IGNATZ NOPPLY

Real Name: Ignatz Nopply

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-52123) human technology/magic-user (1950s era) (see comments)

Occupation: Scientist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Wanda Jones, mankind in general

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Ugly Man" (in story title)

Base of Operations: His laboratory in an unidentified American city

First Appearance: Suspense#23/6 (October, 1952)

Powers/Abilities: Endowed with a brilliant (albeit insane) mind, Ignatz Nopply was an extremely homely man whose physical appearance made him an outcast.

Recognized as one of the world's greatest scientists, Nopply secretly performed near-supernatural feats (see comments)--among these achievements were the creation of zombies and a werewolf, and communication with a ghostly spirit.

When his romantic advances were spurned by Wanda Jones, Nopply committed global androcide by unleashing a gas that apparently killed all the men in the world, with the exception of himself (see comments).

Height: 5' 5" (by approximation)
Weight: 140 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black

History:
(Suspense#23/6 (fb) ) - The past of Ignatz Nopply is largely unrevealed, but whenever he went out in public, he was tormented by the cruel remarks of others regarding his appearance. While riding on a subway, Nopply overheard a couple of fellow passengers mocking his looks--he angrily thought to himself that although the fools may laugh now, his day would soon come!

   Nopply's only sanctuary was the solitude of his laboratory, where he used his scientific expertise for evil purposes--he had learned such secrets as making the dead walk, turning a man into a werewolf, and contacting a ghost. But despite his sinister accomplishments, the only thing Nopply had no power over was his face--as he looked at his grotesque reflection in a mirror, the lonely mad scientist lamented that he would never know the love of a woman because of his hideous features.

(Suspense#23/6) - While dining in a restaurant one night, Nopply spotted a beautiful woman sitting at one of the tables, and he immediately fell in love with her; after asking the waiter, he learned that the woman was model Wanda Jones. Nopply hurriedly scrawled a note and told the waiter to take it to the gorgeous girl. Wanda read the note, then slowly turned to see who had written it...but when she took one look at Nopply, she gasped in horror and ran screaming out of the restaurant--the heart-broken Nopply only sat at his table and stared.

   The next day, Nopply telephoned Wanda and identified himself as the man who sent her the note. But the disgusted Wanda immediately rejected him, saying she wouldn't go out with him if he were the last man on Earth.

   Greatly upset by the phone call, Wanda left her apartment to take a walk--she was startled to find Nopply waiting for her outside. The ugly little man pathetically begged Wanda for just one date, but she again rejected his advance, repeating that she wouldn't go out with him if he were the last man on Earth. The infuriated Nopply stormed away, but he vowed to Wanda that she would regret her decision.

   Nopply rushed back to his laboratory and plunged himself into his next evil project--he began mixing some chemicals, not stopping his work as the hours turned into days. Finally, Nopply was finished, and from a single test-tube, he released a gas into the air, then watched a clock and waited for sixty minutes to expire, so the gas could take its world-wide effect.

   One hour later, Nopply looked out the window of his lab and saw the end-results of the gas--the streets and sidewalks of the city were littered with the dead bodies of men. Nopply was now apparently left as the only surviving male on the planet, so he again telephoned Wanda...

Comments: Created by Stan Lee (writer) and Joe Maneely (artist).

Considering the cataclysmic ending, more than likely this tale took place on some alternate Earth; however, that doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't an Earth-616 (mainstream Marvel Universe) counterpart of Ignatz Nopply.

This was only a 4-page story, so the details of exactly how Nopply created the zombies and the werewolf, or how he contacted the ghost, were unrevealed. Nopply probably engineered that gas to be poisonous only to humans with a Y-chromosome, but rather than offering some pseudo-scientific principle to explain how it worked, my guess is that he probably employed a blending of sorcery and science for all his works. And magic seems like a "logical" explanation for how a single test-tube of a chemical gas could kill all the men of the world in only an hour.

Nopply could probably be considered a prototype for two characters who would appear a decade later: Being an ugly outcast, he kind of reminds me of the Mole Man (Harvey Elder @ Fantastic Four I#1); and assuming he used sorcery mixed with science, he's sort of like Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom @ Fantastic Four I#5).

Instead of killing all the world's men, maybe Iggy should have just developed a chemical "Feminization Process" like Superia did--at least that way, he could have doubled his chances of finding a date.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.







CLARIFICATIONS:
Ignatz Nopply has no known connections to:

Wanda Jones has no known connections to:

Wanda Jones

A stunning platinum-blonde model, she was the unwilling object of Ignatz Nopply's affection.

But when the extremely homely Nopply asked her for a date, Wanda rejected his advance and told him that she wouldn't go out with him if he were the last man on Earth.

Nopply later created a gas that killed all the men on the planet--with the exception of himself--and thus severely limited Wanda's choice of dating options.

--Suspense#23/6

Ignatz Nopply's zombies

One night, scientist Ignatz Nopply reanimated five corpses in a graveyard. The zombies were obedient to Nopply's will, but their eventual fate is unrevealed.

--Suspense#23/6

Ignatz Nopply's werewolf

Scientist Ignatz Nopply apparently injected an unidentified man with a chemical solution that transformed the man into a werewolf; left chained to a wall in Nopply's laboratory, the werewolf's eventual fate is unrevealed.

(Comment: Considering that it was a male werewolf, possibly it died when Nopply later released the man-killing gas.)

--Suspense#23/6

unidentified ghost

Presumably the spirit of an unidentified human, this ghost appeared when scientist Ignatz Nopply conducted a one-man seance; the ghost's eventual fate is unrevealed.

--Suspense#23/6

Ignatz Nopply's gas

After beautiful model Wanda Jones told ugly scientist Ignatz Nopply that she wouldn't date him if he were the last man on Earth, Nopply created this chemical solution.

Contained within a single test-tube, it emitted fumes which could apparently kill the entire male population of the world, with the exception of Nopply--Nopply had apparently somehow immunized himself to the effects of the gas.

Nopply released the gas and waited one hour for it to take effect; afterward, he looked out the window of his lab and saw that the gas apparently killed all the men on the planet.

Nopply then telephoned Wanda and taunted her about the earlier remark she made to him.

--Suspense#23/6

images: (without ads)
Suspense#23/6, p1, pan2 (Main Image - Ignatz Nopply in his laboratory)
Suspense#23/6, p2, pan3 (Headshot - Ignatz Nopply looking in a mirror)
Suspense#23/6, p3, pan8 (Ignatz Nopply begging Wanda Jones for a date)
Suspense#23/6, p4, pan6 (Ignatz Nopply watches clock, waiting for gas to take effect)
Suspense#23/6, p2, pan4 (Wanda Jones in restaurant; Ignatz Nopply and waiter (background))
Suspense#23/6, p3, pan5 (Wanda Jones gets first telephone call from Ignatz Nopply)
Suspense#23/6, p4, pan7 (Wanda Jones gets second telephone call from Ignatz Nopply)
Suspense#23/6, p1, pan3 (zombies in graveyard; Ignatz Nopply (right))
Suspense#23/6, p2, pan1 (werewolf chained to wall; Ignatz Nopply (right))
Suspense#23/6, p2, pan2 (unidentified ghost; Ignatz Nopply seated at seance table)
Suspense#23/6, p4, pan5 (Ignatz Nopply releases gas from test-tube)
Suspense#23/6, p4, pan8 (as he speaks to Wanda Jones on the telephone, Ignatz Nopply looks out his lab window to see the effects of the gas)

Appearances:
Suspense#23/6 (October, 1952) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Joe Maneely (pencils and inks)

First Posted: 06/07/2020
Last updated: 06/08/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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