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History

Origin[]

Igor (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 13 0001

Igor, a baboon, was one of Ivan Kragoff's original Super-Apes which also included the gorilla Miklho and Peotor an orangutan. These apes were trained to be obedient and follow the verbal commands of Kragoff. When Ivan sought to replicate the accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers, he brought the apes along with him aboard his ship. As per his specifications, they were bombarded with even more Cosmic Rays than the Fantastic Four and were endowed with enhanced abilities. Miklho gained super-strength, Peotor the power over magnetism, and Igor gained shapeshifting abilities. Their mission coincided with the Fantastic Four's mission to investigate the Blue Area of the Moon. There Ivan -- now calling himself the Red Ghost due to his ability to become intangible -- and his Super-Apes attacked the Fantastic Four. The battle attracted the attention of the Watcher an alien being charged with observing and recording human history. After briefly subduing the Super-Apes he allowed the two factions to fight it out. The Ghost captured the Fantastic Four's Invisible Girl and had his apes watch over them. When the Invisible Girl learned that Ivan kept his apes obedient by withholding food she fed them and they soon turned on their master, allowing the Fantastic four to leave and stranded the Red Ghost and his apes on the moon.[3]

Early Activities[]

The Red Ghost managed to make his apes obedient to him again and he constructed a ship that could be controlled by Peotor's magnetic powers. He used this ship to later leave the Fantastic Four stranded on the moon. When the Fantastic Four sought refuge in the Watcher's citadel, the Red Ghost and his apes went after him. When the Red Ghost was lost in a dimensional portal, the Super-Apes fled back to Earth in their own ship.[4] When the Red Ghost resurfaced he found his Super-Apes and returned to the Moon to try and loot the Watcher's citadel for its advanced technology. He and his Super-Apes walked through a chronal spike which transported them a number of years in the future where they interacted with future versions of themselves before ultimately being returned back to their own time empty handed[5]. The Super-Apes later accompanied their master when he was manipulated by Dr. Doom into attacking the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. The apes clashed with the Fantastic Four until they and the Red Ghost were banished to a mystical realm by Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Strange.[6] Kragoff and the Super-Apes were later pulled forward in time by Aron the Rogue Watcher to battle the Fantastic Four and Fantastic Force. When Aron was defeated, all his pawns were returned to their proper eras with no memories of the battle.[7]

They assisted him in battling Kree soldier Captain Marvel in an attempt to duplicate his Nega-Bands. A plan that ended in failure.[8] They also assisted him in trying to steal Mr. Fantastic's new Gravity Localizer but were opposed by the Human Torch and Spider-Man. Spider-Man was able to stop the Super-Apes from stealing his Spider-Buggy by using fruit pies.[9] When the Red Ghost became trapped in his intangible form he attempted to steal Stark Industries new Cosmitronic Cannon to cure himself, sending his Super-Apes to capture its inventor Iron Man.[10] This led to another clash with Iron Man, which ended in the Red Ghost's apparent demise when the Cosmitronic Cannon made it so if he turned intangible again it would dissipate his atoms.[11] When the Red Ghost reconstituted himself[12] he recovered his Super-Apes when he joined the Leaders' group of genius criminals the Intelligencia. The Super-Apes were used to recover long lost Alexandrian texts from the Eternal realm of Olympia.[13]

Changes[]

The Super-Apes were also used in an attempt to steal a rare mathematical treatise from Empire State University[14], and the Black Fox was forced to use the Super-Apes in a bank robbery.[15] In both cases these thefts were thwarted by Spider-Man, but the Super-Apes and their master managed to escape. The Super-Apes were also utilized in trying to steal the memory core of the Smartship Friday, but this attempt was thwarted by the Power Pack.[16] Relocating to Belgium, the Red Ghost and his apes were captured by Commander Courage of the Belgium defence ministry. The Super-Apes were fitted with Were-Borgs technogranic implants and put under the control of Commander Courage. By this point the Red Ghost and his apes had formed a mental bond, and due to the Were-Borg tech this bond was slowly killing him. The Super-Apes were used to battle the Beast and the Constrictor. However the Beast reprogrammed the Were-Borg tech making the Super-Apes help him defeat Commander Courage, who was later slain by the Red Ghost.[17] The Apes were also used when the Red Ghost briefly joined the Wizard's latest incarnation of the Frightful Four, but were once again defeated by the Fantastic Four.[18]

