More than twenty years before he laid the foundations of the modern Marvel Universe, Stan Lee created his first superhero: Destroyer, a Captain America counterpart with proto-Punisher vibes. Although Destroyer has been eclipsed by Lee’s subsequent 1960s superhero creations, the character is key to understanding how the genre took shape in the early 20th century.
Let’s jump back 85 years: 17-year-old Stanley Lieber gets a job at the newly-founded comic book publisher Timely. He’s there working behind-the-scenes as Marvel Comics #1 hits stands, introducing characters like the Human Torch and Namor the Submariner. He’s there when Jack Kirby and Joe Simon introduce Captain America in 1940. And in 1941, under the pen name Stan Lee, Lieber gets his first writing gig on a Captain America story, as the character’s popularity surged ahead of America’s entry into World War II.
That assignment led directly to Lee’s big creative break. He was given the chance to create his own character. The result was Destroyer, whose design, by artists Jack Binder and Alex Schomburg, featured a Punisher-esque skull insignia decades ahead of Marvel’s premiere anti-hero.
Like Captain America, Human Torch, and Timely Comics’ other first generation superheroes, Destroyer had his moment in the sun, fighting Nazis and fictional supervillains alike throughout the 1940s, before being discontinued. Looking back, the character has all the earmarks of what would make Stan Lee a legendary creator 20-odd years later.
Stan Lee’s First Superhero, Destroyer, Was A Grittier Captain America At The Height Of WWII
Destroyer Debuted In August 1941 & Reached His Apex During The War
One especially remarkable thing about Destroyer was that Stan Lee actually wrote the character while serving in the Army during WWII. Lee enlisted, like so many American men his age, in early 1942, following the Pearl Harbor attack and America’s declaration of war against Japan and its German allies. Lee’s flare for the dramatic and his creative sensibilities were, in some ways, forged during the process of writing his early Destroyer stories during wartime.
It’s fair to call Destroyer a “darker” alternative to Captain America. Like Steve Rogers, Lee’s character, Keen Marlow, was empowered by the Super Soldier Serum. But rather than a patriotic alter ego, Marlow took on a more of an “avenging terror” type of persona. And like Captain America, Destroyer’s initial popularity peaked with the end of World War II.
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When Stan Lee returned from the Army, he came back to find that the first superhero boom was already fading, and Timely was about to get out of the superhero game. At least for the time being. Lee stayed with the company as it became Atlas Comics, writing westerns and other genre pulp, until it became Marvel, and superheroes came back in style. But while Lee and Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby resurrected Steve Rogers, Lee didn’t resurrect Destroyer.
He Deserves A Whole Chapter In The History Of Superheroes
It’s unclear why Stan Lee didn’t bring back his original superhero character when Marvel Comics started to put out superhero books again in the 1960s. Or why Destroyer didn’t join the early Avengers roster. Lee must have thought he didn’t fit the team’s vibe. Or maybe he was just having such a prolific moment, with so many character concepts and story ideas flowing, that he didn’t feel the need to recycle Destroyer.
In any case, Destroyer did inevitably return to the Marvel fold. First under the auspices of Lee’s protégé Roy Thomas in the 1970s, and then at some point or another in every decade since. Still, Destroyer has never become a Marvel mainstay, despite being a prototypical Stan Lee Marvel hero. As much as he was a riff on Captain America, Destroyer was also ahead of his time with his look and his stories’ dark tone.
Stan Lee’s original Destroyer was a short-lived but important early superhero. Though the design was later reused, it has been adapted for other characters, and Lee’s “Keen Marlow” version of Destroyer borders on a forgotten Marvel icon. If nothing else, he’s crucial to understanding the evolution of Stan Lee’s career, and with it, the superhero genre as a whole.
What do you think about Destroyer, Stan Lee’s first superhero, Marvel fans?
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- Alias
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Steve Rogers, John Walker, Sam Wilson
- Created By
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Joe Simon, Jack Kirby
- Franchise
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Marvel
- Race
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Human
- First Appearance
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Captain America Comics
- Alliance
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Avengers, Invaders, S.H.I.E.L.D., U.S. Army
Initially debuting in 1940, Captain America is the patriotically themed superhero who has shared the title with only a few individuals. Beginning with Steve Rogers, Captain America’s birth resulted from a frail man taking part in an experimental U.S. Army super-soldier trial, which imbued him with super-human abilities. The character is often depicted wielding a nigh unbreakable and aerodynamic shield made of vibranium that they use to defend and attack their foes.
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- Created by
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Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr., Ross Andru
- First Film
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The Punisher
- Latest Film
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Punisher: War Zone
- Upcoming Films
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The Punisher Special Presentation
- First TV Show
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The Punisher
- Latest TV Show
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The Punisher
The Punisher franchise follows Frank Castle, a former Marine turned vigilante after the murder of his family. Operating outside the law, Castle wages a one-man war on crime using lethal methods and military tactics. Known for its gritty realism and moral ambiguity, the franchise spans comics, films, television series, and video games, making The Punisher one of Marvel’s most enduring antiheroes.