Though Stan Lee is an absolute icon, his first superhero is far more obscure. Long before Lee created countless heroes for Marvel, long before Marvel was even known as Marvel, Stan Lee was just another fill-in writer for Captain America publisher Timely comics. All that changed when Stan Lee was given free rein to create his own character with the debut of The Destroyer.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Binder, The Destroyer first premiered in 1941's Mystic Comics #6. As a journalist during the pre-World War II rise of Nazi Germany, Kevin Marlow immediately jumps at the chance to visit Germany and investigate Nazi Germany. Despite the constant parade of soldiers swarming around Berlin, Kevin wastes no time breaking into a Hamburg prison... where he immediately trips an alarm. Dozens of Nazis gang up on the poor journalist. Though he's able to fight off many of them, one cowardly officer attacks him from behind. Suspecting he's a spy, the Nazis torture him, though they give up after trying to squeeze out information that isn't there. An ex-Nazi scientist is then tossed into Kevin's cell. Seeing Kevin's kindness, the scientist provides the American with his life's work, a super-soldier serum.

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Kevin immediately uses his newfound physical and mental prowess to escape the prison. After finding a hotel far off from the camp, Kevin vows to honor the fallen scientist by staying in Germany and fighting the tyrannical Nazi regime. To help with this goal, he fashions a superhero costume and a new identity. Calling himself The Destroyer, Marlow makes it his mission to fight Nazism until the Third Reich crumbles.

Mytic Comics Destroyer Stan Lee

While that origin might appear simple on its surface, there are more than a few elements which would serve as the basis for later Marvel characters. The most obvious comparison is Stan Lee's own Iron Man. Much like Tony Stark, Kevin Marlow was captured in a foreign land and was tortured until a scientist who had refused to work with the enemy helped him escape. The other hero who Marlow is reminiscent of is the Guardians of the Galaxy's Drax. Though it might not seem like it based on his movie appearances, Drax's original costume bears a striking resemblance to Kevin Marlow's costume. Further cementing the comparison is Drax's often forgotten title, the Destroyer. Aside from those similarities though, both characters share the same philosophical goal of ending despots and tyranny. Though Drax's creators have never confirmed that they were inspired by Lee's first hero, the numerous similarities make comparison easy.

Regardless of how the character would inspire future creations though, the Destroyer was undeniably a product of his time. It's easy to forget now in days, but the existence of Nazi atrocities was a contentious issue in America at the time. Going to war was controversial right up until Pearl Harbor, which was why it made so many waves when Captain America's first comic showed him punching Hitler. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon received death threats over that cover. To have a hero determined to expose the Nazi regime's brutality was a bold move for Stan Lee and Jack Binder, even if they were doing so in Captain America's shadow. It's this approach of using superheroes to explore real-world issues that would later make Stan Lee a household name, even long after the Destroyer was mostly forgotten.

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