Red Ghost (character)

Red Ghost
Cover art for Fantastic Four: Foes #5 (July 2005). Art by Jim Cheung.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Fantastic Four #13 (April 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Ivan Kragoff
Species	Human mutate
Team affiliations	Intelligencia
Partnerships	Attuma
Abilities	Genius IQ Intangibility Invisibility Mist form Use of high-tech devices and weapons

The Red Ghost (Ivan Kragoff) and his Super-Apes (Mikhlo/Михло, Igor/Игорь, and Peotr/Пётр) are a group of supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters started their career fighting the Fantastic Four, before confronting other Marvel heroes, such as Iron Man and Spider-Man.

Publication history

The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Fantastic Four #13 (April 1963).

Fictional character biography

Ivan Kragoff was born in Leningrad, in what was at the time the Soviet Union. Before becoming the Red Ghost, he was a Soviet scientist bent on beating the Americans to the Moon and claiming it for the Communist empire. He assembled a crew of three trained primates — Mikhlo the gorilla, Igor the baboon, and Peotr the orangutan — which he subjected to specialized training regimens.

Kragoff knew of the Fantastic Four's history, and deliberately designed his rocket to give his crew superpowers via cosmic rays. Kragoff gained the ability to become intangible and invisible, Mikhlo became superhumanly strong and durable, Igor gained the ability to shapeshift and could transform into nearly anything, and Peotr gained the ability to attract and repulse objects.

The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, as he called them, battled the Fantastic Four soon after gaining their powers, first meeting the Thing. Red Ghost encountered Uatu the Watcher during this fight, who said he would bring the two warring groups together in a fight for supremacy over the Moon. The Red Ghost and his apes first defeated the Four and kidnapped the Invisible Girl. But he was defeated by the Fantastic Four and left on the Moon when the apes rebelled against him after the Invisible Girl deactivated a force field, allowing them access to the food the Red Ghost kept from them. Mikhlo then broke down the metal door, freeing the Invisible Girl. The Red Ghost got into the Watcher's base hoping to use his secrets, but was unable to understand the technology, and was thrown from the area by the Watcher. The Fantastic Four then used a paralyzing ray to stop him.

With his Super-Apes, he later again battled the Fantastic Four on the Moon, and again encountered the Watcher. Kragoff was accidentally teleported to Earth by the Watcher's matter transporter. The Red Ghost was expelled from the Communist Party and his Super-Apes were impounded. He allied with the Mole Man who was trying to use an earthquake machine to attack the surface world, and battled the Avengers, but was defeated. Back with the Super-Apes again, Kragoff appeared among the villains assembled by Doctor Doom to destroy the Fantastic Four. Kragoff eventually lost his original powers. He allied with the Unicorn to steal Iron Man's cosmic-ray intensifier, which he used to gain the new superhuman power of a mist-like form and to give powers to his new trained apes, Alpha and Beta. He battled Iron Man and the Unicorn, but was defeated by Alpha and Beta, who turned against him. He later formed an alliance with Attuma and battled the Defenders, but was defeated.

Kragoff next experimented with a cosmic-ray intensifier to attempt to increase his own superhuman powers, but instead unintentionally caused himself to be unable to leave a state of intangibility. He had his original Super-Apes kidnap Anthony Stark and forced him to build a "cosmitronic cannon" and return him to a tangible state. He battled Iron Man, but the next time Kragoff became intangible, his atoms began to disperse as a side effect of his treatment with the cannon. Kragoff's consciousness managed to force his atoms to remain together, although his body remained in an intangible state.

Months later, Mister Fantastic went into space to expose himself to cosmic radiation and revitalize his powers. Unknown to Richards, Kragoff was also aboard the spaceship and hid from him until he could restore his powers as well. Fully recovered, he battled Mister Fantastic and escaped.

With the Super-Apes, the Red Ghost attempted to steal a rare mathematical treatise from Empire State University. He battled Spider-Man, but escaped. He attempted to cause earthquakes in Soviet cities, and battled the Soviet Super-Soldiers. He forced the Black Fox to accompany the Super-Apes on robberies. He once again battled Spider-Man, but escaped.

During the "Acts of Vengeance" storyline, the Red Ghost, alongside Klaw, the Living Laser, and Venom, attempted to steal alien technology from the Watcher's home on the Moon, during which he was defeated and captured. With the Super-Apes, the Red Ghost attempted to steal the alien technology of the Power Pack's smartship Friday; he battled them, Mister Fantastic, and the Invisible Woman, and was captured.

The Super-Apes later show up alone, having separated themselves from the Red Ghost and became independent criminals by taking over a private zoo in Salina, Kansas. They had turned the animals against the local population and captured three members of the New Warriors when they entered the complex. Instead of fighting their way out of the situation, they used their intellect and settled on a peaceful coexistence with the people of the town.

Shortly after the Fantastic Four returned from a pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards, the Super-Apes had gained high levels of intelligence and were working on a virus that would eliminate humanity, leaving simians dominant. The Red Ghost, conversely, had degenerated into a childlike mental state and spent most of the time interested in a rabbit.

