MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 950: HANS MEYER

(Daredevil Comics 004, 1941)

Bart "Daredevil" Hill and his fiance Tonia Saunders are accompanying their friends Jeff and Sue Hart on their honeymoon (!) yacht trip when they encounter the killer combo of rough stormy seas and a mysterious lighthouse that sends them right onto a reef.

Happily for all involved (except two sailors who are swept overboard and never mentioned again) the yacht is merely wedged rather than sinking and there is a convenient nearby island. An inhabited one, even, as is revealed when the owner, a Hans Meyer, boats over to check on his new neighbours. 

As you might have noted from when he described himself as the local dictator , Meyer is a prime creep who uses a floating lighthouse to draw ships to his island so that he can hunt their crews for sport, a la Count Zaroff of "The Most Dangerous Game" fame. He barely waits until breakfast is over before he hunts and nearly kills Jeff Hart, and only the Daredevil's timely intervention prevents the coup de grace.

I must give Meyer credit here: unlike most people in comics who see a costumed super-hero popping up well outside of their normal territory but coincidentally proximal to some people from back home, he actually puts two and two together and identifies the Daredevil as Bart Hill, and he loves it. I imagine that when you hunt humans for sport you are just itching for the day a vigilante-type super-hero crosses your path.

I also have to give it to the creative minds behind the Daredevil for continuing to think up reasons for him to be wearing that spiked belt. "It protects him against bear hugs" is a valid, if very specific, reason!

Having trapped the Daredevil in a pit, Meyer gets to brag a bit, and we learn the other part of his misanthropy, as foreshadowed by his leering at the ladies in his initial appearance. Not only does he hunt and murder the men who land on his island but he "marries" any women who do, and as he very conspicuously does not have any women on his island, we must assume the worst for them.

Despite seemingly bringing along every weapon he owns (including some very uncomfortable looking knives just kind of shoved through a strap around his ankle), Meyer's hero hunt goes poorly. Through sheer chance, however, he manages to bury and seemingly kill Daredevil by starting an avalanche.

Meyer immediately scurries back home to marry Tonia Saunders against her will (and just why is the officiant in a cool mask, you ask? Because it was on the cover that way, as far as I can tell) and then gets himself shot by Jeff Hart, who Meyer never actually went back to kill after he was interrupted in the first place and who has seemingly been crawling slowly toward his vengeance the entire time since. All in all, it's a memorable honeymoon for the newly-minted Mr & Mrs Hart!

Categorized in: Location (Pacific Island), Murder (Hunting Humans for Sport), Real Folk - Fictional (Count Zaroff)