HERKIMER J. OGLETHORPE

Real Name: Herkimer J. Oglethorpe

Identity/Class: Human (see comments)

Occupation: Wrestling manager/promoter

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Hyperion ("Zhib-Ran" construct), Thundra (Earth-715);
   presumably Kowalski (see comments)
   unwitting pawn of the Nth Command

Enemies: "Duke Rage"

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Kowalski's Bar, Manhattan, New York City, NY

First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One I#53 (July 1979)

Powers/Abilities: Oglethorpe is a raconteur and wheeler-dealer, a wrestling manager with sufficient acumen to get a client swiftly to a match in Madison Square Garden.   

Height: 2'6" (by estimation)
Weight: 40 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black (bald)

History:
(Marvel Two-In-One I#53 (fb) - BTS) - Herkimer J. Oglethorpe was a man of diminutive stature but grandiose personality and dapper attire, distinctively dressed in his trademark look of pinstripe pants and shirt accentuated by violet suspenders, jacket and derby, carrying a metal ball-handled cane, and finishing his ostentatious comportment with a carefully groomed mustache and soul patch. He worked as a wrestling promoter and manager,...

(Marvel Two-In-One I#54 (fb) - BTS) - ...frequently operating out of Kowalski's Gym.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#56 (fb) - BTS) - The Nth Command, a secret subsection of the Brand Corporation (itself a subsidiary of Roxxon), empowered four female wrestlers, the Grapplers, to serve secretly as the organization's operatives. Needing a powerful additional member to lead the Grapplers on a mission breaking into Project PEGASUS, the Nth Command decided to recruit the Femizon warrior Thundra. Presumably to obfuscate any connections that might lead back to them, the Nth Command chose not to approach Thundra directly, but instead to arrange a "coincidental" encounter between Thundra and the Grapplers at Kowalski's Gym on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and to facilitate this in turn the Nth Command elected to manipulate an unwitting Oglethorpe into luring Thundra there.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#54 (fb) - BTS) - Oglethorpe's fortunes took a downturn, causing him to miss payments for his liability insurance, which led the insurers to cancel the policy.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#53) - While out on the streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side Oglethorpe was cornered by a man he owed money to, "Duke Rage," who threatened to squash Oglethorpe's entire body into his derby if he didn't pay up immediately. Undaunted despite Duke's menacing bearing, Oglethorpe insisted he would pay "all in good time." Chancing by just in time to witness this encounter, the Femizon warrior Thundra was impressed by Oglethorpe's bravery in the face of overwhelming odds, and so she decided to intervene, overpowering and cowing the belligerent Duke with ease. Believing he had stumbled across the find of the decade, Oglethorpe asked Thundra if she had ever engaged in wrestling, and to his delight she informed him that where she came from she had been an undefeated champion at that sport. Oglethorpe exuberantly introduced himself as the "most renowned wrestling promoter in the East" and as she began walking off he accompanied her, informing her that she was about to make both of them a small fortune.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#64 (fb) - BTS) - Though disliking that the fights would be choreographed in advance, Thundra still took Oglethorpe up on the offer, relishing any chance to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#54 (fb) - BTS) - Oglethorpe signed Thundra up and struck a deal for her to take on the Grapplers. In preparation for this, Oglethorpe took Thundra to Kowalski's Gym where she could practice the choreography for the upcoming fight.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#54) - In the ring waiting for the practice match to begin Thundra again questioned the need to pre-plan the combat, but Oglethorpe insisted that it was purely to avoid injuries and entreated her to follow the script. He then went over to reassure the Grapplers' manager that his employee would cooperate. However Thundra immediately went off-script against her first opponent, Poundcakes, trapping her with a body scissors (legs round ribs) and threatening to crack her bones if she didn't submit. While Oglethorpe watched in shock, the other manager shouted at the remaining three Grapplers to assist their teammate, but Thundra easily tossed them round like ragdolls. Oglethorpe tried to apologize to his competitor, but said he had only one question for Oglethorpe "before I kill ya," and asked what the man was feeding his wrestler. Ducking to avoid Letha, who Thundra had just thrown out the ring, Oglethorpe maintained just enough composure to insist that Thundra meant no harm, and just didn't know her own strength. As Titania followed Letha's example and flew past her manager, the man called out to Oglethorpe that he better have plenty of liability insurance, and Oglethorpe, watching the now airborne Poundcakes zoom by, admitted he no longer had any and asked if his competitor would accept a personal promissory note instead should any of the Grapplers be injured. Oglethorpe then stood in perturbed silence amidst the stunned Grapplers now littering the gym, while the Grapplers' manager ranted that his backers wouldn't like what had happened and threatened to end Oglethorpe's career.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#55 (fb) - BTS) - Despite his threats the Grapplers' manager calmed down and a match was arranged between Thundra and Titania, to be held at Madison Square Gardens. Seeking to either make some money or garner favors, Oglethorpe convinced unspecified but presumably powerful individuals to wager on Thundra, who was supposed to win the match per Oglethorpe's agreement with the Grapplers' manager.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#55) - Oglethorpe joined his client in the ring as the announcer introduced the competitors to the packed house. Thundra doubled checked with Oglethorpe that she was slated to win this match, which Oglethorpe confirmed before pleading with his client to follow the fight choreography they had practiced. Thundra begrudgingly agreed. However...

