THE THING IN CELL 13

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (race unnamed, Pre-Modern era) (see comments)

Occupation: Leader of his fellow aliens

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: other members of his race

Enemies: Hans Vogez

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Thing in the Cell

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout outer space;
    formerly Bort, a small town in Europe;
    Pre-Modern era

First Appearance: Strange Tales I #81/4 (February, 1961)

Powers/Abilities: The Thing could disguise himself as a human being, and possessed technology that could make a large building vanish into thin air.

History: (Strange Tales I #81/4 ) - The Thing was spending time on Earth in human guise for unrevealed reasons. He passed through the town of Bort and was arrested by Hans Vogez for walking the wrong way down a one-way street. The Thing spouted cryptic warnings about people that were waiting for him, and would not leave without him. When the Thing's fellow aliens arrived they went to drastic measures to rescue their leader; they took the entire prison back with them into outer space.

Comments: Created by an unnamed writer & Steve Ditko.

As with many 1950's and 1960's Marvel monster stories, this story is not confirmed as part of Earth-616 continuity, but there's nothing to exclude it either.
    --Leave it in unless something rules it out!--Snood.

This story was reprinted in Weird Wonder Tales #5, in which the title was changed from "The Thing in the Cell!" to "The Thing in Cell 13!" He is only called by these names in the story's title, throughout the story he is unnamed.

PROFILE BY FUTURE

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Thing in Cell 13 has known connection to:

• Thing, (Benjamin Jacob Grimm) - fantastic four, former member of west coast avengers + thunderriders, former leader of yancy street gang, @ Fantastic Four I #1
• The Thing Behind the Wall, Marak, @ Journey into Mystery I #66/3
• Thing in the Box, creature(s) from Pandora's Box, @ Journey into Mystery #74
• Thing That Crawls, Crawling Unknown, @ Incredible Hulk II #151
• Thing That Lives, Crawling Unknown, @ Incredible Hulk II #151
• The Thing That Shouldn't Exist, Zzutak, @ Strange Tales I #88
• Any other characters named "Thing"

Hans Vogez has no known connection to:

• Vogel, CJ, Midtown High School, classmate of Peter Parker, @ Amazing Spider-Man Annual#17

Hans Vogez

Mayor, postmaster, chief of police and judge in the small European town of Bort. Hans fined every tourist who passed through Bort for one small driving infraction or other. When he had amassed enough money he built a huge prison as a monument to his own importance. His first prisoner was an alien posing as a human being. The day after the alien was locked up Hans found his prison had disappeared, and the townsfolk placed the blame on his shoulders. Hans was relieved of all his duties in Bort, but he eventually figured out the truth about his prisoner.

--Strange Tales #81/4

images:
Strange Tales I #81/4, p4, pan6;
(The Thing in human guise) Strange Tales I #81/4, p3, pan8;
(Hans Vogez) Strange Tales I #81/4, p5, pan5