CRAWLING UNKNOWN

Real Name: Morton Clegstead

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: United States Senator (see comments)

Group Membership: Project Greenskin

Affiliations: Senator Andrew Hawk, Dr. Alvin Lathrop, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross

Enemies: Hulk (Bruce Banner), Senator Roger Dutton

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Thing that Lives, Thing that Crawls (names used by the Hulk; see comments)

Base of Operations: Mobile in Washington, D.C., USA

First Appearance: (Clegstead) Incredible Hulk II#150 (April, 1972);
    (Crawling Unknown) Incredible Hulk II#151 (May, 1972)

Powers/Abilities: Originally a normal human with no paranormal abilities, Clegstead was a distinguished U.S. Senator with twenty years of experience, and he wielded a great amount of political clout.

Clegstead had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and after being injected with a sample of the Hulk's blood, he immediately felt stronger, but continued to mutate uncontrollably.

Following his mutation into the "Crawling Unknown" (see comments), he became a mindless and amorphous mass of cancer cells, and could not be harmed by conventional attack. The mutated mass moved via pseudopodia, or false limbs, that it formed to pull itself along. It could also form pseudopodia to grasp other objects or beings, and even the Hulk could not escape its grip. It secreted a corrosive liquid, which enabled it to dissolve and then absorb and digest any form of organic matter with which it came into contact. It could rapidly grow in size and power by consuming large amounts of animal tissue.

Height: Unrevealed ([human form] 5'9" ; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed ([human form] 160 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Blue-
Hair: Black

History:
(Incredible Hulk II#150 (fb) - BTS) - Morton Clegstead had a long history as a U.S. Senator for one of the American states (see comments); he had spent twenty years in Congress, fighting and maneuvering to attain great political power.

(Incredible Hulk II#238 (fb) - BTS) - Clegstead was the mentor of the younger Senator Andrew Hawk.

(Incredible Hulk II#238 (fb) - BTS) - Clegstead was responsible for the initial construction of Project Greenskin/Hulkbuster Base (see comments).

(Incredible Hulk II#151 (fb) - BTS) - After learning that he had terminal cancer, Clegstead came into contact with Dr. Alvin Lathrop -- Lathrop theorized the radioactivity within the blood of the Hulk would act as a superior form of radiation treatment and destroy the malignant cells within Clegstead's body. Desperate to find a cure for his ailment, Clegstead had Lathrop set up a laboratory in his basement, but Lathrop still needed a sample of the Hulk's blood; seeing no other options, Clegstead had Lathrop planted among the scientists working at Project Greenskin during the Hulk's brief imprisonment there. Lathrop subsequently obtained a sizeable blood sample from the jade giant.

(Incredible Hulk II#150) - In the halls of Congress, Clegstead acted as a strong proponent for Project Greenskin, drumming up anti-Hulk hysteria just to get support; he argued against other Congressmen, such as Roger Dutton, who felt the money could be better spent on other problems such as housing, poverty, and cleansing the environment.

(Incredible Hulk II#151) - Following the testimony of General Ross at a Congressional hearing, Clegstead succeeded in having the Base reinstated. Afterward, Clegstead congratulated Ross, but Ross couldn't help but wonder what Clegstead's true motives were.

   Riding in his chauffeur-driven limousine, Clegstead went from the Capitol building to his nearby home; but he became increasingly ill from his disease, and as he walked to his house, he felt agonizing pain. When he entered his house, he collapsed to the floor, and Lathrop gave him a sedative, then took Clegstead downstairs to the lab. Although the doctor pleaded with Clegstead to first let him test the blood on animals, the senator insisted that Lathrop inject him with the Hulk's gamma-irradiated blood. Clegstead instantly felt a tingling sensation after the injection, and was certain that the cure was working.

   Shortly afterward, as a fierce thunderstorm began outside, television news reported that the Hulk was sighted in the area (coincidentally, Bruce Banner had come to George Washington University, seeking Dr. Henry Pym, who was appearing there); Clegstead wanted to go to the scene, because he felt that the TV exposure would put him ahead of his critics like Dutton, and maybe even lead to greater political power for himself.

   Although Lathrop wanted to run tests to make certain the malignant cancer cells were being destroyed, Clegstead claimed he never felt stronger, and wanted to capitalize on his new lease on life. But as they went out in the rainy night, Clegstead and Lathrop found Senator Dutton skulking outside -- Dutton demanded to know why a Project Greenskin scientist (Lathrop) was reporting to Clegstead; but the irritated Clegstead swatted Dutton away -- although he only meant to brush Dutton aside, Clegstead's blow struck with such force that Dutton was knocked to the ground, and Clegstead almost had an urge to continue the attack. As Clegstead climbed into the awaiting limo and shut the door, Dutton saw the first sign of Clegstead's horrific mutation during a flash of lightning -- Clegstead's right hand had taken on a mottled green appearance.

