Thin Man (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Thin Man is a fictional
, American
comic book
character
in Marvel Comics
' main shared
universe
. Created by artist Klaus Nordling
and an unknown writer in Mystic Comics
#4 (July 1940), published by Marvel predecessor Timely Comics
during the time fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
, the Thin Man was one of the first "stretching" superhero
es, predating the more famous Plastic Man
by more than a year and Mister Fantastic
by more than twenty years.
flashback
stories, beginning with Marvel Premiere
#29 (April 1976). Through retroactive continuity
, this story, by writer Roy Thomas
and penciller
Don Heck
, posited the Thin Man as a founding member of the superhero
team the Liberty Legion
. The Thin Man appeared in that capacity in a story arc that also included The Invaders
#6 (May 1976). He also appeared with the Liberty Legion in The Invaders #35-37 (Dec. 1978 - Feb. 1979); in the final two-thirds of a three-part story arc running through The Fantastic Four Annual #11, Marvel Two-in-One
Annual #1 (both 1976), and Marvel Two-in-One #20 (Oct. 1976); and in issue #3 (June 1993) of the 1990s miniseries
The Invaders. The Thin Man would go on to co-star in the series The New Invaders
.
. There, he encounters the lost civilization
of Kalahia, which possessed extremely advanced technology. The Kalahian people expose him to a mutagenic substance which alters his body to give him the same physical abilities as they had: eternal youth, and tremendous physical resilience and flexibility, including the ability to become "thin", or rather, flat.
Dickson learns much of their advanced technology, and falls in love with Olalla, daughter of the Kalahians' leader. He and his new love travel to the outside world and become superhero contemporaries of Captain America
, the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and others. The Thin Man, which Dickson has adopted as his superhero name, becomes a member of the stateside team the Liberty Legion
during World War II
. The Liberty Legion then began battling Nazi agents in the USA. With the Liberty Legion, he battled the Invaders
, who were hypnotically controlled by the Red Skull
. In 1942, the Liberty Legion encountered the Thing
who had traveled back in time, and then aided them in battling Master Man, U-Man
, and Skyshark. The Liberty Legion also battled Iron Cross
.
At some point, the Thin Man reveals to Captain America
that Olalla, whom he has married, had returned to Kalahia. The Thin Man remained in order to serve his country, and when he returns to Kalahia after the war he finds that the Nazis had located the valley and slaughtered all its inhabitants, including his wife. After this, he becomes an obsessed Nazi hunter
for decades, eventually discovering that an old foe, the Nazi's Agent Axis, had been responsible for Kalahia's destruction. With the help of Captain America
, he tracks down and confronts Agent Axis. The war criminal brags that since he had been brought to America under Operation Paperclip
, he cannot be prosecuted for his wartime activities. The Thin Man becomes so outraged that he wraps his pliable body around Agent Axis and snaps his neck. Shocked, Captain America immediately brings him to the authorities for murder.
He eventually is pardoned so that the U.S. government can obtain his knowledge of advanced Kalahian technology. He is made a member of the New Invaders, and begins to contribute his knowledge to the group. Unfortunately, the entire operation was actually a ruse by the ex-Nazi villain the Red Skull
, who had disguised himself as the Secretary of Defense. Once this deception is revealed, Dickson forges ahead with the plan to create a new Invaders unit armed with Kahalian technology, specifically to thwart the Red Skull and his organization, the Axis Mundi. Dickson designs the battleship
Infiltrator, which can travel through multi-dimensional space, effectively allowing it to teleport
long distances. The Infiltrator is sacrificed when it is rammed into a doomsday weapon in order to protect the Earth from another WWII-era supervillain, U-Man
. The New Invaders disband shortly thereafter.
He does not age and is seemingly immune to all known diseases. Thin Man has tremendous knowledge of the advanced sciences and technology of Kalahia, but only what he could memorize or take with him. All else is now lost.
