Who's Who in the Fox Universe. Meet all the Earth-F characters and some additional ones from across the Multiverse.
Although the original iterations of these characters are Public Domain, the Earth-F versions are copyright Jason Greenfield and the a...
First appearance - Fantastic Comics 17, April 1941
Alter ego - Charles "Chuck" Marley
Group affiliation - Fantastic Teens (1940's), Fantastics (1960's), Mystery Men of America (2nd and 3rd groupings, 1942-1946, 1973-1986), New Fantastics (1984-1986)
Charles Marley was born in 1928, but didn't know his mother. Various stories within the family mentioned her as deceased and at other times, that she had vanished/run off. In any case, little Chuck was raised by his father, a New Jersey detective from an affulent family, who could afford to pay a range of housekeepers and nannies to look after the boy.
Despite Detective Marley's busy life, he always took time for his son, spending weekends as family time. And so in the spring of 1940, when his father was assassinated in a gangland slaying, young Chuck was devestated.
Without any other family to take him in, Chuck became the ward of his father's friend, reporter, John Perry, who had recently adopted the costumed identity of the BLACK FURY.
It didn't take long for Chuck to discover this fact, and he enacted a promise from John, to train him as a sidekick under the name KID FURY.
At some point later in 1941, both Furies gained limited super strength and partial invulnerability in an undisclosed incident, possibly involving their arch enemy, THE FANG.
Before the US became involved in WWII, John ad Chuck operated mainly in New Jersey, and occasionally in New York, where Chuck later met other teen science heroes and banded with them in a loose alliance that the papers dubbed THE FANTASTIC TEENS.
In March of 1942 Black Fury and Kid Fury attended the inaugural meeting of the wartime MYSTERY MEN of AMERICA and remained members in good standing for the duration, even relocating to Europe in early 1945 as part of the final push.
After the war, Chuck continued to occasionally team with his mentor, but spent more time with his teen friends and occasionally going solo. On March 8th 1946 the MMA officially disbanded on the anniversary of their founding and Chuck, now 17 years old decided to semi retire, spending more and more time in his civilian identity and pursuing his education.
In October 1948 the apparant loss of his friends, ACE, BUDDY (the YOUNG EAGLE) SPARKY and REDBOLT put a final end to the first incarnation of the Fantastic Teens. Chuck retired fully at this point, though once in a while throughout the 1950's and early 60's he would "suit up, for old times sake" and join Black Fury on a case.
In the 1950's Charles left unversity with a degree in criminology and decided to follow in his father's footsteps, becoming a police detective. He would sometimes assist John in a non costumed capacity.
In 1964, Charles was 38 years old and had long left the world of science heroes behind, but following the break up of his long term relationship, and feeling low and nostalgic after bhis fiance' had rejected his proposal of marriage, he agreed to go to a reunion event at the HQ of the silver age (third iteration) of the Mystery Men of America. The event was attended by most of the heroes who had been part of the wartime (second iteration) of the MMA - Around 80 current or former heroes, spouses and other adventurers were at the party, minus a small squad of the current team who were on a mission - including Black Fury.
The event was to be a lifechanger for most of the attendees when a time travelling MMA villain known as THE TIME EMPEROR attacked as part of an audacious plan to drain chronal energy from some of the immortal or long lived heroes such as THOR, WONDERMAN, MARGA and SAMSON. The end result was an explosion of chronal energy that literally knocked years off the life of most of the guests, though a few unfortunates aged and one died of old age.
Charles found himself physically reverted back to approximately aged 15 or 16 - these shocking new circumstances led to his re-engagement with the science hero community and re-adoption of his Kid Fury identity, though this time he tweaked his costume to eliminate the cowl that made him look too similar to Black Fury.
The Furies resumed a semi regular partnership, and Charles even joined a new grouping of his old friends, now known simply as THE FANTASTICS.
Later, in 1965, the Furies discovered that their old enemy the suarve mob boss, WHITEY was the person behind the murder of Charles' father. Even more shocking was the reason - James Whitefield was the half brother of Detective Robert Marley, and the uncle of Kid Fury! Though much more reasoned than his mentor, this incident saw Charles' embrace his inner fury, and his partner had to stop him from using his super strength to batter Whitey to death - the latter survived thanks only to his own enhanced body.
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Retiring his Kid Fury identity by the late1960's, Charles 'Chuck' Marley enlisted to fight in Vietnam. Circa 1970 hesurvived a direct explosion that killed his platoon. However, he returned hometo 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 as ... THE DEMON RIDER.
The second Black Fury's career lasted another 12 years, during which time he was invited to take his mentor's place as a member of the Mystery Men of America - he tweaked his costume again to make it slightly different from the original, restoring the cowl.
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At some point in the mid 1970's, Charles met the love of his life and married.
He started to semi retire following the birth of his daughter, Peri in 1977, but couldn't ignore the call to action, continuing to team up with the MMA and his old friends whose team was now known as THE NEW FANTASTICS, when they needed him.
One day in 1986, he didn't come home, leaving his family devastated. In reality, Charles had stumbled across a decades old secret which led to his abduction by F.O.X. Agents under the control of Senator Randolph Mordale. His death was faked and he was put on ice in the Wonderworld black site facility.
