History: (Fantastic Four
I#165 (fb) - BTS) -
After becoming head of the Franklin Pierce National Bank just before
the advent of World War II, Calvin McClary befriended Dr. Horace
Grayson, who had invented a rocket capable of reaching outer space.
CALVIN MCCLARY
Real Name: Calvin McClary
Identity/Class: Human (World War II to
modern
era)
Occupation: President of the Franklin Pierce
National Bank
Group Membership: Franklin Pierce National Bank staff (Charlie, others)
Affiliations: Dr. Horace Grayson, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Frankie Raye, his wife
Enemies: Crusader
(Thelius)
Known Relatives: Mrs.
McClary (wife)
Aliases: "Cal," "Mister"
Base of Operations: New York City, New York, USA
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#164 (November, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: Calvin McClary has no
superhuman powers but was a skilled bank manager.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 135 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Gray; formerly black (see
comments)
History: (Fantastic Four
I#165 (fb) - BTS) -
After becoming head of the Franklin Pierce National Bank just before
the advent of World War II, Calvin McClary befriended Dr. Horace
Grayson, who had invented a rocket capable of reaching outer space.
(Fantastic Four I#165 (fb)) -
When Dr. Grayson came
to Calvin for a loan to finish his rocket, Calvin McClary had to turn
down the loan, remarking that he wished Grayson had some sort of
collateral. Angry, Dr. Grayson exclaimed that he would escape Earth
somehow for his son Robert's sake. Decades later, after Dr. Grayson had
successfully traveled with his son to Uranus, Robert Grayson returned
to Earth in an attempt to get a loan from Calvin McClary for medical
supplies. Despite being amazed that Dr. Grayson was still alive and had
made it into outer space, Calvin declined to approve the loan, feeling
as if his board members would not believe the fantastic story.
(Fantastic Four I#164) - Years later, the insane
Crusader (an Uranian Eternal who resembled Robert Grayson and possessed
a copy of the true Robert's memories) attacked the home of Calvin
McClary and his wife in revenge for Calvin's turning down of the
Graysons' loans. A confused Calvin asked who the Crusader was and what
he had done to their building. Announcing that he had traveled farther
than either McClary or his wife could imagine, the Crusader grabbed
Calvin, who yelled for the Crusader to keep away from him and asked
what the Crusader was going to do. The Crusader responded by hurling
Calvin from the building but Calvin was caught in mid-air by the heroic
Human Torch, who had witnessed the events from the ground with his
date, Frankie Raye. Setting Calvin down next to Frankie, the Torch flew
into battle against the Crusader. After the Crusader temporarily
blinded the Torch using a gem on his wrist-bands, he turned his
attention back towards Calvin McClary, announcing that it was time he
dealt with Calvin. When the Crusader asked if Calvin had any final
words, Calvin asked why the Crusader had come after him, as he had
never seen or met the Crusader before. As Calvin's wife ran out to
plead with the Crusader, the Crusader hurled a chunk of debris from the
damaged building and seemingly crushed Calvin beneath it. Standing over
Calvin's seemingly lifeless body, the Crusader muttered that while
Calvin McClary had paid, there were others who still walked free.
(Fantastic Four I#165 - BTS) - Following McClary's
supposed death, Mister Fantastic visited the crime scene and when a
skeptical police officer mentioned space to Mr. Fantastic, Mrs. McClary
recalled Dr. Grayson's attempts at getting a loan from Calvin decades
earlier. After explaining the story of Calvin and Dr. Grayson to Mr.
Fantastic and the police, Mrs. McClary admitted that she recognized the
Crusader's voice as that of a younger Dr. Grayson. The next day, the
Crusader attacked the Franklin Pierce National Bank, of which Calvin
McClary was President, and one of the security guards suspected the
Crusader to be the man who had attacked Calvin the day before. In the
days that followed, the Crusader struck two more branches of the
Franklin Pierce National Bank, making newspaper headlines featuring
photos of Calvin McClary. When the Crusader attacked Pearson P. Morgan,
manager of a branch of the Grover Cleveland National Bank, the
Fantastic Four arrived to stop him and the Human Torch remarked that,
while it was obvious the Crusader had a grudge against Calvin McClary,
he wondered why the supposed son of Dr. Horace Grayson had turned into
a murderer. The Crusader explained to the Human Torch the story of how
Calvin McClary had turned down loans for the Grayson and how he had
crashed on Earth and prepared for his campaign of vengeance against
McClary. Announcing his plans to destroy McClary's financial empire now
that McClary himself was dead and unaware that McClary had actually
survived the attack in Metro General Hospital, the Crusader refused to
allow the Human Torch to further halt him but the Thing arrived to aid
his teammate and the Fantastic Four ultimately defeated the Crusader by
tricking him into absorbing so much solar radiation that it scattered
his atoms.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, George Perez and Joe Sinnott.
