"PATIENT IN ROOM 3D"
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Ape mutate (see comments)
Occupation: Lab animal
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Three doctors (names unrevealed - see comments)
Enemies: None
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unidentified hospital, somewhere in the USA
First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery I#72/2 (September, 1961)
Powers/Abilities: Following an experimental surgical procedure, the ape's intelligence was boosted ten-fold for a span of 24 hours; during that time period, he also had the ability to speak (see comments).
History:
(Journey Into Mystery I#72/2 (fb) - BTS) - In 1961, three doctors developed a medical operation that could temporarily increase the intelligence of apes. They performed the surgery on a test subject; afterward, the primate's entire head was wrapped in bandages and he was transferred to a bed in a private hospital room to recuperate.
(Journey Into Mystery I#72/2) - The doctors met with reporters to give an update of their patient's status--they hoped that with his increased brain power, he would be able to think of solutions to humankind's greatest troubles. The doctors entered Room 3D just as the anesthetic wore off and the patient regained consciousness. They began to question him, first asking how medical science could cure heart disease. The bandaged patient pondered the inquiry, but eventually he only apologized because he could come up with no answer. The doctors continued with their line of questioning, asking the patient how to eliminate such adversities as war, famine, and crime; but in each case, the patient was unable to offer any solutions. The doctors had to concede defeat, for although the operation was a success, the larger experiment was not; the crestfallen trio left the room to inform the press of their failure. As he lay in his bed, the patient felt frustrated and disappointed in himself--he had desperately stretched his mental power to the very limit, yet he could think of no ways to solve the ills of the world. The next day, the doctors went back into Room 3D. The patient's intelligence had already returned to its normal level, so they began to remove the bandages from his head. One doctor commented that the experiment would have been a success if they could have increased his brain power by more than 10 times... or if they could have performed the operation on a human, instead; but unfortunately, the procedure only worked on apes.
Comments: Created by an uncredited writer and Paul Reinman (art).
This story was done with a surprise ending, and the reader didn't learn that the patient was actually an ape until the bandages were removed in the last panel.
It wasn't specified what species of ape the patient was--he looked too small to be a gorilla; maybe he was a chimpanzee (The sex of the ape wasn't specified either, so I'm just assuming it was male). And the ape wasn't identified, so I just named this profile after the story's title.
Obviously, there had to have been more to the procedure than just surgery alone--otherwise, how did the ape intuitively know how to speak English? Perhaps he was also subjected to some kind of massive data-download/"speed-learning" computer program following the operation.
The three doctors were never identified, so I'll suggest naming them Dr. Herbert, Dr. George, and Dr. Mauro, which I derived from author H.G. (Herbert George) Wells and his book, "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (about a scientist whose experiments give animals human characteristics).
There have been other instances of apes given scientifically-enhanced intelligence (e.g., Beasts of Berlin), so I'll assume this story probably took place on Earth-616; however, I thought it might fit nicely into the continuity of Earth-712 (homeworld of the Squadron Supreme) in that maybe this same experiment was performed again and it permanently boosted the intelligence of the female gorilla Xina, transforming her into Ape-X (@ Squadron Supreme I#5).
And a BIG Thank You to Nathan Elliot for the scans!
Profile by John Kaminski.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
The Patient in Room 3D has no known connections to:
A trio of medical specialists, they developed a surgical procedure to temporarily increase the intelligence of apes. They performed the operation on a test subject and later began to ask him for solutions to the world's problems; but their primate patient was unable to think of any answers to the imponderable questions. By the following day, the ape's intelligence level had faded to normal, and the doctors considered the experiment to be a failure.
--Journey Into Mystery I#72/2
images:
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Journey Into Mystery I#72/2, p5, pan7 (main image)
Other Appearances: None
Last updated: 02/22/11
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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