FILE 91: CRUSHER

The man who became the Crusher was a middle aged Cuban scientist who worked for his government at some point around the beginning of the 1990s. We know nothing of his past, save that he was a Professor and that he was loyal to Cuban president, Fidel Castro. His name is unknown to us and he was unremarkable in appearance, being of average height and build with dark brown hair and a beard. He must have been highly regarded by his President and his field of speciality seems to have been biochemistry, since Castro himself gave him a direct order to produce a weapon that would allow the dictator to become ruler of the world, and "El Profesor" responded to this challenge by producing a serum. This serum was designed to give whomsoever swallowed it massively increased strength and invulnerability. It is worth noting at this point that the "Presidente" and the island nation referred to in the documents that describe the career of the Crusher are not explicitly stated to be Fidel Castro or Cuba; nevertheless, they are clearly depicted as so. Furthermore, we cannot say for sure that Castro truly intended to use the weapon he demanded for world conquest; it seems more likely in fact that he wished to use it to defend himself against attack, particularly given the proliferation of Super-Heroes in America. What we can say for certain is that despite the Professor's expressed loyalty, the paranoid President did not trust him and most certainly did not want the news that his scientist was working on a weapon to become common knowledge; Thus the Professor worked under constant armed guard. Finally, the scientist's labours paid off and he completed his serum. Announcing this to his guard, he was led to the President, with the serum in hand.

On arriving at Castro's headquarters, it became clear to the Professor that he was not trusted; this situation was not alleviated when he told his ruler that all he need do was drink the serum. Castro initially believed that his scientist was joking and then became increasingly suspicious that the serum was poison and that he was being betrayed. Quietly and calmly, he announced that the serum would be taken at the Palacio and he led the Professor there under heavy guard. The scientist was becoming increasingly angry at this lack of trust and by the time Castro ordered him to drink the serum himself, he readily agreed. His leader did not believe the Professor's story of a serum at all and was convinced that he was being offered toxin; however, he reasoned, if the scientist was sincere he could then have him killed and recreate the serum from the man's notes. Stripped to the waist, the disgusted Professor thus downed the contents of the flask. Immediately, Castro and his incredulous guards noticed a change as the Professor's naked upper body began to expand, his muscle mass increasing before their eyes. His hairline receded and his skin became rock hard. Within seconds, he had reached a height of seven feet and revelling in his newfound power, he roared his defiance:

"No longer do you see before you the one who had been El Pofesor..! Now you face the mightiest man alive! Now you stand in the presence of...the Crusher!"

The sight of his beloved El Pesidente pointing a gun at him suddenly broke the Crusher's euphoria. Amazed that he would be killed after carrying out his orders loyally, he listened as Castro announced that he would take the formula that had produced the Crusher and use it now that he knew it was safe. He then opened fire. The bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the Crusher's muscular torso even as the former Professor announced that there was no formula to be stolen; he had never written it down, consigning it to memory instead. Furiously, his President ordered a guard to fetch a cannon. Realising that he was now invulnerable, the Crusher humoured Castro and left the Palace. On a nearby cliff top, he stood and faced the cannon and its shell exploded against his body. The President suddenly realised that the Crusher was beyond his control. Thinking quickly, he made the Crusher an offer; if he travelled to America and destroyed the Super-Hero known as Iron Man, he would be made Generalissimo of the Cuban army. The Crusher realised that his President expected him to be bested by Iron Man, and not return. However, he was of a different opinion; he believed that he could in fact defeat Iron Man and having proved his strength he would return, avenge himself against Castro for his President's betrayal and take command of Cuba. He therefore agreed to Castro's challenge. Donning a mechanical equipment belt and a harness containing a directional homing unit, he was soon on the fastest Cuban boat available and on his way to the New Jersey coast.

Iron Man was secretly billionaire industrialist Anthony Stark, who had originally adopted the guise of Iron Man after an injury, which had forced him to wear a metal breastplate in order to keep his heart beating. He had then come up with idea of pretending that Iron Man was in actual fact his bodyguard, a ruse that he sustained successfully ever since. When the Crusher arrived on American soil, Iron Man was working in his laboratory and heard of the strange being on the radio news. He initially dismissed it, hoping that the police could handle the situation, but he was forced to re-evaluate this assessment when the wall of his laboratory was smashed aside and the massive figure entered the room. By now, the Crusher's transformation was complete; he weighed one thousand pounds and his hair had almost completely vanished. On first sight, Iron Man thought him to be a robot, but suddenly realised that, incredibly, he was facing a human. Introducing himself, the Crusher announced his intention to destroy Iron Man and then brought a huge fist smashing down towards the hero. Fortunately for Stark, the former scientist was not a natural fighter and was relying solely on the weight of his body to attack; he quickly followed up his sledge-hammer blow by trying to stamp on Iron Man, who rolled out of the way of his fist. Iron Man again evaded the blow, and this time he fired his repulsor rays - energy blasts fired from the palms of his gauntlets - straight into the Crusher's chest. Much like Castro's cannon, this had no effect. In fact, so strong and heavy was the Crusher that Iron Man's repulsor rays did not move him at all, thus causing them to feed back and knock the hero to the floor. Seizing a huge bank of equipment, the Crusher pressed home his advantage by smashing it down on Stark's armoured back.

