CALVIN McCLARY
Real Name: Calvin McClary
Identity/Class: Human (World War II to modern era; see comments)
Occupation: President of the Franklin Pierce National Bank
Group Membership: Franklin Pierce National Bank staff (Charlie, others)
Affiliations: Dr. Horace Grayson, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Frankie Raye
Enemies: Crusader (Thelius)
Known Relatives: Mrs. McClary (wife)
Aliases: "Cal," "Mister"
Base of Operations: New York City, New York, USA
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#164 (November, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: Calvin McClary has no superhuman powers but was a skilled bank manager.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 135 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Gray; formerly black (see comments)
History:
(Fantastic Four I#165 (fb) - BTS) - After becoming head of
the Franklin Pierce National Bank just before the beginning of World War
II, Calvin McClary befriended Dr. Horace Grayson, who had invented a
rocket capable of reaching outer space.
(Fantastic Four I#165 (fb)) - When Dr. Grayson came to Calvin for a loan to finish his rocket, Calvin McClary had to turn down the loan, remarking that he wished Grayson had some sort of collateral. Angry, Dr. Grayson exclaimed that he would escape Earth somehow for his son Robert's sake. Decades later, after Dr. Grayson had successfully traveled with his son to Uranus, Robert Grayson returned to Earth in an attempt to get a loan from Calvin McClary for medical supplies. Despite being amazed that Dr. Grayson was still alive and had made it into outer space, Calvin declined to approve the loan, feeling as if his board members would not believe the fantastic story.
(Fantastic Four I#164) - Years later, the insane Crusader (a Uranian Eternal who resembled Robert Grayson and possessed a copy of the true Robert's memories) attacked the home of Calvin McClary and his wife in revenge for Calvin's turning down of the Graysons' loans. A confused Calvin asked who the Crusader was and what he had done to their building. Announcing that he had traveled farther than either McClary or his wife could imagine, the Crusader grabbed Calvin, who yelled for the Crusader to keep away from him and asked what the Crusader was going to do. The Crusader responded by hurling Calvin from the building, but Calvin was caught in mid-air by the heroic Human Torch, who had witnessed the events from the ground with his date, Frankie Raye. Setting Calvin down next to Frankie, the Torch flew into battle against the Crusader. After the Crusader temporarily blinded the Torch by using a gem on his wrist-bands, he turned his attention back towards Calvin McClary, announcing that it was time he dealt with Calvin. When the Crusader asked if Calvin had any final words, Calvin asked why the Crusader had come after him, as he had never seen or met the Crusader before. As Calvin's wife ran out to plead with the Crusader, the Crusader hurled a chunk of debris from the damaged building and seemingly crushed Calvin beneath it. Standing over Calvin's seemingly lifeless body, the Crusader muttered that while Calvin McClary had paid, there were others who still walked free.
(Fantastic Four I#165 - BTS) - Following McClary's supposed death, Mister Fantastic visited the crime-scene, and when a skeptical police officer mentioned space to Mr. Fantastic, Mrs. McClary recalled Dr. Grayson's attempts at getting a loan from Calvin decades earlier. After explaining the story of Calvin and Dr. Grayson to Mr. Fantastic and the police, Mrs. McClary admitted that she recognized the Crusader's voice as that of a younger Dr. Grayson. The next day, the Crusader attacked the Franklin Pierce National Bank, of which Calvin McClary was President, and one of the security guards suspected the Crusader to be the man who had attacked Calvin the day before. In the days that followed, the Crusader struck two more branches of the Franklin Pierce National Bank, making newspaper headlines featuring photos of Calvin McClary. When the Crusader attacked Pearson P. Morgan, manager of a branch of the Grover Cleveland National Bank, the Fantastic Four arrived to stop him, and the Human Torch remarked that while it was obvious the Crusader had a grudge against Calvin McClary, he wondered why the supposed son of Dr. Horace Grayson had turned into a murderer. The Crusader explained to the Human Torch the story of how Calvin McClary had turned down loans for the Graysons and how he had crashed on Earth and prepared for his campaign of vengeance against McClary. The Crusaded announced his plans to destroy McClary's financial empire now that McClary himself was "dead," but was unaware that McClary had actually survived the attack and was in Metro General Hospital. The Crusader refused to allow the Human Torch to further halt him, but the Thing (Ben Grimm) arrived to aid his teammate, and the Fantastic Four ultimately defeated the Crusader by tricking him into absorbing so much solar radiation that it scattered his atoms.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, George Perez and Joe Sinnott.
