monster of the "Son of Frankenstein"monster of the "Son of Frankenstein"
Real Name: Unrevealed, if any;
possibly "monster" or "Frank" (his creator called him both)
Identity/Class: Presumably a reanimated composite of human corpses;
active from 1918 through to 1933, at least
Occupation: Servant, warrior
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Orson Randall (formerly Iron Fist);
presumably the Prince of Orphans (John Aman), Wendell Rand;
formerly the "Son of Frankenstein"
Enemies: Formerly Orson Randall (formerly Iron Fist) - only while obeying his master/creator's commands;
presumably fought others under his master's commands
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Frank"
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly an unidentified castle somewhere (see comments)
formerly an unidentified laboratory in Germany (see comments)
First Appearance: The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3 (April, 2008)
Powers/Abilities: Presumably a reanimated
being and likely a composite created from multiple corpses, the monster
had at least enhanced human strength, lifting perhaps 1000 lbs. or more
(he knocked out Orson Randall when
punching him from behind, unexpectedly, which is not a massive feat of
strength; I believe Victor Frankenstein's monster can lift closer to
4000 lbs.)
He like was unaging and possessed of superhuman durability and perhaps pain tolerance.
His speech was limited, generally growling or speaking only in barely recognizable words.
He followed the orders of his master and creator and would therefore brutally attack others, but he was otherwise a being of peace.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 8')History:
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson
Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, a
Frankenstein created his own monster, similar to that of his
ancestor (or ancestral relative) Victor Frankenstein.
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson
Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3 (fb) - BTS) <15 years before
the main story, sometime around 1918 A.D. (see comments)> - Orson Randall
encountered this Frankenstein monster in Germany. Orson was unafraid of
the monster, who eventually came to befriend him.
Orson knew Frankenstein -- whom he
considered a friend and whom he knew had been his father's roommate --
and his son (see comments), and he also knew the location of the elder Frankenstein's
"old hiding place," a castle in another, unspecified location.
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson
Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3 (fb) - BTS) - Frankenstein
transplanted his "priceless and irreplaceable" brain into the
body of his "useless son" "to escape those damned Germans and their
mobs and pitchforks.
Frankenstein subsequently rebuilt
his laboratory in a new location -- apparently his old hiding place --
one unique piece at a time until her could again perform "his miracles."
Presumably the monster assisted in the transport.
Frankenstein largely worked on cadavers, perfecting his techniques until the perfect specimen came along.
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3 - BTS) <Sometime during or after 1933 A.D.> - After his ward Wendell Rand had been shot, Orson Randall carried him thirty miles, eventually locating the castle that was his friend Frankenstein's old hiding place and being pleased that it was still there.
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3) - As Orson shouted at the door, the monster confronted him, growling, but Orson told the monster that he was not afraid of him in Germany fifteen years ago, and he certainly wasn't afraid of him now. Looking closer at Orson's face, the monster recognized him, smiled and excitedly tried to pronounce his name. Orson appreciated this but urged the monster to let them in before the kid bled out.
As Frankenstein worked on an undefined experiment, his monster tried to announce Orson's presence, but Frankenstein, calling the monster "Frank," told him to keep it down, asking how he could work with his constant distractions. However, as soon as Orson called out, "Doc," Frankenstein turned and gleefully recognized Orson Randall/Iron Fist and asked what on Earth he was doing there. Orson replied that he was on the run, and that his ward fancied himself the next Iron Fist and had nearly gotten himself killed for it. After Orson continued that he knew they had been near "this old hiding place of your father's" (assuming this to be the son and having no knowledge of how the senior Frankenstein had usurped his form), Frankenstein asked from whom he was on the run, noting that continuing his father's work required -- discretion.
Orson told him that while his
powers could heal a lot, they couldn't treat massive blood loss, and he
asked, "As a friend of your old man's, I'm begging you -- help."
Instructing the monster to lift him up atop his shoulder, which he did, Frankenstein asked
what kind of doctor would he be to turn away a patient in need, and he
assured Orson that they would operate at once.
