The Masked Marauder

Background

The origin of the Masked Marauder has never been revealed. He first appeared as an already successful crime leader with men, money, and resources at his command. Although he is clearly an engineering genius, capable of creating levitation/teleportation rays, androids, exoskeleton armor, and blinding opti-blasts, his real identity was eventually revealed to be Frank Farnum, the manager of the Manhattan building in which the law offices of Nelson and Murdock reside. Where did his expertise come from? Where did he get his money to begin his organization? What were his reasons for leading a life of crime? None of these questions has ever been answered.

The Masked Marauder first comes to the public's attention battling Spider-Man, prior to his big attack on the World Motors Building. He draws Daredevil into the picture and arranges for the two super-heroes to fight each other while he and his henchmen steal the XB-390, a new auto engine. This plot is eventually foiled by Spider-Man and Daredevil. Although all of his men are captured, the Marauder himself manages to escape.

Taking on new men, culled from the New York City underworld, the Marauder arranges to have the Gladiator sprung from prison. He intends to use his new man as glorified muscle but the Gladiator proves very hard to tame. In the end, the Marauder is forced to take him on as his partner. The two villains decide to try to take over the Maggia. They present their credentials and promise to defeat Daredevil. The Marauder creates his Tri-Man, an android animated with the strength of the Mangler (a wrestler), the moves of the Dancer (a safecracker) and the genius of the Brain (an underworld figure), for the purpose of defeating Daredevil. The plan fails when Daredevil defeats the Tri-Man instead. The Maggia agree to take in the Gladiator but they spurn the Masked Marauder.

The Marauder's next plan is to team up with Stilt-Man to try to sniff out Daredevil's secret identity. He ends up in a special helicopter with Matt Murdock (who is actually Daredevil), Matt's law partner Foggy Nelson, and their secretary Karen Page. The helicopter has a force field that disintegrates anything that comes in contact with it. Unfortunately for the Marauder, what comes in contact with it is his body.

The Marauder is presumed dead until he re-appears in Detroit some years later. (He reveals that his force field disintegrator was actually a teleportation device that allowed him to escape and start over again elsewhere.) With his henchmen Steele and Hacker, he steals Tony Stark's experimental space shuttle and runs afoul of Iron Man, who defeats him.

Later, the Marauder again encounters Iron Man along with Jack Russell, the Werewolf By Night. His plans (with his new henchmen Pardee, Creach, and Strenk) involve creating a Tri-Animan (an android powered by three animals instead of men) to aid in his revenge again the Maggia. He fails.

”Guess Who Is Buried in Grant’s Tomb!”

When the Marauder next appears, he has somehow become Big M, the leader of the Maggia. He employed Cyclone and ran away when Cyclone was being beaten by Spider-Man and Moon Knight. (Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 1) #23)

In battle with Spider-Man and Daredevil, he "permanently" blinds the web-slinger and threatens New York with his "bombdroid", a Tri-Man carrying a nuclear device. As a blinded Spider-Man succeeds in defusing the bomb, Daredevil defeats the Marauder in the same way he did in their first meeting... by resisting the effects of the opti-blast because he is already blind.

”Small Wake for a Tall Man”

Many minor criminals gathered for the funeral of Stilt Man at The Bar With No Name. Masked Marauder was the one who realized that the drinks were poisoned and the bar blew up as the Punisher walked away. Somehow everyone survived. (Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #4)

Image Gallery

Appearances

Cover Date	Appearance Information
May 1966	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #16
	First battle versus Daredevil and Spider-Man
Jun 1966	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #17
Jul 1966	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #18
	First appearance out of costume, joins with Gladiator
Aug 1966	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #19
Nov 1966	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #22
	With Gladiator and Tri-Man
Dec 1966	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #23
Mar 1967	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #26
	Origin. With Stilt-Man, identity revealed, appears to die
Apr 1967	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #27
Date TBD	App: Iron Man #60
	Back from the dead
Date TBD	App: Iron Man #61
Date TBD	App: Werewolf By Night #42
	With Iron Man and the Tri-Animan
Date TBD	App: Werewolf By Night #43
Oct 1978	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #23
	In the shadows as Big M, assisted by Cyclone
Dec 1978	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #25
	With Carrion, Daredevil, and Bombdroid
Jan 1979	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #26
Feb 1979	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #27
Mar 1979	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #28

Thanks To

 The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

 Some of the above information is extracted from the various versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent Marvel Encyclopaedias.