IRON MASK

Real Name: Don Hertz

Identity/Class: Human (late 19th Century Old West and modern era)

Occupation: Blacksmith by day, criminal mastermind by night

Group Membership: Former leader of the Circus of Crime (Bennington Brown, Doctor Danger/Jules Bergen, Fat Man/Lee Portman)

Affiliations: Automated Human Resource droids from the 53rd century, Hurricane (Harry Kane), Living Totem, Mud Eaters (Rarrr, others), Rattler (Heath Benson), Red Raven (Redford Raven)

Enemies: Sam Hawk, Kid Colt (Blaine Colt), Dog Logan, Phantom Rider (Lincoln Slade), Rawhide Kid (Johnny Clay), Mr. Thompson, Two-Gun Kid (Matt Hawk), West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Mockingbird/Barbara Barton, Tigra/Greer Nelson, Wonder Man/Simon Williams), X-Men students (Eye-Boy/Trevor Hawkins, Genesis/Evan Sabah Nur, Glob/Robert Herman, Kid Omega/Quentin Quire, Shark-Girl/Iara dos Santos, Sprite/Jia Jing)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: American midwest, usually Arizona or Missouri (@ late 1800's)

First Appearance: Kid Colt, Outlaw#110 (May, 1963)

Powers/Abilities: Iron Mask possessed no powers; initially, he wore an iron mask and an iron vest that made those sections of his body impervious to bullets; later, he developed full body armor, making him immune to bullets all over his body.

Height: 6'
Weight: 176 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:
(Kid Colt, Outlaw#110 (fb) - BTS) - Iron Mask, a sinister blacksmith wearing an iron helmet and vest, built a reputation in the Old West as he seemed unkillable-- no one knew about the iron vest, giving him an almost supernatural reputation.

(Kid Colt, Outlaw#110) - For his latest crime, Iron Mask robbed the home of Mr. Thompson, a local rancher. Thompson put up a fight, but his bullets simply bounced off Iron Mask's chest. For resisting him, Iron Mask beat him horribly.

   Unknown to Iron Mask, Kid Colt had been befriended by Thompson, and he decided to track Iron Mask down for vengeance. Certain that Iron Mask would need a blacksmith to create his helmet, he tracked down the local smith, but he denied involvement. That evening, Iron Mask robbed the payroll as it arrived in town from the train. Kid Colt was there to stop him, but his bullets were useless, and Iron Mask knocked him unconscious.

   Colt promised the local lawmen that if they gave him one hour, he could apprehend Iron Mask. He rode to the blacksmith's shop, and sure enough, Iron Mask was there. This time when he drew, Colt shot Iron Mask in the arm, and he dropped his gun! Colt ripped open Iron Mask's shirt, revealing the iron vest that stopped all the bullets before, and beneath the mask was the blacksmith himself! Iron Mask was taken off to prison, and Colt was allowed to ride away, into the sunset.

(Kid Colt, Outlaw#114) - Iron Mask proved to be a model prisoner, and was allowed to work in the prison metal shop. Before long, he had re-fashioned his helmet, and built a complete set of armor, rendering him invulnerable! He broke out of the prison, snapping the locks with his iron finger, and resumed his career of robberies, but the thing he wanted the most was to get revenge on Kid Colt!

   Kid Colt was, as usual, on the run from the law, but when the local lawmen heard Iron Mask was a comin' to town, they left the Kid alone to deal with him. Colt decided to make a break for it, but ran into Iron Mask by mistake! Unable to escape him, he tried shooting Iron Mask's arm again-- but this time, it didn't work! Then, Iron Mask shot back, and Colt fell from his horse, nearly dead.

   Having revived, Colt wanted to join the effort to stop Iron Mask's assault on the town, but the lawmen refused. It wasn't until the local sheriff shot at Iron Mask-- and was hit by the ricochet of his own bullet-- that he changed his mind, and set Kid Colt free! When Iron Mask saw that Colt was alive, he forgot about robbing the banks, and pursued him! Colt tried lassoing him, but it didn't work, he snapped the rope! Then Colt rode off on his horse, Steel, and Iron Mask pursued him! Colt led him through a lake and to the other side. There, Iron Mask was ready to slap leather, but found he was in for a surprise-- riding through the lake had rusted his armor, making him unable to move! Humiliated, his armor was stripped off, and Colt returned him to the law.

(Kid Colt, Outlaw#121) - The Rawhide Kid sought out Sam Hawk, the famous marshal known as "the Man-Hunter", to help him save Silvertown from Iron Mask, who had escaped jail. Hawk, however, arrested Rawhide instead, and placed him in prison next to Kid Colt, whom he had captured earlier that day. Colt broke out to go and stop Iron Mask, and Rawhide followed, hoping to enlist Colt's aid. Initially, they scuffled, but finally realized they were on the same side, and joined forces.

