Real Name: Caldwell Rozza (see comments)
Identity/Class: Human (South American) mutate
Occupation: Scientist, Communist agent
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: "El Presidente" (see comments)
Enemies: Whitney Frost, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Jasper Sitwell
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "El Professor" (as called by "El Presidente")
Base of Operations: Unidentified Caribbean country (see comments)
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#91/1 (July, 1967)
Powers/Abilities: A brilliant chemist, Rozza created a serum that transformed him into the giant Crusher; in this mutated form, he possessed superhuman strength, and his skin was durable enough to repel artillery fire.
Rozza had a full head of hair, along with a beard and mustache, but all the hair on his body receded when he changed into the Crusher.
As the Crusher, he wore a directional homing unit about his waist, which somehow guided him to his intended targets.
Height: (Human) 5' 8"; (mutated) 8'
Weight: (Human) 170 lbs.; (mutated) 975 lbs.
Eyes: (Human) Black; (mutated) White
Hair: (Human) Brown; (mutated) Bald
History:
(Tales of Suspense I#91/1) - A brilliant biochemist, Rozza completed a
formula for his country's dictator that would make him "master of the
world"; but "El Presidente" did not trust Rozza, so he forced him at
gunpoint to ingest the formula himself to prove it worked--this was what
Rozza had hoped for, and he eagerly drank the serum. Immediately growing
in size and strength before the dictator's eyes, the mutated Rozza
proclaimed himself "The Crusher". "El Presidente" tried to kill the
transformed Rozza, but had no weapons available that could pierce the
Crusher's skin. Realizing that he had a valuable asset, the dictator
told Rozza that if he went to America and killed Iron Man, he would be
made a Generalissimo in his army, so the Crusher agreed to the offer.
(Tales of Suspense I#91/1 - BTS) - "El Presidente" had his spies smuggle the Crusher into the United States by boat.
(Tales of Suspense I#91/1) - After his journey to the New Jersey coastal area, the Crusher attacked Stark Industries' Long Island plant and engaged Iron Man in combat. But unfortunately for the Crusher, he attacked on the same day that Tony Stark had perfected his centrifugal force ray--the ray made the Crusher so heavy that he crashed through the steel floor and fell deep underground.
(Iron Man I#6 (fb)) - The Crusher fell into Subterranea, where his potion and the effects of Stark's ray wore off. While exploring the caverns, Rozza discovered the abandoned base of Tyrannus, and used the chemicals he found there to recreate his formula. Once more transformed into the Crusher, he began to dig his way back to the surface for revenge on Iron Man.
(Iron Man I#6) - The Crusher finally reached the surface in an isolated community in Florida. After finding the spies who had smuggled him into America, he forced them to transport him to Stark Industries. When he reached the Long Island shore, the Crusher destroyed the spies' boat, because he intended to overthrow the "bearded buffoon" who ruled his homeland after he dealt with Iron Man, and he planned to use Stark's own centrifugal force ray to make the "galvanized gringo" suffer the same torment that he had!
The Crusher smashed into Stark Industries and fought Iron Man--he managed to take Whitney Frost (the lover of Jasper Sitwell at the time) hostage, so that Iron Man would turn over the centrifugal ray. Iron Man had no choice but to cooperate, and the Crusher attempted to use the ray on the armored Avenger; but the Crusher's fingers were too large to operate the device properly, and it exploded. Iron Man used the distraction to tackle the Crusher, and attempted to carry him to the upper atmosphere, where the air would be so thin that the Crusher would be rendered unconscious. But the task was putting a great strain on Iron Man's power reserve; then the Crusher began to pound Iron Man, which caused the hero to lose his grip on the behemoth.
The Crusher dropped into the waiting ocean; although he survived the fall, his great bulk sank him deeper into the ocean's depths, where he drowned.
(Daredevil I#119 (fb)) - The Crusher's corpse was somehow recovered and turned over to coroner Dr. Jakkelburr; from studying the Crusher's body, Jakkelburr learned how to recreate Rozza's formula.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Gene Colan and Frank Giacoia.
The Crusher's home country was clearly intended to be Cuba, and "El Presidente" was Fidel Castro.
The profile for Cuba in Marvel Atlas#2 confirmed that country as the Crusher's homeland. However, since Marvel's sliding time-scale makes involving real-life people and places difficult, maybe the Crusher's home country could be that unidentified Caribbean island once ruled by the Gnome (using his robotic surrogate Dragorr); "El Presidente" could have been the leader of the opposing rebel forces, but after Draggor/Gnome was deposed, he decided to form a Communist dictatorship rather than a free democracy--the stories of the Gnome and the Crusher were both originally published at about the same time.
