Blinded By The Light

Can YOU

Name This Marvel Villain??

You certainly wouldn't want this guy around in today's economic climate, because he has absolutely no sympathy for banks:

And brother, you'd better believe that goes double for bankers:

If you think his costume looks familiar, you may be remembering a hero who fought crime in comics' Golden Age, decades ago:

But Bob Grayson, known as the crime-fighting Marvel Boy, has obviously jettisoned any scruples he may have had about killing, and he certainly isn't the hero we knew from the 1950s. He's even picked up a new name:

The Crusader is a prime example of what a little misguided vengeance will do to even the noblest of spirits. Bob Grayson spent his childhood on Uranus, where his father fled with him while Hitler was amassing power in Europe. Yet his father still felt a sense of obligation to his homeworld, so he sent Bob back to be a crimefighter, equipping him with special devices which would supplement his powers. But the time came when Bob needed money in order to secure medical supplies for the Uranus colony, so he applied for a loan--a loan which was turned down by Calvin McClary, the banker lying face-down from the Crusader's assault pictured above. Delayed and forced to get the money he needed through other sources, Bob finally returned to Uranus--only to discover his friends and family had been killed when a natural disaster breached their protective dome. Yet, crazed and broken-hearted, Bob ultimately blamed the corporate banks, thinking that he might have been able to help if he'd only been able to secure the funds he needed in a timely fashion.

So Bob, leaving behind the innocence of his Marvel Boy identity and taking on the vengeful demeanor of the Crusader, returned to Earth to lash out at those he blamed for his loss. It was an interesting twist on the original character by writer Roy Thomas, though it called on readers to believe that a hero of the Golden Age would completely snap and go on a murdering spree against members of a race he had fought to protect--as well as irrationally blaming them for deaths which were caused not by their actions, but by a planetary disaster.

And it would be a tragic, and fatal, end for Bob Grayson, who was incinerated when his wrist bands overloaded while battling the Fantastic Four. And even in the final moment, he lays the cause for his search for "justice" at the doorstep of the last person who would want to see his legacy take such a turn for the worse:

The Crusader's wrist bands survived his death, and they've gone on to be worn and used by any number of super-beings--from "Marvel Man" (a/k/a Quasar), to the daughter of Captain Marvel, to even the Silver Surfer.  Let's hope none of them are ever turned down for a loan.