The Destroyer (Keen Marlow)

The Destroyer first appeared as the cover subject and in a story in Mystic Comics #6 (Oct. 1941), from Marvel Comics' predecessor Timely Comics. One of the World War II-era heroes of what fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books, the character was one of the first co-created by Marvel writer-editor Stan Lee. As comics historian and former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas notes, "Stan's most popular superhero creation before the Fantastic Four was the Destroyer." The artist co-creator is uncertain: the story penciler-inker was Jack Binder, but the cover artist, who may have drawn the character first, was Alex Schomburg.

The Destroyer ran as the cover feature of Mystic #6 and of the remaining four issues of that 10-issue superhero anthology, and while less popular than the company's Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner, he went on to star in issues of nearly every Timely superhero comic-book series %u2014 becoming the company's most-published character outside of those three stars and the Angel.