As Wendell was given mask inhalant anesthesia (likely ether or trichloroethylene), Frankenstein remarked that he was so rarely given the opportunity to ply his trade on living specimens.
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3) - As Orson comforted the not quite out Wendell, Frankenstein commanded his monster to knock out Orson. Although the stuporous Wendell saw the monster raising his fists behind Orson and tried to warn him, he couldn't vocalize this, and the monster's smashing, double-fisted blow rendered Orson unconscious.
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3 (fb) - BTS) - Frankenstein presumably had his monster put Orson on another table and strap him down, and he likely gave Orson some sort of drugs.
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3) - As Orson awakened, dazed, he asked Doc if he had operated yet, and Frankenstein told him, "Not yet, Randall. Science can't be rushed. I taught your father that when we roommates at university." Although feeling screwy, Orson asked the perceived son how he could have known Phineas Randall, and the Doc smiled and raised his goggles from his forehead to reveal the craniotomy scar, noting, "Isn't it obvious, Randall? I'm not the son of Frankenstein...I am Frankenstein!"
As he lowered his bone saw, Frankenstein warned that this was going to hurt, but assured Randall that he could scream all he wanted, as they were isolated there.
However, the Prince of Orphans,
who had been vengefully seeking Orson Randall for his perceived
betrayal of K'un-Lun, subsequently arrived and filled Frankenstein with
lethal green mist, apparently killing him.
(The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death#1/3 - BTS) -
The monster growled at the Prince of Orphans, who appreciated that the
monster meant them no harm and had only attacked because the doctor had
ordered it. The monster subsequently sat down and stroked the hand of
the unconscious Wendell.
Comments: Created by Matt Fraction and Lewis LaRosa.
This creator of the monster
was called "Frankenstein," and he presumably was a Frankenstein, but he
wasn't ever called Victor Frankenstein, nor did he ever reference any
events from Victor's life. He created a Frankenstein monster and could
somehow transplant his own brain into another person (despite the fact
that his adult brain would likely not have fit in his son's skull
without damaging compression), but those sorts of things are relatively
common amongst the Frankensteins.
Maybe he was able to somehow reduce his own brain's size without affecting his intellect.
The continuity doesn't fit for Victor or his monster. Phineas Randall
would have been at university in the latter half of the 19th Century, nearly a century after Victor's death. Victor died at sea in the Arctic
after suffering from frigid
cold, exhaustion, and probably dehydration and malnourishment. It seems
pretty unlikely that his brain could have been properly
preserved...but, stranger things have happened...maybe magic, time
travel, etc., was involved. Also, I think it can be ASSumed that
Phineas and this Frankenstein were roommates as students, which doesn't
make any sense for Victor to be a student again; however, I don't think
it is clearly stated that they were students. Additionally, I'm not sure who
would have allowed Victor Frankenstein to be faculty...maybe his
actions were not widely known at that time? Or, I suppose, Victor could
have used a false name and/or been a student to get access to the
equipment. But, regardless, Victor died on a low-tech ship in the
Arctic circle...
Victor's monster
was frozen at this time, and he didn't get thawed until the modern era,
which the sliding timescale has brought into the 21st Century. Additionally the monster was mute after an injury from Dracula, and he didn't regain the power of speech until Veronica Frankenstein performed surgery on him.
Additionally, the Frankenstein monster was never a servant of Victor Frankenstein.
The story took
place in 1933 or shortly thereafter, and so this Frankenstein may have
been a
close relative of Basil Frankenstein. As the senior Frankenstein had
been a university roommate with Phineas, who was active around 1900, I
would think it likely that he may have either been a brother, cousin or
other contemporary relative of Vincent Frankenstein. I am working through the Frankenstein family, and I will EVENTUALLY get to all of them.
Further discussion of the chronology by Loki:
I think a bit later in 1933, not too long after Prince of
Orphans begins pursuing him. He previously encountered this Frankenstein's monster
"in Germany fifteen years ago." And in All-New Invaders#12, we have a
flashback to October 1917, where he is about to take part in a mission to
Prussia to take on Ursula Frankenstein. That seems a likely occasion to have
run into the Monster, and the male Doctor Frankenstein who later transplanted
his own brain into his son's body. Obviously 1917 to 1933 is more like 16 years,
but if we figure the actual mission took place in November and the second
encounter in the first half of 1933, then he could be rounding down from
"a bit over 15 years."
