Robert Frank (Marvel)

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The Whizzer is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Contents

Biography

Robert Frank was born to Dr. Emil Frank, a health practitioner. In the year 1941, Robert, an adult, was an assistant for his father's practice. One day, Emil was performing surgery on mobster Gabe Granno, when Granno's rival Neal Jennings burst in and forced Emil's scalpel down, fatally wounding Granno. Jennings then threatened to accuse Emil of murdering Granno if he did not flee the country. Fearing persecution, Emil and Robert left America and partook in a medical expedition in Cameroon. There, Robert contracted a rare tropical virus and was near death. Trying to save his son via blood transfusion from his own body, Emil became delirious and irrational. Determined to save the life of his son, Emil witnessed a mongoose fighting off a killing a cobra, only to be fatally wounded itself. Believing local folklore about the recuperative properties of the mongoose, Emil used the animal in a transfusion, reviving his son. Emil soon died from a combination of the blood transfusions and shock. Robert meanwhile found that he was endowed with super-human speed. (USA Comics v1 #1)

With his new-found abilities, Robert returned to the United States, establishing a costumed identity of the Whizzer and brought Neal Jennings and his gang to justice. (USA Comics v1 #1) Starting a solo career, one of the Whizzer's first recorded capers was investigating why women in the city were suddenly dropping dead. Investigating the mysterious deaths, he noticed that the jewelry they purchased was poisoned and tied all the pieces to the Star Department Store. There he found a Nazi spy named Lens who was working with the owner to cause animosity among Americans to discourage the United States from involving themselves in the war. The Whizzer quickly captured Lens and his accomplice before they could flee the country. Later, while attending a horse race, the Whizzer witnessed as a jockey was shot by Silky Kirby's mob for not throwing the race and rushed him to the hospital. With the jockey expected to recover, the Whizzer then took down Silky Kirby and his mob. (USA Comics v1 #2)

Next, the Whizzer was called in to investigate prison riots at Tolegate Prison instigated by a mysterious criminal operating from within the prison who called himself the Black. Foiling an attempted prison break, the Whizzer revealed the Black to be none other than warden Don Reinman who was trying to force the prison to shut down so he could buy the oil rich land at a cheap price. (All Winners Comics v1 #3)

In 1942, the Whizzer began investigating a group of Nazi spies, which led to his first encounter with female super-hero Miss America. After the pair captured the spies they were approached by Bucky who was gathering heroes to help free his fellow Invaders who had been placed under the thrall of the Red Skull. The Whizzer and Miss America joined this newly formed group of heroes, who dubbed themselves the Liberty Legion. (Marvel Premiere v1 #29) After smashing various Nazi spy operations, the Liberty Legion earned the ire of the Red Skull who sent out the enthralled Invaders to attack American national monuments. The Whizzer joined his team mate the Red Raven in preventing the Human Torch and Toro from attacking the Lincoln Memorial. The pair managed to stop the Memorial from being destroyed and captured Toro, but the Torch managed to escape. (Invaders v1 #6) The Liberty Legion later accepted the Red Skull's challenge to battle the Invaders at Yankee Stadium. There the Whizzer clashed with members of the Invaders until Bucky was able to destroy the device that kept the Invaders under the control of the Red Skull. With the battle over, the Liberty Legion decided to stay together and battle crime on the home front while the Invaders returned to battle in Europe. (Marvel Premiere v1 #30)

The Whizzer and the other members of the Liberty Legion responded to reports that Nazi fighters led by the Skyshark were attacking New York City. They came across the Thing who had travelled to 1942 to recover a cylinder of Vibranium that was accidentally cast back in time. The Legion quickly dismissed the Thing's mission and fought off the invasion before the group went to respond to various attacks on secret war factories. The Whizzer joined Miss America and Blue Diamond in trying to stop Master Man from stealing a new experimental windscreen being developed for aircraft, but failed. This, along with other stolen items were used to finish Brain Drain's massive Swastika shaped airship that then attacked New York. (Marvel Two-In-One Annual v1 #1) Rushing to the ship they found the Thing battling Master Man, U-Man, Skyshark and Brain Drain on his own and helped the time-displaced hero win the battle and recover the time-lost Vibranium cylinder. After the villains were defeated and Brain Drain escaped, the Legion thanked the Thing for his help before the hero returned to his own time. (Marvel Two-In-One v1 #20)

By this time, the Whizzer and Miss America began developing feelings for one another, although they were not quick to reveal them. The Legion eventually come to the aid of defected German scientist Professor Schneider from armored Nazi operative Iron Cross, leading to everyone but the Whizzer being captured. The Whizzer then rushed to find aid, finding the Invaders who had recently returned to the United States. (Invaders v1 #35) The Whizzer led the Invaders to a German U-Boat where his comrades and Professor Schultz were held prisoner. When they attacked, the sub was incapacitated and taking on water, but Iron Cross escaped with Schneider. (Invaders v1 #36) After saving his fellow teammates, the Whizzer, Liberty Legion and Invaders all gave chase to Iron Cross, rescuing Schneider and sending an incapacitated Iron Cross falling into the ocean. (Invaders v1 #37) With the Invaders ranks depleted due to Union Jack and Spitfire staying in England, the Whizzer and Miss America took a temporary leave of absence from the Liberty Legion to join the Invaders and accompanied the group to the west coast to investigate Japanese spy activities. (Invaders v1 #38) They arrived just as Bucky and the Kid Commandos failed to stop U-Man from capturing their team mate Golden Girl from being kidnapped for Lady Lotus. The Whizzer assisted the Invaders in rescuing Golden Girl. (Invaders v1 #39) The group then defended Idlewild Airfield from attack by Baron Blood, another operative of Lady Lotus. (Invaders v1 #40)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Powers and abilities

Whizzer possessed the ability to move at superhuman rates of speed. In his prime the Whizzer could run at speeds of up to 1 mile per second but could double it with effort. His top speed was 60,000 miles per second but he could sustain it only for a few seconds. With middle age, however, the Whizzer's ability to move at superhuman speed was diminished considerably and by time he was old he could only run at 100 mph with the risk of an heart attack. The Whizzer's practical reaction time was about four times faster than an ordinary human being's when the Whizzer was in his prime, and the speed at which his brain processed information was heightened to a level commensurate with his bodily speed, enabling him to perceive his surroundings while traveling at high velocities.

Notes

  • The Robert Frank Whizzer was created by Al Avison where he made his first appearance in USA Comics v1 #1 (August, 1941).
  • There were conflicting accounts of how Madeline Frank died. According to Robert Frank, he and Madeline had stayed at Wundagore for months as the guests of the High Evolutionary and Madeline died a few days after giving birth to healthy twins. However, Bova claimed that the Franks had been at Wundagore for only a matter of days and that Madeline had died only moments after giving birth to her stillborn second child.

In other media

Television

Appearances

  • USA Comics v1: (1941)

External Links

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