The Thin Man is a good hand-to-hand combatant who was received coaching from the Patriot
and Miss America
. He is also an accomplished airplane pilot.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
character
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' main shared
Shared universe
A shared universe is a fictional universe to which more than one writer contributes. Work set in a shared universe share characters and other elements with varying degrees of consistency. Shared universes are contrasted with collaborative writing, in which multiple authors work on a single story....
universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
. Created by artist Klaus Nordling
Klaus Nordling
Klaus Nordling was a Finnish American writer-artist for American comic books. He is best-known for his work on the 1940s masked-crimefighter feature "Lady Luck", and as co-creator of the Marvel Comics superhero the Thin Man. Some of Nordling's earliest comic books are signed F...
and an unknown writer in Mystic Comics
Mystic Comics
Mystic Comics is the name of four comic book series published by the company that would eventually become Marvel Comics. The first two series were superhero anthologies published by Marvel's 1930-1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books...
#4 (July 1940), published by Marvel predecessor Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
during the time fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
, the Thin Man was one of the first "stretching" superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es, predating the more famous Plastic Man
Plastic Man
Plastic Man is a fictional comic-book superhero originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Jack Cole, he first appeared in Police Comics #1 ....
by more than a year and Mister Fantastic
Mister Fantastic
Mr. Fantastic is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero and a member of the Fantastic Four. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 ....
by more than twenty years.
Publication history
The Thin Man made no further Golden Age appearances following his debut. He next appeared in 1970s comics in World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
stories, beginning with Marvel Premiere
Marvel Premiere
Marvel Premiere is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It ran for 61 issues from April 1972 to August 1981....
#29 (April 1976). Through retroactive continuity
Retcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
, this story, by writer Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
and penciller
Penciller
A penciller is an artist who works in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms.The penciller is the first step in rendering the story in visual form and may require several steps of feedback with the writer. These artists are concerned with layout to showcase...
Don Heck
Don Heck
Don Heck was an American comic book artist best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, and for his long run penciling the Marvel superhero-team series The Avengers during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books.-Early life and career:Born in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New...
, posited the Thin Man as a founding member of the superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
team the Liberty Legion
Liberty Legion
The Liberty Legion is a fictional superhero team in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was first created in 1976 and set during World War II...
. The Thin Man appeared in that capacity in a story arc that also included The Invaders
Invaders (comics)
The Invaders is the name of two fictional superhero teams in the . The original team was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema in The Avengers #71 . A present-day incarnation was introduced by writer Chuck Austen and artist Scott Kolins in The Avengers vol...
#6 (May 1976). He also appeared with the Liberty Legion in The Invaders #35-37 (Dec. 1978 - Feb. 1979); in the final two-thirds of a three-part story arc running through The Fantastic Four Annual #11, Marvel Two-in-One
Marvel Two-in-One
Marvel Two-In-One was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics that featured the Fantastic Four member, the Thing, in a different team-up each issue with a different character. The series continued from the team-up stories starring the Thing in the final two issues of Marvel...
Annual #1 (both 1976), and Marvel Two-in-One #20 (Oct. 1976); and in issue #3 (June 1993) of the 1990s miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
The Invaders. The Thin Man would go on to co-star in the series The New Invaders
Invaders (comics)
The Invaders is the name of two fictional superhero teams in the . The original team was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema in The Avengers #71 . A present-day incarnation was introduced by writer Chuck Austen and artist Scott Kolins in The Avengers vol...
.
Fictional character biography
In the 1930s, scientist and explorer Dr. Bruce Dickson attempts to climb Mount Kalpurthia in the HimalayasHimalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. There, he encounters the lost civilization
Lost World (genre)
The Lost World literary genre is a fantasy or science fiction genre that involves the discovery of a new world out of time, place, or both. It began as a subgenre of the late-Victorian imperial romance and remains popular to this day....
of Kalahia, which possessed extremely advanced technology. The Kalahian people expose him to a mutagenic substance which alters his body to give him the same physical abilities as they had: eternal youth, and tremendous physical resilience and flexibility, including the ability to become "thin", or rather, flat.
Dickson learns much of their advanced technology, and falls in love with Olalla, daughter of the Kalahians' leader. He and his new love travel to the outside world and become superhero contemporaries of Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
, the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and others. The Thin Man, which Dickson has adopted as his superhero name, becomes a member of the stateside team the Liberty Legion
Liberty Legion
The Liberty Legion is a fictional superhero team in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was first created in 1976 and set during World War II...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Liberty Legion then began battling Nazi agents in the USA. With the Liberty Legion, he battled the Invaders
Invaders (comics)
The Invaders is the name of two fictional superhero teams in the . The original team was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema in The Avengers #71 . A present-day incarnation was introduced by writer Chuck Austen and artist Scott Kolins in The Avengers vol...
