DEMETRIUS
Real Name: Unrevealed (see comments)
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Mercenary
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Mr. Kline/Assassin (employer); Slasher (partner), Lucie (driver)
Enemies: Ben Crandal, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Marianne Rodgers
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Brain Boy (as called by Iron Man); Demitrius (see comments)
Base of Operations: Washington, DC, USA
First Appearance: Iron Man I#41 (September, 1971)
Powers/Abilities: Demetrius possessed various psychic abilities, including the power to levitate himself, and limited abilities of precognition -- because of his prophetic visions, Demetrius tended to have a sense of pessimistic foreboding.
In addition, he possessed the power to cast convincing illusions -- specifically, he made it appear as if he had grown to 15 feet tall, with two prehensile pincers coming from his forehead that could exert enough pressure to possibly even crush Iron Man's armor. He had to be able to concentrate in order to maintain his illusions. He also seemed to be able to project powerful energy bursts from his hands (possibly another illusion).
However, his powers were disrupted by the presence of psychic Marianne Rodgers, whom he claimed to have had a more powerful mind than his own -- when she got near, Demetrius' powers were neutralized, and he seemed to suffer from a nervous breakdown.
Height: 6' (by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed, no visible pupils
Hair: Black
History:
(Iron Man I#41 (fb) - BTS) - The past of
Demetrius is unrevealed, but he was possibly empowered by Mr. Kline. He
was partnered with the Slasher -- as the dominant member of the duo,
Slasher considered Demetrius to only be his lowly assistant because of Demetrius' (seemingly) limited
powers (at that point, Demetrius only seemed to have prophetic visions and the ability to
levitate himself, until such time that
his full power was revealed).
Slasher and Demetrius had sabotaged Tony Stark's K-X59 Mark II Missile Destruct System; they also destroyed the new Federal Securities Complex, which was built by United Skyrise, Inc., a construction firm owned by Ben Crandal, a friend of Stark's (see comments). As a result of the destruction, both Stark and Crandal were summoned to Washington, DC to testify before a Senate sub-committee, where they were accused of using shoddy design, materials, and production methods (see comments).
(Iron Man I#41) - Demetrius and Slasher were near the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, where they were preparing a sonic beam transmitter "bomb" to destroy a nearby airport's terminal building (also constructed by Ben Crandal). When Demetrius saw a jet plane passing overhead and coming in for a landing, he warned Slasher that he sensed someone aboard the jet who was a threat to their mission -- that "someone" would turn out to be Tony Stark.
After making a few last-minute adjustments to the "bomb," Slasher activated the device -- its inaudible vibrations would make it appear as if a structural fault was responsible for the terminal building's destruction; but as the building began to collapse, the damage was incomplete, for Iron Man appeared in time to evacuate the structure and prevent the deaths of the people within.
Believing their mission was completed, Slasher and Demetrius walked to their van to have Lucie drive them to their next assignment. They contacted Mr. Kline, who told them that Iron Man had saved the people they were supposed to kill.
Later, the Slasher and Demetrius went to destroy the Capitol Building itself, where Tony Stark was testifying at the time. But Demetrius sensed the presence of another mind as powerful as his own, somewhere near them -- this would turn out to be Marianne Rodgers, Stark's psychic girlfriend.
When the sonic "bomb" was activated, the Capitol began to shake from the vibrations; as the roof began to cave in, Stark put on his armor, and as Iron Man, he flew off to smash the sonic device, then turned his attention to battling the two villains.
Iron Man resisted Slasher's laser attacks and knocked him to the ground with a single punch; but Demetrius accessed his full power and appeared as a giant, with two tentacle-like appendages emerging from his forehead, and began to easily batter Iron Man. However, as Demetrius and the Slasher prepared to execute Iron Man, Marianne Rodgers rushed to the scene -- her own raw, undisciplined mental powers interfered with Demetrius, and he was unable to maintain his inhuman illusion; resuming his normal weak form and crumbling to the ground, Demetrius ranted, "I hear singing--millions of chords, struck and restruck. Too much--can't think...can't see. It's all too much--!" -- both criminals were subsequently taken into custody.
(Iron Man I#42) - After waking from a horrific nightmare (likely induced by Mikas), Tony Stark sat on the patio of his Washington, DC hotel room -- he thought to himself that although the Slasher and Demetrius had been jailed, and the sabotage against Stark Industries had stopped, he couldn't help but wonder if the two were just part of some larger plot...
Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and George Tuska.
It would be revealed that Stark's suspicion was correct -- Mr. Kline sought to prevent a certain future from coming about by discrediting Stark and preventing him from being an industrial leader.
Many of Mr. Kline's agents were robots (including robot duplicates of the Scorpion, Mr. Hyde, and the Night Phantom), but there is neither evidence to support nor deny this as being the case with Demetrius.
In regards to the spelling of his name: It was spelled "Demitrius" about 10 times in the story -- this was likely a misspelling; the standardized spelling--"Demetrius"--was used twice, including his name's last "appearance" in Tony Stark's thought-balloon in Iron Man I#42; also in that issue, Iron Man's thought-balloon confirmed that the Slasher and Demetrius confessed to destroying the relative products of Stark and Crandal.
The name "Demetrius" means "tribute to the goddess Demeter" -- as she was the Olympian goddess of grain and harvest, I fail to see how that relates to this Demetrius' powers...maybe his name really was Demetrius.
Despite his own mental powers, Demetrius considered Marianne Rodgers to be the more powerful mind, although all I remember her ever demonstrating was having precognitive visions.
Demetrius' costume was colored differently on the
cover; in the story, both he and Slasher wore similar suits--GREEN
coveralls adorned with BLACK
polka-dots of various sizes (not exactly a costume that would
inspire fear in others). Maybe Demetrius and Slasher could team up
with the Spot,
and some Reptile-Men,
then they all could crossover to the DC Universe and join with the
Polka-Dot
Man and form the Polka-Dot Platoon.
--Ron
Fredricks
New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Demetrius / Demitrius has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#41, p16, pan2 (main image - Demetrius in giant illusion form; Iron Man [foreground])
Iron Man I#41, p12, pan5 (headshot - Demetrius)
Iron Man I#41, p16, pan3 (giant Demetrius grabs Iron Man with pincers; Slasher [right])
Iron Man I#41, p17, pan4 (giant Demetrius holds Iron Man with pincers; Slasher [left])
Iron Man I#41, cover (Demetrius)
Appearances:
Iron Man I#41 (September, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Artie Simek (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
Iron Man I#42 (October, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Jean Izzo (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
First posted: 09/??/2001
Last updated: 08/29/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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