Stark had quickly realised that the Crusher was dangerously powerful and more than willing to kill. Deciding that he had to end his threat immediately, but unable to overpower him by force alone, he groped for a fallen piece of equipment, which he had been working on earlier. This was his Centrifugal Force Ray, and he now cast aside the machinery pinning him and aimed it at his foe. The Crusher allowed him to rise, not believing that so small a device could harm him. Thus, Iron Man was able to activate it. The Centrifugal Force Ray was designed to feed centrifugal force into a target object, thus increasing its weight. To the Crusher's alarm, he suddenly realised that his already heavy body was suddenly becoming even heavier and was starting to sink into the steel-covered concrete floor of the laboratory. Grimly, Iron Man explained that he would not normally inflict such a fatal procedure on anyone, but the Crusher had given him little choice. With increasing panic, the Crusher felt his body becoming heavier and heavier until he could not longer speak, then he sank rapidly into the ground as though it were water until Stark was out of his sight far above and the ray no longer bathed him. His weight no longer increased, but it was already too late and, unable to stop, he sank further and further into the Earth's crust. For all his size and power, he was overcome with fear and horror at his situation and unable he to halt his inexorable descent, he would surely have died then but for two fortunate twists of fate. As the Crusher sank through miles of rock, the effects of the serum that had transformed him began to wear off, and as he reverted back to El Profesor, the effects of the Centrifugal Force Ray also wore off. Had he been falling through rock at the point at which he fully reverted, he would certainly have been trapped in the shaft he had carved and he would have died. Luckily, by coincidence, he chose that moment to fall through a layer of strata and land in a huge underground cavern. But this was no ordinary cavern, since it housed a huge technological city. This cavern formed part of the realm of Tyrannus.

Tyrannus was Romulus Augustilus, the last Emperor of Rome, who had been exiled beneath the Earth's surface nearly two millennia ago by the English sorcerer Merlin. Once there, he had discovered a source of eternal vitality in the Fountain of Youth, and by drinking from its waters he had remained young ever since. He had soon found technology abandoned by the Deviants and a race of Subterraneans, both of which he had recruited to his own purposes. The Deviants were an ancient offshoot of humanity created by the powerful and enigmatic aliens known as the Celestials as part of their manipulations of human evolution. They had existed in secret for thousands of years and had left traces of their technology all over the planet, although they now only dwelt within their hidden undersea city of Deviant Lemuria. The Subterraneans were a subspecies of humanity created by the Deviants' genetic manipulation to serve as slaves. The particular race of slaves subjugated by Tyrannus were of low intelligence and thus easy to conquer; he had forced them to serve him and had christened them Tyrannoids. Recently, Tyrannus had encountered the outlaw group of mutants known as the X-Men and this encounter had resulted in total amnesia for the despotic Emperor. Consequently, he had allowed his empire to fall into disrepair and this particular city was now abandoned. El Profesor did not know any of this, but he soon realised that whoever built the city had been very technologically advanced. Stumbling across a well-stocked laboratory, he soon found the chemicals that he required to recreate the Crusher formula and began to work on escaping from his current predicament. He made alterations to the formula, so that he would not be susceptible to the Centrifugal Force Ray's effects again and as he drank it he also found that it transformed him much faster than before. As the Crusher once more, he now had the strength and power to dig his way up through the Earth's crust and he finally emerged out of the ground in Florida, weeks after his first battle with Iron Man. His first thoughts were of revenge.

The Crusher now made his way across country until he eventually located the coast and the shack in which the Cubans who had delivered him to America by boat were based. They were still present as the three men discovered to their horror; despite their best efforts to kill him, they soon discovered that he was still bulletproof and they were soon left with no choice but to obey him. Boarding their boat, the Crusher ordered them to take him to the Long Island factory of Tony Stark, since he was keen to seek revenge against Iron Man. He had already decided on the means of his revenge and planned to seize the Centrifugal Force Ray and turn it against Stark's bodyguard. On arriving at the Long Island shore, he smashed the boat to smithereens partly to stop the men returning to Cuba and warning Castro of the Crusher's intention to seize power of his homeland, and partly because he enjoyed the violence. He then waded ashore and smashed his way through the South wall of Stark's factory.

