The Black Fury

Who is the Black Fury?

From the FOX UNIVERSE entry for BLACK FURY.

First appearance - Fantastic Comics 17, April 1941

Alter ego - John Perry

Group affiliation - Mystery Men of America (2nd and 3rd groups, 1942-1946, 1959-1972), Code Name: Chasers (Affiliate F.O.X. agent), 1948-?

John Perry was a crusading news reporter, whose Editor father had been killed by crooks. He dedicated his career to following in his father's footsteps, but when his police contact friend, Detective Marley was also killed by criminals, John's anger led him to begin a crusade against crime under the costumed guise of THE BLACK FURY. He first suited up on new years eve 1940/41 to challenge the dominance of the New Jersey mobs. His name came from a term he coined to describe his rages against injustice and criminality.

Black Fury's arch enemies were THE FANG and dapper crime boss, WHITEY.

Later in 1941, under unrevealed circumstances, John and his young ward, Chuck Marley (who John had adopted) gained a measure of super strength and partial invulnerability. Chuck was also known as KID FURY. Both were members of the wartime MYSTERY MEN of AMERICA and Chuck joined THE FANTASTIC TEENS.

After the late 1943 'death' of the original GREEN MASK, Black Fury and Kid Fury found themselves teaming up with WONDERMAN more and more often. They continued to work as partners but also solo and with their respective teams.

Following the conclusion of the war and the March 8th 1946 disbanding of the MMA, Black Fury continued to wage violent war against crime, but without Kid Fury (who was spending more time at school and less in costume) and his other science hero friends to temper his rages, he came close to crossing lines. Censured by the authorities and fellow science heroes, John was offered a chance at redeeming his reputation in 1948 when he was recruited to join a special squad of Nazi Hunters, code named THE CHASERS under the auspices of F.O.X (Federal Operations eXecutive).

Black Fury continued to operate throughout the 1950's, again often teaming with Wonderman. And also MARGA. The trio became known informally as THE BIG 3.

In 1959 they became founder members of the third (silver age) grouping of the MYSTERY MEN OF AMERICA.

In 1964 an incident with a villain from the future known as THE TIME EMPEROR turned a bunch of heroes into infants or old people. Though the team prevailed and had their ages restored, some of the heroes found themselves a few years or many years younger. Chuck was once again 16 years old, but John wasn't present - thereafter they resumed a semi regular partnership.

Retiring his Kid Fury identity by the late 1960's, Charles 'Chuck' Marley enlisted to fight in Vietnam. Circa 1970 he survived a direct explosion that killed his platoon. However, he returned home to America, crippled and in a wheelchair.

In 1972, John Perry was still active as The Black Fury, but unlike many of his contemporaries he had aged normally and was now in his fifties. Slowing down and contemplating retirement, John rejected the notion due to what he saw as the decline of morals in society. Hating the changes he had seen in America and the erosion of 'good old fashioned traditional values,' he sought a way to continue fighting 'the good fight.'

Somehow he was able to conjure a demon. The demon sincerely wished to repent and 'enter God's grace.' A bargain was struck – John Perry would offer himself as a host for the demon (he could change back and forth) in return for the demon healing Charles' injuries. The demon did so, and John pretended to retire (Charles believed his healing was a miracle), giving the Black Fury identity to Charles. He himself continued to fight crime into the 70's and beyond as ... THE DEMON RIDER.

NOTE: Once in the early 1960's John was tempted by a cosmic being and shown a future where he was bestowed vast powers by giving up his rage and becoming a being of cold logic. In this future, John as WHITE SERENITY took over the world, imposing a strict code of morality that punished any sort of crime, harshly. His old friends rose up to stop him and John killed or imprisoned many of them.

John angrily rejected the power and punched out the cosmic being. Years later he fought a parallel dimension version of himself who had become White Serenity.