THE INVINCIBLE MAN

Real Name: K'lrt (first), Reed Richards (second), Victor von Doom (third)

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial/human

Occupation: Mysterious opponent

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: (first) Skrulls; (second) Cynthian Associates, Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Gert Hauptmann; (third) Margaret McArthur

Enemies: (all) Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Woman/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Thing/Ben Grimm); (third) Doctor Doom (allegedly), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne)

Known Relatives: see Super-Skrull, Mr. Fantastic, and Dr. Doom; as the first Invincible Man, the Super-Skrull masqueraded as father to the Invisible Girl and Human Torch, and the McArthur/Doom Invincible Man claimed to have a wife named Anya and daughter named Maria, but this was only a ruse.

Aliases: (first) Dr. Franklin Storm

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#32 (November, 1964)

Powers/Abilities: The original Invincible Man had all the powers of the Fantastic Four -- he could fly, generate flames, turn himself invisible, generate a force field, and possessed superhuman strength (class 5) (he could also stretch his body, but did not employ this power).

The second Invincible Man could fly and generate energy blasts from his eyes. He was also equipped with technology used by the Psycho-Man, allowing him to control the emotions of fear, doubt, and hate.

The third Invincible Man could fire energy blasts from his costume and generate a force field.

Height: see Super-Skrull, Mr. Fantastic, and Norman McArthur
Weight: see Super-Skrull, Mr. Fantastic, and Norman McArthur
Eyes: see Super-Skrull, Mr. Fantastic, and Norman McArthur
Hair: see Super-Skrull, Mr. Fantastic, and Norman McArthur

 

History:
(Fantastic Four I#32) - As part of their latest scheme to destroy the Fantastic Four, the Skrull Empire dispatched the Super-Skrull to impersonate the incarcerated Dr. Franklin Storm, father of the Human Torch and Invisible Girl. As Storm, the Super-Skrull claimed to have used a laboratory in the prison to make himself superhumanly powerful, and he broke out of prison. Adopting the guise of the Invincible Man, he challenged the Fantastic Four in the streets of New York. The Fantastic Four found battling him difficult, truly believing him to be Dr. Storm, and the Invisible Girl purposefully held her teammates back from harming him.

   Fortunately, Mr. Fantastic had guessed the Invincible Man's true identity, and contacted the Skrull Empire himself. When they confronted the Invincible Man at the World's Fair, he revealed to the Super-Skrull that he had guessed his identity, and the Super-Skrull was forced to return the real Dr. Storm to them. However, Dr. Storm had a bomb planted on his chest, and to save the Fantastic Four, he took the blast himself and died.

(Fantastic Four I#196) - After placing Mr. Fantastic in a hypnotic trance, Dr. Doom dressed him in the costume of the Invincible Man and used him to entrap his teammates by using the equipment of the Psycho-Man to cause them to doubt themselves and hallucinate. By appearing to the Thing as Alicia Masters, and to the Human Torch and Invisible Girl as Dr. Franklin Storm, the Invincible Man was able to toy with their emotions, and easily overpowered them, then turned them over to Dr. Doom, who removed Mr. Fantastic from his hypnotic trance. The four heroes were subsequently able to escape Doom's clutches.

(Fantastic Four I#287 (fb)) - With his mind transferred into the body of Norman McArthur, Dr. Doom designed a replica of the Invincible Man costume and set off to entrap the Fantastic Four.

(Fantastic Four I#287) - As the Invincible Man, Doom attacked the Latverian Embassy in New York, drawing the attention of the Invisible Woman, She-Hulk, and Wasp. He claimed that Doom had attempted to steal the secrets behind his invincible war-suit, and that his wife and daughter were being held hostage by Doom within the Embassy. The three heroines believed him and stormed the Embassy, only to find one of Dr. Doom's robot replicas inside. After the Invisible Woman destroyed it, she was blasted from behind by the Invincible Man, who used his familiarity from past encounters against her, confusing her. At that moment, Norman McArthur's wife Margaret struck the Invisible Woman from behind with a vase, believing that she was helping her husband. Doom then revealed his true identity to Margaret, and took the unconscious Invisible Woman captive.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Following Fantastic Four I#287, Doom took the rest of the Fantastic Four captive, and embarked upon a plot to force the Beyonder to restore his original body to him, which the Beyonder ultimately granted in order to preserve the timeline. Norman McArthur was thus freed from Doom's control, and the Fantastic Four escaped his clutches.

The identity of the Invincible Man has, in each case, been donned by a pre-existing character. Perhaps someday a new character can take up the suit full-time?

It's probably worth noting that the Dark Raider basically wears the Invincible Man's costume.
--Andrew Sorohan

New main image by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Invincible Man should not be confused with:


images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#287, p6 pan2 (third Invincible Man [Dr. Doom's mind inhabiting Norman McArthur's body]; Invisible Woman, She-Hulk (background))


Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#32 (November, 1964) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Chic Stone (inks) Stan Goldberg (colors), Sam Rosen (letters)
Fantastic Four I#196 (July, 1978) - Marv Wolfman (writer/editor), Keith Pollard (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks)
Fantastic Four I#287 (February, 1986) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)


First posted: 10/27/2003
Last updated: 09/15/2023

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