Real Name: Inapplicable

Identity/Class: Terrestrial robot

Occupation: Engine of destruction

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Unidentified scientist (re-builder)

Enemies: Hulk (Robert Bruce Banner), Jarella, Thor (Odinson)

Known Relatives: Jasper Whyte (creator)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Currently unrevealed;
   formerly Santa Fe, New Mexico;
   formerly Manhattan, New York City, New York

First Appearance: Thor I#174 (March, 1970)

Powers/Abilities: The Crypto-Man possessed great strength and durability, the extent of which was dependent upon the energy being fed to it. Its first incarnation possessed half of Thor's strength (Class 50); it later doubled that, and eventually went to an even higher level of power.

Initially, it possessed only minimal reasoning skills and had a limited vocabulary (I...POSSESS...POWER!); it followed its programming to either destroy or capture objects or beings.

Whyte preferred to supervise and control the Crypto-Man in its immediate vicinity with a handheld cylindrical "Control Beam."

The Crypto-Man's second user preferred remote-control--he could see via the robot's eyes, speak via its voice, and could boost its power from a distance as well.

Height: Unrevealed (7'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (1,500 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Yellow
Hair: Inapplicable

History:
(Thor I#174 (fb) - BTS) - The Crypto-Man was constructed by Dr. Jasper Whyte to be the first in an army of Crypto-Men, with which he planned to take over the world.

(Thor I#174) - Whyte ambushed Thor with a "Hypno-Stun Ray" and then used another of his devices to siphon half of Thor's power from him.

   After driving to his warehouse laboratory, Whyte transferred the stolen power into the Crypto-Man, and then sent it on a rampage through the streets of Manhattan--as planned, this drew the attention of Thor, who was now at half-strength. During their battle, the Crypto-Man stunned Thor and wandered off. Jasper could not control his excitement, and confronted the dazed Thor, claiming victory for himself and admitting his actions.

   Following its programming, the Crypto-Man headed for the new atomic power electric complex near the waterfront, so that Whyte could hold the city hostage. However, Whyte's mother was a patient of Don Blake, and as they followed the robot's path of destruction, Thor mentioned to Jasper that he would be putting his mother in jeopardy with his actions. Whyte was devastated by this realization, and when he saw the Crypto-Man getting too close to the reactor core, he rushed the robot and overloaded its circuits with his Control Beam--the overload caused an explosion which killed Whyte. With the robot destroyed, Thor felt his full strength return to his limbs.

(Incredible Hulk II#205 (fb) - BTS) - An unidentified scientist found the remains of the Crypto-Man and brought them to Santa Fe, New Mexico--he not only repaired the robot, but also built a special energy-dynamo--based on Whyte's own designs--that doubled the Crypto-Man's power.

(Incredible Hulk II#205) - The scientist reactivated the Crypto-Man and sent it to steal something from a bank vault. After completing its mission, the robot encountered Bruce Banner and Jarella on the streets of Santa Fe--while viewing its surroundings via the Crypto-Man's sensors, the scientist recognized neither of the two, but he mistakenly presumed that Jarella's green skin indicated that she had similar power to the Hulk, who had recently been seen in that area. The scientist directed the Crypto-Man to capture Jarella, so that he could siphon her strength into it.

   Of course, Banner turned into the Hulk, and the two powerful creatures battered each other. In the course of their struggle, the Crypto-Man hurled an automobile at the Hulk; the projectile instead struck a building, causing a section of brick wall to collapse, and Jarella was crushed by the debris while pushing aside a young boy (see comments) caught in the path of its fall.

   As the Hulk rushed to try to uncover Jarella, the Crypto-Man saw an opening and smashed him from behind (Big mistake--running away would have been a much better option). The Hulk, enraged beyond belief, savagely attacked the robot. From a distance, the scientist transmitted more and more power to the Crypto-Man, but to no avail, for the Hulk eventually shattered the robot into pieces. The resultant power feedback caused the scientist's equipment to explode, which killed him and maimed his body beyond all recognition.

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee and Jack "King" Kirby.

The Hulk actually ducked the car thrown by the Crypto-Man, which collapsed the building that killed Jarella. Fortunately, the Hulk is too dim to have realized that, and so neither he nor Banner suffer from the guilt of "Gwen Stacy syndrome."

Per Degaton adds: I was checking hulklibrary.com, and it turns out that Jarella gave her life in vain, because that little boy she saw and saved was only an illusion created by the Dark Gods! This was revealed by the Watcher in What If I#23. (see Earth-4080 / Hulk was a Barbarian)

Considering all the other junked robots he collected, I'm surprised that the Reanimator didn't pick up the pieces of the Crypto-Man.--Ron Fredricks

Profile by Snood. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Crypto-Man has no known connections to:

Jasper Whyte had no known connections to:

The unidentified scientist had no known connections to:

Jasper Whyte

A mad-scientist type through-and-through, he credited himself as the world's greatest micro-electronic engineer. Among his creations were "Illusion-Beams," a "Hypno Stun Ray" and a device that could siphon half the strength from Thor.

Seeking revenge on those who ridiculed him in the past, Whyte designed and built the robotic Crypto-Man, and was bold enough to ambush and steal power from Thor all by himself. After endowing the Crypto-Man with half of Thor's strength, he unleashed the robot and sought to take over the world.

But when he realized that the Crypto-Man's rampage was putting his own mother at risk, Whyte sacrificed his life to stop his creation.

Don Blake later told Whyte's mother that he had died a hero.

--Thor I#174 ([174 (fb)], 174

unidentified scientist

An anonymous scientist, he maintained his laboratory in "a shadow-strewn warehouse somewhere on the seamier side of Santa Fe."

He rebuilt and reactivated the Crypto-Man, improving on Whyte's designs and doubling the robot's power.

All of his life, he had been a nobody, but he thought that the Crypto-Man would end his days of anonymity.

However, his body was damaged beyond all recognition by the explosion caused when the Crypto-Man was destroyed by the Hulk.

His only identifying feature was his brown hair.

--Incredible Hulk II#205 ([205 (fb)], 205

images: (without ads)
Incredible Hulk II#205, cover (Main Image - Crypto-Man attacks Hulk and Jarella (foreground))
Thor I#174, p4, pan6 (Headshot - Crypto-Man)
Thor I#174, p5, pan1 (Crypto-Man (rear view) being empowered by Jasper Whyte (background))
Incredible Hulk II#205, p14, pan1 (Crypto-Man, smashed to pieces by Hulk)
Thor I#174, p2, pan5 (Jasper Whyte)
Thor I#174, p19, pan4 (Jasper Whyte runs to stop Crypto-Man with Control Beam)
Incredible Hulk II#205, p4, pan1 (unidentified scientist (silhouette); Crypto-Man (background))
Incredible Hulk II#205, p15, pan1 (power feedback overloads equipment of unidentified scientist)
Incredible Hulk II#205, p15, pan3 (unidentified scientist, dead after explosion)

Appearances:
Thor I#174 (March, 1970) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Bill Everett (inks/colors), Sam Rosen (letters)
Incredible Hulk II#205 (November, 1976) - Len Wein (writer/editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), Joe Staton (inks), Glynis Wein (colors), John Costanza (letters)

First Posted: 06/30/2002
Last updated: 08/21/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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