Carl Zante (Earth-616)

Acrobat
Name	Carl Zante
Current Alias	Acrobat
Aliases	Impersonations: Captain America, Hawkeye
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Former member of the Torrid Twosome
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′11″ (1.8 m)
Weight	190 lbs (86.18 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Blond, Brown (formerly)
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Professional Criminal
Base of Operations	Glenville, New York
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Dick Ayers
First	Strange Tales #106 (December, 1962)
First	Strange Tales #106 (December, 1962)

History

The Acrobat met with the young Human Torch, telling him that the rest of the Fantastic Four were taking credit for his accomplishments and exploiting him. He proposed teaming with him as part of the Torrid Twosome. They could use their abilities to collect reward money and get rich. Johnny wanted some time to think it over, but after an argument with the rest of the Fantastic Four, he called the Acrobat and agreed to join him.

As a member of the Torrid Twosome, the Human Torch donned a new costume. Following The Acrobat's instructions, their first case was to rescue a teller trapped in the Glenville bank's safe. Melting his way into the safe, the Torch found it empty, then turned to find that the Acrobat had tricked him. The Acrobat blasted the Torch with a liquid asbestos spray and shot him in the arm, escaping with a million dollars in cash from the vault. The rest of the Fantastic Four, who had followed the Torch in order to investigate his odd behavior, had captured the Acrobat, but were distracted when they learned that Johnny had been injured, allowing him to escape. The Human Torch flew after the Acrobat, and melted the ground under his feet, immobilizing him before he could jump into a manhole cover and escape. The Acrobat was presumably turned over to the police.

Disguised as Captain America

Sometime later, the Acrobat, posing as Captain America, appeared at an antique auto show. When some criminals tried to steal one of the cars, the Human Torch, who had been present in the audience, tried to stop them, but The Acrobat swung in and stole the show, belittling the Torch. Shortly afterwards, the Acrobat secretly broke his two criminal accomplices out of jail and sent them on a mission to use a Ferrari to attract the attention of the local police so that he would be free to rob the Glenville bank.

As Captain America, the Acrobat robbed the bank and escaped in his floating sky platform. The Human Torch had helped the police to corral the two criminals, allowing them to respond to the bank robbery sooner. Soon, the Torch was hot on the Acrobat's trail. Escaping a short distance in his rocket, the Acrobat waited for the Torch to catch up with him, then doused his flame with a mop, handcuffed him, then escaped. However, a store employee used some heating vents to help dry off the Human Torch, who resumed the chase. The Acrobat then tricked the Torch by dodging out of the way and trapping him inside an asbestos-lined truck. The Torch super-heated the air inside the truck, causing the truck to burst open, then trapped the Acrobat in a fiery cage and unmasked the phoney Captain America.

Shortly after the real Captain America was revived, the Acrobat escaped from prison again. Figuring the real Cap would want to confront the man who had impersonated him, the Human Torch contacted him. The Torch told the tale of his previous adventure to the incredulous Cap. The two then tracked the Acrobat to a bank that he was robbing. The surprised Acrobat sprung past them fled, making his way up a nearby building. Eyeing The Acrobat's position, Captain America hurled his shield from inside the bank vault, ricocheted it off of several walls to take out the Acrobat with a single throw. Cap then looked Zante in the eye and refused to believe that anyone ever believed that this two-bit hood had been him.

Sometime after these events, Zante was hired by Cressida to impersonate Hawkeye, as part of her plan to split the Avengers. Although reluctant at first, Zante soon accepted the job.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

None.

Abilities

Acrobatics: The Acrobat is a gifted acrobat, a very skilled acrobatic fighter and a silver-tongued ruffian.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

The Acrobat is apparently independently wealthy, as he can afford access to a wide variety of equipment such as his liquid asbestos spray device, an asbestos lined truck, a floating sky platform, and a rocket.

Weapons

Acrobat's Asbestos Gun: A small flamethrower-like device, with a tank slung over the shoulder and a one-handed dispenser.

Sky Platform: This strange contraption is a platform capable of hovering, bearing a small rocket; the capsule can be ejected if the rocket is damaged.

See Also

• 4 appearance(s) of Carl Zante (Earth-616)
• 3 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Carl Zante (Earth-616)
• 2 minor appearance(s) of Carl Zante (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) of Carl Zante (Earth-616)
• 9 image(s) of Carl Zante (Earth-616)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Carl Zante (Earth-616)
• 1 item(s) used/owned by Carl Zante (Earth-616)

Links and References

• The Acrobat at the Marvel Appendix