More Mighty Marvel Superheroes by Linda Rosenkrantz on Creators.com

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More Mighty Marvel Superheroes

Since the Walt Disney Co. has acquired the Marvel Comics franchise, and since "Iron Man" I and 2 were gigantic hits, we can expect a lot more superhero movies to follow in their wake.

Already on the drawing board are "Thor," to be directed by the distinguished Kenneth Branagh, and the patriotic "Captain America," not to mention the all-star "The Avengers," which brings together Iron Man, Thor and Captain America in one film.

But what other possibilities lurk in the pages of Marvel comics, all of those characters far less well known than the Big Three — Superman, Batman and Spiderman — just as Iron Man was? Here are a few — not all necessarily movie material.

The Angel, who appeared in the very first issue of Marvel Comics and hung on through 1946. Probably the only superhero to sport an Errol Flynn moustache, the Angel was clad in a blue costume under a red cape, but had no everyday identity. As time went on, the villains he encountered became more and more fanciful — a werewolf, zombies, living skeletons, a Gestapo-connected green character known as the Python and an Armless Tiger Man, who gnawed his victims to death. Most hideous of all was Dr. Hyde, whose modus operandi was plucking out eyeballs. A new Angel appeared in 1963, as a member of the X-Men.

Ant Man, aka Henry Pym, made his debut in "The Man in the Ant Hill" in 1962, conceived by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. Pym was a scientist who succeeded in reducing himself to insect size; later, he became a costumed superhero whose cybernetic helmet enabled him to communicate with ants, which he could command as a kind of army, contending with various communist agents, the criminal scientist Egghead and the Scarlet Beetle, a mutated bug out to conquer the world. Pym hooked up with Janet Van Dyne, who morphed into a winged superheroine known as the Wasp.

The Black Panther. Lee and Kirby also introduced the first black superhero in 1966.

Hero T'Challa was born into an isolated African tribe in the fictional land of Wakanda, where his tribal chief father was murdered by an American, leading the youth to vow vengeance. His wearing of the mask and costume of the Black Panther hearkened back to the patron god of his people, thus linking tribal ritual with futuristic high-tech invention.

Sub-Mariner, aka Prince Namor, was Marvel's longest-running superhero, debuting in Marvel Comics No. 1 in1939, beginning life as a supervillain. The back-story was that explorer Leonard McKenzie, on a scientific expedition to the Antarctic, accidentally damages an undersea kingdom later identified as Atlantis, killing most of its inhabitants. A liaison with its blue-skinned Princess Fen produces the pointy-eared, winged-footed Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner, who, during World War II, uses his superhuman strength against the Axis forces.

The Human Torch, one of the Fantastic Four, aka Johnny Storm, teenage racecar enthusiastic, was a blond in a red suit, capable of melting iron bars, throwing fireballs and turning his flame on and off at will, even once burning down a block of old tenement houses infested with the black plague. He adopted a sidekick from a traveling circus — Toto, the fire-eating boy.

The Patriot was a hero with no superpowers. Like Superman, he was a reporter in everyday life — Jeff Mace — who would don a red-white-and-blue outfit and go after spies and saboteurs.

Among the many others in the Marvel oeuvre are the Black Marvel, who became a hero after wandering into an Indian camp and was trained by the Blackfoot tribe; the Blazing Skull, who operated — in costume — in war-devastated Europe; Mr. Fantastic, the plastic man; and the Human Top, noted for his — you guessed it — spinning abilities.

Linda Rosenkrantz has edited Auction magazine and authored 18 books, most recently "Beyond Ava & Aidan: The Enlightened Guide to Naming your Baby" (St. Martin's Press). Visit her baby names website at http://nameberry.com. She cannot answer letters personally. To find out more about Linda Rosenkrantz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.