Whizzer (Robert Frank)
Encyclopedia
The Whizzer is a fictional character
, a superhero
in comic book
s published by Marvel Comics
. He first appeared during the 1930s-1940s period that fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
.
in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941), published by Timely Comics
. The character was created by penciller
Al Avison
and an unnamed writer. One source credits Stan Lee
as that writer, but there are no other sources to support the credit. Timely published solo adventures of the Whizzer throughout the first half of the 1940s, then, in 1946, made the character part of the superhero team the All-Winners Squad
in the final two issues of All Winners Comics
. These were the character's last appearances during the 1940s.
Writer Roy Thomas
reintroduced the Golden Age Whizzer in Giant-Size Avengers #1 (Aug. 1974). Two years later, in The Avengers Annual #6 (Nov. 1976), writer Gerry Conway
reinterpreted the character's origin and history so that the "transfusion of mongoose blood" was not the source of the power, but the factor that "triggered a latent mutant ability". Thomas, in the World War II
flashback
series The Invaders
#5-6 (March-May 1976), expanded on the character's wartime career as a sometime-member of the retroactively created superhero team the Invaders. Thomas later additionally made the Whizzer a full-time member of the home-front heroes the Liberty Legion
, in Marvel Premiere
#29-30 (April-June 1976). Neither team had existed in Timely Comics.
. The origin of the Golden Age
character begins while Robert Frank is on a trip to Africa
with his father, Dr. Emil Frank, where Robert is bitten by a cobra
. Dr. Frank saves Robert by a transfusion of mongoose
blood, and soon discovers that he has developed super-speed. Frank then decides to fight crime and eventually accepts the offer of Invaders member Bucky
, who forms the superhero team the Liberty Legion
to rescue the other Invaders, who have been brainwashed by the villain the Red Skull
. When the Liberty Legion and Invaders eventually disband after World War II, the Whizzer joins the newly-formed All-Winners Squad
. The Whizzer afterwards spent some years battling alcoholism
and depression
, and was for some time homeless in the Bowery
section of Manhattan
. He also works as a nuclear laboratory technician.
In the modern age the Whizzer reappears as an aging hero who had married fellow superhero Miss America
. The Whizzer encounters and briefly serves with the Avengers
who aid him in controlling his son Nuklo
. He is reunited with Nuklo, but suffers a heart attack. At the end of this adventure, the Whizzer erroneously believes himself to be the father of the mutant twins Quicksilver
and the Scarlet Witch
. The Whizzer was later duped by the Living Laser
into battling the Avengers, and suffers a second heart attack. He then battled the Atlanteans
and Namor alongside the Avengers. After a humbling defeat at the hands of the supervillain Count Nefaria
the Whizzer retires. He later returns to fight a final battle against an old war-time foe called Isbisa
. The Whizzer dies after suffering a fatal heart attack while fighting Isbisa, but his sacrifice enables his son Nuklo to be cured of his excessive radiation level and begin a normal life. The Whizzer died believing Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were his children.
A clone of the Whizzer appears many years later, where he has no lines and is killed quickly (like all the other clones) by the title character Deadpool who mocks him as "a legend to make mercs laugh at night".
The Whizzer has learned a unique, self-taught fighting style that exploits the ability to move at superhuman speeds.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
in comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. He first appeared during the 1930s-1940s period that fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
.
Publication history
The first Whizzer (Robert Frank) debutedFirst appearance
In comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first occurrence to feature a fictional character.-Monetary value of first appearance issues:...
in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941), published by Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
. The character was created by penciller
Penciller
A penciller is an artist who works in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms.The penciller is the first step in rendering the story in visual form and may require several steps of feedback with the writer. These artists are concerned with layout to showcase...
Al Avison
Al Avison
Alfred Avison is an American comic book artist known for his work on the Marvel Comics characters Captain America and the Whizzer during the 1930-1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of comic books....
and an unnamed writer. One source credits Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
as that writer, but there are no other sources to support the credit. Timely published solo adventures of the Whizzer throughout the first half of the 1940s, then, in 1946, made the character part of the superhero team the All-Winners Squad
All-Winners Squad
The All-Winners Squad is a fictional superhero team in the Marvel Comics universe. The company's first such team, it first appeared in All Winners Comics #19 , published by Marvel predecessor Timely Comics during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books.While the comic-book...
in the final two issues of All Winners Comics
All Winners Comics
All Winners Comics was the name of two American comic book series of the 1940s, both published by Marvel Comics' predecessor, Timely Comics, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. A superhero anthology comic in both cases, they variously featured such star...
. These were the character's last appearances during the 1940s.
Writer Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
reintroduced the Golden Age Whizzer in Giant-Size Avengers #1 (Aug. 1974). Two years later, in The Avengers Annual #6 (Nov. 1976), writer Gerry Conway
Gerry Conway
Gerard F. "Gerry" Conway is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics vigilante The Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man...
reinterpreted the character's origin and history so that the "transfusion of mongoose blood" was not the source of the power, but the factor that "triggered a latent mutant ability". Thomas, in the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
series The Invaders
Invaders (comics)
The Invaders is the name of two fictional superhero teams in the . The original team was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema in The Avengers #71 . A present-day incarnation was introduced by writer Chuck Austen and artist Scott Kolins in The Avengers vol...
#5-6 (March-May 1976), expanded on the character's wartime career as a sometime-member of the retroactively created superhero team the Invaders. Thomas later additionally made the Whizzer a full-time member of the home-front heroes the Liberty Legion
Liberty Legion
The Liberty Legion is a fictional superhero team in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was first created in 1976 and set during World War II...
, in Marvel Premiere
Marvel Premiere
Marvel Premiere is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It ran for 61 issues from April 1972 to August 1981....
