MENACE from INFERNO ISLE

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Unrevealed (see comments)

Occupation: Guarding Inferno Isle from invaders

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie); anyone else who approaches Inferno Isle

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The flaming apparition", "the terror of Inferno Isle" (as called by Sub-Mariner)

Base of Operations: Inferno Isle, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#91/2 (May, 1967)

Powers/Abilities: The Menace was composed of a super-heated magma-like substance, and its entire body was surrounded by a fiery aura -- it could apparently project short-range blasts of flame from its eyes and mouth.

It had superhuman strength (Class 100?) and durability. It was surprisingly fast, but may have been limited intellectually.

Its major weakness was water, which transformed it into inert lava rock.

Height: Unrevealed (25'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (20 tons; by approximation)
Eyes: Yellow
Hair: Inapplicable

History:
(Tales to Astonish I#91 (fb) - BTS) - The past of the Menace is largely unrevealed, but at some point it came to dwell beneath Inferno Isle, which was hidden from the eyes of humans and Atlanteans alike by an eternal curtain of mist; amongst the Homo mermani of Atlantis, the isle gained the reputation of being a "forbidden place from which none have e'er returned" (as per the Sub-Mariner).

(Tales to Astonish I#91) - After overthrowing Prince Namor and seizing control of Atlantis by means of a hypno-ray projector, Attuma, Byrrah, and Krang captured the Sub-Mariner and locked him inside a missile, then launched him to Inferno Isle.

   Upon reaching the surface, the dazed and semi-conscious Namor was jettisoned from the missile, and he landed upon the forbidden isle, where the Menace burst forth from a volcano and assaulted him.

   Although Namor dove into the ocean to escape it, the Menace caught his legs just as he hit the water and pulled him back to the surface. However, the Menace's hand began to undergo a chemical reaction, partially liquefying in the process, which allowed Namor to escape its grasp.

   Realizing his foe's weakness, Namor insulated his hands with a thick coating of mud and battered the Menace, causing it to leap at him. But Namor flew out of the way, and the Menace landed right in the ocean, where its entire body was subjected to the all-consuming water -- this caused a chemical reaction that transformed the Menace and cooled it into a monstrous mass of inanimate lava.

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee and "Wild" Bill Everett











This monster was never referred to by any specific name, but when it originally burst from the volcano, the Sub-Mariner referred to it as a "menace" (see third image, underlined in red).

Not much is known of the Menace (it only appeared in a total of 9 panels), but it seemed to be composed completely of lava. It might have been magically created by the Lava Men, the Deviants or any number of others. It could also have formed on its own, been an extraterrestrial, a demon, etc.
    Perhaps its related to the Molten Man-Thing.
    John Kaminski suggests a connection to the Sub-Earth Man, or possibly it was another Avatar of Cha'sa'dra.

Or maybe it was created by Lord Maur-Kon and the Followers of the Dark.
And there's probably an easy way to restore the Menace back to life -- a nuclear weapons test (...Hey, it worked for Godzilla).
--Ron Fredricks

Profile by Snood. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Menace from Inferno Isle has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Tales to Astonish I#91/2, p8, pan3 (Main Image - Sub-Mariner slips out the grasp of Menace form Inferno Isle)
Tales to Astonish I#91/2, p6, pan1 (Headshot - Menace from Inferno Isle)
Tales to Astonish I#91/2, p5, pan3 (Menace first emerges from volcano)
Tales to Astonish I#91/2, p9, pan2 (Menace leaps off top of volcano)
Tales to Astonish I#91/2, p10, pan1 (Menace cooled by seawater into inanimate lava; Sub-Mariner (foreground))

Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#91/2 (May, 1967) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Bill Everett (pencils), Dan Adkins (inks), Sam Rosen (letters)

First Posted: 09/30/2004
Last updated: 10/15/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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