History
Not much is known about the man who called himself the Vulture. He was a saboteur, but if he was allied with any of the Axis forces or operated independently is unspecified. He was a bird trainer who was also able to communicate with his birds.
In the fall of 1943, he and his assistant Mongo kidnapped Professor Novall and forced him to make incendiary devices shaped like eggs so that his birds could drop them on defense factories. When one of the Vulture's assistants named Boris was about ready to tell the authorities about the operation, the Vulture unleashed his prized pet, a vulture named Nikki, to kill him. The attack was witnessed by the Human Torch and Toro, who fought the bird off. While the Torch stayed behind to learn what he could from Nikki's victim, Toro followed after the bird.
Nikki warned the Vulture of Toro's approach, and he knocked the boy out. He then ordered Mongo to bury the lad alive. Later, when Novall refused to make more eggs, the Vulture threatened to kill him on a grinding rock to force him into compliance.
When the Torch tracked down Toro, he freed the lad from his shallow grave and rushed in after the Vulture while Toro rescued Novall. The Torch was tricked into flying into a cement/asbestos mixture dousing his flame. This allowed the Vulture to rush upstairs to his private aerie and unleash his army of birds to drop the incendiary eggs on various defense plants. Toro revived the Torch and was sent off to destroy the birds before they could deliver their deadly payloads. While Toro was doing this, the Torch clashed with the Vulture and Mongo. The resulting attack caused the Vulture and Mongo to fall into the pool of cement/asbestos where they sank and drowned. Shortly thereafter, Toro returned telling the Torch that his mission was a complete success.[1]