#29-30 (April-June 1976). Neither team had existed in Timely Comics.
Fictional character biography
Robert L. Frank was born in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. The origin of the Golden Age
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
character begins while Robert Frank is on a trip to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
with his father, Dr. Emil Frank, where Robert is bitten by a cobra
Cobra
Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
. Dr. Frank saves Robert by a transfusion of mongoose
Mongoose
Mongoose are a family of 33 living species of small carnivorans from southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. Four additional species from Madagascar in the subfamily Galidiinae, which were previously classified in this family, are also referred to as "mongooses" or "mongoose-like"...
blood, and soon discovers that he has developed super-speed. Frank then decides to fight crime and eventually accepts the offer of Invaders member Bucky
Bucky
Bucky is the name of several fictional characters, masked superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. The original, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby as a sidekick character in Captain America Comics #1 , published by Marvel's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics...
, who forms the superhero team the Liberty Legion
Liberty Legion
The Liberty Legion is a fictional superhero team in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was first created in 1976 and set during World War II...
to rescue the other Invaders, who have been brainwashed by the villain the Red Skull
Red Skull
The Red Skull is a name shared by several fictional characters, all supervillains from the Marvel Comics universe. All incarnations of the character are enemies of Captain America, other superheroes, and the United States in general....
. When the Liberty Legion and Invaders eventually disband after World War II, the Whizzer joins the newly-formed All-Winners Squad
All-Winners Squad
The All-Winners Squad is a fictional superhero team in the Marvel Comics universe. The company's first such team, it first appeared in All Winners Comics #19 , published by Marvel predecessor Timely Comics during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books.While the comic-book...
. The Whizzer afterwards spent some years battling alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, and was for some time homeless in the Bowery
Bowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
section of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. He also works as a nuclear laboratory technician.
In the modern age the Whizzer reappears as an aging hero who had married fellow superhero Miss America
Miss America (Marvel Comics)
Miss America is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #49 Miss America (Madeline Joyce Frank) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in Marvel Mystery...
. The Whizzer encounters and briefly serves with the Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
who aid him in controlling his son Nuklo
Nuklo
Nuklo is a fictional character, mutant in the Marvel Comics Universe.-Publication history:Nuklo first appeared in Giant-Size Avengers #1 , and was created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Dan Adkins....
. He is reunited with Nuklo, but suffers a heart attack. At the end of this adventure, the Whizzer erroneously believes himself to be the father of the mutant twins Quicksilver
Quicksilver (comics)
Quicksilver is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in X-Men #4 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby...
and the Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch
The Scarlet Witch is a fictional comic book character that appears in books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in X-Men #4 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby...
. The Whizzer was later duped by the Living Laser
Living Laser
The Living Laser is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Avengers #34 and was created by Stan Lee, Artie Simek and Don Heck.-Publication history:...
into battling the Avengers, and suffers a second heart attack. He then battled the Atlanteans
Homo mermanus
Homo mermanus is a fictional race of gilled aquatic humanoids that has appeared in numerous comic book series published by Marvel Comics. This race is best known as the people who live in the Atlantis of Marvel's shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe...
and Namor alongside the Avengers. After a humbling defeat at the hands of the supervillain Count Nefaria
Count Nefaria
Count Nefaria is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Avengers #13 and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.- Fictional character biography :...
the Whizzer retires. He later returns to fight a final battle against an old war-time foe called Isbisa
Isbisa
Isbisa is a fictional supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in All Winners Comics vol. 1, #19 , published by Marvel predecessor Timely Comics during the 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books...
. The Whizzer dies after suffering a fatal heart attack while fighting Isbisa, but his sacrifice enables his son Nuklo to be cured of his excessive radiation level and begin a normal life. The Whizzer died believing Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were his children.
A clone of the Whizzer appears many years later, where he has no lines and is killed quickly (like all the other clones) by the title character Deadpool who mocks him as "a legend to make mercs laugh at night".
Powers and abilities
Due to a mutagenic reaction to the injection of mongoose blood, Robert Frank has the ability to move at superhuman speed and has superhuman reflexes. He can create cyclones by running in circles, and can run up walls and across water. In his prime, he could attain speeds faster than he could in middle age, running at approximately 100 mph.The Whizzer has learned a unique, self-taught fighting style that exploits the ability to move at superhuman speeds.
Marvel Zombies
- In Marvel Zombies 3 the zombified Whizzer appears alongside Speed Demon and Quicksilver chasing down Machine Man, before being killed after diving under Ghost Rider's bike.
Television
- An elderly, long-retired Robert Frank, the Whizzer, was featured in an episode of Spider-Man: The Animated SeriesSpider-Man (1994 TV series)Spider-Man, also known as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, is an American animated series starring the Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man. The show ran on Fox Kids from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998. The producer/story editor was John Semper, Jr. and production company was Marvel Films...
voiced by Walker EdmistonWalker Edmiston-Career:Walker Edmiston was an American character actor and voice-over artist who was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Edmiston appeared on various television programs in character roles during the 1950s – 1970s, such as Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Knots Landing, and The Dukes of Hazzard, all...
. In this version, the Whizzer's powers are the result of an attempt at recreating the process that empowered Captain America. However, special rings are needed to activate them. After Captain America "sacrificed" himself to stop the Red Skull from activating his doomsday device, he and the other heroes took the keys and retired. Years later, he was shown tutoring a kid on how to draw the heroes of this time until RhinoRhino (comics)The Rhino is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr., the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #41 The Rhino (Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich) is a fictional character that appears in comic...
comes and forces the key out of his possession. He joined up with the other heroes to fight both KingpinKingpin (comics)The Kingpin is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . Kingpin is one of the most feared and powerful crime lords in the Marvel Universe. The character is a major adversary of Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man...
and Red Skull's forces.