   Sam Hawk and his men had meanwhile engaged Iron Mask in Silvertown, but his full body armor once again made him invincible. Iron Mask was just about to kill Hawk, when the Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt appeared, guns blazing! Iron Mask's gang scattered, but he confidently strode forth to deal with the Kids himself. The Rawhide Kid lead him down the town's streets, right over a set of wooden planks-- Iron Mask collapsed them, and fell into a pool of water! In danger of drowning, Iron Mask surrendered to them.

(Kid Colt, Outlaw#127) - Again free from prison and wearing new armor, Iron Mask enlisted three old foes of Kid Colt's-- Bennington Brown, Dr. Danger and the Fat Man-- in a scheme to rob the town of Phoenix, Arizona, as its new governor was sworn in. The four owlhoots disguised themselves as circus performers, with Iron Mask wearing the costume of a clown, his armor on beneath. To their surprise, Kid Colt appeared in town, hoping for a pardon from the governor, and they defeated him, earning a shot at entertaining the governor's dance that evening.

   That evening at the dance, they revealed their true identities and began to rob the wealthy townspeople, but Kid Colt, having broken out of jail, arrived and defeated Iron Mask's cohorts. Iron Mask ran out of town into a cave, and managed to empty the Kid's gun by letting him shoot him, but Colt defeated him by knocking him to the ground, rattling him unconscious.

(West Coast Avengers II#18) - For his next scheme, Iron Mask not only re-enlisted the Fat Man and Dr. Danger, but also hired Hurricane, Rattler, the Red Raven, and the Living Totem, along with a gang of owlhoots to commit large scale crimes. This drew the attention of the Rawhide Kid, the Phantom Rider (Lincoln Slade) and the Two-Gun Kid (but strangely, not Kid Colt). Joined by the time-travelling West Coast Avengers, they were able to defeat the entire gang, including the Living Totem, whom Iron Mask had been keeping as a special reserve. Shocked by the Totem's easy defeat, Iron Mask tried to run, but was caught by the Avenger Mockingbird, and joined his gang in prison.

(Wolverine & the X-Men I#27 (fb) - BTS) - According to Iron Mask he had crossed paths with shamans, sasquatches and flying gunslingers. He also claimed that he had head-butted 30 marshals to death in one night and had been hanged three times, but Hell couldn't hold him. (see comments)

(Wolverine & the X-Men I#26 (fb) - BTS) - Iron Mask and his gang were riding all over Missouri with nothing but beans and stale bread in their bellies.

(Wolverine & the X-Men I#26) - Dog Logan used a Time Diamond to bring Iron Mask and his gang to the Savage Land in the modern era.

(Wolverine & the X-Men I#27) - Iron Mask and his gang were attacked by the ferocious Shark-Girl. They had her cornered and Iron Mask stopped his men from shooting her when he realized that she could talk. He asked her where they were, how they got there and if there was anything worth stealing, but she refused to tell him anything. Iron Mask head-butted her and was going to shoot her in the head only to be knocked out by Dog Logan's Adamantium club.

  , Iron Mask hid in the bushes with Rarrr of the Mud People and one of the futuristic robots to form a plan of assault against Dog Logan and the X-Men students, who were in the process of defeating their allies. They joined forces and after Dog was knocked out by Rarrr the tides quickly turned.

(Wolverine & the X-Men I#28) - Iron Mask was knocked out again by Dog Logan's club, but when he regained consciousness he tried to shoot Dog in the head. Kid Omega stopped the bullet with telekinesis. Iron Mask didn't care and just held Dog at gunpoint because he still had more bullets in his gun and wanted answers for how he and his gang got there. Dog touched his Time Diamond again to send Iron Mask and the other time-displaced warriors back (or forward) in time.

(Wolverine & the X-Men I#22 (fb) - BTS) - Iron Mask was killed in 1887.

(Wolverine & the X-Men I#22) - The witch Calcabrina at some point came in possession of Iron Mask's coffin with his remains that were still inside his armor.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Keller.

As Fred Hembeck once observed, Iron Mask was "the Dr. Doom of the Old West". Say, perhaps there's a story in that? Iron Mask journeyed to Tibet and founded an order of monks in his latter days, monks who would one day take in a lost Latverian traveler, and bestow their former master's armor upon...naaaaaaah.

A question/ponderance from Omar Karindu: Any chance Stan Lee knew about Ned Kelly, the real-life Aussie outlaw of the late 1800s who wore bulletproof armor and a mask in his famed last stand?

Thanks to Brandon Nash for pointing out Iron Mask's real name from Fat Man's profile in Avengers: Roll Call (2012).

In Wolverine & the X-Men I#27 Iron Mask had apparently a few tall tales to tell to his gang. While the flying gunslingers could be a reference to the West Coast Avengers, the rest of his claims seemed a bit much...or maybe not. Who knows?

Iron Mask has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook.

Image upgrages by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Prime Eternal. Update by Markus Raymond (Wolverine & the X-Men).

CLARIFICATIONS:
Iron Mask has known known connection to:

• The Monster in the Iron Mask - an alien--Tales of Suspense I#31