I wonder if the "Son
of Frankenstein" was of stunted growth. Victor Frankenstein's monster
is 8' tall, and this monster seems to be of a comparable size, but the
son's body is shown as really small, like 4' or maybe even
significantly shorter. Orson is not at all surprised that the person he
believed to be the son of the Frankenstein that he knew instantly
recognized him. That would mean either that the son was over 15 years
old (and likely at least a few years older than that, to be able to
have memory of someone, although perhaps he had a photographic memory)
to remember him from their previous encounter OR that Orson had again encountered the senior Frankenstein and his son more recently.
Other options, alongside the ones you suggest (all of
which are valid): Transplanting the father's brain across might effectively
have killed the kid, and he's now an unaging corpse like the Monster. Or maybe
Orson just recognized the kid as a "Doctor Frankenstein" from the
context - in Frankenstein's castle, with the monster and mad scientist lab
equipment - and assumed the kid knew him from his father telling him about him.
--Loki
Where does it take place?
We know Orson encountered
the senior Frankenstein and his monster 15 years, and that was in Germany. And
then he transplanted his "priceless and irreplaceable" brain into the
body of his "useless son" "to escape those damned Germans and
their mobs and pitchforks.
Frankenstein subsequently rebuilt his laboratory in a
new location -- apparently his old hiding place -- one unique piece at a time
until her could again perform "his miracles." Orson knew of this old
hiding place, as it is where he brought the injured Wendell Rand.
But, we don't know if it is Germany, Switzerland, or
elsewhere...I didn't see anything to clarify that.
It's a castle in a
thickly wooded forest. If it's intended to be the famous Black Forest then
ironically it's in Bartovia, as the Marvel Atlas placed that fictional nation
where the real world Black Forest is. However, that anomaly aside, I'd say
somewhere in Germany. If he'd fled to the Swiss Castle Frankenstein then it
wouldn't be much of a "hideout," plus he'd not need to be hiding from
Germans if he's in a different country, especially a neutral one not involved
in World War I. I'd imagine an otherwise abandoned castle somewhere close enough to
the German Castle Frankenstein to make fleeing there viable, but far enough
away to be a viable hideout.
I also don't think it was German
Castle Frankenstein, because again the family home isn't much of a hideout. If he's hiding from
the Germans then it's likely somewhere in Germany. I assume it was likely
somewhere close enough to German Castle Frankenstein to get there without being out exposed in
the countryside for too long, but also not too close or else he'd be risking
discovery.
--Loki
That all makes good sense, although the original place
where Orson Randall encountered the elder Frankenstein and the monster did not
have to be the classic German Castle Frankenstein (but it could be. This Frankenstein could
have occupied the German Castle before Basil, if Basil used that one.
If he had fled from Germans in general after the
pitchfork experience, he could have ended up in another country altogether.
Son of Frankenstein...or not...
I think it would be a really great story to tie this "Frankenstein monster" to "Frank" of the Front Line.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
This "Frankenstein monster" should be distinguished from:
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#4 (September, 2008) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer/coordinator), Madison Carter, Mike Fichera & Stuart Vandal (coordination assistants), Sean McQuaid, David Wiltfong, Stuart Vandal, Ronald Byrd, Chad Anderson, Mike Fichera, Jacob Rougemont, Madison Carter, Mark O'English, Michael Hoskin, Eric J. Moreels, Chris Biggs, Gabe Shechter, Al Sjoerdsma, Rich Green & (writers), Boris Vallejo (Frankenstein's monster artist), Brian Overton (copy editor), John Denning & Cory Levine (assistant editors), Mark D. Beazley (editor, special projects), Jeff Youngquist & Jennifer Grunwald (editor)
First posted: 10/05/2025
Last updated: 10/07/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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