Membership: Hammerhead (Louis Browning), Pile-Driver (Jerome Whale), Thunderboot (Moses Lewton)
Purpose: Defeat of the Avengers
Affiliations: Mad Thinker (leader)
Enemies: Avengers (Goliath/Henry Pym, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Hercules/Heracles, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Wasp/Janet Van Dyne)
Base of Operations: Mad Thinker's subterranean base in an "all-but-forgotten subway tunnel", somewhere in Manhattan, New York (see comments)
First Appearance: Avengers I#39 (April, 1967)
History:
(Avengers I#39 (fb) - BTS) - The past of the Triumvirate of Terror is unrevealed,
but at some point the three criminals were assembled and employed by the
Mad Thinker, who supplied the trio with powerful high-tech
costumes.
(Avengers I#39) - Seeking to add the technology of Tony Stark to his own arsenal, the Mad Thinker decided to steal from Avengers Mansion; he calculated that the Avengers would be unable to stand against the Triumvirate without their leader, Captain America, so the Thinker planned an assault when Cap was out of town (see comments), and thus unable to help his teammates.
The Thinker sent the individual members of his Triumvirate of Terror to attack the Avengers in three separate ambushes (see individual sub-profiles for details). All five active Avengers members were rendered unconscious and taken back to their mansion, where the Thinker planned to execute them with an Electro-Rod, then have his henchmen loot the building.
However, the unpredictable "x-factor" continued to plague the Thinker when Hercules--who had recently been banished to Earth and was staying at Avengers Mansion--returned after a night on the town, which thus upset the Thinker's predetermined calculations. The Thinker sent the Triumvirate to attack Hercules, who managed to hold off the trio while he freed the Avengers.
The Triumvirate was quickly routed by the assembled heroes and beaten senseless, but the Thinker escaped via teleportation to plan his revenge.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas and Don Heck.
All members of the Triumvirate wore costumes which protected them from injury to some degree, as well as possibly enhancing their strength. At the time, none of them were known by their real names; they all had the first letter of their costumed identities on the front and back of their shirts, in case you couldn't tell by their big, clunky outfits. And they also had access to some of the Thinker's devices, which included an audio-visual image projector, a floating platform, and teleportation technology.
The Triumvirate of Terror has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook. Their real names were revealed in their profile in OHOTMU A-Z HC#12.
I wonder if the Mad Thinker's base in that subway tunnel could be the same one earlier used by the Planner.
An editor's note stated that this story occurred at the same time as Tales of Suspense I#89/2, when Captain America was away battling the Red Skull.
The second image in the main profile was from the issue's cover, and the coloring is wrong--it was only included because there weren't many images available of the Triumvirate all together. For the true colors of their costumes, see their individual sub-profiles below.
We haven't seen anything of the Triumvirate since this story--you'd think there were plans to bring them back, considering Marvel took the trouble to reveal their real names; but I guess after getting beaten up by the Avengers, they decided to retire from their short-lived super-villain careers...or maybe they got offed behind-the-scenes by Scourge.--Ron Fredricks
Profile by Snood. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Triumvirate of Terror should not be confused with:
Hammerhead (Louis Browning) should not be confused with:
Pile-Driver (Jerome Whale) should not be confused with:
Thunderboot (Moses Lewton) should not be confused with:
The Electro-Rod should not be confused with:
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Hammerhead (Louis Browning) acted first, ambushing Hawkeye in a warehouse as the bowman sulked about having apparently lost the Black Widow. The Thinker had warned Hammerhead about which arrows Hawkeye would use, so he was prepared and managed to avoid or disable them. Hawkeye temporarily got the drop on him, but Hammerhead used an audio-visual image of the Thinker to distract Hawkeye, which enabled Hammerhead to take him out by head-butting him. Hammerhead then used the Thinker's teleportation technology to transport himself and the unconscious archer into Avengers Mansion. Hammerhead wore a large metal cap on his head, which he could use as a shield or a battering ram. Hawkeye thought his costume was "straight outta Pop-Artsville." --Avengers I#39 |
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Pile-Driver (Jerome Whale) acted second, using a false distress signal from Hawkeye to draw Goliath and the Wasp into a trap at an excavation site for the future location of Mammoth Motors. He used construction equipment to drop a pile of dirt on them, and then sent the steam shovel itself after them; when they evaded that, he confronted them himself. Ultimately he struck a large steel beam, causing it to flip up and take out Goliath; the Wasp was knocked out at the same time by a stray cable. Pile-Driver then used the Thinker's teleportation technology to transport himself and the unconscious pair into Avengers Mansion. Pile-Driver wore large gloves which both enhanced the force of his blows and could release a powerful shock wave on impact. --Avengers I#39 |
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Thunderboot (Moses Lewton) acted third, teleporting (along with the Thinker) into Avengers Mansion and confronting Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. He stomped the floor to knock Quicksilver into the air, where his feet had nothing to push off from; Thunderboot then dropped the mutant speedster with a single kick. Following the instructions of the Thinker, Thunderboot stomped his boot to create such a frequency that it caused a negative reaction in the Scarlet Witch's hex, resulting in a "psychic backlash" that short-circuited a device behind her and knocked her out. Thunderboot wore large boots which both enhanced the force of his blows and could release a powerful shock wave on impact. Despite his footwear being made of some fantastically hard and heavy material, he was still able to move quickly--the Scarlet Witch postulated that the boots contained some element that nullified gravity. --Avengers I#39 |
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Electro-Rod A large electrical device of unspecified purpose, it had recently been donated to Avengers Mansion by Tony Stark. After the Mad Thinker's Triumvirate of Terror had defeated the Avengers, the villains shackled them to the Electro-Rod and planned to use it to execute the heroes. But before the Thinker could throw the switch to activate the device, his plans were thrown off kilter by the arrival of the Avengers' houseguest Hercules, who unexpectedly returned after a night on the town. Despite being attacked by the Triumvirate of Terror, the immortal demigod managed to free the Avengers from the Electro-Rod before the Thinker could activate it. --Avengers I#39 |
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images: (without ads)
Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook, p55 (main image - Triumvirate of Terror: refurbed composite of images seen in individual sub-profiles)
Avengers I#39, cover (Triumvirate of Terror confront Hercules)
Avengers I#39, p6, pan3 (Hammerhead)
Avengers I#39, p6, pan5 (Hammerhead smashes through wooden post)
Avengers I#39, p12, pan4 (Pile-Driver)
Avengers I#39, p13, pan8 (Pile-Driver strikes steel beam)
Avengers I#39, p16, pan1 (Thunderboot)
Avengers I#39, p16, pan3 (Thunderboot stomps floor)
Avengers I#39, p17, pan2 (Avengers shackled to Electro-Rod; Mad Thinker and Triumvirate of Terror [background])
Avengers I#39, p18, pan3 (Hercules approaches Electro-Rod and captive Avengers)
Appearances:
Avengers I#39 (April, 1967) - Roy Thomas (writer), Don Heck (pencils), George Roussos (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Art Simek (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
First Posted: 09/09/2001
Last updated: 07/31/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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