History
The Claw was a Nazi saboteur who was in service during World War II. By the fall of 1943, he was very active within the United States. From his secret hideout, he orchestrated the poisoning of American food supplies, leading to thousands of deaths nationwide. This first attack on American soil got the attention of the FBI as well as the heroes Human Torch and Toro.
With the FBI's radio tracking equipment, the Human Torch and Toro followed the Claw's boasting broadcast to his hideout. There, the Claw and his men knocked out the two heroes and fled the scene. They relocated to Boulder Dam where they were plotting to poison the water supply and blow up the dam with explosives. They were once more confronted by the Torch and Toro who rounded up all of the Claw's men, but the Claw himself escaped.
He lured the Torch to another one of his hideouts where he trapped the hero in a room that filled with gas that prevented him from activating his flame and threatened to kill him. He was freed by the timely arrival of Toro who had just arrived after disabling most of the bombs at Boulder Dam. Rushing to stop the Claw from setting off the rest, they were too late to stop him from setting off the switch. However, their sudden arrival in his control room caused the roof to collapse on the Claw killing him.
Although the explosives destroyed part of the dam, the Torch and Toro repaired the damage before any serious harm could be done.[2]