MR. DANGER

Real Name: Bernie Hutton

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Racketeer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Two unidentified thugs

Enemies: Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel, Ray Bradley, Dan Bradley

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Florida

First Appearance: Evel Knievel#1 (1974)

Powers/Abilities: Hutton was a racketeer, so likely a fairly capable fighter. He was skilled in sabotage methods. 

Height: 6'2" (by estimation)
Weight: 189 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:
(Evel Knievel#1 (fb) - BTS) - Ernie Hutton was a Florida racketeer with plans to turn a region of land near the Everglades into a highly profitable industrial park. However the land had already been purchased by retired Hollywood stuntman Ray Bradley to construct a franchise branch of Evel Knievel's Stunt Stadiums, which unlike Hutton's plans had been planned with safeguarding the ecology of the Everglades in mind. 

(Evel Knievel#1 (fb)) - Almost as soon as construction began on the Stadium so did Hutton's sabotage attempts. Initially it was minor, but the sabotage soon escalated, endangering lives. When this failed to stop the building, Hutton began sending notes claiming responsibility under the alias Mr. Danger. Ray correctly suspected Hutton, but was unable to prove it.

(Evel Knievel#1 (fb) - BTS) - Learning that Knievel was coming to personally inspect and try out the stadium Hutton (or one of his goons on his orders) coated a track where the stunt rider was intended to ride between jets of flames with slippery siliconized rubber so that Knievel would lose traction and potentially fall into the fire.

(Evel Knievel#1 - BTS) - Knievel rode into the trap, but thanks to his excellent bike skills he managed to keep his balance and narrowly avoid the fire. Meanwhile Hutton sent a telegram as Mr. Danger, warning Ray and Knievel that "your time has come!"

(Evel Knievel#1) - When Knievel next went to test run his jet-powered Canyon Sky Cycle on the track at the Stadium's edge, intending to have the vehicle jump through hoops and land on a spot outside the Stadium's fence marked by an X, Hutton planted a bomb on the landing spot, then, dressed in a black mask and black clothing to become Mr. Danger, stepped out onto the track in Knievel's path (see comments), forcing the stunt rider to fire his rockets early and to launch his vehicle into the air to avoid a collision. Despite this Knievel remained on track to land on the X until he spotted the bomb and managed to redirect his Cycle in mid-air to splash down in the swamp. Meanwhile Mr. Danger ran off, throwing another note for Knievel to Ray Bradley's teenage son Dan as he did so, which carried the threat that Knievel's next stunt would be his last. Using the Cycle's jets Knievel extricated himself from the waters and away from rapidly approaching alligators. Back on land Knievel was given the note, but just after he read it Hutton decided to drive his point home, stepping out so Knievel and Dan could see him, and boldly informing his enemy that he was powerless to save himself. As expected, Knievel tried to apprehend him, but Hutton had made sure to be far enough away to have a good head start, and made it to a waiting car outside the stadium, which sped off before Knievel could get close.

(Evel Knievel#1 - BTS) - That night Hutton broke into the stadium again with two of his goons. While he went to a truck-crane, presumably with nefarious intent, he sent the goons to commit sabotage in Knievel's garage, but Knievel walked in on the men. Like their boss they fled to a waiting getaway car, but Knievel had learned from the earlier encounter and had his own high performance stunt car prepped and ready, allowing him to catch up with the fleeing felons before they'd even managed to exit the stadium.

(Evel Knievel#1) - Witnessing this, Mr. Danger interrupted the chase by driving straight at Knievel's car with his truck, but Knievel narrowly evaded a crash. Undaunted, Mr. Danger swung the crane into Knievel's path, causing him to crash. However his stunt car was designed for this, and so Knievel emerged uninjured. Hopping onto a nearby bike, Knievel rode at the goons, forcing them to jump into the swamp to avoid being struck. Witnessing this, Mr. Danger decided his men had failed him and it was time to withdraw. Jumping into his own getaway vehicle, a convertible with the top down, he hastily made his exit, but as he was speeding out the stadium he was spotted by Ray, who put his former stuntman career to good use and leapt into the speeding vehicle's passenger seat, then began to grapple with Hutton. The car careened out of control, straight towards the alligators' section of swamp. On his bike Knievel leapt their car and pulled Ray out of the vehicle before it hit the water, but Mr. Danger ended up in the water with alligators fast approaching. Knievel threw him a rope and used his bike to quickly drag Mr. Danger to safety, getting him out of the water just in time for the cops, who Dan had called, to arrive. Mr. Danger was unmasked, and Hutton and his goons were all arrested.

Comments: Created by Win Mortimer and Frank Giacoia.

   Evel Knievel was a major stunt rider and performer back in the 1970s. The Marvel comic starring him was produced as a free giveaway handed out in toy stores that were selling officially licensed toys based on Knievel; indeed, the comic goes out of its way to showcase each of Knievel's many vehicles in the story, as they were all available as toys to purchase. The comic being effectively a large toy advert notwithstanding, there is nothing in the story that would prevent this being set on Earth-616, the main Marvel universe. It's a short, geographically limited story so the absence of superheroes or the mention thereof isn't a problem, especially if the story took place in the year it was released, since thanks to the sliding timescale it is decades prior to the Fantastic Four's spaceflight and the proliferation of superhumans that immediately followed.

   I've got to wonder whether Hutton was stupidly brave or just stupid to stand directly in the path of Knievel's Canyon Sky Cycle. Sure, it worked out as Knievel swerved to avoid him and thus crashed, but it the stunt rider hadn't spotted him in time or didn't swerve it wouldn't have ended well for Hutton either. Perhaps it wasn't really Hutton - I suppose a dummy dressed up as Mr. Danger would have done the job just as well without Hutton having to risk his own safety, but then the question becomes how did Hutton make it vanish almost immediately afterwards?

   This profile was posted as a late addition entry for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event to represent Evel Knievel.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Mr. Danger has no known connections to:

Mr Danger's thugs

Mr. Danger had two thugs with him when he went to sabotage the stadium. They were spotted in the garage by Knievel and tried to flee in a waiting getaway vehicle, but Knievel pursued in his own vehicle. When they saw Mr. Danger cause Knievel to crash the pair also stopped fleeing, but then Knievel rode his bike at them, and in an effort to dodge they ended up in the swamp, taking the fight out of them. Moments later the cops arrived and arrested the pair.

--Evel Knievel#1

images: (without ads)
Evel Knievel#1, p6, pan3 (main image)
Evel Knievel#1, p16, pan2 (unmasked headshot)
Evel Knievel#1, p15, pan1 (Mr. Danger uses jazz hands to distract the alligators)
Evel Knievel#1, p10, pan1 (goons)

Appearances:
Evel Knievel#1 (1974) - Win Mortimer (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks)

First Posted: 10/05/2026
Last updated: 10/05/2026

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

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