THE TROGLODYTE

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human (see comments)

Occupation: Criminal

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Professor Eaden, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Dwayne/Dwane Wayne (see comments), Cara, Mike

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Ogre" (insult from Ivanhoe literary bystanders), "Biceps-for-Brains," "Trog," "Troggie" (insults from Spider-Man)

Base of Operations: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

First Appearance: Adventures in Reading Starring the Amazing Spider-Man I#1 (1990)

Powers/Abilities: The Troglodyte had a brutish appearance and did not appear to possess any superhuman powers (see comments). 

    He wielded a gigantic stolen Transporter gun capable of teleporting objects or people into fictional worlds. For example, if the Transporter blasted a poster of a city, it would teleport the Troglodyte and nearby people into the city seen on the poster or, in the case of books, it would teleport Troglodyte and surrounding others into the fictional world of whatever book he blasted.

Height: 6'1" (by approximation)
Weight: 300 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History: (Adventures in Reading Starring the Amazing Spider-Man I#1 (fb) - BTS) - An illiterate, the Troglodyte stole a Transporter device from Professor Eaden in an effort to have adventure without reading, and Spider-Man soon got involved, tracking the Troglodyte down.

(Adventures in Reading Starring the Amazing Spider-Man I#1 (fb)) - Confronting the Troglodyte, Spider-Man swung down near Enoch Pratt Free Library and noticed a city poster of Baltimore. The Troglodyte fired the Transporter ray and hit Spider-Man, transporting him into the city.

(Adventures in Reading Starring the Amazing Spider-Man I#1) -  Spider-Man appeared in Baltimore in front of teenagers Cara, Mike and Dwane and barely had time to warn them of the Troglodyte's threat before he showed up, blasting the Transporter at random things. Spider-Man ordered the teens to run for it while he drew the Troglodyte's fire, which hit a bookshelf. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle fell from the shelf and the Troglodyte blasted the book with the Transporter, teleporting Spider-Man and the teens into The Lost World, where they were attacked by a dinosaur. After Spider-Man and the teens battled pterodactyls, they were blasted once more by the Troglodyte's Transporter, this time hitting War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and teleporting Spider-Man and the teens into the fictional world of War of the Worlds. As Spider-Man and the teens battled the Martian Masters, the Troglodyte attempted to blast them again but Spider-Man dodged the blast. Hiding behind a tree, the Troglodyte eventually managed to hit Spider-Man again, transporting the hero and the teens into The Jungle Book, where Spider-Man spotted the Troglodyte but before he could act, the teens and he were caught up in a battle between Shere Khan and Mowgli. Zapping Spider-Man and the teens again, the Troglodyte transported them into That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton, where Spider-Man noticed the Troglodyte sneaking about a basketball court. Engaging the Troglodyte in a fight, Spider-Man caused the Transporter to activate, inadvertently teleporting them all into Ivanhoe. The shock caused the Troglodyte to drop the Transporter weapon and disappear into the crowd. Spider-Man quickly set out to find the Troglodyte, asking the teens to look for the Transporter. When Cara located it, Spider-Man waited until the Troglodyte appeared and attacked her then jumped into battle with the Troglodyte. Following a fierce fight, Spider-Man webbed up the Troglodyte and the teens used the Transporter to blast Dwane's library card, sending them all back to Enoch Pratt Free Library. The Troglodyte was taken into police custody and as he was led away, he admitted that since he couldn't read, the only way he could enjoy books was by transporting himself into the stories. Professor Eaden explained to the Troglodyte about the prison's reading program and promised she would help him learn to read.

Comments: Created by Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove and Hilary Barta.

    The Troglodyte did not seem to show any powers but he was extremely large in stature and was able to withstand several strong hits from Spider-Man. It's possible that he possessed superhuman strength and durability but that remains unconfirmed...

The comic was published with the cooperation of the Baltimore City Literacy Cooperation and the Baltimore Office of Promotion. 

Also, the last name of the character of Dwane is revealed on his library card as Wayne (full name Dwayne D. Wayne, and yes, the library card has his first name spelled differently than in the rest of the issue).  

In the 1991 version of the comic, the first three story pages are removed and replaced with one page that shows Spider-Man and Troglodyte arriving in the library, and there is a description of the character "the prehistoric menace of the Troglodyte!" See the attached screenshot. Not sure if that is to tell us that Troglodyte is a prehistoric humanoid. My theory is that he is a Deviant, maybe an associate of Sledge.
--Michael Niosi

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Troglodyte has no KNOWN connections to:

images: (without ads)
Adventures in Reading Starring the Amazing Spider-Man I#1, p4, pan1 (Troglodyte, main image)
Adventures in Reading Starring the Amazing Spider-Man I#1, p28, pan5 (Troglodyte, headshot)

Appearances:
Adventures in Reading Starring the Amazing Spider-Man I#1 (1990) - Louise Simonson (writer), Jon Bogdanove (pencils), Hilary Barta (inks), Bob Budiansky (editor)

First Posted: 10/27/2015
Last updated: 11/26/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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