ADOLPHE

Real Name: Adolphe (see comments)

Identity/Class: Human mutate (1950s era)

Occupation: President of Remington National Bank

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: The Pattersons (house-guests)

Enemies: None

Known Relatives: His family

Aliases: "Mr. Adolphe" (as called by janitor (see comments)); "that pompous old fool", "the old man" (as called by subordinates)

Base of Operations: An unidentified American city

First Appearance: Marvel Tales I#127/3 (October, 1954)

Powers/Abilities: Following an electrical mishap, Adolphe's atomic structure was affected by the electrical current (see comments), such that he was endowed with the power to become intangible and pass through solid matter--this ability extended to include his shoes and clothing.

When he attempted to walk through the steel door of a bank vault, the electrical current of his body was grounded by the steel and completely drained away, causing Adolphe to suddenly materialize and become embedded within the vault door, presumably killing him.

Adolphe was a self-important narcissist with delusions of grandeur; he decorated his home and work-office with pictures and statuettes of himself (...he even had a picture in his bathroom!)--this idiosyncrasy earned him much derision from his employees, who mocked him behind his back.

Height: 5' 10"  (by approximation)
Weight: 190 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black, with graying temples

History:
(Marvel Tales I#127/3 (fb)) - The past of Adolphe is unrevealed, but at some point he became the president of Remington National Bank; he decorated his office with pictures and statuettes of himself, and had the obnoxious habit of boasting about his achievements.

   One day at work, Adolphe overheard some bank employees talking about him over the intercom; he became quite upset to hear them mock him for how important he thought he was, and he was left with a bruised ego.

   That night at home, while having dinner with his family, Adolphe was lost in thought over the employees' remarks. His wife informed him that the Pattersons would be visiting later, so after dinner, Adolphe went to the bathroom to take a shower.

(Marvel Tales I#127/3) - After his shower, Adolphe was wrapped in a towel, and he was still thinking about the mocking remarks. Filled with self-doubt, he began to think that perhaps he wasn't great after all, and he never would be unless he could get enough money to make himself famous.  Distracted by his thoughts, Adolphe was standing in a puddle of water as his wet hand reached for his bathrobe, but he absentmindedly touched the light switch instead and received a jolt of electricity. The shock surged through every cell of his body, and as he jumped backwards, Adolphe passed through the bathroom wall and into the adjoining living room, where his wife was entertaining their house-guests. Greatly embarrassed, Adolphe quickly excused himself and dashed back to the bathroom.

   In the bathroom, Adolphe experimented with his new-found power by passing his hand through the wall--he figured the electrical shock had done something to the atoms of his body to make it possible for him to walk through walls.  After getting dressed, Adolphe decided he had to get out of the house to think, so he told his wife that he was going for a walk in the park.

   During his walk, Adolphe tried to figure out how to use his power to make himself rich and famous, then he could start a campaign to get himself elected to high office and prove to those who mocked him that he really was important.  After he noticed he had inattentively walked through a large boulder in the park, he realized the electrical energy in him allowed him pass through anything, so Adolphe got the idea of stealing money from the very bank he worked for.  He didn't know how long the power would last, so he walked through a brick wall to leave the park and set his plan immediately in motion.

   Adolphe walked to the bank building and employed his power to pass through the outer wall--he figured in a few minutes, he'd be one of the richest men in the city, and it would be like taking candy from a baby.  After entering his office, Adolphe again used his power and poked his head through the wall to see the night-watchman making his rounds.  When the watchman passed by and resumed his rounds upstairs, Adolphe made his way down through the concrete walls to the sealed vault room.  He smiled when he saw the giant vault door and began to walk through it, thinking to himself that his robbery would be the biggest in history, and the police would go crazy trying to figure out how anyone had done it.

   But as he was within the steel vault door, the electrical current from his body was grounded by the steel and it was completely drained away.  With his power suddenly fading, Adolphe managed a half-turn and partially poked his head out of the vault door, but he couldn't move or scream; his final thought was that the rest of his body was trapped inside.

   Later, two janitors discovered Adolphe's protruding and silently-screaming countenance--they mistakenly thought the narcissistic bank president had had a statue of his own face carved right on the bank vault door.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and John Forte (artist).

It was unclear if Adolphe was his first name or his surname--the janitor in the final story-panel (see above) referred to him as "Mr. Adolphe," but his own wife addressed him as "Adolphe," so possibly his full name was "Adolphe Adolphe" (Yes, it's unusual... but then there's Harold H. Harold (@ Tomb of Dracula I#37)).

My guess is that Adolphe was a latent mutant, and the electrical shock caused his power to manifest for the first time.

This 4-page story -- He Walks through Walls -- would sort of be redone a few years later (see HERE), only without the grisly ending.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Adolphe has no known connections to:

Adolphe's family

Adolphe's relatives, the three individuals included his wife (unidentified) and a younger male and female (both unidentified (see note)).  Adolphe had dinner with them prior to the electrical mishap that granted him the power of intangibility.

His wife was entertaining house-guests in the living room when Adolphe first manifested his power following his shower, and he unexpectedly appeared wearing only a bath-towel.

(Note: Adolphe's exact relationship to the younger male and female was never specified, so they could be his son and daughter, or son and daughter-in-law, or daughter and son-in-law...)

--Marvel Tales I#127/3

Remington National Bank

A banking institution located in an unidentified American city, it was where Adolphe worked as the bank's president.

The bank appeared to have at least two separate vaults.  After gaining the power of intangibility, Adolphe planned to rob the bank by simply walking through the vault door, but the steel door caused him to suddenly lose his electrically-based power while he was inside it.

--Marvel Tales I#127/3

images: (without ads)
Marvel Tales I#127/3, p1, pan1 (Main Image - Adolphe passes through bathroom wall)
Marvel Tales I#127/3, p2, pan4 (Headshot - Adolphe gets an electrical shock from light switch)
Marvel Tales I#127/3, p3, pan7 (Adolphe walks out of park through a brick wall)
Marvel Tales I#127/3, p4, pan7 (Adolphe trapped within bank vault door, as janitors think he's a statue)
Marvel Tales I#127/3, p2, pan2 (Adolphe having dinner with his family)
Marvel Tales I#127/3, p2, pan6 (Adolphe's wife with the Pattersons, as Adolphe suddenly appears in living room after passing through bathroom wall)
Marvel Tales I#127/3, p3, pan6 (Adolphe outside Remington National Bank building)
Marvel Tales I#127/3, p4, pan5 (inside Remington National Bank vault room, Adolphe walks through vault door)

Appearances:
Marvel Tales I#127/3 (October, 1954) - unidentified writer, John Forte (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

Last updated: 01/21/18

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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