The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes teamed up again and the Red Ghost regained his original intelligence. They attempted to build a new Communist state in the political vacuum of Niganda, "a country where a new form of Marxist-Leninist socialism can grow, based on the purity of the ape world."

The Red Ghost later appeared as a member of the Intelligencia among other super-geniuses. While the Red Hulk was fighting the X-Men, the Red Ghost managed to capture the Beast and the Black Panther and sent his Super-Apes to assist the Red Hulk only for them to attack the Red Hulk. Mikhlo was killed by the Red Hulk, which enraged the Red Ghost.

The Red Ghost replaced Mikhlo with Grigori, a baby gorilla that was possibly stolen from the Leningrad Zoo. The Red Ghost gave Grigori super-strength via scraps left behind by Department X. The Red Ghost's new team was short-lived as, not long after creating Grigori, the She-Hulks attacked and captured the foursome.

The Red Ghost was with the Intelligencia when they were attacked by the Sinister Six. During the battle, he and his apes were killed when Doctor Octopus used the Zero Cannon to launch them into space.

MODOK was able to revive the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes and the other Intelligencia members where they began to formulate their plans after their predicted shatter of the superhero community.

During the Civil War II storyline, the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes are working on a new science project when Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, attacks them and kills the Apes. The Red Ghost tries to escape, losing his right arm and left leg in the process, and is presumably killed by Steve, who confiscates his project for his own agenda.

Through unknown means, Miklo, Igor, and Peotr are revived and ally with Ziggy Pig's Masters of Animal Evil.

The Super-Apes later take over the Central Park Zoo, joined by the chimpanzee Yaroslavi. They battle Hawkeye's Thunderbolts before police officers subdue them using sleeping gas.

The Red Ghost takes refuge in Kingsport, Massachusetts, where the town is besieged by the ghosts of primates who died from by cosmic radiation experiments that are hunting after their former master. The Avengers Emergency Response Squad end the threat by letting the primate ghosts have their revenge on Red Ghost while leaving him alive to face justice. The primate ghosts move on to the afterlife as the Avengers Emergency Response Squad see that Red Ghost is delivered to the Hague.

Powers and abilities

Ivan Kragoff possesses the ability to become intangible at will, as well as affecting nearby people and objects. Through his psionic field, the Red Ghost could achieve different degrees of incorporability, such as floating while untouchable or walking on air (in a manner similar to Shadowcat). He can turn transparent when in non-corporeal form, from the extent that sensitive equipment of Reed Richards was unable to detect him from hiding over several days. The Red Ghost is able to solidify one part of his body at a time, while the rest remains insubstantial. Since his additional bombardment to cosmic rays, Kragoff temporarily gained the ability to become invisible and transform into red mist. When in "ghost mode", his body's metabolism enables him to go without sustenance for extended periods of time.

Scientific achievements

The Red Ghost is a scientific genius with advanced knowledge of rocketry, engineering, and physics. He is also skilled in training simians. Kragoff has perfected force field generators, devices that mentally communicate with or control other primates, ice guns, high energy fuel from materials found inside the meteor fragment, and a spacecraft made of transparent ceramic plastic to be unshielded against cosmic ray storms. He has studied various forms of Socialist and Communist theory.

Known Super-Apes

• Miklo - A gorilla who gained super-strength and durability. While he was killed by Red Hulk, he later turned up alive.
• Igor - A baboon who gained shapeshifting abilities.
• Peotr - An orangutan who gained the ability to attract and repel objects.
• Alpha - A gorilla with super-strength who betrayed Red Ghost.
• Beta - A gorilla with mind-control abilities who betrayed Red Ghost
• Grigori - A baby gorilla who Red Ghost took in as a successor of Miklo and possesses the same abilities as him.
• Yaroslavi - A chimpanzee with energy-projecting abilities.

Other versions

An original incarnation of the Red Ghost, Ivan Kragoff's assistant Sorba Rutskaya, appears in the Ultimate Marvel universe. After a failed attempt to fuse with Sue Storm and gain her powers, Rutskaya is instead infused with simian DNA and transformed into a multi-headed gorilla-like creature who can become intangible and create primate minions.

Marvel Apes/Zombies

Stuck between dimensions with the simian version of Speedball, the Red Ghost finds himself allied with the simians in the Marvel Apes world fighting against the Marvel Zombies.

In other media

Television

• The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes appear in Fantastic Four, with the former voiced by Vic Perrin.
• The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes appear in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. In the episode "Breakout", they are imprisoned at the Big House when a mass breakout occurs, allowing them to escape. However, they are later defeated by the Hulk and Black Panther and re-captured.
• The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes appear in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode "The Defiant Hulks", with the former voiced by JB Blanc.
• The Red Ghost appears in Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Red, voiced by Roger Craig Smith.

Video games

The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes appear in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer film tie-in game, with the former voiced by Dwight Schultz.

External links

• Red Ghost at Marvel.com