GUSTAV HAUPTMANN

Real Name: Dr. Gustav Hauptmann

Identity/Class: Human technology user (World War II to modern era)

Occupation: Scientist

Group Membership: Formerly the Nazi party, Third Reich

Affiliations: Dr. Doom (Victor von Doom), Adolf Hitler, Red Skull (see comments)

Enemies: Fantastic Four (Crystal, Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Zorba, unidentified agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (posed as Doom's artist)

Known Relatives: Gert Hauptmann (brother, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Castle Doom, Doomstadt, Latveria;
    formerly Germany (during World War II)

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#85 (April, 1969)

Powers/Abilities: Hauptmann was not an imposing physical specimen, but he was certainly willing to use weapons with lethal force against others. He was apparently an inventive genius, capable of grafting machinery to human bodies, and presumably the design of other forms of weaponry. He was more than happy to torture others, and he likely shared many of the Nazi philosophies (...though he was willing to serve anyone in a position of power).

Hauptmann was once briefly armed with a flame-thrower.

Height: Unrevealed (5'8"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (160 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed (obscured by eyeglasses)
Hair: Bald

History:
(Fantastic Four I#87 (fb) - BTS) - Gustav Hauptmann served Adolf Hitler during World War II -- when the Third Reich fell, he "found another to serve."

(Fantastic Four I#85 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Doom captured Hauptmann from the Red Skull and forced him to serve his cause.

(Fantastic Four I#198 (fb) - BTS/Fantastic Four Annual#15/2 (fb)) - When Zorba was captured by Doom, he had Hauptmann experiment on the former prince's eyes; Hauptmann replaced Zorba's right eye with a cybernetic eye.

(Fantastic Four I#85) - Doom summoned Hauptmann to accompany him as he tested his Killer-Robots on some rebels. Afterward, Hauptmann reminded Doom of his appointment for his royal portrait.

(Fantastic Four I#86) - After Doom released his Killer-Robots on a Latverian village, Hauptmann cautioned Doom that the Fantastic Four might discover the robots' "Achilles heel"-- fortunately for Hauptmann, Doom considered this wise counsel, so he did not slay him. Later, Hauptmann was somewhat distraught that Doom was willing to destroy an entire village to stop the Fantastic Four.

(Fantastic Four I#87) - Hauptmann reported the Fantastic Four's assault on the Castle to Doom; but Doom revealed how he intended to lure the Fantastic Four into his private chamber, and then kill them with his Hyper-Sound device.

   Later, in Doom's art chamber, Hauptmann was armed with a flame-thrower when he confronted Doom's portrait painter; Hauptmann told the artist that he had checked up on him and learned that he was secretly an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division), sent to spy on Doom. Heedless of the artist's warnings about destroying Doom's prized art collection, Hauptmann was about to turn the flame-thrower on the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, just as the Fantastic Four arrived in the room.

   However, Doom was monitoring the confrontation from his private chamber, and he was furious: "What are a few vulnerable lives -- compared to the immortal art that might be destroyed?? It must not happen!! It shall not happen!"

    Doom then re-directed the Hyper-Sound weapon so that it was focused on a single person: Hauptmann. Screaming in agony, Gustav Hauptmann collapsed to the floor...dead.

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "King" Kirby, and "Joltin'" Joe Sinnott.

 Hauptmann is German for "Captain."

    Dr. Doom has demonstrated a high value for art in subsequent stories. In Punisher II#30, the Punisher forced Doom to call off an attack on him by threatening to destroy one of his valuable paintings.

    Doom's statement about capturing Hauptmann from the Red Skull is particularly interesting.

•     I believe the original Nazi Red Skull (Shmidt) was sent into suspended animation BEFORE the end of World War II, yet Hauptmann describes the falling of the Third Reich, and Doom describes taking Hauptmann from the Red Skull.
•     It is still feasible -- as of 2004 -- that Hauptmann could have been active in WWII and still be seen in the modern era. Perhaps he was very young during the War, maybe 21 years old. He described seeing the end of World War II. That would only make him in his mid-seventies as of right now, and that seems reasonable.
      However, if Hauptmann was serving as a scientist (which also seems likely), he PROBABLY would have been at least a decade (if not two) older. That's believable, I guess, but will be stretching things within a decade. Certainly he could have had some exposure to some sort of age-retarding factor. If that's the case, he could have worked for the Nazi Red Skull (Shmidt) after he was revived in the modern era, which is when Doom "captured" him.
•     I have another possibility -- more convoluted, but also more interesting. First, after the fall of the Third Reich, Hauptmann could have gone to work for the Communist Red Skull (Malik), whom most of the world believed to be the original. Hauptmann may or may not have believed that to be the case as well. Either way would fit with his line about working for "another" after the War. He could still have been working for Malik in the modern era when Doom nabbed him, or Doom could have picked him up via time travel at any point.
•     Alternatively, as Doom's WWII adventure shown in the Invaders I#32-33 (when he was "Hans") was later revealed to have occurred via time travel from the pre-modern era in Marvel Universe#2 (fb), he could have encountered Hauptmann (one or both) working directly for the Red Skull (Johann Shmidt), and thus under Hitler (for the most part), too. Doom could have taken one or both of them forward in time to the pre-modern era.
•     Any other ideas?

Maybe the other that Hauptmann served after WWII was Baron Heinrich Zemo -- maybe Hauptmann "acquired" some of his age-retarding Compound X.
--John Kaminski

His first name became official in the Fantastic Four Encyclopedia.

New images by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Gustav Hauptmann has no KNOWN connection to:

• Iron Hand Hauptmann (Jurgen Hauptmann) - one of Red Skull's Exiles. uses iron prosthetic hand--Captain America I#102
• Hauptmann Deutschland (Markus Ettlinger) - see Vormund, member of Schutz Heiliggruppe--Captain America I#387/2
• Hauptmann Englande (Brian Braddock) of Earth-597 - alternate dimensional counterpart of Captain Britain?, Lightning Force, Captain Britain corps--Excalibur I#9
• any other characters with similar names
  

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#87, p5, pan1 (main image - Gustav Hauptmann)
Fantastic Four I#86, p13, pan3 (headshot - Gustav Hauptmann)
Fantastic Four I#85, p6, pan3 (Gustav Hauptmann)
Fantastic Four I#87, p19, pan5 (Gustav Hauptmann gets hit by Hyper-Sound waves; Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch [background])

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#85-87 (April-June, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four Annual#15 (1980) - Doug Moench (writer), Tom Sutton (artist), Jim Salicrup (editor)

First posted: 02/09/2004
Last updated: 10/22/2023