Publisher Marvel Comics Alter ego Gordon Keefer Notable aliases Monk Keefer, Gort | Created by Stan Lee
Don Heck Team affiliations Ani-Men
Unholy Three | |
 | ||
First appearance (As Monk Keefer):
The Avengers #12 (Jan 1965)
(As Ape-Man):
Daredevil #10 (Oct 1965) Creators Wildchild, Stan Lee, Don Heck, Gene Colan, Roger McKenzie, Jo Duffy Similar Cat‑Man, Bird‑Man, Death‑Stalker, Alexander Bont, Count Nefaria | ||
Ape-Man is the name of three fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Contents
Publication history
Monk Keefer first appeared in The Avengers #12 (January 1965), and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck. He first appeared as Ape-Man in Daredevil #10-11 (October, December 1965) by Stan Lee, Bob Powell, and Wally Wood. The character subsequently appears in Daredevil #39-41 (April–June 1968), Daredevil Annual #2 (1971), Marvel Team-Up #25 (September 1974), X-Men #94-95 (August–October 1975), and Iron Man #115-116 (October–November 1978), in which he dies. The character appears posthumously in Iron Man #139 (October 1980) and Classic X-Men #3 (November 1986). Ape-Man appeared as part of the "Ani-Men" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #16, and in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #24.
The second Ape-Man appeared in Daredevil #157-158 (March, May 1979), and was created by Roger McKenzie, Mary Jo Duffy, and Gene Colan. Ape-Man appeared as part of the "Ani-Men" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #16, and in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #24.
Monk Keefer
With a group of other criminals, professional criminal Gordon "Monk" Keefer attempted a robbery of a Stark warehouse, and was defeated by Captain America.
Along with Bird-Man I, Cat-Man I, and Frog-Man I, Keefer was recruited for his great strength by a man named the Organizer to form the Ani-Men. The Organizer was secretly Abner Jonas, a candidate for mayor of New York City, who sent the Ani-Men on missions to undermine the current administration. Daredevil defeated them and the Ani-Men and Organizer all went to prison. Later, Ape-Man, Bird-Man and Cat-Man formed a team called the "Unholy Three" with the Exterminator, and fought Daredevil again. The Unholy Three, as a team of independent thieves, fought Daredevil and Spider-Man and were defeated.
Ape-Man, Bird-Man, and Cat-Man later rejoined the Ani-Men, and the Ani-Men went to work for Count Nefaria. Nefaria's scientists submitted the unwitting Ani-Men to processes that gave them superhuman powers and animal-like forms. The Ani-Men invaded the Cheyenne Mountain missile base for Count Nefaria, and fought the X-Men.
The Ani-Men lost their superhuman powers and reverted to normal. Nefaria sent the four original Ani-Men to kill Tony Stark. However, the Spymaster detonated a bomb, which was intended to kill Stark, and the resulting explosion killed the Ani-Men instead.
Roy McVey
After the deaths of the original Ani-Men, the Death-Stalker recruits a new team of Ani-Men, with a new Ape-Man, Bird-Man, and Cat-Man. He sends the new Ani-Men to capture Matt Murdock. The Death-Stalker murders Ape-Man and Cat-Man by electrocution upon the completion of their mission.
Secret Wars
During the Secret Wars storyline, a third Ape-Man alongside a third Cat-Man and a second Frog-Man were shown committing crimes while the heroes were on Battleworld. They somehow got the equipment of the original Ani-Men and used it to rob a vault wagon only to be opposed by the NYPD.
During the Civil War storyline, Ape-Man alongside the third Bird-Man and the third Cat-Man were among the villains in Hammerhead's supervillain army.
Powers and abilities
Originally, Keefer had no superhuman powers. He was an athletic man with a powerful build and considerable strength, and an excellent hand-to-hand combatant trained in boxing and wrestling techniques. While employed by the Exterminator, Keefer wielded a "time-displacement ray" ("T-ray") gun that fired a ray which projected its victim into a limbo-like inter-dimensional void. The gun could thus "displace" a victim for a limited period of time, such as 30 minutes. A ray blast of sufficient intensity could exile a victim to the inter-dimensional void permanently. Keefer was later subjected to an unknown mutagenic process administered by Count Nefaria's scientists which temporarily gave him a build resembling that of an ape, as well as superhuman strength and enhanced agility, durability and reflexes.
McVey possessed the same abilities as the first Ape-Man, including ape-like superhuman strength, agility, durability and reflexes.