Whizzer

Real Name: Robert L. Frank

Identity/Class: Human mutate (later retconned to mutant)

Occupation: Unknown

Affiliations: (Golden Age) member of the All Winners Squad, Slow-Motion Jones (his sidekick), allied with Captain Terror, Major Liberty, Rockman, Vagabond, Jack Frost, the Defender, Rusty

(Silver Age) Invaders (Captain America, Bucky, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Toro), Liberty Legion (Jack Frost, Red Raven, Patriot, Thin Man, Blue Diamond, Miss America), founding member of the Penance Council of the V-Battalion, the Thing

Enemies: (Golden Age) Frank Rone (another speedster); Isbisa, Future Man, Madame Death

(Silver Age) Battle Axis, Super-Axis (Lady Lotus, Master Man, Warrior Woman, Baron Blood, U-Man), Iron Cross, Sky Shark, Brain Drain

Known Relatives: (Golden Age) Emil Frank (father, deceased)

(Silver Age) Madeline Joyce Franks (a.k.a. Miss America, wife, deceased), Robert Frank Jr (a.k.a. Nuklo, son), unnamed baby / babies (gender unspecified, deceased at birth)

Aliases: Bob, Jack Robinson

Base of Operations: New York, U.S.A.

(Silver Age) The Times Tower, New York City

First Appearance: U.S.A. Comics #1 (Timely, August 1941)

Powers/Abilities: The Whizzer could move at superhuman speeds - not only was he able to run at hundreds of miles per hour, but his reaction time was equally fast. He could even generate whirlwinds by running round in circles, or run up the side of buildings or across the surface of water.

History: (U.S.A. Comics #1, ga) After being framed for murder, De.Emil Frank fled America for Africa, taking along his son Bob. When Bob was bitten by a cobra, which was then slain by a mongoose, the distraught father decided to save his son by giving him a blood transfusion from the mongoose. Miraculously, this worked! It also gave Bob superhuman speed and vitality. Emil however died from the stress. Bob returned to America, where he became the costumed hero The Whizzer.

(U.S.A.Comics #2, comic strip, ga) No synopsis available.

(U.S.A.Comics #2, text story, ga) The Whizzer accepted an invitation from Captain Terror to visit his home, where he met a number of other heroes of the time. They agreed to meet semi-regularly and swap information.

(U.S.A. Comics #4, 6, 8-12, 14-17, Amazing Comics #1, Complete Comics #2, Kid Comics #7, 10) No synopses available.

(Marvel Premiere #29, Invaders I #6, Marvel Premiere #30) After the Invaders were captured and brainwashed by the Red Skull, the only member to have escaped this fate, Bucky, makes an impassioned plea on the radio for other heroes to come together and help free them. The Whizzer, who had just saved a train by removing a bomb planted on a bridge, was arguing with fellow hero Miss America (who had captured the Nazis who had planted it), when both heard the appeal. They rushed to the radio station, where they met several other heroes, and agreed to form the Liberty Legion. After some unrewarding initial skirmishes, the Liberty Legion managed to free their fellow heroes from Nazi domination. Afterwards, the team decided to stay together to protect the home front, leaving the Invaders more free to take the fight overseas to the enemy.

(Invaders #35-37) When the Invaders returned to American shores, they teamed up with the Liberty Legion to battle the Iron Cross.

(Invaders #38-41) The Invaders invited the Whizzer and Miss America to join their team, replacing Union Jack and Spitfire who had remained in the U.K. Soon after the team fought the Super-Axis.

(Marvel Two-in-One #20, MTIO Annual #1) Working again with the Liberty Legion, the Whizzer encountered the Thing, a hero from the future who had travelled back in time. They fought the combined might of Master Man, Sky Shark and U-Man, all of whom where working for Brain Drain, a Nazi genius.

(Invaders II #1-4) Alongside the Invaders again, the Whizzer fought the Battle-Axis, American superheroes who had switched to the Nazi cause.

