I’ve always figured that a real superhero — even one who lacked superpowers — ought to be able to handle a little thing like a Tyrannosaurus rex without too much trouble.
And by that standard, Archie Comics’ Hangman made the grade (Hangman Comics 4, Oct. 1942).
“This is the Hangman’s strangest case,” proclaims the splash page. “Once again, the Hangman battles a killer… But this time the killer is as big as a city block and as strong as a thousand men! This killer can’t be harmed… For knives and guns and cannon cannot pierce his scaly skin! And this killer is a million years old!”
Headlines announce the discovery of a live T-Rex, but a dockside accident breaks open its crate. Hangman springs into action, attacking it with a dock crane. But the creature vanishes, having killed a hundred people. It reappears to go on similar deadly rampages in various American cities.
“Funny, his going to cities like Baltimore and Detroit and San Francisco!” the superhero thinks. “I would have expected him to head for some swamp land… like Louisiana, for instance. Then maybe… No, that’s fantastic! But this whole business is fantastic! Let’s see now…he was last seen in Philadelphia… Now if my theory is correct…”
The Dark Detective deduces that the next target will be Camden, New Jersey, because the monster always appears in cities that house defense plants.
The Hangman heads off the T-Rex with a platoon of tanks, which are promptly crushed. But the Hangman notices that oil is leaking from its foot, and swings to the top of its head to discover that its eyes are glass.
He drops inside through the robot’s mouth to battle the Nazi saboteurs operating it. Out of control, it topples over a cliff to its destruction.
I have always admired superheroes’ can-do attitude. Tackling a Tyrannosaurus rex would give most people pause. But every superhero worth his salt seems to have battled and beaten a Tyrannosaurus rex at least once or twice in his career.
The heroes, super and otherwise, who’ve tackled T-Rexes include:
♦ Captain America (Marvel Mystery Comics 91, April 1949)
♦ Green Arrow (Adventure Comics 139, April 1949)
♦ Captain Comet (Strange Adventures 11, Aug. 1951, and Strange Adventures 41, Feb. 1954)
♦ Rex the Wonder Dog (The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog 11, Sept.-Oct. 1953)
♦ Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman 97, April 1958, and Wonder Woman 148, Aug. 1964)
♦ Tomahawk (Tomahawk 58, Oct. 1958)
♦ Supergirl (Action Comics 259, Dec. 1959)
♦ The Blackhawks (Blackhawk 143, Dec. 1959)
♦ The Suicide Squad (The Brave and the Bold 39, Dec. 1961-Jan.1962)
♦ Archie Andrews (Life with Archie 12, Jan. 1962)
♦ Brain Boy (Brain Boy 3, Dec. 1962-Jan. 1963). America’s psychic agent gets extra points for tacking an intelligent, telepathic T-Rex.
♦ T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent Dynamo (Dynamo 1, Aug. 1966)
♦ Thunderbolt (Thunderbolt 54, Oct. 1966)
♦ The Young All-Stars (Young All Stars 14, July 1988)
Superman took Tyrannosaurus rexes in stride in various media, of course. One of them even fell in love with him.
Tarzan ran into any number of dinosaurs in Pal-Ul-Don, and once saved a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex in a lost valley, naming him Wheeck (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan’s Jungle Annual 4, Aug. 1955).
And like the Hangman, Batman battled a robot T-Rex in Batman 35 (June-July 1946). That machine became a permanent fixture in the Batcave.
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