As soon as the Crusher made his entrance, alarms began to sound around the compound. Hearing this alarm, Stark, who was currently in his secret identity as Iron Man, ordered the entire factory to be evacuated. He had not expected the Crusher to survive his plunge into the Earth's crust but since he clearly had done, Iron Man realised that he was the only person nearby with any chance of defeating him. He was trying to persuade Jasper Sitwell to evacuate also, when the Crusher found his way to the laboratory and came in through the wall. Sitwell was an agent of the anti-terrorist organisation SHIELD (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) who had been assigned to protect Stark by Colonel Nicholas Fury, SHIELD's commanding officer, who had wanted to get Sitwell out of his own hair whilst simultaneously protecting Stark, who was currently working on Governmental contracts. Sitwell was an earnest young man who was devoted to his job and had a strong sense of duty; thus, despite Iron Man's presence, he refused to leave whilst there was a risk to Stark's property or in fact Stark himself, since Jasper was unaware of Tony's duel identity. For the moment he was safe, since the Crusher was entirely occupied with Iron Man and Stark was making sure that the fight stayed clear of any bystanders. As we shall see however, Sitwell was about to become directly involved.

The Crusher laid into Iron Man with all his force, but Stark once more managed to evade most of the blows, and in addition he had recently upgraded his armour. The enraged Crusher was also distracted by the fact that he was looking for the Centrifugal Force Ray; after a few blows had been traded, he started to concentrate on getting a huge vault door open and this meant that he was not focused entirely on Iron Man. However, he quickly let slip what he was after and Iron Man suddenly found himself desperately trying to stop the behemoth from gaining access to the vault. He succeeded in kicking the Crusher away, but this sent the astonished villain crashing through a solid steel wall into the next room, allowing him to seize a hostage in the form of Whitney Frost. She was secretly the Big M, leader of a powerful family in the European Crime Cartel known as the Maggia, and daughter of the infamous Crime Lord Count Nefaria [see file 13: Count Nefaria]. Iron Man had recently fought Big M, but she had been disguised then and he did not realise who she was. She had been successfully seducing Jasper Sitwell, hoping that he could be tricked into giving her access to Stark's weapons technology, which would be of great use to the Maggia's operations. She had arrived at Stark's factory minutes earlier and although she did not know why the plant was being evacuated, she had decided to take advantage of the situation to enter the security area and access the files. This was why she was in the adjoining room when the Crusher fell through the wall, and she suddenly found herself held in his powerful grasp.

The Crusher knew that Iron Man would not allow the woman to be harmed and demanded that his armoured opponent hand over the Centrifugal Force Ray, or he would kill her. Thinking quickly, Iron Man realised that he had no choice, but he had an idea on how to survive the situation once Whitney was safe. Unfortunately, before he could respond, Jasper Sitwell stepped forward brandishing a fallen piece of wooden beam and ordered the Crusher to let her go. This amused the Crusher, but Stark realised that if he did not convince Jasper to leave things to him, the monster would soon tire of this diversion and quite probably slay Sitwell. Since Jasper's feelings for Whitney placed him beyond reason however, Iron Man dealt with the situation by knocking the SHIELD agent out, thus putting him out of harms way. He then agreed to the Crusher's demands, stepped into the vault, and re-emerged with the Centrifugal Force Ray in his hand. Sure enough, the Crusher released Whitney and then pointed the device at Iron Man, gloating over his triumph as he did so:

"Now, my armoured amigo, you shall endure the same helpless, hopeless fear I did...you shall feel the same horrifying heaviness until the Earth can no longer support you...only swallow you!"

As a final humiliation, the Crusher ordered Iron Man out of the building so that the evacuated factory workers could witness his defeat, then he aimed the Centrifugal Force Ray at Iron Man and fired it. Nothing happened; Iron Man had left the safety-locking device on, and as the frustrated Crusher tried to unfasten it with his massive fingers, he crushed the machine beyond repair, exactly as Iron Man had hoped he would. As he broke the device, it exploded with a small flash that both shocked the Crusher and dazzled him. Pressing home his advantage, Iron Man flew into him with the full force of his boot jets behind him and lifted the huge figure off the ground. Furiously, the Crusher lashed out with his full strength as Iron Man carried him higher and higher, seeking to carry the villain away from the facility and innocent bystanders. As he pounded at Stark's armour, the hero shouted a warning, but to no avail; with his grip jarred by the assault, he could not help but let go of the Crusher, who plunged down and down into the sea.

A fall from the height from which the Crusher fell would have killed a normal human even if they hit water, but the Crusher knew that his rock-hard body would protect him from the impact. But as he hit the water, a horrible fact made itself clear to him; his body was so heavy that he had no hope of swimming back up to the surface before the air in his lungs ran out. Trapped beneath the waves by his weight, he once more sank into defeat, but on this occasion there were no twists of fate to save him. As the former El Profesor's body drifted towards the seabed, he drowned and the brief career of the Crusher came to an abrupt end.

One final note remains to be made here and this is that a second Crusher would appear a few years later; a young man named Juan Aponte would somehow obtain the formula of the Crusher serum and battled the blind Super-Hero known as Daredevil.

References: The Crusher first appeared in Tales of Suspense issue 91 and died in Iron Man (vol. 1) issue 6.