You've made a mistake for interfering, Torch – and you'll pay a heavy price for doing so! 
- —Mr. Ritton[src]
History
Not much is known about the man named Clifton Ritton.[1] Sometime in the late 1930's he came into contact with aliens from Mars who were seeking explosive knowledge from Earth in order to defend their planet from an unidentified alien race. Ritton came into contact with Mr. Carson, owner of the Carson Explosive Company, demanding him to turn over his formula for Super T.N.T., but was refused.
Two years later, the Martians came to Earth and under the order of their leader the "Great One", they were to obey Ritton to get the explosives. He used this for his own personal gain, promising to help Martians if they agreed to invade Earth and install him as emperor of the United States. The aliens complied and soon attacked Carson on the train called Comet.
Carson was killed in the encounter, but not before passing the formula to the android Human Torch, who rushed it to Carson's daughter Diane Carson. To get the formula, Ritton had the Martians capture the Torch and Diane. With the Torch hooked up to an electric chair with a glass jar over his head, Ritton attempted to run over Diane with a locomotive. However, the Torch freed himself and chased him away in a speeding locomotive. When it appeared that they would crash into an oncoming train, Ritton jumped out of the speeding engine to save himself. The Torch prevented the wreck and found out that Ritton seriously hurt himself when he bailed out. Ritton was turned over to the authorities and the Torch and Diane, upon learning the Martians were being forced to do Ritton's business in order to save their planet and fearing the formula would get into wrong hands in Earth, gave it to the visitors and allowed them to return to their home world.[2]See Also
- 1 appearance(s) of Clifton Ritton (Earth-616)
- 4 image(s) of Clifton Ritton (Earth-616)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Clifton Ritton (Earth-616)