Real Name: Sandu

Identity/Class: Human mutant (see comments); temporary magic user

Occupation: Carnival mentalist; would-be world conqueror

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Former agent of Loki

Enemies: Thor (Odinson)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Master of the Supernatural", "Sandu the Great" (as billed at carnival)

Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York City;
    unidentified carnival;
    unidentified sultan's palace (resembled the Taj Mahal; transported to New York);
    Earth's moon (where he kept his loot)

First Appearance: Journey into Mystery I#91/1 (April, 1963)

Powers/Abilities: Sandu originally possessed limited extrasensory perception, enabling him to scan the superficial thoughts of those around him, thus allowing him to guess their names and secrets.

When empowered by Loki, Sandu's telepathy was greatly increased, giving him the ability to erase the memories of others; he also gained powers of levitation and teleportation. Along with his own body, he could mentally lift and transport an entire building, as well as stop bullets in midair, and turn missiles back on the fighter planes which shot them. He could teleport himself and other objects to distant locations (such as the Moon) or even to other unspecified dimensions.

After Sandu lost his powers, everything went back to the way it was before he gained them -- this may be related to the magic energy which empowered him, or it may indicate that his abilities were only elaborate illusions.

Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black

History:
(Journey into Mystery I#91/1 / Thor: First Thunder#3 (fb)) - Born a mutant with low-level telepathy (see comments), the past of Sandu is largely unrevealed; he eventually utilized his limited extrasensory abilities to entertain crowds at a carnival -- Dr. Don Blake (a former mortal identity of Thor) and Nurse Jane Foster were among the spectators observing his mind-reading show.

   Loki, at the time exiled from Earth by Odin, sought a human vessel to use against Thor, so he magnified Sandu's mutant power a thousandfold -- he sensed Sandu's evil nature, and knew that he would use his enhanced powers for criminal purposes.

   Sandu first utilized his increased abilities to steal the wallets of his audience; next, he stole cash from a race track by levitating it away. He then progressed to levitating and teleporting an entire bank building -- Sandu telepathically erased the memories of the incident from the minds of all the bank's employees and patrons, thus leaving no witnesses to his crime.

(Journey into Mystery I#91/1 - BTS) - Sandu's supernatural crime-spree continued -- among his robberies, he levitated a train carrying gold bullion off its tracks, and made every painting in a museum vanish; Sandu teleported his loot to the Moon, and he grew more confident to commit even bolder criminal acts.

(Journey into Mystery I#91/1) - Sandu transported a sultan's palace from halfway around the world to use as his own home, for he now desired to become master of the world. He easily defeated the police and the military whenever they tried to capture him. But when Sandu levitated the entire United Nations Building, threatening to cast it into space if the delegates didn't make him absolute ruler of Earth, he drew the attention of Thor, just as Loki had hoped.

   As Thor flew to challenge him, Sandu teleported some steel girders from a construction site in his path, easily knocking the thunder god unconscious when he collided with them. The stunned Thor plummeted to the ground and landed in a ditch, so Sandu levitated some chains around the thunder god to securely bind him, then he levitated an entire building on top of Thor, pinning him in the ditch.

   Thor revived to find himself weakened by the fall, bound in chains, and trapped; but Odin sent two ethereal Valkyries to deliver Thor's belt of strength to him, which enabled the thunder god to break free from the chains (see comments). Thor then rapidly spun his enchanted hammer and bored a tunnel to escape from beneath the building.

   Thor confronted Sandu again and hurled his hammer at the villain, but Sandu merely teleported out of its path. Then Sandu teleported himself and the enchanted mallet to another dimension -- unknown to Sandu, if he would have just waited one minute, Thor would have been transformed into Don Blake, and he would have made an easy victim; but instead, Sandu was overly impressed with his own abilities, so he decided that he would take the hammer for his own.

   But being unaware that the enchanted hammer could not be lifted (...for none but Thor was worthy to possess it), Sandu was unable to physically raise it from the ground, so he attempted to mentally levitate it instead; however, he proved unable to do this either, no matter how hard he concentrated. Straining his power to the utmost, Sandu suffered from a "mental short-circuit," and he lost his Loki-enhanced abilities.

   With Sandu's powers gone, both he and the hammer returned from the other dimension, and Thor regained his hammer just in time. When Sandu lost his powers, all his deeds were somehow undone -- no longer being a threat, he was easily defeated and taken into police custody.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Joe Sinnott.

Thor could easily have broken some chains and escaped from Sandu's trap on his own. I'm guessing Sandu used his mental powers to convince Thor that he could not escape, and either the belt of strength or Odin's magic allowed him to overcome the illusion.

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

The story with Sandu was retold and expanded upon in Thor: First Thunder#3, wherein Loki confirmed that Sandu's limited ESP was due to a mutation in his genes, which Loki accelerated with his magic to grant him even greater power. -- Ron Fredricks

Profile by Snood. Expanded by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Sandu has no known connections to:





images: (without ads)
Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook, p44 (Main Image - Sandu; refurbed version of Journey into Mystery I#91/1, p4, pan7)
Journey into Mystery I#91/1, p4, pan2 (Headshot - Sandu)
Journey into Mystery I#91/1, p12, pan3 (Sandu teleports himself from the path of Thor's hammer)
Journey into Mystery I#91/1, p13, pan2 (Sandu experiences "mental short-circuit" after attempting to levitate Thor's hammer)
Thor: First Thunder#3, p5, pan4 (Sandu; Loki (monologue in caption) confirms that Sandu is a mutant, and uses his magic to increase Sandu's abilities)

Appearances:
Journey into Mystery I#91/1 (April, 1963) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script), Joe Sinnott (pencils/inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Terry Szenics (letters)
Thor: First Thunder#3 (January, 2011) - Bryan Glass (writer), Tan Eng Huat (pencils/inks), Jose Villarrubia (colors), Bill Rosemann (editor)

First Posted: 09/08/2001
Last updated: 04/05/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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