The story in Fantastic Four I#164-165 originally intended the Crusader to be an adult Robert Grayson, aka Marvel Boy. However, the Crusader was later ret-conned to be Thelius, a Uranian Eternal who had been psychically fed Robert Grayson's memories and had gone insane following the deaths of the Uranian Eternals, and believed himself to actually BE Robert Grayson.
It was specifically stated that Dr. Horace Grayson approached Calvin McClary for a loan shortly before the breakout of World War II. With Marvel's sliding time scale, it seems very unlikely that Calvin McClary would still be alive in the modern era. A comic from 1975 would occur roughly 12 years ago in the sliding time scale, so while it may be POSSIBLE that Calvin could have survived into that point in the past but he would have been probably 20-30 years older than he appeared in FF I#164-165 and would have likely been long-since retired. Therefore, at some point, the sliding time scale would have passed him by and there would be no way he could have been alive in the modern era. One possible explanation could be that the Calvin who turned down Dr. Grayson's loan had a son that he also named Calvin McClary who had followed in his father's footsteps and became the bank manager of Franklin Pierce National Bank, and it was the son whom the Crusader attacked. After all, the Crusader WAS insane. He could have very well thought the son was the original Calvin.
In one of the flashbacks in Fantastic Four I#165, the younger Calvin McClary's hair is miscolored as blond instead of black. I guess one could argue that his hair color began to appear blond as it grayed, but I think that's a bit of stretch. More than likely, it was just a coloring error.
Cleaned up images by Ron Fredricks.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Calvin McClary has known connection to:
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Charlie was a security guard who worked at one of the Franklin Pierce National Bank branches run by Calvin McClary. During one of his work shifts, Charlie noticed hot metal dripping from the ceiling mere moments before the insane Crusader burned his way through the bank's roof to attack. The Crusader easily tore apart the bank and took down Charlie and his partner. --Fantastic Four I#165 |
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Mrs. McClary was the wife of Calvin McClary; she had apparently met Dr. Horace Grayson at some point in the past, and was familiar enough with him to recognize his voice. In the modern era, Mrs. McClary was enjoying some time with her husband when the insane Crusader attacked their home and hurled Calvin from the building. Rushing outside to check on her husband, Mrs. McClary saw the Crusader about to kill Calvin and yelled for the Crusader to stop; but the Crusader nonetheless hit Calvin with a chunk of debris, seemingly killing him. Remaining at the crime-scene, Mrs. McClary later witnessed the arrival of the heroic Mister Fantastic, and when a police officer made a crack about Mr. Fantastic going back into space while the police handled the situation, Mrs. McClary recalled a story about Dr. Horace Grayson being turned down for a loan for a rocket ship decades earlier by Calvin McClary. --Fantastic Four I#164-165 |
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Pearson P. Morgan was the manager of a branch of the Grover Cleveland National Bank. When the Crusader's attack on Calvin McClary and his Franklin Pierce National Bank branches made civilians terrified to venture into banks, Pearson complained to his security guards about the lackluster amount of people coming into his bank branch. The Crusader then burned his way into Morgan's bank branch and tried to hurl Morgan out of the building, but he was caught in mid-air by the arriving Fantastic Four. An hour later, Morgan and his staff became concerned as the Fantastic Four's battle with the Crusader caused chunks of the ceiling to fall. After the Thing and the Crusader subsequently fell through the ceiling and the two combatants ripped the door off of the bank vault, Pearson P. Morgan exclaimed how expensive the vault was for the bank, but the Thing made light of Morgan's claims and continued his fight. When the fight moved outside, where the Crusader was atomized by solar radiation, an angry Morgan rushed outside and demanded to know why the Crusader had not yet been caught. He then accused the Thing of robbing the bank--subsequently, the Thing grabbed Morgan, dragged him back inside the bank, and buried the manager up to his neck in a pile of money, despite Morgan's exclamations that he was only trying to safeguard his customers' money. --Fantastic Four I#165 |
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images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#164, p11, pan2 (Calvin McClary, main image)
Fantastic Four I#164, p9, pan2 (Calvin McClary, headshot)
Fantastic Four I#165, p2, pan7 (younger Calvin)
Fantastic Four I#165, p3, pan2 (Charlie)
Fantastic Four I#164, p13, pan6 (Mrs. McClary)
Fantastic Four I#165, p7, pan2 (Pearson P. Morgan)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#164 (November, 1975) - Roy Thomas
(writer/editor),George Perez (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#165 (December, 1975) - Roy Thomas
(writer/editor),George Perez (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
First posted: 07/20/2022
Last updated: 12/14/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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