main image

MOOL

Real Name: Mool

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial humanoid

Occupation: Exile, clothing retail shop assistant;
   formerly emperor, military scout

Group Membership: Retail clothing shop (name unrevealed);
   formerly Imperial court

Affiliations: Anne, John;
   formerly his planet

Enemies: Previous conquered planets

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Ralph Masters

Base of Operations: USA, Earth;
   formerly a planet in a galaxy "a million light years away"

First Appearance: Strange Tales I#71/3 (October, 1959)

Powers/Abilities: Mool is a capable imperial leader and military strategist. When he was emperor, he led his war fleet against other worlds to conquer them (although this did not seem to be to subjugate the population and incorporate them into a planet-spanning empire, but rather war and potentially asset-stripping). When determining if a planet can be beaten in war, he went in as a scout and used subterfuge to infiltrate the population; he was armed with an astro-energizer to signal his war fleet plus an ultra-gamma gun that fired a precise destructive beam. His race is imperialistic, emotionally repressive and values domination by war. They also enjoy immortality from annual bathing in rejuvenating waters when they achieve adult maturity.

Height: 5'10"
Weight: Unrevealed; presumably about 165 lbs.
Eyes: White (light gray?)
Hair: Brown

History:

(Strange Tales I#71/3 (fb) - BTS) - Mool was emperor of a planet that engaged in conquering faraway planets. Mool's human-like race enjoyed immortality through annual rejuvenating baths.

(Strange Tales I#71/3) - Mool completed his "Youth Bath" before embarking on a training mission on interplanetary warfare. He led the small fleet and warped to Earth. The fleet stayed in far outer orbit of Earth while Mool landed in a smaller lifeboat to determine if Earth was ripe for conquest. His mission was to stay 24 hours and trigger his astro-energizer wand as a signal if it was suitable for the fleet to attack. Mool landed in a night zone, coincidentally somewhere in the USA, camouflaged his small spacecraft, then went to the nearby small city. Seeking a disguise, he broke into the nearest clothing store and took on human garb, using the incinerator to dispose of his imperial uniform. But shop owner John found him and warned him with a gun. Mool (adopting the name Ralph Masters) covered his secret by lying he was long out of work and alone, and so broke in for better clothes in the hope of gaining employment. Mool was surprised that John took pity on him and offered him a job to work off the cost of his clothes. John's sister Anne also worked there and was impressed with "Ralph." Mool observed virtuous behavior and soon lost contempt for Earthlings as he engaged more with Anne. Evening came, and "Ralph" and Anne walked in the park. Anne declared her quickly risen romantic feelings for him and he, having come from a culture that repressed emotion, felt free and able to express love in return. But "Ralph" paused, deliberating on which path to follow, and chose to drop the astro-energizer so his fleet would depart and leave him on Earth in peace.

Comments: Created by uncredited writer & Don Heck.

An extraterrestrial falling in love with a human and sacrificing his heritage is no longer that novel in the modern Marvel age, but this still makes for a nice pre-FF story. Indeed, Mool's planet may be originally have been an outpost of the militaristic Kree that established itself closer to Earth and lost its connection to the Kree homeworld Hala, possibly separating because of the valued life-rejuvenating waters. Mool's race is never named.

We see Mool's eyes up close only once and they're colored white -- probably a coloring error as I expect the humans would've commented on his unusual eyes, so I suggest that they're light gray instead.

Mool says his world is 1 million light years from Earth. I don't think we should take this literally, but rather that it's a galaxy very, very far from Earth. By current astronomy, the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), which is about 2.5 million light-years away.

Grand Comics Database suggests Stan Lee or Larry Lieber as a possible author. Given Stan's experience with romance and scifi stories, as well as similarities with the opening of Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), I definitely lean toward Stan Lee as the most likely writer.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Mool (aka Ralph Masters) has no known connections to:

Anne

Anne worked at the clothing store where "Ralph Masters" (the name adopted by Mool, covertly an alien emperor scouting Earth to see if it was ripe for conquest) had just been hired by her brother John to pay off clothes Ralph had stolen (to blend in with humans). Anne very quickly became attracted to Ralph and the alien, now free to express his emotions away from his homeworld, reciprocated. On an evening walk, Anne noticed that Ralph had deliberately dropped an unusual device, secretly the astro-energizer Mool was meant to use to send a signal for his fleet to invade, but Mool/Ralph dismissed it off as he had quietly chosen to spend the rest of his life with Anne on Earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

--Strange Tales I#71/3

Astro-Energizer

The astro-energizer was a small wand-like device that the alien Mool would use to signal to his war fleet in the outer atmosphere to invade a world. Once activated, it would shoot a light beam up that was easy for his fleet to see. He carried it with him for the 24-hour duration for his investigation of the human race, but discarded it when he found love with the human woman Anne, thereby averting invasion from his alien fleet.

 

 

 

 

 

--Strange Tales I#71/3

images: (without ads)
Strange Tales I#71/3, p3, pan3 (main image)
   p1, pan1 (upper body bathing)
   p2, pan2 (headshot in spacecraft)
   p3, pan6 (Anne)
   p5, pan4 (astro-energizer)

Appearances:
Strange Tales I#71/3 (October, 1959) - uncredited writer, Don Heck (art), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 02/14/2026
Last updated: 02/14/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com.

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix!

Back to Characters