JACOB van VROOT
Real Name: Jacob van Vroot (see comments)
Identity/Class: Human (civilian);
presumably South African (he was at least based out of South Africa; see comments)
Occupation: Financier
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Mr. Favorsham, Mr. Tamiroff
Enemies: Gregory Gideon;
while not an enemy of the Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm,
Invisible Girl/Sue Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben
Grimm), he and his associates did drive Gideon to target the Fantastic
Four
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: South Africa
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#34 (January, 1965)
Powers/Abilities: Van Vroot has no superhuman abilities. He leads a large business empire of unspecified size and nature, but presumably has access to great wealth and/or technology, etc.
Height: Unrevealed (head only shown)
Weight: Unrevealed (head only shown)
Eyes: Unrevealed (shown in grayscale)
Hair: Unrevealed (apparently dark; perhaps brown, black, or dark gray)
History:
(Fantastic
Four I#34 (fb) - BTS) - Based out of South Africa, Van Vroot
established a large financial empire, and he possessed the title of
Commander.
Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "King" Kirby, and Chick "...the brick?" Stone.
Van Vroot's name was spelled "Vanvroot" in Fantastic Four I#34. The
spelling is corrected in the Official Marvel Index to the Fantastic
Four#3 entry for Fantastic Four I#34.
My understanding is that most American born people with
the "van" part of the name capitalize the "V" as "Van Vroot," while
most European and other nations keep it lower case, as "van Vroot."
It was spelled "Van Vroot" even when used in the middle of a sentence in the Official Marvel Index to the Fantastic
Four#3. It was spelled "van Vroot" in the Marvel Atlas
Given his name and his location in South Africa, I would guess he (or at least his surname) was of Dutch ancestry.
Van Vroot was the first member of the group to answer Gideon's call, although he appeared in the middle/center screen in the TV intercom unit. Did that mean Van Vroot was contacted first, and perhaps the most wealthy, powerful, and/or respected? Or was he just the first to respond, and did that indicate that he was most concerned with Gideon's wishes? These and no other questions will most likely be answered never.
These images are from the original comic, but the characters were only shown in gray colors.
Thanks to Brendan Nash for pointing out that commander van Vroot had received a first name in the Marvel Atlas entry to South Africa.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Favorsham should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#34, pg. 4, panel 2 (smallest picture; hand on chin; cigar);
panel 3 (best detail, but only left 3/4 of face);
panel 4 (moderate detail, hand on chin, cigar clearly seen);
pg. 5, panel 2 (full face, without cigar or hand on chin)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#34 (January, 1965) - Stan "The Man" Lee (writer, editor), Jack "King" Kirby (penciler), and Chick "...the brick?" Stone (inker)
First posted: 05/01/2018
Last updated: 05/04/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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