(Marvel Two-In-One I#56 (fb) - BTS) - the Nth Command had ordered Titania to render Thundra unconscious, so she could be surreptitiously extracted from the venue and recruited. To facilitate this...

(Marvel Two-In-One I#55) - Titania cheated, using a dosed needle to covertly scratch Thundra during the fight, swiftly making her woozy and then unconscious. Attacking Thundra before she collapsed, Titania made it look like she was the reason Thundra was knocked out, and was declared the winner by the referee. Watching horrified from ringside, Oglethorpe wondered how he would explain this turn of events to the men he had convinced to bet on Thundra, and considered fleeing to Seattle.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#64 (fb) - BTS) - Oglethorpe either managed to placate the people who had placed bets based on his recommendation, or avoided them until they calmed down. The Nth Command successfully recruited Thundra by promising to return her to the alternate future she called home once she carried out her assigned task, but all Oglethorpe knew was that she suddenly disappeared, and he was left wondering if she had run off, ultimately deciding he was unlikely to ever see her again. Having failed her mission and discovering her employers had provided fake contact information Thundra began hunting for them, seeking the payment they had offered but suspecting they never intended to fulfill their promise. Oglethorpe meanwhile signed up a new client, Hyperion...

(Marvel Two-In-One I#67 (fb)) - unaware he had only signed up because he was working for Nth Command and looking for Thundra, who Nth Command anticipated would eventually check in with Oglethorpe. Sure enough...

(Marvel Two-In-One I#64) - Weeks after her recruitment abduction Thundra eventually returned to Kowalski's Gym to find Oglethorpe sitting ringside shouting instructions to the fighters. She anticipated that she would have to concoct a plausible excuse for her vanishing, but instead Oglethorpe leapt from his chair in joy, grabbing her round the neck to hoist himself up and kiss the startled Femizon on the cheek. Startled but surprisingly unangered at his presumption, Thundra lifted Oglethorpe away from herself, but Hyperion, who had not yet been noticed by Thundra, warned her to put Oglethorpe down. Seemingly not sensing the tension between the pair, Oglethorpe enthusiastically introduced his new client to Thundra.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#65) - Still holding Oglethorpe aloft Thundra reassured Hyperion that the manager had merely been glad to see her and she bore him no ire, but Hyperion declared that Oglethorpe was his manager now and insisted she put him down. Choosing to comply, Thundra let Oglethorpe drop unceremoniously to the floor to land painfully on his butt with a thud. However, she also declared that Oglethorpe was still her manager too and that Hyperion wouldn't get him without a fight, then attacked. After they traded a few blows Oglethorpe intervened, suggesting that he could manage both of them, perhaps as a tag team. Thundra agreed to end the fight if Hyperion accepted Oglethorpe's terms, and Hyperion agreed to at least consider them, though secretly he was happy that the plan to get Thundra to his true employers was progressing well.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#67 - BTS) - Soon after Hyperion revealed to Thundra that he was working for Nth Command and took her to their base, and both ultimately departed for Thundra's future (though Hyperion didn't reach it); whether or not they informed Oglethorpe that they were leaving his employ remains unrevealed.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, John Byrne and Joe Sinnott.

   As should be blatantly obvious from the art, Oglethorpe is a very short man, and presumably suffers from dwarfism, though which of the over four hundred types is never established. That said, it is possible to be a dwarf (defined as being under 4'10" in adulthood) without having dwarfism, i.e. a genetic medical condition that results in restricted growth or skeletal dysplasia (which can cause disproportionate bone growth). Additionally, given he's a citizen of the Marvel universe with all its insane variety, it's not impossible that Oglethorpe might be a fantasy-type Dwarf, Leprechaun or other short magical species, an extraterrestrial, a mutant, someone who got shrunk by Pym Particles, imprisoning the spirit of an ancient height-stealing Persian sorcerer, etc.

