Real Name: Abner Jonas

Identity/Class: Human, behind-the-scenes planner

Occupation: Politician, Reform Party mayoral candidate

Group Membership: Leader of the Organization

Affiliations: Ani-Men (Ape-Man/Gordon Keefer, Bird-Man/Henry Hawk, Cat-Man/Townshend Horgan, Frog-Man/Francois LeBlanc); Reform Party (Bernard Harris, Milton Monroe), Deborah Harris, Phillip Sterling

Enemies: Daredevil (Matt Murdock)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The guy who wears the same ring as Abner Jonas (see comments)

Base of Operations: Chemco Building, Manhattan, New York City (he used this as a base for the Organization; he himself never physically met with anyone as the Organizer)

First Appearance: Daredevil I#10 (October, 1965)

Powers/Abilities: The Organizer had access to some advanced equipment, including that which he used to outfit the Ani-Men as well as his fancy "communicate through other people's televisions" device (see comments). He operated strictly behind the scenes, communicating with agents over closed-circuit broadcast. He was a master planner and could coordinate numerous operations at once. Unfortunately for him, he didn't remember to take off his big, honking ring when he appeared as the Organizer, and made sure to point it at everyone.

He utilized the original Ani-Men, as well as a number of uncostumed henchmen to carry out his plots. The Organizer was more than willing to kill or frame any of his allies (political or criminal) if it would further his ends.

Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 217 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown, graying

History:
(Daredevil I#10 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the wealthy Abner Jonas became the masked Organizer, head of the criminal Organization--one of his accomplices, Deborah Harris, became infatuated with him.

   Jonas became the mayoral candidate for New York City for a third political group known as the Reform Party. However, he sought greater power--he wished to take control of the political party, as well as the whole city.

(Daredevil I#10) - As the Organizer, he recruited and outfitted the original Ani-Men (although that name for them actually came later) to serve as his agents. He sent them out on a city-wide crime-wave, stealing valuables and information to benefit his political career. He also commanded the Ani-Men to direct false attacks on members of the Reform Party, to garner sympathy, and hopefully win votes.

   The Reform Party attempted to recruit Foggy Nelson to join them as their District Attorney candidate, using Deborah to influence him, as she was a former classmate on whom Nelson had a crush, and the daughter of Bernard Harris, the candidate for borough president. Foggy, Matt Murdoch, and Karen Page attended a gala on a yacht for the Reform Party; after they set sail, Matt's ears picked up a message from the Organizer to Frog-Man, causing him to realize that the Organizer was aboard the yacht, and a member of the Reform Party. As the yacht returned to the harbor, Frog-Man surfaced and fired a spear gun; Matt was able to swing one of the yacht's sail booms to deflect the spear from hitting its presumed victim, Abner Jonas (see comments).

   Daredevil thwarted several missions by members of the Ani-Men, causing the Organizer to take increasing efforts to put an end to him. The Organizer had Daredevil duped into opening a bank vault to free a man supposedly trapped inside; but the man turned out to be Cat-Man, who gassed Daredevil, and the Ani-Men cleaned out the vault, framing DD for the theft.

   The Organizer next had his Ani-Men stage a kidnapping of Debbie Harris (actually his ally) to gain control over the love-struck Foggy. However, Daredevil succeeded in capturing Cat-Man during the kidnapping, and the criminal was convinced to reveal information to the police to reduce his own sentence. Ape-Man was sent to silence Cat-Man, but Daredevil fought him off, and learned in the process that Debbie was allied with the Organizer.

(Daredevil I#11) - Daredevil freed the "kidnapped" Debbie Harris, hoping to follow her back to the Organizer, but she returned to her own apartment instead. As he waited outside on the ledge, Daredevil overheard Debbie telephoning the Organizer, who ordered her to concentrate her efforts on Foggy.

   The next day, Matt and Foggy set a trap for the Organizer by having a meeting with the three top candidates for the Reform Party: Bernard Harris, Abner Jonas, and Milton Monroe. They told the trio that they had evidence of the Organizer's identity locked in their safe; but even though he fell for it, Jonas evaded capture without them learning his identity. However, with the Reform Party lagging in the polls, the Organizer did become more desperate, threatening to assassinate the incumbent mayor; when Debbie refused to have any part of this, he threatened her life. Daredevil vowed to protect her and she gave him what little information she had on the Organizer.

   To stop the assassination plot, Daredevil went to the mayor's mansion, where Frog-Man was placing a bomb; after defeating him, Daredevil disarmed the bomb and switched costumes with the unconscious Frog-Man, to impersonate the Organizer's underling. The bogus Frog-Man then returned to the Chemco Building and used the camera built into his costume to transmit the Organizer's image and voice to televisions across the city as the Organizer pushed a button to detonate the bomb. When the assassination attempt failed, the disguised Daredevil fought off Ape-Man and Bird-Man, but the Organizer had Daredevil dropped through a trap door, while he and his two remaining costumed henchmen escaped.

