Fox Universe

Cub/Lionheart (Jan 1941)

First Appearance - Wonderworld Comics 21, January 1941

Alter Ego - Lawrence "Larry" Davis

Group Affiliation - Mystery Men of America, The Fantastic Teens, The Fantastics, New Fantastics.

A CUB IS BORN

Larry Davis was born in December 1928 to an extremely wealthy New Hampshire family; sadly he never knew his parents as his mother died in childbirth and his father, Jon was murdered a few years later. As Larry's grandparents had pre-deceased his parents, his only close relative was his father's younger brother, George.

George took it upon himself to raise his nephew and the pair were like father and son. As the inheritor of a substancial fortune, and trustee to the even larger estate to be handed down to Larry, George took his duties as parent and role model very seriously. George had gained some notoriety as a big game hunter at a very young age, and as Larry grew, his uncle would often take him on safari to Africa, India and other places around the world, teaching him an appreciation of nature and how to camp and survive in the wilderness.

Man and boy were most fond of the noble lions, and would often hunt with tranquilizer guns, George having sworn off killing for sport when he began taking Larry on trips.

Over the years however, George was burdened by terrible knowledge. He had always told Larry that Jon's death had been an accident, but in December 1940, a few days after the boy turned 12 years old, George revealed that his brother had been robbed and murdered, killed by an unknown thief in their mansion, in order to gain possession of a large diamond that had been found in a supposedly useless mine the Davis family owned in Africa.

Troubled by the fact that the murderer had never been identified, let alone caught, George had obsessed on the fact that crime sometimes did pay, and that justice was denied the victims of unsolved slayings. Almost two years earlier, George had followed the advent of the science hero with fascination - the brightly coloured costumed mystery men who took down criminals who had escaped the law, this notion appealed to him.

And so, George hit upon the idea of becoming a science hero himself. Larry begged him to take him on as his sidekick and therefore at the start of 1941, the team of Black Lion and Cub were born!

Armed with a sense of righteous purpose and lots of money, though no powers beyond being fit and active, the Black Lion was perhaps not the most stable of men; nevertheless he lucked on to a successful resolution to the duo's first case, which got him the respect of law enforcement and the FBI, as well as the emnity of a criminal called The Blitz.

Based between their mansions in New Hampshire and Long Island, the Lions were active up and down that stetch of eastern seaboard.

In the spring of 1941, Larry and his uncle encountered their first science hero adventure with others, but as they had been possessed by spirits from the Fourth Dimension, and then rescued by the Syndicate of the Weird, before having their memories wiped by Yarko the Great, they didn't recall it at all.

Over 1941 the Lions fought The Blitz and others, but it was not until just a bit over 11 months after their heroic debut that their lives changed forever.

POWERS AND CURSES

On December 6th 1941 the Sorceress of Zoom launched a mass attack on New York City, allied with creatures from the Fourth Dimension - dozens of science heroes rallied to defend and defeat her.

During the attack, the unhinged Sorceress took umbrage at being faced by three animal themed powerless heroes. She used her magic to change Black Lion, Cub and The Lynx into actual animal counterparts, but was interrupted part way.