- Masked Marauder
-
Masked Marauder 
Art by John RomitaPublication information Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Daredevil #16 (May 1966) Created by Stan Lee, John Romita, Sr., Frank Giacoia In-story information Full name Frank Farnum Team affiliations Maggia Notable aliases Mr.Dunn Abilities Skilled inventor,
Wields various weaponsThe Masked Marauder is a fictional comic book character owned by Marvel Comics and appearing in that company's Marvel Universe.
Contents
Publication history
The Masked Marauder first appeared in Daredevil #16-19 (May-August 1966), and was created by Stan Lee, John Romita, Sr., and Frank Giacoia.
The character subsequently appears in Daredevil #22-23 (November-December 1966), #26-27 (March-April 1967), Iron Man #60-61 (July-August 1973, Werewolf by Night #42-43 (January, March 1977), and The Spectacular Spider-Man #25-28 (December 1978-March 1979). The character appears again many years later in Punisher War Journal #4 (April 2007).
The Masked Marauder received an entry in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z: Update #3 (2007).
Fictional character biography
The Masked Marauder is a costumed criminal scientist whose helmet projects "optiblasts" which can temporarily or permanently blind a victim. The origin of the Masked Marauder has never been revealed. He first appeared as an already successful crime leader with men, money, and resources at his command. Although he is clearly an engineering genius, capable of creating levitation/teleportation rays, androids, exoskeleton armor, and blinding opti-blasts, his real identity was eventually revealed to be Frank Farnum, the manager of the Manhattan building in which the law offices of Nelson and Murdock reside. How and why he became the Masked Marauder has never been revealed.
The Masked Marauder first comes to the public's attention battling Spider-Man, prior to his big attack on the World Motors Building. He draws Daredevil into the picture and arranges for the two super-heroes to fight each other while he and his henchmen steal the XB-390, a new auto engine. This plot is eventually foiled by Spider-Man and Daredevil. Although all of his men are captured, the Marauder himself manages to escape.[1]
Taking on new men, culled from the New York City underworld, the Marauder arranges to have the Gladiator sprung from prison. He intends to use his new man as glorified muscle but the Gladiator proves very hard to tame. In the end, the Marauder is forced to take him on as his partner. The two villains decide to try to take over the Maggia. They present their credentials and promise to defeat Daredevil. The Marauder creates his Tri-Man, an android animated with the strength of the Mangler (a wrestler), the moves of the Dancer (a safecracker) and the genius of the Brain (an underworld figure), for the purpose of defeating Daredevil. The plan fails when Daredevil defeats the Tri-Man instead. The Maggia agree to take in the Gladiator but they spurn the Masked Marauder.[2]
The Marauder's next plan is to team up with Stilt-Man to try to sniff out Daredevil's secret identity. He ends up in a special helicopter with Matt Murdock (who is actually Daredevil), Matt's law partner Foggy Nelson, and their secretary Karen Page. The helicopter has a force field that disintegrates anything that comes in contact with it. Unfortunately for the Marauder, what comes in contact with it is his body.[3]
The Marauder is presumed dead until he re-appears in Detroit some years later. He reveals that his force field disintegrator was actually a teleportation device that allowed him to escape and start over again elsewhere. With his henchmen Steele and Hacker, he steals Tony Stark's experimental space shuttle and runs afoul of Iron Man, who defeats him.[4]
Later, the Marauder again encounters Iron Man along with Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night. His plans (with his new henchmen Pardee, Creach, and Strenk) involve creating a Tri-Animan (an android powered by three animals instead of men) to aid in his revenge against the Maggia. He fails.[5]
When the Marauder next appears, he has somehow become Big M, the leader of the Nefaria "family" of the Maggia. In battle with Spider-Man and Daredevil, he "permanently" blinds the web-slinger and threatens New York with his "bombdroid", a Tri-Man carrying a nuclear device. As a blinded Spider-Man succeeds in defusing the bomb, Daredevil defeats the Marauder in the same way he did in their first meeting... by resisting the effects of the opti-blast because he is already blind.[6]
Post-Civil War
The Marauder, along with a number of low-level super-villains, was attending a viewing/funeral/bar room brawl for The Stilt-Man (killed by the Punisher), when the Punisher (posing as a bartender) poisoned their drinks before blowing the bar up in Punisher War Journal #4. It was later mentioned in She-Hulk (volume 2) #17 that "they all had to get their stomachs pumped and be treated for third-degree burns."
Secret Invasion
The Masked Marauder was seen helping the Hood fight the Skrulls.[7]
Powers and abilities
Masked Marauder have a great leadership abilities (though not so good in the planning department), brilliant inventor of opti-blast, Tri-Man, Bomb-droid, etc.
He use androids, truck with "hydraulic hoist", blimps, helicopters with force field, master control headquarters, teleportation device, and so on.
References
External links
- Masked Marauder at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Categories:- Comics characters introduced in 1966
- Characters created by John Romita, Sr.
- Characters created by Stan Lee
- Fictional criminals
- Fictional gangsters
- Marvel Comics supervillains
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