   A short time later, while Jonas attended a press conference at the campaign offices of the Reform Party, he had a prerecorded broadcast of the Organizer address the city--he had sent Milton Monroe off on a mission out of town, hoping to frame Monroe as the Organizer. But Foggy Nelson correctly speculated that the broadcast could have been prerecorded; just then, Ape-Man and Bird-Man arrived and attempted to kidnap Jonas. While Daredevil defeated the two Ani-Men, Foggy tackled Jonas as he tried to flee. Afterward, Daredevil explained that the Organizer was always wearing the same ring as Jonas (which DD had detected with his radar sense); Jonas was subsequently convicted by the testimony of Debbie Harris and sent to prison.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Wally Wood, and Bob Powell.

Phillip Sterling, the Organizer's assistant (not even seen in these stories) went on to become the Exterminator, and later the Death-Stalker.

Deborah Harris went on to marry Foggy...and ruin his life.

The Organizer was described as "the most mysterious menace (alliteration, the presence of Stan Lee) ever to challenge Daredevil". His actual motives and goals were the only things that were mysterious, with that frickin' ring sticking out in almost every picture he was in. I guess since it was only issue #10, he beats out the Owl, the Purple Man, Matador, Stilt-Man, and the other 5-6 guys DD fought as "most mysterious" so far.

I bet if the Organizer caught Daredevil, he would have hooked him up to some slow, easy-to-escape death-trap while he explained his history, motives, and plans.

Also, if this story had been written in the 1990s, when Daredevil explained how the ring had given the Organizer away, Jonas would have said, "D'oh!"

Although the Organizer could be seen wearing the ring many times throughout this two-part story, I could only find two panels where the ring (see red arrows) is visible on Jonas' hand before his secret was finally revealed..

He didn't seem to particularly have much technological prowess, so I'd speculate that Jonas had some past association with the Tinkerer (Phineas Mason), which would explain where he got all his advanced equipment and the Ani-Men's costumes.

And that whole bit with Frog-Man firing the spear at Jonas makes no sense--unless he was suicidal, why would the Organizer have used his henchman to assassinate himself? My guess is that Jonas wasn't Frog-Man's intended target, but Daredevil just assumed it because Jonas happened to be in the way of the actual target (perhaps Bernard Harris or Milton Monroe?).
--Ron Fredricks

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

New images by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Organizer (Abner Jonas) should not be confused with:

• Abner Jenkins - aka the Beetle, now known as MACH-V of the Thunderbolts--Strange Tales I#123
• Wrecker (Frank Smith) - Giant-Man (Pym) foe who wore a similar hooded mask--Tales to Astonish I#63
• any other characters with similar names

The Chemco Building has no known connections to:

• Cordco - aka Cord Conglomerate, founded by Edwin Cord--Iron Manual Mark 3#1 (fb) - BTS
• any other characters, businesses, or buildings with similar names

The Chemco Building An eight-story building located near the waterfront in New York City, it was the secret headquarters of the Organization, and where Abner Jonas conducted his criminal activities as the Organizer. It contained all the advanced weaponry the Organization used for its crimes, as well as a powerful transmitter which gave Jonas the ability to override conventional local television and radio signals with his own broadcasts. (Note: My guess is that there was a separate Chemco factory, and that the first two floors of this building were used for administrative work, to make it appear to be a legitimate business; also, I'd speculate that Jonas used an alias as the listed owner of the building.) --Daredevil I#10 (10, 11

images: (without ads)
Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook, p37 (main image - Organizer; refurbed version on Daredevil I#10, p10, pan4)
Daredevil I#10, p16, pan5 (headshot - Abner Jonas)
Daredevil I#11, p9, pan8 (Organizer, about to press button to detonate bomb)
Daredevil I#11, p18, pan2 (Abner Jonas revealed to be the Organizer; Foggy Nelson, Daredevil [background])
Daredevil I#10, p8, pan7 (Abner Jonas nearly gets hit by spear fired by Frog-Man; Matt Murdock)
Daredevil I#10, p16, pan6 (Abner Jonas)
Daredevil I#10, p10, pan1-3 (Chemco Building)

Appearances:
Daredevil I#10 (October, 1965) - Wally Wood (writer/inks), Bob Powell (pencils), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#11 (December, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Bob Powell (pencils), Wally Wood (inks)

First posted: 09/08/2001 (?)
Last updated: 09/17/2024