Dr. KARL STRAGG

Real Name: Dr. Karl Ludwig Stragg

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Scientist (unknown field of expertise)

Affiliations: Formerly Ox (Raymond Bloch)

Enemies: Corrigan, Daredevil, Ox, Peters, Sam

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Ox

Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York City; formerly State Prison

First Appearance: Daredevil I#15 (April, 1966)

Powers/Abilities: As the Ox, Stragg possessed peak human strength, and his machines may even have pushed it greater, into the enhanced human category (he punched through telephone poles and lamp posts). Stragg was also a talented scientist and possessed exceptional intelligence. He possessed (and presumably created) a device able to exchange the minds of two human beings. However, his intellect did begin to fade the longer he was in the form of the Ox.
The Ox form into which Stragg's body later changed possessed increasingly superhuman size and strength, and gave off high levels of radiation.

History:
(Daredevil I#15, 86 (fb) - BTS) - Karl Stragg grew up in a weak and frail form. He was compensated for his physical limitations with an exceptional intellect. He became a skilled scientist, but he murdered his wife and landed in State Prison, where he became the cell-mate (carries a different connotation than it did in the 1960s) with the Ox.

 (Daredevil I#15) - Stragg convinced the Ox to use his strength to gradually weaken the bars of their prison so they could escape. Once out, Stragg proceeded to fulfill his side of the bargain, by increasing the Ox's intelligence. However, the results were quite different than what the Ox had expected, as Stragg increased his intelligence by using his machine to switch their minds. Stragg got the best of both worlds, with his genius in the Ox's exceptionally strong body. The Ox, meanwhile, was left dim and wimpy--and unconscious after Stragg/Ox swatted him aside.
Drunk with his newfound strength, Stragg went on a rampage through the city initially. He soon regained his senses and decided to take some time to flesh out his plans--although he found it difficult to remember what his plans were. His previous actions attracted the attention of Daredevil, but he managed to subdue the masked hero when he was distracted by Karen Page's cry. Stragg then dressed Daredevil in a spare set of "Ox clothes," framing Daredevil as the new Ox, while he took Karen back to his lab. At the lab, the now-puny Ox sought revenge, using a large piece of equiptment on a swivel to smash Stragg/Ox in the back of his head while he escaped and freed Karen. His own intellect continuing to diminish, the Stragg/Ox decided to steal a helicopter to escape the incoming police. Daredevil was released when the cops saw the real Ox out on the street, and he headed up to the heliport. As Stragg fought Daredevil, his mind continued to fade, until he charged Daredevil in a blind rage and fell off the top of the twenty-story skyscraper, to his apparent death.
The original Ox, meanwhile, began to feel as if he were starting to become smarter.

(Daredevil I#86 (fb)) - The Ox, in Stragg's puny form, was sent to prison. He eventually sought to gain an early release by submitting to experiments using an unidentified radioisotope. The experiments, however, gave him a terminal disease, and less than a month to live.

(Daredevil I#86) - Ox/Stragg was released from prison and shortly thereafter found that the radiation had had another effect. He suddenly transformed back into a duplicate of his original form, although with gray skin. The Ox now sought revenge on Nelson and Murdoch, who had gotten him sent him to jail where he had met up with Stragg. The Ox attacked Murdoch, who changed to Daredevil and fought him. However, the now superhumanly powerful Ox knocked Daredevil through a wall and then beat him unconscious.
Daredevil caught up to him later, during a standoff with the cops. Hearing the Ox's labored breathing and heart beat as he hurled a car at the police, Daredevil correctly reasoned that although the Ox was becoming more powerful, his body was unable to handle the greater demands being placed on it. Daredevil taunted the Ox and kept out of his reach, causing the Ox to become angrier and angrier, and bigger and stronger. Suddenly, the Ox regained Stragg's mind, and realized what was happening to him. However, it was too late. He rapidly shrunk back into Stragg's form, and discharged its energy explosively in an alley. Daredevil fled before the explosion, assuming Stragg to have perished.

(Spider-Man#94 (fb) - BTS) - The Kingpin's men found the Ox barely alive in the alley and his doctors nursed Ox back to recovery.

(Spider-Man#94) - The Ox worked as a solo agent of the Kingpin, with no trace of Stragg's mind. He was bigger and stronger than ever.

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee and "Jazzy" John Romita.

Spdm#94 references the Kingpin's men finding the Ox in an alley after DD#86...
Hmmm...
I guess this is how it rolls:

I. Stragg-mutated into giant Ox form and possessing Bloch's mind overloaded. He regained Stragg's midn and form before his energy was discharged explosively in DD#86

II. DD leaves Stragg's body just before it explodes and leaves him for dead. DD#86

III. Stragg's mind fades with the energy explosion, leaving Bloch's mind back in control. Enough energy remains to restore Stragg's body back into Ox form, closer to his original appearance. <theory/patch>

IV. Kingpin's men find the Ox and recover him. Spdm#94

V. Ox comes back bigger and stronger than every before. Spdm#94

Sam sub-profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ox should be distinguished from:

• Ox, Ronald Bloch, his brother, @ Spectacular Spider-Man II#19
• Ox, agent of Chessmaster @ Savage Action#3/2
• Ox, of China Force, @ Alpha Flight I#64
• Oxbow, First Line member @ Marvel: Lost Generation#12

Karl Stragg has no known connection to:

• Joshua Stragg, the Reaver, @ Captain Britain I#1

--Daredevil I#15

Corrigan & Peters

Sam

(Daredevil I#15) - Sam and his partner, guards at the jail, checked in on prisoners Karl Stragg and the Ox (Raymond Bloch).

--Daredevil I#15

images:
Daredevil I#15, p4, pan4 (main)

Appearances:
Daredevil I#15 (April, 1966) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John Romita (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks)
Daredevil I#86 (April, 1972) - Gerry Conway (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Spider-Man#94 (August, 1998) - Howard Mackie (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)

First posted: 11/14/2002
Last updated: 06/08/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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