Adolf Hitler

Real Name: Adolf Hitler
Born: 20 April 1889
Died: 30 April 1945

Historical Background: 

Austrian-born German politician, Adolf Hitler was injured in combat during World War I, and later became the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, known as the Nazi Party. With the help of his "brown shirts," he managed to become the chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and served as head of state (Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. In 1939, Hitler's Nazi forces invaded Poland. They managed to conquer much of Europe during the course of World War II. Nazi Germany was allied with Italy and Japan, as a charter member of the Axis Powers, which were eventually defeated by the United States, the United Kingdom and the other Allied forces. Hitler himself survived at least one assassination attempt, but was presumed dead after his headquarters in Germany was bombed in 1945.

Golden Age Comic Stories: 

Hitler and the Axis powers formed multiple alliances with villains such as the Clown, the Claw, Green Sorceress, Satan, and many others. Some villains worked directly under Hitler such as Iron Jaw, Captain Nazi and the Rodent. Hitler was also a member of the Monster Society of Evil.

Hitler and his forces came into conflict with almost all of the superheroes active during WWII and even facing some such as Daredevil, Spacehawk, Lance Hale, and Silver Streak personally. One hero, Futuro, even took Adolf Hitler to Hell.

Golden Age Appearances: 

Many

White Terror

Real Name: Mr. Fredericks
First Appearance: Wonderworld Comics #33 (January, 1942)
Original Publisher: Fox
Created by: Bob Farrow and Louis Cazeneuve

Golden Age Origin: 

Mr. Fredericks, manager of the Blue Socks baseball team, was secretly murdering factory workers using poison gas. However, one of his best players found out about the murderous secret of their manager, so the White Terror disposed of him. The clues left by the deceased player help super hero U.S. Jones in finding the killer before he could strike again.

Powers and Abilities: 

The White Terror was equipped with a dagger and vials of poisonous gas. He also wore a domed helmet like an astronaut or deep sea diver that was used to protect him from his poisonous gases. He had no powers but was a skilled chemist and climber.

Notes: 

The White Terror was also called the White Killer.

Golden Age Appearances: 

Wonderworld Comics #33

Zog

Real Name: Prince Zog of Mars
First Appearance: Amazing Man Comics #15 (1940)
Original Publisher: Centaur
Created by: Unknown

Golden Age Origin: 

Prince Zog of Mars was a martian intent on conquering Earth after being transported from his planet by a strange race of island men. He could shoot lasers from his eyes which he uses to destroy the scientist who brought him to Earth. However, the hero known as the Shark and his father Neptune were also captured by the inhabitants of the island and prevent Zog from conquering the world by destroying him using his weakness, water. They discovered his weakness when Neptune doused him with it, causing Zog to dissolve.

Golden Age Appearances: 

Amazing Man Comics #15

Claw

Real Name: Unknown
First Appearance: Silver Streak Comics #1 (Dec. 1939)
Original Publisher: Lev Gleason
Created by: Jack Cole

Origin:

A chunk of mass blew off the planet Zylmarx and was hurdled towards Earth. It streaked over New York and landed in Tibet, far from civilization. For almost four years, the crater remained untouched. There were faint rumblings in the Earth, recorded on seismographs all over the world, but they were not considered unusual. Unknown to humanity, something was slowly developing within the meteor towards its awful birth... And then, early in 1939, the ground split open and out of the crater emerged a horrible sight... The Claw!

The ruler of the Pacific island nation of Ricca, the Claw is the ultimate villain, often called the God of Hate by his own people. The Claw's activities were apparently monitored by an Infernal supervisor and he could travel to Hades to request aid. The Claw's most commonly used power was his ability to make himself any size he wishes, and he usually maintained a height of at least 100 feet.  He towered over Manhattan when he first came to the U.S., where he would encounter his greatest foe - Daredevil. He was strong enough to pick up a train or rip the roof off of a building and he could not be killed by conventional firearms, though, being somewhat cowardly, he would usually retreat when he experienced pain. He had other ill-defined abilities as well which seemed to depend on the phases of the moon. He was served by a small army of human henchmen and by his goblin-like Clawites.

Over the years, the Claw faced a number of opponents, which included (in chronological order) - Jerry Morris, Major Carl Tarrant, Daredevil, the Ghost and Rocky X. The Ghost was the longest-running opponent of them all, fighting the Claw for twenty issues.  The Claw was seemingly killed numerous times, but he always managed to come back.

Claw left Earth during WWII by tricking the Nazis into building him a rocket. He went back to the planet Zylmarx and for decades built up an invasion force to conqueror the Earth. His plans are foiled by Rocky X and his allies.

Public Domain Appearances: 

Boy Illustories #89-#93

Captain Battle, Jr. #1

Captain Battle, Jr. #2 (as The Green Claw)

Daredevil Battles Hitler

Daredevil Comics #1-31

Silver Streak Comics #1-2, #6-11

Scarecrow

Real Name: Unknown
First Appearance: The Eagle #4 (January, 1942)
Original Publisher: Fox
Created by: Unknown

Origin: 

The Scarecrow was an assassin and gang leader who worked for the Nazis during World War II. He usually operated on US soil. He almost always carried a whip, which he could use to trip and strangle his victims. He also carried a variety of firearms. He was good at getting away and possessed the strength of a maniac. He battled The Eagle on several occassions.