Crusher has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook. Although he was only referred to as "El Professor" in the original stories, his real name was revealed in his entry in OHotMU A-Z Hardcover#3.
Perhaps Rozza's formula was chemically similar to potions created by Victor Avery and Calvin Zabo.
And the profile for the Freaks (Happy
Hogan and Eddie
March) suggested that their similar appearances could be due to
possession by some extradimensional entity; since both Rozza and
his successor had similar appearances to the Freaks, perhaps
there could be some common link between all four of them?
--Ron Fredricks
Profile by Prime Eternal. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Crusher (Caldwell Rozza) should not be confused with:
"El Presidente" has no known connection to:
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Using a spinning centrifuge machine at Stark Industries, Stark captured the force of gravity it generated inside one transistorized "porta-pack" device. The device apparently projected a stream of gravitons (subatomic particles carrying the force of gravitational attraction between atoms), giving it the power to increase the weight of any living being. As Iron Man, Stark later used the ray to defeat the Crusher, making the monstrously large villain so heavy that he broke through a steel floor and went plunging into the subterranean depths of the earth. Some time later, the effects of the ray wore off,
and the Crusher managed to return to the surface of the world.
The villain attacked Stark Industries again, and planned to use
the ray on Iron Man himself; but when the Crusher tried to fire
it at the armored Avenger, he found that his fingers were too
large to deactivate the device's safety switch. When he tried to
force the ray's activation, the Crusher smashed the device and
caused it to explode--dazzled by the the explosive flash, the
Crusher was then defeated by Iron Man. |
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The dictator of an unidentified Caribbean country (see comments), he employed scientist Caldwell Rozza to create the "supreme weapon" for him. When Rozza's claimed his task was completed, "El Presidente" thought the scientist was joking when Rozza presented a small bottle of liquid to him. Rozza told him the serum would make him "master of the world" if he drank it, but the distrusting dictator forced the scientist to drink it himself; Rozza was subsequently transformed into the powerful Crusher. Upon seeing that the formula worked, "El Presidente" tried to shoot the Crusher so he could claim the formula for himself; but the Crusher was uninjured by the bullets, and he had committed the formula to memory. "El Presidente" then ordered his troops to fire a cannon, but even artillery proved to be useless against the Crusher. Realizing that the Crusher was too powerful to have as an enemy, "El Presidente" promised to make him the Generalissimo of his army if he went to America and destroyed Iron Man; the Crusher agreed to the offer, so "El Presidente" had his spies smuggle the Crusher into the United States. --Tales of Suspense I#91/1 |
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A trio of operatives loyal to "El Presidente," they transported the Crusher from their Caribbean homeland to the New Jersey coastal area, where the monstrous giant went to attack Stark Industries' Long Island plant; but the Crusher was defeated by Iron Man and presumed dead. Some time later, the spies were posing as fishermen on the coast of Florida; when the Crusher returned and smashed into their shack, he forced the shocked men to transport him back to Long Island so he could get vengeance upon Iron Man. After they reached their destination, the Crusher
destroyed their boat and caused it to sink, because he planned
to return to his homeland and overthrow "El Presidente" after he
dealt with Iron Man, and he figured if the spies had to swim for
their lives, they would never get to warn their leader in
time--the Crusher continued on to Stark Industries, but the fate
of the spies is unrevealed. |
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images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#6, p2, pan4 (main image - Crusher smashes into spies hideout)
Tales of Suspense I#91/1, p3, pan3 (headshot - Caldwell Rozza, mixing
formula)
Tales of Suspense I#91/1, p8, pan2 (Crusher)
Iron Man I#6, p20, pan1 (Crusher drowns in ocean)
Tales of Suspense I#91/1, p11, pan1 (Iron Man fires centrifugal force
ray at Crusher)
Iron Man I#6, p18, pan1 (Crusher tries to operate centrifugal force ray)
Tales of Suspense I#91/1, p4, pan3 ("El Presidente")
Tales of Suspense I#91/1, p6, pan4 ("El Presidente" attempts to kill
Crusher, but fails)
Iron Man I#6, p2, pan4 (in their hideout, spies shocked to see
Crusher)
Iron Man I#6, p7, pan2 (in their boat, spies take Crusher to Long Island
shore)
Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#91/1 (July, 1967) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Gene
Colan (pencils), Frank Giacoiav (inks), Sam Rosen (letters)
Iron Man I#6 (October, 1968) - Archie Goodwin (writer), George Tuska
(pencils), Johnny Craig (inks), Sam Rosen (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#119 (March, 1975) - Tony Isabella (writer), Bob Brown
(pencils), Don Heck (inks), Len Wein (editor)
First posted: 11/27/2005
Last updated: 01/29/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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