Red Ghost

The Red Ghost, born Ivan Kragoff, is a Russian cosmonaut and villain and former leader of the Super-Apes. After deliberately exposing himself to the same cosmic radiation that gave the Fantastic Four their powers, he obtained the ability to alter his and others' bodies' solidity at will, allowing objects to pass through them.

Biography

In 1963, Ivan Kragoff began a manned space mission with three apes—a gorilla, a baboon, and an orangutan—with the goal of both reaching the moon and exposing himself and his apes to cosmic rays. These rays were the impetus for the Fantastic Four becoming superheroes, and Kragoff correctly believed that they would have the same effect on him. Flying in a transparent ship, Kragoff accomplished his mission, and found that he could make his body "unsolid" like a ghost, while also being able to touch and lift objects by resolidifying localized parts of his body. His apes were given the powers of super strength, shapeshifting, and magnetic control. When the four arrived at the Moon, they met with and confronted the Fantastic Four, leading to a battle overseen by Uatu, who was living there. Eventually, the Super-Apes, who were starving and only obeyed Red Ghost because he had food, were able to find sustenance of their own in the Moon's ancient civilization. They then turned on their master, chasing him across the satellite while the Fantastic Four left safely. Nonetheless, Red Ghost somehow regained control of the Apes and constructed a spaceship powered by the orangutan's magnetism. Over a year later, he and the Apes returned to Earth and trapped the Fantastic Four on their ship, depositing them in the oxygen-free portion of the Moon. But Mr. Fantastic found a device that pulled Red Ghost's spaceship down with them, leading to a rematch of sorts between the two teams. This led to Red Ghost confronting Mr. Fantastic inside the home of Uatu. Invisible Girl snuck up behind him and shoved him into what appeared to be a portal, which Mr. Fantastic speculated could potentially lead to anywhere in the universe. The Apes, meanwhile, regained control of the ship and flew off to an unknown fate.

Whether via the portal or other means, Red Ghost returned to Earth, and decided to find an ally in his efforts to exercise his power upon the innocent. He developed the ability to turn others incorporeal as well as himself, and set his sights on the villainous Mole Man as a potential ally. He interfered in a fight between the Avengers and Mole Man's Moloids, sending the latter and himself down to Mole Man's lair deep underground by phasing through the earth. Kragoff offered to team with Mole Man, and the latter accepted, knowing that the Avengers were soon to visit him. Mole Man had developed and activated a device that was slowly increasing the speed of the planet's rotation, in time devastating the surface but leaving him and his people near the planet's core unharmed. Mole Man already had the Avengers' Giant-Man held captive, and the remaining heroes—Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Wasp—soon arrived to rescue him and put a stop to Mole Man's plans. Though Kragoff proved to be a potent force, able to make himself and Mole Man effectively impervious to the heroes' attacks, Giant-Man managed to shrink to ant size upon being freed and destroy Mole Man's rotation device from the inside. The Avengers went on to destroy all of the technology in Mole Man's base for good measure, while he and Kragoff escaped incorporeally.

Red Ghost somehow regained control of his Super-Apes, and later in the year they were remotely coerced by Doctor Doom's emotion machine to attack the Baxter Building, where Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Girl were to be married. Ghost and the Apes infiltrated the building and attacked the heroes, catching them off-guard and quickly overwhelming them. However, many heroes were on the premises that day, and one of them, Doctor Strange, arrived to assist. With a simple gesture, Strange banished Ghost and the Apes to another dimension.