Superhero Alter Egos (Marvel's Silver Age) Quiz

Answer: Scott Summers

Scott Summers made his first appearance in "The X-Men" #1 (Sep, 1963) as Professor Xavier's first recruit to his team of mutant heroes. Originally known as 'Slim', Summers was portrayed as a tortured hero, unable to control his power and a danger to those around him because of it.

His ability to project a force beam from his eyes could only be focused and controlled with ruby quartz glasses (producing one beam - hence, 'Cyclops'). He became the leader of the X-Men (under Professor X), and the moral backbone of the team.

Answer: Susan Storm

Originally dubbed 'The Invisible Girl', Susan "Sue" Storm was among the three people who joined scientist Reed Richards (whom she eventually married) in his test launch of an interstellar spaceship. As things in the comics do, something went wrong - the ship was bombarded by gamma rays - and the four members of the crew were transformed with superpowers.

Sue Storm first appeared in "The Fantastic Four" #1 (Nov, 1961) with the powers of (you guessed it) invisibility. It was not until issue #22 that her powers expanded to include force shields, psionic blasts, and the ability to turn other things invisible, too. With more power and more responsibility on the team, Sue upgraded her name to The Invisible Woman.

Answer: Matt Murdock

Matthew Michael "Matt" Murdock made his first appearance in "Daredevil" #1 (Apr, 1964). He received his powers when he was blinded with some sort of radioactive material... he lost his sight, but all of his other senses became heightened to the point that he could essentially see without his eyes.

A poor boy growing up in Hell's Kitchen (in New York City), Matt became not only a vigilante for justice, but he also a lawyer to help the people of Hell's Kitchen.

Answer: Wanda Maximoff

Wanda Maximoff first appeared as a villain in "X-Men" #4 (Mar, 1964) as part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. She and her brother Pietro (Quicksilver) were both reluctant members of the group, and eventually switched sides, becoming members of the superhero group, The Avengers. Wanda's (and Pietro's) origins have changed over the years. At first, they were presented as the children of the Golden Age superhero The Whizzer, but this turned out to be a fabrication, and they were revealed to be the children of Magneto. This was Marvel Comics fact until 2014, when their backstory was changed to having been kidnapped and experimented on by The High Evolutionary (and not mutants at all), then led to believe they were Magneto's children.

As the Scarlet Witch, Wanda has the ability to manipulate probability, which she must be in line of sight to do, while gesturing and concentrating on what she wants to happen.

Answer: Norrin Radd

Norrin Radd made his first appearance in "Fantastic Four" #48 (Mar, 1966) as a villain. From the planet Zenn-La, Norrin gave himself to the cosmic planet devourer Galactus to be his herald, in exchange for sparing his home planet. Galactus transformed Norrin into The Silver Surfer, allowing him to manipulate the 'Power Cosmic' (the universe's ambient energy) and to travel (with his board) faster than light. His job? To find suitable planets for Galactus to consume. Which is what brought him to Earth.

Norrin did not remain a villain to Earth's defenders... instead, he turned against his master and was subsequently marooned on Earth by Galactus when they successfully fought him off.

Answer: Janet van Dyne

Janet van Dyne made her first appearance in "Tales to Astonish" #44 (Jun, 1963) before becoming a founding member of The Avengers (Sep, 1963). Janet became involved in the superhero world after her scientist father was killed by an alien. She sought out family friend Henry Pym, whose 'Pym particle', combined with a biochemical procedure that she underwent, gave her the ability to transform into The Wasp.

As The Wasp, Janet has the ability to shrink down to miniscule size, growing wings at the same time, or to grow very large, and also to 'sting' with blasts of bioelectric energy.

Answer: Tony Stark

Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark first appeared in "Tales of Suspense" #39 (Mar, 1963) and was presented as a 'businessman superhero' -- someone extremely rich, involved with (the weapons) industry, and very egotistical. When Stark was kidnapped in order to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction, he sustained an injury to his chest. In order to save himself, he constructed the Iron Man suit to both sustain his life and to enable him to escape his captivity.

Tony soon after became a founding member of The Avengers, using his resources in the fight against the red menace (and other, more super, villains).

Answer: Lorna Dane

Lorna Dane made her first appearance in "X-Men" #49 (Oct, 1968) as a student with latent mutant powers that were awakened by the supervillain, Mesmero (under orders from Magneto). Iceman (Bobby Drake) saved her from being drawn into Magneto's clutches, but not before she learned that Magneto was actually her father. This made much sense, as Lorna's powers turned out to be the same Magneto's - the ability to manipulate metal with a magnetic field.

Not long afterwards (issue #60), Lorna joined the X-Men as 'Magnetrix', a name which, thankfully, did not stick.

Answer: Peter Parker

Peter Parker debuted in "Amazing Fantasy" #15 (Aug, 1962) with the story of how this unassuming, nerdy student came to have his spider-like superpowers. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, young Peter Parker suddenly found himself with the ability to sense danger coming, to stick to walls, and to have the proportionate strength of a spider. At first, Peter used his abilities to try to make money (wrestling), but when his arrogance inadvertently caused his uncle's death, he realized that "with great power comes great responsibility."

Oh, and Peter also used his science-smarts to develop his own shoot-able web fluid, which enabled him to swing around and trap bad guys.

"Amazing Fantasy" #15 was the last issue of that particular series, so Spider-Man had to wait until March of 1963 for his own comic, "The Amazing Spider-Man".

Answer: Natasha Romanova

Natasha Romanova made her first appearance in "Tales of Suspense" #52 (Apr, 1964) as a Soviet spy and foe to Iron Man. With her skill set and technology provided by the Soviet Union as the Black Widow, she was a strong villain. It was not long, however, before Natasha defected to the United States.

She made appearances in a number of different comics before becoming a member of the Avengers (and also, at times, S.H.I.E.L.D.).