(Marvel Universe #1-3) As the war neared its end, the Whizzer and his fellow Invaders battled the forces of a new threat, Hydra, being created by former Nazi Baron Strucker.

(Thor Corps #2, Fantastic Four I #405) No synopses available.

(All Winners-Comics #2-5, 7-11, 13-18, 20, ga) No synopses available.

(What If? I #4) After the end of the war, the Invaders agreed to stay together at the request of the President, but changed their name to the All-Winners Squad.

(All-Winners Comics #19, ga) The All-Winners Squad defeated Isbisa, possibly the first nuclear terrorist.

(What If? I #4) The Whizzer was present when the android Adam II attempted to assassinate a young and up-coming politician, a fight in which one Captain America lost his life (the Spirit of '76), and another took up the mantle (the Patriot).

(All-Winners Comics #21, ga) The All-Winners Squad battled the Future Man and Madame Death.

(She-Hulk II #22) The All-Winners Squad encountered the She-Hulk, a heroine who had travelled back in time, while trying to recover a stolen nuclear weapon.

(bts) The All-Winners Squad disbanded in 1949. Shortly after the Whizzer and Miss America married.

(Citizen V and the V-Battalion #1, bts) Several superhumans active during the war decided to create a secret organisation, the V-Battalion, to stop any such atrocity against humanity ever happening again. The Whizzer and Miss America were two of the founders, joining the ruling body known as the Penance Council.

(Citizen V and the V-Battalion #2, fb) The Whizzer attended the funeral of Union Jack (Brian Falsworth), who had died in a car crash.

(Citizen V and the V-Battalion #2, fb) The Whizzer was present with other heroes who came across a number of Skrull skeletons, revealing for the first time an alien race of shapeshifters who had designs on the Earth.

(Giant-Sized Avengers #1, fb) In 1960 the Whizzer and Miss America were guarding a secret nuclear facility when their old enemy Isbisa sabotaged it (though the pair didn't learn at that time that he was responsible), causing a meltdown. Since Miss America was pregnant at the time, the child she was carrying was affected. He was born a mutant, uncontrollably generating lethal radiation. With no other choice, the couple gave their child to the government to be raised in isolation.

(Avengers I #185, 185, fb) Miss America soon became pregnant again. The couple were travelling in Europe at this time, and with Madeline close to term, they sought aid from Herbert Wyndham (a.k.a. the High Evolutionary), a geneticist who lived atop Wundagore Mountain in Transia. The child was apparently still born, and Miss America died giving birth. Seeking to lessen his loss, the mid-wife, Bova, tried to present two other (recently-born, abandoned) infants to him as his own children, but grief-stricken, the Whizzer raced away, and spent the subsequent years in an amnesiac stupor.

(Avengers I #151, 153, Annual 6, #154, Super-Villain Team-Up#9, Av #155,156, 160, 164, 165, 172,173, 185, 186) Reading about Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, two mutant members of the Avengers, the Whizzer became convinced they were his children (he was right that they were the ones Bova had shown him, but didn't know his own child had died). He contacted them, and tried to make up for the lost years. Though they eventually found out the truth, that he was not their father, they had grown fond enough of him to spare him this revelation.

(Vision and Scarlet Witch I #1, 2) The Whizzer asked Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to help him gain custody of his first child, now named Nuklo. Unfortunately Isbisa chose this time to return, targeting them all in a bid for revenge. The Whizzer died fighting him.

Comments: Thanks to Jess Nevins for allowing me to use information from his excellent Golden Age Heroes Directory and his Guide to Golden Age Marvel Characters. Thanks also to Richard Boucher & Darrin Wiltshire @ PR-Publications for permission to use information from their equally brilliant collection of Golden Age Sites, PR Publications. Their knowledge of Golden Age characters far outstrips my own.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

• The Whizzer of the Squadron Supreme.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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