, who were hypnotically controlled by the Red Skull
Red Skull
The Red Skull is a name shared by several fictional characters, all supervillains from the Marvel Comics universe. All incarnations of the character are enemies of Captain America, other superheroes, and the United States in general....
. In 1942, the Liberty Legion encountered the Thing
Thing (comics)
The Thing is a fictional character, a founding member of the superhero team known as the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in The Fantastic Four #1...
who had traveled back in time, and then aided them in battling Master Man, U-Man
U-Man
U-Man is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Invaders #3 and was created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins.-Publication history:...
, and Skyshark. The Liberty Legion also battled Iron Cross
Iron Cross (Marvel Comics)
Iron Cross is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Invaders #36 and was created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins.-Fictional character biography:...
.
At some point, the Thin Man reveals to Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
that Olalla, whom he has married, had returned to Kalahia. The Thin Man remained in order to serve his country, and when he returns to Kalahia after the war he finds that the Nazis had located the valley and slaughtered all its inhabitants, including his wife. After this, he becomes an obsessed Nazi hunter
Nazi hunter
A Nazi-hunter is a private individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, SS members and Nazi collaborators involved in the Holocaust, typically for use at trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity...
for decades, eventually discovering that an old foe, the Nazi's Agent Axis, had been responsible for Kalahia's destruction. With the help of Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
, he tracks down and confronts Agent Axis. The war criminal brags that since he had been brought to America under Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II...
, he cannot be prosecuted for his wartime activities. The Thin Man becomes so outraged that he wraps his pliable body around Agent Axis and snaps his neck. Shocked, Captain America immediately brings him to the authorities for murder.
He eventually is pardoned so that the U.S. government can obtain his knowledge of advanced Kalahian technology. He is made a member of the New Invaders, and begins to contribute his knowledge to the group. Unfortunately, the entire operation was actually a ruse by the ex-Nazi villain the Red Skull
Red Skull
The Red Skull is a name shared by several fictional characters, all supervillains from the Marvel Comics universe. All incarnations of the character are enemies of Captain America, other superheroes, and the United States in general....
, who had disguised himself as the Secretary of Defense. Once this deception is revealed, Dickson forges ahead with the plan to create a new Invaders unit armed with Kahalian technology, specifically to thwart the Red Skull and his organization, the Axis Mundi. Dickson designs the battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
Infiltrator, which can travel through multi-dimensional space, effectively allowing it to teleport
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
long distances. The Infiltrator is sacrificed when it is rammed into a doomsday weapon in order to protect the Earth from another WWII-era supervillain, U-Man
U-Man
U-Man is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Invaders #3 and was created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins.-Publication history:...
. The New Invaders disband shortly thereafter.
Powers and abilities
Bruce Dickson has been genetically modified through a scientific process developed by the people of Kahalia, to be able to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will, enabling him to stretch, deform, expand, or compress all or any part of his body into any shape. His costume is made of an unknown Kahalian fabric that stretches and contracts in size as he does. He most often uses his power to elongate portions of his body to the thinness of an average sheet of typing paper, enabling him to pass under a shut door. The limits on the Thin Man's powers are unknown. He can absorb the impact of a projectile shot at him or of any concussive force, within certain unknown limits, by deforming his body. When underwater he can resist intense water pressure to a superhuman extent for a period of minutes. He can become nearly two-dimensional, while his limbs can effectively become blades in the process.He does not age and is seemingly immune to all known diseases. Thin Man has tremendous knowledge of the advanced sciences and technology of Kalahia, but only what he could memorize or take with him. All else is now lost.
The Thin Man is a good hand-to-hand combatant who was received coaching from the Patriot
Jeffrey Mace
Jeffrey Solomon "Jeff" Mace, also known as the Patriot and Captain America, is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe, created during the 1940s period which fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books...
and Miss America
Miss America (comics)
Miss America is a long-standing beauty pageant, which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands.Miss America may also refer to:...
. He is also an accomplished airplane pilot.