Tuesday, June 10, 2025

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 804: THE MAD SCIENTIST OF HELL'S KITCHEN

(The Flame 003, 1940)



The Mad Scientist of Hell's Kitchen is a, you guessed it, mad scientist who has developed one of the classic serums, giving him the option to turn into a huge and super strong ape-man with a simple injection. Of note is the fact that this is not a Jekyll and Hyde situation, as the Mad Scientist and his alter ego the Beast appear to be merely physically and not mentally distinct. Also of note: though the Beast is described as "shaggy" at least once, he appears to in fact be completely hairless.

After the Beast murders the eminent surgeon Doctor Brown, the Flame takes the time to check in on Brown's only known enemy, the Mad Scientist of Hell's Kitchen, and spots the Beast emerging from his warehouse/laboratory.



Though the Beast hands the Flame's ass to him and then goes out and kidnaps a young woman while Our Hero lies senseless in the gutter, he picks himself up, dusts himself off and continues the investigation. The Mad Scientist of Hell's Kitchen does a really phenomenal job of deflecting the Flame's immediate suspicion with his "I'm the only one here and I'm certainly no beast" routine, but then goes and spoils it all by injecting Beast Serum and transforming into the creature directly in front of a window.


(just a little demonstration of both the Beast's level of super strength and the Reverse C panel structure, popular in the early Golden age and always infuriating)



Ultimately, though the Beast proves tough enough to shrug off the Flame's fists, and walks away from a collapsing building, he isn't quite invulnerable enough to resist the force of an extremely tall bit of public art. Once caged, the Beast quickly reverts to the form of the Mad Scientist of Hell's Kitchen and the city is once again safe for its doctors.

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