Real
Name: Hugo Longride
HUGO LONGRIDE
Real
Name: Hugo Longride
Identity/Class: humanoid robot
Occupation: Producer/founder of the underground Mutant Theater, leader of the Gladiators; secretly a robot spy for Dr. Doom
Group Membership: Leader of the Gladiators
Affiliations: Alexander Flynn, Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Dr. Doom, Gladiators (Axe, Horns, the Howlers (Barker, Bouncer, & Byter), Ivich Williamson, Lexi, Max Rocker, Shockman, Snaketongue, "Viperion", others); Ralph Novak
Enemies: Beast (Hank McCoy), Alexander Flynn, Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Heartbreak Hotel mutants, Link, Poltergeist (Mickey Silke)
Known Relatives: none, unless you really want to count various and sundry Doombots as relatives...
Aliases: none?
Base of Operations: Hollywood, CA
First Appearance: Beauty and the Beast I#1 December 1984
Powers/Abilities: None. Hugo had the appearance and the apparent strength level of a normal human male his age who did not engage in regular exercise.
History: (B&B I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Hugo Longride was a robot
created some years ago by Dr. Doom and sent to Hollywood in the guise of
a sleazy producer to spy on the man who was calling himself Doom's son, Alexander
Flynn While there Longride helped Flynn found the Mutant Theater and
the Gladiators.
(B&B I#1) - Hugo Longride listened to the Dazzler (Alison Blaire) sing as she auditioned for a spot in the Mutant Theater. He then had her sign several contracts to begin working for him at the Theater. Over a week later Longride was at a film wrap party where he broke up a confrontation between Max Rocker and the Beast (Hank McCoy) over Dazzler. Before sending Rocker away from the confrontation he secretly paid him for his role in drugging Dazzler into losing control of her light powers. When Dazzler ran off soon after Longride sent his assistant Ralph to tail her and tell him where she wound up. He later gave that info to Rocker when he called wanting to know where Dazzler was.
(B&B I#2) - Longride was present when Dazzler made her debut at the Arena and convinced her that the fighting she saw was really acting rather than the real thing. When Dazzler broke and ran during her fight with Horns, Longride sent the rest of the Gladiators into the Arena to fight in a free-for-all in order to keep the crowd from demanding their money back. When Dazzler confronted Longride about the true nature of the fights he told her that the Gladiator fights were like boxing fights in that both were violent and people sometimes died in the boxing ring as well.
(B&B I#3) - A week later Hugo was presiding over practice in the Gladiators' gym when Flynn arrived and encouraged Dazzler to join in. When Longride objected he found that his orders were ignored in favor of Flynn's. Later that night Longride was notified by "Shock" about the Beast's explorations in the Arena's back rooms. After capturing the Beast Longride injected him with a drug that turned him into a more savage version of himself and then sent Beast and Dazzler into the Arena to fight to the death. When the Beast instead fought off the drug long enough to tell Dazzler how she was being drugged and manipulated by Longride and Flynn, Hugo ordered Dazzler to kill the Beast. When she refused Longride ordered the other Gladiators to kill them both, but when Flynn ordered the Gladiators to chose which of them, Flynn or Longride, they wanted to lead them and kill the other, the Gladiators turned on Longride and killed him.
(B&B I#4) - Later that night, Dr. Doom found Longride's body still lying in the Arena. Cradling the body in his lap Doom removed Longride's head from his body, revealing to no-one in particular the fact that Longride was one of Doom's robots, one of the most sophisticated he had ever built, all to spy on Flynn.
Comments: Created by Ann Nocenti (writer), Don Perlin (Pencils),
and Kim DeMulder (inks).
Interestingly, when the Gladiators were stabbing him to death, no-one noticed that Hugo was not bleeding from his wounds at all. Apparently the Shadow King was clouding Flynn's and the Gladiators' minds even then.
Based on the evidence in this story, I am guessing that Hugo had a transmitter in him that was constantly transmitting information to Doom rather than consciously sending reports like one might expect from any other employee of Doom's. In fact, Hugo may not have been consciously aware he was a robot, let alone one made by and in Doom's service, unless he was standing in Doom's presence (same as with any of the other Doombots Doom's built in the past).
It should be noted that while Longride is presumed dead by everyone, including Doom, Longride's body is still in one piece and that his head is still intact. When Doom decides to get over being melodramatic over Longride's 'loss' he can easily rebuild Hugo and give him his memories back, and send him out on another mission. If Doom wants to, that is...
Ralph's last name was revealed in Gladiators' entry in OHOTMU A-Z Hardcover#4.
Clarifications:
This character, Hugo Longride, has no known connections to
This character, Ralph, has no known connections to
Assistant/gofer to Hugo, he was the one who tailed Dazzler when she broke and ran during the wrap party at the soundstage and tracked her to the Heartbreak Hotel, where he watched her being taken in by the mutants who lived there.
- B&B I#1
images: page count does not includes ads
Beauty & the Beast I#1, p8, panel 3 (Hugo face)
Beauty & the Beast I#3, p21, panel 1 (Hugo body)
Beauty & the Beast I#4, p1, panel 3 (Hugo robot)
Beauty & the Beast I#1, p13, panel 7 (Ralph)
First Posted: 12/20/2004
Last updated: 01/25/2005
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Ralph Novak