first appearing against Thor.
His origin is, obviously, radioactive experiments–he’s a scientist who experimented on himself. And, like more than half the villains in these early Marvel comics, he’s a communist.
Keep in mind that in China, Dr. Chen Lu’s selfish act to gain power for himself was probably an act of treason.
In the United States, when a person takes power for themselves instead of for the greater good, we see that as the natural order. Nature of capitalism.
Also, I love how radioactivity, by itself, is the cause of so much in the early Earth 616. It shows how in the ’60s everyone was still scarred by the end of WWII and was terrified of how weapons-based technology would develop in the real world. It’s really not much different from how we fear biological weapons in the 21st Century: An existential threat that seems like it will imminently destroy us all.
The fact that humans have always had these fears is a little comforting. And it’s also a little disconcerting that we continue on these paths.
Radioactive Man can live underwater and sneaks into the U.S. via the ocean.
The NYPD want to drop a bomb on him.
Radioactive Man’s power set is different in this first appearance–he has the ability to put people into a hypnotic trance.
I don’t think that power set ever appears again.
Of course, his mind control over Thor doesn’t last long. Thor breaks free of the trance because Radioactive Man tells him to throw his hammer away, and he reverts to Don Blake.
Don Blake is a doctor. A surgeon, I believe. But in this issue, he’s also an inventor–and he figures out how to locate Mjolnir. I do find it quite annoying that everyone in Marvel Comics can create amazing gadgets.
He locates it under the sea–just sitting there. But in other stories, his hammer reverts to a walking stick at the same time Thor becomes Don Blake. This is an error, so I’ve tagged this post accordingly, below.
Anyway, Don gets it back and catches up with Radioactive Man.
Look how Thor calls him “my radioactive friend.” Stan Lee. Love his writing. No sarcasm there. I love the way he wrote these classic tales.
The story ends when Thor literally blows Radioactive Man back to China, and sends the radiation out over the sea using a tornado.
Plotted and drawn by Stan and Jack, the pencils were done by “R Bern” who is really Robert Bernstein. I’m assuming the nom de plume was to seem less Jewish?