Wizard

The Wizard, birth name unknown, is an American villain, primarily opposing the Human Torch. Something of a polymath, Wizard frequently commited publicity stunts to demonstrate his brilliant mind and skills prior to becoming a frequent criminal. He has developed powerful anti-gravity technology, which he uses to power his personal flight suit as well as piloted aircraft. He also employs anti-grav discs that can be attached to an enemy, causing them to float helplessly into the atmosphere. Wizard is the leader of the Frightful Four team of villains.

Biography

Conflicts with Human Torch

Shortly after Human Torch began fighting crime alone in addition to his duties with the Fantastic Four, Wizard devised a scheme to challenge the Torch, believing him to be a suitable challenge. In a typical stunt, Wizard operated a large, manned machine to drill into the earth and deliberately caused a cave-in, aiming to lure Torch into "saving" him. The ploy worked, and Wizard invited Torch to his home as thanks. Wizard trapped Torch in an asbestos room, preventing escape. He then donned a specially-constructed suit that would allow him to fly and cover his body in flame to imitate the Torch and began committing crimes to destroy Torch's reputation. The real Human Torch was able to escape however, briefly increasing his flame output to extreme levels to burn through the asbestos, and found and confronted the Wizard, who challenged him to meet him at his home. Wizard's plan was to use photographs of himself disguising as Torch—proof of Torch's innocence in the recent crimes—to extort him into revealing his identity. However, Torch brought his sister Invisible Girl, who invisibly took the photos from Wizard and allowed Torch to easily apprehend him.

Wizard was taken into police custody and sentenced to a prison term. He was a model prisoner, and as a result was given leave to work in the prison hospital. This was all according to Wizard's plan for escape, as working in the hospital allowed him access to a multitude of chemicals. He concocted a powerful acid and burned away the wall of his cell, escaping and beginning his quest for revenge against Human Torch. Wizard returned to his home, where the authorities quickly came to look for him, but were captured in a powerful electromagnetic field. Wizard called a local news station, challenging Torch to confront him. Torch did not disappoint, arriving as expected, followed unknowingly by Invisible Girl. The two endured a series of traps, and Torch again captured Wizard and returned him to police custody. Wizard once again escaped from prison, this time with the help of Paste-Pot Pete. The two formed an alliance to defeat the Human Torch, albeit an uneasy one, as Wizard's domineering personality quickly got on Pete's nerves. They used Wizard's fake Torch outfit, again to publicly discrdit him by committing various crimes. Perhaps used to this plan, Torch was able to bait the two using a fake news report. He chased them back to their hideout, where they trapped him in an underground steel labyrinth of mirrors. Torch was able to escape and encircle the two in a ring of fire, binding them in preparation for the authorities. Wizard was thus imprisoned for a third time.

Wizard was able to escape from prison yet again by disguising himself as a guard. He escaped with an anti-gravity device that he developed in the prison workshop, allowing him to fly in short bursts. Realizing that any hideout he could establish would only be found out, and decided instead to disguise himself as his foe, the Human Torch. He baited Torch with a letter posing as a TV producer, trapping and binding him in his makeshift studio and assuming his identity. He used his anti-gravity device and a "cold-flame unit" to complete the effect. He made his way to Torch's home and incapacitated his sister Sue Storm with sleeping gas. Wizard stored the Storm siblings inside a large three-dimensional advertisement for matches in Times Square: effectively a giant matchbox. He believed that there was no escape from the structure, and casually hid out in the Storm household. The Torch was able to escape however, and chased Wizard down until the villain was forced to turn his anti-gravity device into overdrive, sending himself flying off into the stratosphere.

The Frightful Four

Some time later, Wizard was rescued by plane by Paste-Pot Pete and the Sandman, both fresh out of prison. Wizard "repaid" them by offering to lead them in a criminal alliance to defeat the famous Fantastic Four. Wizard went on to recruit the mysterious Medusa to round out their ranks. The newly dubbed Frightful Four infiltrated the Fantastic Four's headquarters at the Baxter Building, catching the heroes off-guard in their home. Wizard nearly managed to send three of the Fantastic Four into the atmosphere with his anti-gravity device, but Human Torch managed to put a stop to the Frightful Four's plans. The villains fled and regrouped, leaving the heroes off-balance and shocked that they were almost defeated so easily. Wizard went to great lengths to enact his vengeance on the Fantastic Four, constructing an underground base with a massive bomb inside it beneath a remote Pacific atoll. He and the others (including Trapster, a rebranded Paste-Pot Pete) lured the heroes to the atoll and stranded them there, leaving them to seemingly die in the explosion. A month later, the Frightful Four went to the Baxter Building and found that their enemies had not returned. They were however scared away by a burst of flame in the sky that they assumed was the Human Torch, but which was in fact the Asgardian Balder, arriving on Earth for an unrelated matter.

Against the Frightful Four's hopes, the Fantastic Four did in fact survive and return to New York. After a brief falling out between the Thing and the rest of the team, the Frightful Four captured Thing and used the "id machine" of Wizard's creation to alter the hero's mind, manipulating his anxieties and turning him to the side of evil. Thing proved to be a potent ally against the rest of the Fantastic Four, but in the end, the heroes' cunning and steadfast alliance allowed them to return the Thing to normal and finally bring the Frightful Four to justice, with the exception of Medusa, who slipped through the Human Torch's grasp by way of Wizard's anti-grav ship. Wizard was hospitalized by the Thing while Sandman and Trapster were left in their cell wondering whether Medusa would help them escape, or if she had given up on the Frightful Four.