The story in Fantastic Four I#164-165 originally intended the Crusader to be an adult Robert Grayson, aka Marvel Boy. However, the Crusader was later retconned to be Thelius, an Uranian Eternal who had been psychically fed Robert Grayson's memories and had went insane following the Uranian Eternals' deaths, thinking himself to actually BE Robert Grayson.
It was specifically stated that Dr. Horace Grayson approached Calvin McClary for a loan shortly before the breakout of World War II. With Marvel's sliding time scale, it seems very unlikely that Calvin McClary would still be alive in the modern era. A comic from 1975 would occur roughly 12 years ago in the sliding time scale so while it may be POSSIBLE that Calvin could have survived into that point in the past but he would have been probably 20-30 years older than he appeared in FF I#164-165 and would have likely been long-since retired. Therefore, at some point, the sliding time scale would have passed him by and there would be no way he could have been alive in the modern era. One possible explanation could be that the Calvin who turned down Dr. Grayson's loan had a son that he also named Calvin McClary that had followed in his father's footsteps and became the bank manager of Franklin Pierce National Bank and it was the son whom the Crusader attacked. After all, the Crusader WAS insane. He could have very well thought the son was the original Calvin.
In one of the flashbacks in Fantastic Four I#165, the
younger Calvin McClary's hair is miscolored as blonde instead of black.
I guess one could argue that his hair color began to appear blonde as
it grayed but I think that's a bit of stretch. More than likely, it was
just a coloring error...
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Calvin McClary should be distinguished from:
Charlie was a security guard who worked at one of the Franklin Pierce National Bank branches ran by Calvin McClary. During one of his work shifts, Charlie noticed hot metal dripping from the ceiling mere moments before the insane Crusader burned his way through the bank roof to attack. The Crusader easily tore apart the bank and took down Charlie and his partner.
--Fantastic Four I#165
Mrs. McClary was the wife of Calvin McClary and had apparently met Dr. Horace Grayson at some point in the past enough to recognize his voice. In the modern era, Mrs. McClary was enjoying some time with her husband when the insane Crusader attacked their home and hurled Calvin from the building. Rushing outside to check on her husband, Mrs. McClary saw the Crusader about to kill Calvin and yelled for the Crusader to stop but the Crusader nonetheless hit Calvin with a chunk of debris, seemingly killing him. Remaining at the crime scene, Mrs. McClary later witnessed the arrival of the heroic Mister Fantastic and when a police officer made a crack about Mr. Fantastic going back into space while the police handled the situation, Mrs. McClary recalled a story about Dr. Horace Grayson being turned down for a loan for a rocket ship decades earlier by Calvin McClary.
--Fantastic Four I#164-165
Pearson P. Morgan was the manager of a branch of the Grover Cleveland National Bank. When the Crusader's attack on Calvin McClary and his Franklin Pierce National Bank branches made civilians terrified to venture into banks, Pearson complained to his security guards about the lackluster amount of people coming into his bank branch. The Crusader then burned his way into Morgan's bank branch and tried to hurl Morgan out of the bank but he was caught in mid-air by the arriving Fantastic Four. An hour later, Morgan and his staff became concerned as the Fantastic Four's battle with the Crusader caused chunks of the ceiling to fall. After the Thing and the Crusader subsequently fell through the ceiling and the two combatants ripped the door off of the bank vault, Pearson P. Morgan exclaimed how expensive the vault was for the bank but the Thing made light of Morgan's claims and continued his fight. When the fight moved outside, where the Crusader was atomized by solar radiation, an angry Morgan rushed outside and demanded to know why the Crusader had not yet been caught. He then accused the Thing of robbing the bank and the Thing grabbed Morgan, dragged him back inside the bank and buried the manager in a pile of money despite Morgan's exclamations that he was only trying to safeguard his customers' money.
--Fantastic Four I#165
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#164 (November, 1975) - Roy Thomas (writer, editor),
George Perez (pencils), Joe Sinnott (embellishes)
Fantastic Four I#165 (December, 1975) - Roy Thomas (writer, editor),
George Perez (pencils), Joe Sinnott (embellishes)
First posted: 07/20/2022
Last updated: 07/20/2022
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, Master List, etc.!