Golden Age Appearances: 

The Eagle #4

Puzzler

Real Name: Unknown
First Appearance: America's Best Comics #30 (1949)
Original Publisher: Nedor
Created by: Ruben Moreira

Origin:

A young man is down on his luck though he¹s always been good at solving puzzles. In fact he happens to be walking by a bank when he hears that the vault has been closed by accident and it contains papers that are needed for a multi-million dollar deal. He reckons a safe is just another puzzle and soon he has it open for them. But, they offer him no reward and in fact are all to happy to have him leave due to his rather sorry appearance. He decides, then and there to no longer live the life of the straight and narrow and puts on a green and yellow checker-board costume and commits outrageous crimes. He even sends out riddles to the Black Terror challenging him to solve the crimes and catch him. Which after a few close calls, the Terrors do. The Puzzler also seems to have penchant for bad puns.

Golden Age Appearances: 

America's Best Comics #30

Mister Slumber

Real Name: Morpheus Slumber
First Appearance: Triple Threat Comics #1 (1945)
Original Publisher: Holyoke /Gerona
Created by: Sam Cooper & John Giunta

Golden Age Origin: 

Morpheus Slumber was a ghost trapped in an unmarked grave. Through sheer force of will, he was able to escape the cemetary to torture the living to death with unspeakable nightmares. He rode a ghostly green horse and was accompanied by various demons he referred to as his "nightmares." He could also physically attack people while they were asleep. After being defeated by the Duke of Darkness, Mr. Slumber was forced back into the grave.

Golden Age Appearances: 

Triple Threat Comics #1

Iron Mask

Real Name: Unknown
First Appearance: Captain Flash #1 (1954)
Original Publisher: Sterling
Created by: Mike Sekowsky and Martin Smith

Origin: 

Iron Mask was a villain who planted a lead-coated hydrogen bomb in Atom City and challenged Captain Flash and Ricky Davis to find it. The only clue he gave them was a riddle. Captain Flash was able to decipher the riddle and traveled to Matto Grosso, where he encountered Iron Mask's robots, which were modeled after monsters from the Ancient Greek myth (mostly the Odyssey). After defeating the monsters, he realized that their names were a clue to the bomb's location -a construction site. With less than seconds to spare, he used his powers to disable the bomb... Only to discover that Iron Mask used it as a distraction to sneak into the city's atomic energy plant and steal radioactive cobalt. Thanks to Ricky's timely intervention, Captain Flash was able to stop the Iron Mask, but he seemingly fell to his death before he could be apprehended.

The story strongly hinted that Iron Mask would become a recurring enemy, but this was his only appearance.

Powers and Abilities: 

Iron Mask was a brilliant inventor who was able to create a proton gun and life-like robots of various shapes and sizes. He also seemed to have at least some knowledge of nuclear physics.

Public Domain Appearances: 

Captain Flash #1

Crystal

Real Name: Mr. Crystal James
First Appearance: Whiz Comics #15 (March, 1941)
Original Publisher: Fawcett
Created by: Ken Battefield

Origin 

Crystal James was the leader of a gang of thieves. He used "The Crystal" disguise to protect his identity when he attempted to kidnap his own millionaire ward, Ronnie Keller, and throw off suspicion when he forced her to sign over the enitre Keller Estate to himself. However, Ronnie was saved by the efforts of The Companions Three who eventually brought the Crystal to justice.

The Crystal was clever and extremely athletic, especially when making a getaway. He carried conventional weapons such as guns and knives, but he also enjoyed laying elaborate traps, such as "The Death Circle" which would kill anyone who entered it. On at least one occassion, he used a robot decoy to fool his opponents.

Golden Age Appearances: 

Master Comics #14

Whiz Comics #15

Zora

Real Name: Zora
First Appearance: Prize Comics #44 (August, 1944)
Original Publisher: Prize
Created by: Dick Briefer

Golden Age Origin

Zora was an ancient vampire, who had been burned at the stake as a witch around 1744, but survived due to her supernatural abilities. She was in love with a soldier named Rollo, and spent 200 years looking for a way to complete his transformation into a vampire, since he had died of a gunshot wound before the transformation was complete. She managed to revive him with a ritual. After encountering Frankenstein, Zora put the creature under her power and took him to her home, a spooky old mansion, to add him to her brood of ghouls. While Zora delighted in drinking blood and being a creature of darkness, Frankenstein displayed distaste for her ways, and after he ate garlic bread, Zora and Rollo were forced to abandon their ancient manor. Homeless, they went to New York where they took over an apartment building. There, Zora invited two additional vampires to join her brood. These vampires held an undertaker's convention at the building, and hired one of the undertakers to stay and take care of them during the day. With the help of the caretaker, Frankenstein was no longer needed, and was released from Zora's power.

Powers and Abilities: 

Zora was long lived, and seemed to posses all the standard abilities and weaknesses of a typical vampire. Unlike some vampires, she was also skilled in mesmerism and demonstrated the ability to summon and control bats.

Golden Age Appearances: 

Prize Comics #44-48