   Oglethorpe is VERY short. As the picture to the right shows, he makes it to around halfway up Thundra's thigh. Granted, she's of Amazonian proportions (7'2") but even taking that into account he's barely a third of her overall height, making him an estimated 2'6". To put that in perspective, Alpha Flight's Puck would tower a good foot over him, as would Kenny "R2-D2" Baker; even Verne "Mini-Me" Troyer would have a couple of inches on Oglethorpe.

   Regarding the Grapplers' manager at Kowalski's Gym: Though might be taken as implication that he was the titular Kowalski, this isn't actually stated and is by no means a certainty. If the gym was used exclusively by Kowalski's wrestlers, and others only attend to practice upcoming matches against same, that wouldn't explain why Oglethorpe was there again in MTIO I#64 and 65. Thus managers who are not Kowalski make use of the gym, which then means the guy we see in MTIO I#54 doesn't have to be Kowalski just because he's in Kowalski's Gym.

   For a character with only a handful of appearances, and all of those only a few pages per issue, Oglethorpe really does stand out as a larger-than-life individual (no pun intended), and it's a shame we've not seen him again. It's not like Marvel has no other characters who have been involved in wrestling, so it wouldn't be hard to bring Oglethorpe back, now managing a new client; heck, there's no reason why Oglethorpe couldn't branch out into managing sportspeople, or indeed celebrities from other walks of life.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Herkimer J. Oglethorpe has no known connections to:

"Duke Rage"

Owed money by Herkimer J. Oglethorpe, "Duke Rage" confronted the wrestling promoter and demanded he pay up or be compacted into the derby hat he was wearing. Witnessing this encounter Thundra intervened, and as Duke he waved his clenched fist over Oglethorpe's head she caught the miscreant by the wrist and, when Duke told her to move along and mind her own business, Thundra casually tossed him into the trash. Enraged Duke ran at her, but she grabbed him by the throat and with one hand easily lifted the now choking Duke up off the ground. Duke begged her to let got of his throat, but this pleading only served to lower her already poor opinion of him. With Duke subdued and quite possibly past out, Thundra dropped him to the sidewalk a few moments later, and she and Oglethorpe departed together, leaving Duke lying where Thundra had left him.

Height: 6'4" (by estimation)
Weight: 200 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black (bald)

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, John Byrne and Joe Sinnott.

   Unidentified in the story, I've called him "Duke Rage" to make it easier to refer to him. Why pick that name? For that, I need to explain my thoughts on the character's reasons for menacing Oglethorpe. It's not disclosed why Oglethorpe owes him money. I know some sites have ASSumed that Duke was chasing Oglethorpe for gambling debts, but there's no evidence whatsoever to support this. If it was gambling related then it would probably be a personal debt, as I'd imagine someone sent to collect on behalf of a bookie would namedrop their employer. However it's just as likely that Oglethorpe borrowed money off Duke, or, given Duke's size and muscular build, that he's a wrestler and former client of Oglethorpe who was chasing his fee for a past competition. Clothing wise, it struck me that he's basically dressed like Luke Cage - note both the headband and the wristbands. So I chose a placeholder name that might be used as the stage name of a pro-wrestler who is both angry and a "discount Luke Cage," which led me to Duke Rage. Obviously if we ever see the guy again and he gets an official name, the placeholder will be removed.

   Given that MTIO I#56 reveals that the meeting between Oglethorpe and Thundra wasn't accidental, but instead covertly arranged by Roxxon's Nth Command, it's feasible that Duke might have been working for them, though he might have also simply been an unwitting pawn, much as Oglethorpe was.

--Marvel Two-In-One I#53

images: (without ads)
Marvel Two-In-One I#53, p11, pan5 (main image)
Marvel Two-In-One I#55, p8, pan3 (face close-up)
Marvel Two-In-One I#55, p8, pan2 (standing next to Thundra)
Marvel Two-In-One I#64, p6, pan5 (embracing and kissing Thundra)
Marvel Two-In-One I#53, p10, pan5 ("Duke Rage" face)
Marvel Two-In-One I#53, p11, pan1 ("Duke Rage" main)
Marvel Two-In-One I#53, p10, pan4 ("Duke Rage" facing Oglethorpe)
Marvel Two-In-One I#53, p11, pan3 ("Duke Rage" being held aloft)

Appearances:
Marvel Two-In-One I#53-55 (July-September 1979) - Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio (writers), John Byrne, Joe Sinnott (art), Roger Stern (editor)
Marvel Two-In-One I#64-65 (June-July 1980) - Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio (writers), George Perez, Gene Day (art), Jim Salicrup (editor)

First Posted: 06/18/2025
Last updated: 06/18/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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