full body"DR. SHRINKER"

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Megalomaniac, mad scientist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Iron Man (Tony Stark)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: His private laboratory

First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#40/1 (April, 1963)

Powers/Abilities: An inventive genius, "Dr. Shrinker" built a "shrinking ray" machine which could presumably reduce the physical size of people and objects; however it is unknown if this device really functioned as it was never actually shown to work.

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History:
(Tales of Suspense I#40/1 (fb)) - "Dr. Shrinker" was seeking to rule mankind. The fledgling Iron Man (still in gray-colored armor) crashed into "Dr. Shrinker's" lab and jammed the firing mechanism of the shrinking ray with electrical interference, then he smashed the device itself. "Dr. Shrinker" was then presumably turned over to the police.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

As he has never been seen since, one can assume that "Dr. Shrinker" may have died in prison or perhaps he reformed.

    These two story-panels mark the only appearance of "Dr. Shrinker", giving him one of the shortest super-villain careers on record (even shorter than the Phoomie Goonies and the Roller Disco Devils).  
    He does, however, get the honor of being the first super-foe that Iron Man ever faced.
    That's debatable. The Mandarin has been ret-conned into Iron Man's origin, even though he's behind-the-scenes. I'd also thought there was someone else in the early part of the Iron Age, or one of these issues: Iron Man I#267+268(fb), Iron Man I#144/2, 244(fb(fb)), Iron Man: Age of Innocence#1(fb), Iron Man: Iron Age#1(p14-29); still, as far as issues being published, this guy was the first one Iron Man met.
--Snood

    Perhaps "Dr. Shrinker" was actually Professor Ford, whose "molecular converter" device was used by the Yellow Claw to shrink a team of assassins and create "The Microscopic Army": http://monsterblog.oneroom.org/meet_the_monsters/the_microscopic_army.html in Yellow Claw#3 (February, 1957). Professor Ford was only mentioned and never actually seen in that story, and...come on, how many people out there are building shrinking machines?

    A "molecular condenser" ray was seen in Daredevil I#8 (June, 1965); perhaps this device was based on the confiscated wreckage of "Dr. Shrinker's" shrinking ray device.

    This character was never actually named in the story, I just gave him the name "Dr. Shrinker" to identify him.

Profile by John Kaminski

Clarifications:

This "Dr. Shrinker" should not be confused with:

Images:
    Tales of Suspense I#40, Page 4, Panels 1 and 2

Last updated: 04/05/05

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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