   Just as the limousine began to pull away, Lathrop jumped in next to Clegstead and warned him that the radioactivity from the Hulk's blood was mutating his cancer cells, causing them to grow and feed on his normal tissue, and they would eventually consume Clegstead himself. But moments later, Clegstead's body lost its shape, dissolving into an amorphous mass of living cancer cells. Lathrop and the chauffeur were the first to fall, consumed by the creature's voracious appetite; the limo crashed into the middle of a busy city block where the Hulk was sighted. The mass of carcinogenic tissue that had been Morton Clegstead spilled forth from the wreckage and hungrily sought out more life to sustain it, growing larger with each living organism it consumed. The Hulk proved unable to harm the formless creature, whose corrosive touch threatened to consume even him.

   Earlier during his rampage, the Hulk had overturned a refrigerator truck hauling frozen beef carcasses, and the amorphous mass began consuming them, growing to mountainous proportions; then it turned its attention back to the Hulk, as though somewhere within it, some sentient spark burned with the memory that the Hulk's blood had made it what it was.

   In desperation, the Hulk finally used a metal flagpole in an attempt to skewer the heart of the creature. Although it had no heart, the flagpole acted as a lightning rod, drawing a powerful lightning bolt from the heavens and into the amorphous mass. The creature was destroyed by the massive shock, leaving only a black smear on the ground, which was washed into the drainage ditch.

Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin, Herb Trimpe, and John Severin.

The Crawling Unknown is among the Gamma Mutates in World War Hulk: The Gamma Files, and Lathrop received the first name Alvin there.

Other than on this issue's cover [see main image], the mutated Clegstead was never actually identified as "The Crawling Unknown" in the story itself; the closest thing to it was in the narrative captions of this story-panel.

It was never mentioned for which one of the fifty U.S. states Clegstead served as a senator, but since he had so much interest in Project Greenskin/Hulkbuster Base, which was located in New Mexico, my guess is that he served as the senator for New Mexico.

Maybe writer Archie Goodwin saw "The Blob" on a weekend "Creature Features" movie, and he was inspired to do this story.
--Ron Fredricks

Profile by Snood. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Crawling Unknown (Morton Cleagstead) should not be confused with:

Senator Roger Dutton has no known connection to:

Dr. Alvin Lathrop has no known connection to:

Senator Roger Dutton

A political opponent of Senator Morton Clegstead, Dutton was a first-term representative for an unspecified American state.

He opposed Clegstead's support of Project Greenskin/Hulkbuster Base, and believed the millions of dollars spent on it could have been better used in solving the country's other problems; but after a Congressional vote, it was decided to continue the Base's funding.

Later that night, Dutton went to Clegstead's house to learn why he was so supportive of Hulkbuster Base, but the irritated Clegstead swatted him aside with great strength; Dutton was shocked when he saw the flesh on Clegstead's hand was mutating and had taken on a mottled green appearance -- Dutton was unaware that Clegstead had terminal cancer, and that he had been injected with some of the Hulk's irradiated blood by Dr. Alvin Lathrop, in the hopes that it would cure his disease. Clegstead continued to mutate into a giant amorphous mass of cancer cells, but was eventually destroyed by the Hulk.

Later, Dutton found Dr. Lathrop's notebooks which pointed the way toward responsible medical breakthroughs, and he changed his opinion about Hulkbuster Base -- he believed that if medical science could cure Bruce Banner of being the Hulk, others could be helped as well.

--Incredible Hulk II#150, 151

Dr. Alvin Lathrop

A medical doctor, he theorized that the radioactivity within the blood of the Hulk would act as a superior form of radiation treatment and destroy malignant cancer cells -- he believed this discovery would bring him fame that would rival that of Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk.

When Senator Morton Clegstead was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he had Lathrop set up a lab in his basement. Clegstead then planted Lathrop at Project Greenskin/Hulkbuster Base, where the Hulk was briefly imprisoned, so Lathrop could obtain a sizeable sample of the Hulk's gamma-irradiated blood.

Lathrop eventually injected some of the Hulk's blood into Clegstead's arm, and the senator immediately felt better; but the irradiated blood instead caused his cancer cells to grow and mutate, until Clegstead became an amorphous mass of cancer cells that consumed all it came into contact with, including Lathrop.

--Incredible Hulk II#151 (#150 - BTS, #151

images: (without ads)
Incredible Hulk II#151, cover (main image - mutated Clegstead vs Hulk)
Incredible Hulk II#150, p7, pan6 (headshot - Senator Morton Clegstead)
Incredible Hulk II#151, p18, pan1 (mutated Clegstead consumes frozen beef carcasses; Hulk [background])
Incredible Hulk II#151, p20, pan3 (lightning bolt strikes flagpole, incinerates mutated Clegstead)
Incredible Hulk II#151, p15, pan6 (mutated Clegstead crawls out of limousine wreckage)
Incredible Hulk II#150, p8, pan3 (Senator Roger Dutton)
Incredible Hulk II#151, p5, pan1 (Senator Roger Dutton)
Incredible Hulk II#151, p6, pan5 (Dr. Alvin Lathrop)
Incredible Hulk II#151, p6, pan6 (Lathrop gives sedative to Clegstead)
Incredible Hulk II#151, p7, pan4 (Lathrop injects syringe of Hulk's blood into Clegstead's arm)

Appearances:
Incredible Hulk II#150-151 (April-May, 1972) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), John Severin (inks), Artie Simek (letters), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 09/03/2001
Last updated: 06/18/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters