Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human cyborg (see comments)
Occupation: Mercenary
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Mr. Kline/Assassin (employer); Demetrius (partner); Lucie
Enemies: Ben Crandal, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Marianne Rodgers
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Fingers (as called by Iron Man)
Base of Operations: Washington, DC, USA
First Appearance: Iron Man I#41 (September, 1971)
Powers/Abilities: Having a pair of four-fingered (including opposable thumbs) sharp metal claws in place of flesh hands, the Slasher could rend solid steel. He could also fire lasers from his eyes and the palms of his claws (see comments).
Slasher was proficient at maintaining and operating a sonic beam transmitter "bomb," which emitted inaudible vibrations capable of causing buildings to collapse.
Height: 6' (by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(Iron Man I#41 (fb) - BTS) - The past of the
Slasher is largely unrevealed, but presumably he was empowered by Mr.
Kline to be one of his agents (see comments).
Slasher was partnered with the psychic Demetrius, whom he dominated and mocked -- because of Demetrius' (seemingly) limited mental powers, Slasher regarded him to only be his assistant rather than his partner (at that point, Demetrius only seemed to have prophetic visions and the ability to levitate himself).
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) - Mr. Kline sent the Slasher and Demetrius to a Washington, DC airport near the Capitol Building, where they were to destroy the airport's terminal building (also constructed by Ben Crandal). Slasher used his laser beams to make some last-minute adjustment welds to the circuits of a sonic "bomb," then activated the device -- its inaudible vibrations would make it appear as if a structural fault was responsible for the building's destruction. The terminal building began to collapse, however the damage was incomplete, and 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, where Tony Stark was testifying at the time -- as the roof of the structure began to cave in, Stark put on his armor, and as Iron Man, he flew off to smash the sonic "bomb," then turned his attention to battling the two villains.
Iron Man succeeded in resisting the Slasher's energy blasts, and knocked him to the ground with a single punch. However, Demetrius then accessed his full power and seemingly became a giant, and he began to easily batter Iron Man. As Demetrius and the Slasher prepared to execute Iron Man, Tony Stark's psychic girlfriend Marianne Rodgers rushed to the scene -- her own raw, undisciplined mental powers interfered with those of Demetrius, causing his powers to vanish. Iron Man once again easily stopped the Slasher with a blast of his repulsor ray, while Demetrius collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by Marianne's presence -- both the 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 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 the Slasher.
The Slasher was never depicted without his mask and goggles, so the color of his hair and eyes is uncertain.
With his metallic claws, I would think that Slasher was a human cyborg -- he seemed to be irritated by Demetrius and constantly belittled him with insults, which would seem to indicate a human personality; he only had three fingers and a thumb on each hand, so it doesn't seem that he was just wearing metal gloves; and possibly his eyes were removed and fitted with laser-emitting replacements...or maybe those goggles he wore were laser projectors...or maybe he really was a robot.
And in Iron Man I#42, Iron Man's thought-balloon confirmed that the Slasher and Demetrius confessed to destroying the relative products of Stark and Crandal.
Slasher and Demetrius would seem to be another of
Marvel's classic odd pairings of mismatched villains (e.g. Mentallo
& the Fixer, Mr.
Hyde & the Cobra,
etc.)
--Ron Fredricks
New and additional images plus a sub-profile by Ron Fredricks.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
This Slasher has no known connections to:
Lucie has no known connection to:
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Lucie (last name unrevealed) acted as the driver for Slasher and Demetrius, and she transported them to their missions of destruction in a purple Volkswagen van; she displayed no additional abilities. (Comment: Lucie only appeared in one panel -- judging by the blank expression on her face, she may just have been one of Mr. Kline's robot agents.) --Iron Man I#41 |
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images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#41, p1, pan1 (main image - Slasher, setting up sonic beam transmitter "bomb")
Iron Man I#41, p9, pan4 (headshot - Slasher)
Iron Man I#41, p5, pan1 (headshot - Slasher, firing beams from his eyes)
Iron Man I#41, p4, pan6 (Slasher, emitting beams from his claws; Demetrius [background])
Iron Man I#41, p15, pan4 (Slasher firing beams at Iron Man)
Iron Man I#41, p8, pan4 (Lucie's van; Slasher, Demetrius [background])
Iron Man I#41, p9, pan1 (Lucie driving; Slasher, Demetrius [background])
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) [mentioned only]
First posted: 09/??/2001
Last updated: 08/29/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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