Enemies: Fantastic Four, Impossible Man, Alicia Masters

Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#23 (February, 1964)

History: (Fantastic Four I#23) - A robot agent of Dr. Doom paid the bail of three criminals and took them to Doom, who recruited them to help him destroy the Fantastic Four. Dr. Doom empowered them with his XZ-12 machine, enhancing their certain physical abilities a dozenfold. The Fantastic Four were quarrelling over leadership at the time, and Doom captured Reed Richards himself after the other three members fell prey to his Terrible Trio. As a way of saying thanks, Doom banished them to another dimension, until he would have further need for them. The Fantastic Four, of course, escaped Doom's death-trap, which involved some crazy "Solar Wave," a natural phenomenon which could transport objects or people into space. Doom attracted the wave with "ionic dust powder" and ...ahh, go read it.

(Strange Tales I#122/1 (fb) - BTS) - After Doom was sent into space by the Solar Wave, he lost his power to keep his henchmen in their dimensional prison, and they were returned to Earth.

(Strange Tales I#122/1) - Rather than hold a grudge, the Terrible Trio decided to prove their worth to Doom by capturing the Fantastic Four the smart way...tackling them one at a time. Harry posed as a writer from "Auto Age" magazine and held Johnny Storm's interest while the other two showed up. Yogi and Bull captured Johnny with an asbestos rope and blanket, and they took him to an asbestos trailer to hold him while they went to capture their next target. Johnny was sharp enough to generate large amounts of smoke, which brought firemen, who freed him. Johnny tracked the Trio down and then took them out. He snagged Dakor's rope with a fireball and used it to wrap him up. He imprisoned Bull in a fiery cage, and then melted the road under Harry when he tried to escape in Johnny's hot rod...and off to the big house they went.

(Strange Tales I#129/1)-The Terrible Trio busted out of the pokey (that's what the Thing said). The Torch went out to look for them, but they waited until he had run out of flame and ambushed him. After some chase, they defeated him, but allowed him to send up a flare to attract the Thing. They knocked out Johnny and left him trapped on a set of train tracks. The Thing arrived, and despite attacks by the Trio (and having to stop a train from running over him and Johnny), he freed the Torch, and clobbered the Trio...and it was back to the pokey for them.

(Marvel Two-In-One#60)-The Trio infiltrated an exhibit of Alicia Masters' statues, posing as chefs. Dakor then used his powers to transfer the life forces of the three of them into three of Alicia's statues: Harry into Dr. Doom, Bull into Blastaar, and himself into Diablo. In their powerful stone forms, they attacked the Thing, who held back, not wanting to destroy Alicia's work. When Alicia realized this, she told Ben that the statues meant nothing to her compared to him. With that, the Thing smashed the Blastaar and Doom statues together, shattering them, and knocking out Bull and Harry from the shock. Dakor/Diablo grabbed Alicia and held her hostage, threatening to kill her. However, the Impossible Man, who had accompanied the Thing to the exhibit, found Dakor's true form, in a trance hidden behind the exhibit. Impy turned into a water ballon and dropped on Dakor's head, shocking him out of his trance, and sending his mind back into his body. Grimm knocked out Dakor with a flick of his finger.

COMMENTS: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee and Jack "King" Kirby.

If the Terrible Trio aren't dead from their handling of asbestos, I'd love to see them come back for one more attempt to take down any of the FF. Who knows what further power Dakor has developed by now -- he's actually blossomed into a reasonably powerful character.

After seeing the love between Ben and Alicia, the Impossible Man used his abilities to create the Impossible Woman to keep him company.

The Terrible Trio has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook.

CLARIFICATIONS: These guys have no known connection to:

• The Terrible Trio of Condor, Diamondhead, and Powerhouse, @ Nova I#6

"Bull"Brogin has no known connection to:

• Bull, a criminal who fought Captain America and later Luke Cage, @ Tales of Suspense I#59
• Bull, an assassin in the Committee of Five, @ Moon Knight I#4
• or any other Bull-somethings

Yogi Dakor has no known connection to:

• Dakor the Magician, a detective magician of the golden age of comics, @ Mystic Comics#1

"Bull" Brogin initially had close to peak human strength, and he received at least enhanced human to Class 5 strength and durability from Doom. Bull's the muscle guy, pure and simple, and never has a whole lot to add in the conversation department. He was always willing to attack his own teammates if he felt they were getting too bossy.
In his first adventure under Doom, Brogin drew the Thing to Yancy Street, where he used Doom's Cosmic Beam Gun to turn him back to Grimm (why doesn't Doom incorporate that gun into his armor?). Grimm was no match for the super-strong Brogin, who captured him and brought him to Doom.
--Fantastic Four I#23 (Fantastic Four I#23, Strange Tales I#122, #129, Marvel Two-in-One#60

Yogi Dakor initially used his training to resist flames and hot coals as part of a circus act, and he became virtually fireproof as a result of Doom's treatment. In each successive adventure, he demonstrated additional abilities, such as levitating a rope to climb, utilizing a flying carpet, and mental transfer of the group's minds into inanimate objects, which allowed them to animate and control them. It's not clear whether his rope and/or carpet have magical properties, or if the power is within Dakor. Dakor's rope was asbestos, and he was also skilled in using it as a lasso. He also had snake-charming abilities, and he used a giant snake (a python, I'd guess) on one occasion. He masterminded the attack on the Thing using Alicia's statues. Yogi is presumably a title and not his first name.
Dakor is presumably of Indian origin, although the specific source of his training and additional abilities is unknown. He further developed his mental powers during a long prison term. In his first adventure under Doom, Dakor posed as the assistant of a wealthy maharajah who wished to give the Human Torch a hot-rod car. Johnny Storm naturally took the bait, and Dakor revealed his true nature once Johnny was trapped in the car with him. Storm's fire powers had no effect on Dakor, who rendered him unconscious with knock-out gas and brought him to Doom.
--Fantastic Four I#23 (Fantastic Four I#23, Strange Tales I#122, #129, Marvel Two-in-One#60

"Handsome" Harry Phillips initially was charismatic and a skilled con artist, and he gained greatly enhanced hearing from Doom -- this allowed him to track others, such as the Invisible Girl/Woman, by sound. He made the majority of the plans for the Trio, but he had to be careful not to boss Bull around too much. Harry is also a reasonably skilled costume artist.
In his first adventure for Doom, Harry posed as an admirer of the Invisible Girl and brought her flowers drugged with a knock-out gas. Sue was wise enough to hold her breath, but Harry was able to follow her in her invisible form and spray her with a special ether mist that clinged...clanged...clung (?) to her nostrils until she stopped holding her breath. Harry delivered her to Doom.
--Fantastic Four I#23 (Fantastic Four I#23, Strange Tales I#122, #129, Marvel Two-in-One#60

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Last updated: 12/19/01.

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