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