PURPLE PHANTOM

Real Name: Hunk Hondo

Identity/Class: Human (Old West era)

Occupation: Cattle rustler

Group Membership: Led his own gang

Affiliations: Smasher, other members of his gang

Enemies: Seth Perkins, Two-Gun Kid

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: A silver mine outside of Tombstone, Arizona, late 19th century

First Appearance: Two-Gun Kid#68 (March, 1964)

Powers/Abilities: As the Purple Phantom, Hunk Hondo wore a costume which had been dyed with phosphorescent paint, creating an eerie purple glow in the dark. By wrapping the underside of his cape over his body, he could seem to disappear, like a ghost. He also wielded a pair of six-guns.

History: (Two-Gun Kid#68 (fb) - BTS) - Hunk Hondo was a cattle rustler who moved in on a worthless silver mine owned by Seth Perkins so that he could tunnel into a hidden valley through the mine, and hide the cattle he and his men rustled inside the valley. Hondo assumed the identity of the Purple Phantom to perform his rustlings.

(Two-Gun Kid#68) - The Purple Phantom was interrupted during one of his raids by the Two-Gun Kid, but managed to overcome him using his costume's tricks, and escaped. By this time, Seth Perkins had hired Matt Hawk as his lawyer, and Hawk confronted Hondo with a promise of legal trouble, but Hondo had Smasher drive him off.

Hawk soon returned as the Two-Gun Kid and interrogated Hondo's men, but learned nothing of Hondo's plan from them. After another raid by the Purple Phantom left a rancher wounded, the Two-Gun Kid returned to the mine, and discovered the passageway to the hidden valley with all of the stolen cattle. The Purple Phantom was already there, and began a gunfight with the Kid, finally leading back into the mine. When the Kid saw through the Phantom's tricks, Hondo ran blindly into the mine, knocking over a support beam that crushed him. The Two-Gun Kid pulled him out, unmasked him as Hondo, then turned him over to the law.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Dick Ayers.

Smasher's real name was revealed in Purple Phantom's profile in OHotMU A-Z HC#9.

Profile by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Purple Phantom should not be confused with:

• Any of the Phantom Riders, starting with Carter Slade, who used the same gimmick, @ Ghost Rider I#1
• The Purple Dimension/Purple Veil, dimension of no return, @ Strange Tales I#119
• The Purple Gem, mystic item, opens portal to Purple Dimension, @ Strange Tales I#119
• Purple Girl, Kara Killgrave, daughter of the Purple Man, @ Alpha Flight I#41
• Purple Hayes, alias of Nosferata, @ Sensational She-Hulk#19
• Purple Haze, of the New Universe, of the Para-Troop, @ DP7#30
• The Purple Man, Zebediah Killgrave, Daredevil foe, @ Daredevil I#4
• Purple Mask, 1940's hero, @ Daring Mystery Comics#3
• Purple Ogres, of La Hacienda, @ Man-Thing I#8
• Purple Plague, killed those who raided ruins of Lanjau, @ Conan the Barbarian#255
• Purple Veil, of the New Universe, of the ESPeople, @ DP7#11

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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