SIMON MILLER

Real Name: Simon Miller

Identity/Class: Human technology user (1950s era)

Occupation: Inventor

Group Membership: American Inventors' Society

Affiliations: Unidentified cop, unidentified wife

Enemies: His duplicate

Known Relatives: Unidentified wife

Aliases: "Harry" (as called by his duplicate)

Base of Operations: His suburban home in an unidentified American city

First Appearance: World of Suspense#5/1 (December, 1956)

Powers/Abilities: An accredited member of the American Inventors' Society, Simon Miller was an inventive genius.  Miller created a matter duplicator that produced a perfect duplicate of him.

Height: 5' 10" (by approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

History:
(World of Suspense#5/1 (fb)) - Nothing is known of the past accomplishments of Simon Miller, but after receiving a grant from the Hughes Research Foundation, he spent the next six years working on his matter duplicator.  Rarely sleeping or leaving his basement workshop, he put all his energy into building the invention, often neglecting his wife.  After completing the device, he successfully tested it by duplicating a chair.  His first impulse was to run upstairs and tell his wife about his accomplishment, but Miller was overcome by exhaustion; he crumpled to the floor and fell asleep while leaving the duplicator's beam on.

(World of Suspense#5/1 (fb) - BTS) - While Simon slept, the matter duplicator produced a perfect duplicate of him.  The duplicate went upstairs and began to take over Miller's life.

(World of Suspense#5/1 (fb)) - Simon Miller awoke some time later and found he left the duplicator beam on.  After switching the machine off, Simon went upstairs and found his wife with another man -- himself!  During a heated argument, Miller's duplicate insisted that he was the real Simon Miller, and his wife was convinced the real Simon was a dangerous intruder.  With no other recourse, Simon left his home.

(World of Suspense#5/1) - Simon went to a nearby police station to get help, but after he told the cops his story, it only elicited laughter and smiles of disbelief.  Finally, the aggravated desk-sergeant assigned one of his men to escort Miller back to his home to find out what was going on.  Simon and the cop walked to his house, and they were met at the door by Simon's duplicate, who insisted that Simon was actually his identical twin brother "Harry," who was only playing a practical joke; the duplicate even produced (forged) birth certificates to prove he was telling the "truth".

Frustrated that the cop wouldn't believe him, Simon punched his duplicate, then ran in the house and down to his workshop.  The cop followed Simon downstairs to the darkened basement, where the cop was hit by a blinding light; the light was actually the beam of the matter duplicator, which Simon had activated--Simon thought that exposing the cop to the duplicator's beam was the only way to prove he was telling the truth.  Upon seeing his own duplicate, the cop had no other choice but to believe Simon Miller's story.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Bill Everett (artist)

There was no resolution to this story, so we can only speculate on what happened to the duplicates of Miller and the cop.

No explanation was given for exactly how Simon's duplicator functioned--how, in effect, it was able to create something from nothing, so I guess it probably worked on the same pseudo-scientific principles as other duplicator machines seen in the Marvel Universe over the years (see Clarifications for details).

Or maybe Simon's duplicator was actually a form of "time-machine," and the "duplicates" were really temporal counterparts of persons and/or objects pulled from a potential future and/or parallel timeline (similarly to the powers of Flashback and Timeshadow).

Perhaps Simon Miller's matter duplicator works like the Star Trek universe's transporters (matter into energy and back to matter) and the Replicators (energy into matter and if they want to undo it back to energy again) it inspired. Plus the Hulk gains matter/mass from unknown source (see Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition) so maybe the Duplicator Machines use the same source?
--Gammatotem

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Simon Miller has no known connections to:


Simon Miller's wife

Married to inventor Simon Miller, she was concerned because her husband spent six years in his workshop, where he was obsessively building his invention, a matter duplicator.

When Simon was accidentally replicated by the device, his duplicate began to take his place, and Simon's wife didn't realize her "husband" was just a copy of the original; she was quite confused when the real Simon confronted his duplicate.

(When she saw the two of them together, it never occurred to her that Simon might have duplicated himself, so presumably Simon never told his wife exactly what his invention did.)

--World of Suspense#5/1





Simon Miller's duplicate

An exact replica of inventor Simon Miller, he was created by Miller's matter duplicator when Miller fell asleep under the activated beam.

While Simon slept, his duplicate began to take over his life, and the duplicate even had Simon's wife convinced that he was the real one when Simon confronted him.

Later, when Simon returned with a cop, the duplicate told the police officer that Simon was really his twin brother "Harry," who was just playing a practical joke, and he even had (forged) birth certificates to prove he was telling the "truth".  In frustration, Simon punched his duplicate and ran into the house.  The duplicate recovered and directed the cop to "his" basement workshop, where Simon had run.

--World of Suspense#5/1





Unidentified cop

An ordinary police officer, he was assigned to escort inventor Simon Miller back to his house and investigate Miller's unbelievable story--Miller claimed that he had been replicated by his matter duplicator, and his duplicate had taken over his life.

When they reached Miller's home, Miller's duplicate met them at the door, and he told the cop that Miller was really his twin brother "Harry," who was just playing a practical joke.  Frustrated that the cop didn't believe him, Miller punched his duplicate and ran into the house.  To prove he was telling the truth, Miller lured the cop into his workshop, then activated the matter duplicator and created an exact copy of the cop.  Upon seeing a mirror image of himself, the cop was thus convinced that Miller's claim was true.

--World of Suspense#5/1





Matter duplicator

Taking up much of Simon Miller's basement workshop, it took him six years to build.  It consisted of a ceiling-mounted beam projector and multiple supporting devices.

The matter duplicator's beam somehow produced perfect copies of inanimate objects and living beings.  Miller initially tested it by replicating a chair, which materialized next to the original.  Shortly afterward, he accidentally duplicated himself when he fell asleep under the beam.

Later, Miller intentionally activated the beam and duplicated a police officer, to prove to the cop that he was telling the truth.

--World of Suspense#5/1





images: (without ads)
World of Suspense#5, p1, pan1 (main image, Simon Miller)
World of Suspense#5, p4, pan6 (headshot, Simon Miller after duplicating cop)
World of Suspense#5, p4, pan2 (Simon Miller (in jacket) punches his duplicate as cop looks on)
World of Suspense#5, p2, pan8 (Simon's wife confusedly looks on as Simon argues with his duplicate)
World of Suspense#5, p3, pan1 (Simon's duplicate with Simon's wife)
World of Suspense#5, p3, pan7 (Simon's duplicate reaching for forged birth certificates)
World of Suspense#5, p3, pan5 (unidentified cop escorts Simon home)
World of Suspense#5, p4, pan7 (unidentified cop faces his own duplicate)
World of Suspense#5, p2, pan2 (Simon placing a chair under ceiling-mounted duplicator beam, supporting machinery in background)
World of Suspense#5, p2, pan3-4 (duplicating beam duplicates chair)


Appearances:
World of Suspense#5/1 (December, 1956) - unidentified writer, Bill Everett (artist), Stan Lee (editor)


Last updated: 04/07/16

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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