Some months later, the Super-Apes gained enhanced intelligence due to their link to the Red Ghost, while the Ghost himself became a simpleton. Becoming aware of animal testing the Super-Apes intended to get revenge by hiding in an research lab at Empire State University where they prepared a nerve gas attack. But this was thwarted by the Fantastic Four.[19] When the Super-Apes were seen again, they and their master were back to their normal mental capacities and shared a cell in the Cage prison. The apes afforded Red Ghost the protection he needed from the more aggressive inmates.[20] When the Fantastic Four were out hunting their various foes, the Red Ghost was also attacked. Despite the assistance of his Super-Apes he was captured once again.[21]

The Super-Apes, having reverted back to their base intelligence, were next used by the Red Ghost in a bank robbery, but this was thwarted by the Avengers.[22] Later, the Red Ghost took his loyal creations with him to LA to investigate sightings of Ape-X where they clashed with Speedball a simian hero from Earth-8101.[23] Speedball and Ape-X defeated Red Ghost and the Super-Apes and send them running.[24][25]

Fall of the Hulks[]

Red Ghost brought his Super-Apes with Intelligencia on the delivery of the final cache of Alexandrian texts from Atlantis to Dr. Doom's castle in Latveria. When Doom betrayed them, the Super-Apes defender the master and covered his escape.[13] Soon the Super-Apes were utilized in Intelligencia's upcoming conflict against the Hulk.[26] They were sent with their master to Wakanda to kidnap the Black Panther and Beast of the X-Men as part of a plot to capture the eight most intelligent men on Earth. Their kidnapping was interrupted by the Red Hulk who slew Miklho. Furious, the Red Ghost used his powers to knock out the Hulk and escape with his prisoners.[27] When Intelligencia's plans eventually failed, the Red Ghost fled to St. Petersburg, Russia. There he found a new baby gorilla named Grigori and endowed it with enhanced strength. He and his apes were soon captured by the Sensational and Savage She-Hulks.[28] They tried to escape capture over Nevada airspace and when this failed, Red Ghost tried to crash the ship but they were stopped by the Hulk and incarcerated[29]

Recent Events[]

The Red Ghost, his Super-Apes, and the rest of Intelligencia were almost drowned later when they were attacked by the mercenary Deadpool.[30]

Most recently the Super-Apes accompanied their master to the moon on another attempt to steal the Watcher's equipment. Passing through the same chronal spike the Super-Apes were separated from their master. Wandering along the surface they encountered past and future versions of themselves. The apes were then attracted to bananas being produced by the Future Foundation's wards -- Bentley-23, Adolf Impossible, Leech, Artie Maddicks, Onome, Vil, Wu, Mik, Korr, Turg, and Tong -- who made fast friends with the apes. However when various Red Ghost's from different points in history appeared before them the children attacked them and drove them away.[31]

Death & Return[]

Igor, the other Super-Apes, and the Red Ghost were later killed by Steve Rogers so he could take over their hideout and use it to hide Erik Selvig from the Red Skull.[1]

The Super-Apes were returned to life through unknown means and joined Ziggy Pig's Masters of Animal Evil where they were sent to fight the Pet Avengers but the Masters were defeated.[32]

Miklho, Peoter, and Igor attacked the Central Park Zoo alongside a new Super-Ape named Yaroslav the chimpanzee. Yaroslavi was the one who claimed that the Super-Apes are now free from Red Ghost. The Thunderbolts were sent to deal with the Super-Apes and had a hard time taking them down. Only when the NYPD used knock-out gas were the Super-Apes defeated.[33]

Attributes

Powers

Shapeshifting: Igor has the ability to transform himself into any shape he wants. He is limited to shapes roughly equal to his normal size. He could originally only make baboon sounds if he attempted to resemble a human or humanoid but has since then acquired the ability to talk.[33]

  • Power Mimicry: Igor's powers seems to have evolved to the point where he can replicate the powers of other superhuman as he demonstrated when he attacked Persuasion with Power Man's chi enhanced punches.[33]

Abilities

Igor is trained to assist in lab work and in operating spaceships. While it was originally thought the Super-Apes needed the Red Ghost’s direct control, they can now function independent of a human controller. Igor has recently displayed the ability to speak Russian.[33]

Notes

  • Igor is a well-trained baboon. While he now possesses the rudiments of human intelligence, his animal nature still controls his temperament.

Trivia

  • Igor loves candy.[34]

See Also

Links and References

References

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