Ape-Man

Ape-Man is the name of three characters in Marvel Comics.

Publication history

Monk Keefer first appeared in Avengers #12 (January 1965), and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck. He first appeared as Ape-Man in Daredevil #10-11 (October, December 1965) by Stan Lee, Bob Powell, and Wally Wood. The character subsequently appears in Daredevil #39-41 (April–June 1968), Daredevil Annual #2 (1971), Marvel Team-Up #25 (September 1974), X-Men #94-95 (August–October 1975), and Iron Man #115-116 (October–November 1978), in which he dies. The character appears posthumously in Iron Man #139 (October 1980) and Classic X-Men #3 (November 1986). Ape-Man appeared as part of the "Ani-Men" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #16, and in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #24.

The second Ape-Man appeared in Daredevil #157-158 (March, May 1979), and was created by Roger McKenzie, Mary Jo Duffy, and Gene Colan. Ape-Man appeared as part of the "Ani-Men" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #16, and in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #24.

Fictional character biography

Monk Keefer

Ape-Man I
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	(As Monk Keefer): Avengers #12 (Jan 1965) (As Ape-Man): Daredevil #10 (Oct 1965)
Created by	Stan Lee Don Heck
In-story information
Alter ego	Gordon Keefer
Team affiliations	Ani-Men Unholy Three
Notable aliases	Monk Keefer, Gort
Abilities	Excellent boxer and wrestler Considerable strength Use of T-Ray Gun (Briefly): Ape-like appearance Superhuman strength Enhanced agility, durability and reflexes

With a group of other criminals, professional criminal Gordon "Monk" Keefer attempted a robbery of a Stark warehouse, and was defeated by Captain America.^[1]

Along with Bird-Man I, Cat-Man I, and Frog-Man, Keefer was recruited for his great strength by a man named the Organizer to form the Ani-Men. The Organizer was secretly Abner Jonas, a candidate for mayor of New York City, who sent the Ani-Men on missions to undermine the current administration. Daredevil defeated them and the Ani-Men and Organizer all went to prison.^[2] Later, Ape-Man, Bird-Man, and Cat-Man formed a team called the "Unholy Three" with the Exterminator, and fought Daredevil again.^[3] The Unholy Three, as a team of independent thieves, fought Daredevil and Spider-Man and were defeated.^[4]

Ape-Man, Bird-Man, and Cat-Man later rejoined the Ani-Men, and the Ani-Men went to work for Count Nefaria. Nefaria's scientists submitted the unwitting Ani-Men to processes that gave them superhuman powers and animal-like forms. The Ani-Men invaded the Cheyenne Mountain missile base for Count Nefaria, and fought the X-Men.^[5]

The Ani-Men lost their superhuman powers and reverted to normal. Nefaria sent the four original Ani-Men to kill Tony Stark, however the Spymaster detonated a bomb with which he had intended to kill Stark, and the resulting explosion killed the Ani-Men instead.^[6]

Roy McVey

After the deaths of the original Ani-Men, the Death-Stalker recruits a new team of Ani-Men, with a new Ape-Man, Bird-Man, and Cat-Man. He sends the new Ani-Men to capture Matt Murdock. The Death-Stalker murders Ape-Man and Cat-Man by electrocution upon the completion of their mission.^[7]

Ape-Man III

During the Secret Wars storyline, a third Ape-Man alongside a third Cat-Man and a second Frog-Man were shown committing crimes while the heroes were on Battleworld. They somehow got the equipment of the original Ani-Men and used it to rob a vault wagon only to be opposed by the NYPD.^[8]

During the Civil War storyline, Ape-Man alongside the third Bird-Man and the third Cat-Man were among the villains in Hammerhead's supervillain army.^[9]

Powers and abilities

Originally, Keefer had no superhuman powers. He was an athletic man with a powerful build and considerable strength, and an excellent hand-to-hand combatant trained in boxing and wrestling techniques. While employed by the Exterminator, Keefer wielded a "time-displacement ray" ("T-ray") gun that fired a ray which projected its victim into a limbo-like inter-dimensional void. The gun could thus "displace" a victim for a limited period of time, such as 30 minutes. A ray blast of sufficient intensity could exile a victim to the inter-dimensional void permanently. Keefer was later subjected to an unknown mutagenic process administered by Count Nefaria's scientists which temporarily gave him a build resembling that of an ape, and gave him superhuman strength and enhanced agility, durability and reflexes.

McVey possessed the same abilities as the first Ape-Man, including ape-like superhuman strength, agility, durability and reflexes.

References

External links

• Ape-Man (Keefer) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe