You can't get away from those show-offs! They're everywhere! Buncha self-important, power-crazy lunatics with no respect at all for the little guy. ... I hate'em Eugene! I hate every last one of those costumed champs! Why, if it was up to me I'd send'em all to... 
- —Leap-Frog[src]
History
Villain
Vincent Patillio was an inventor by trade. He spent most of his life inventing novelty items for toy companies.[2] By his own description, Vincent Patilio was a small-time loser. He had some skills as an inventor and dreamed of making it big. But all his inventions were failures and never got past the patent office. Then he designed power-pack driven, leaping coils. They were his most successful invention, but he did not even bother with getting a patent for them. He designed a costume for himself and started a life of crime as the Leap-Frog. He was soon defeated by Daredevil.[1]
Vincent's villainous career started at an airport, where he tested his ability to leap all over the place. He prevented airplanes from taking off and was pursued by the police. He took blind man Matthew Murdock as a hostage, trying to get a breather from his pursuers. After resting for a bit, the Leap-Frog released Murdock and escaped.[2]
Vincent next wore the new Leap-Frog's Suit and decided to use it to reinvent himself as a master criminal. At nighttime, the Leap-Frog bounced his way through New York City. He decided to rob the first jewelry store that appeared in his path. He easily opened the locked door of the store, and started stealing jewels. However, this action activated the store's alarm. By coincidence, a patrolling Daredevil was standing three blocks away from the jewelry store and decided to respond to the alarm.[2]
The Leap-Frog managed to silence the alarm, but Daredevil entered the store. He attacked the Leap-Frog, but the villain effortlessly evaded the attack. He was very fast when moving, and Daredevil realized that the Leap-Frog was faster than his previous opponents. The villain also evaded the next attack of Daredevil. The hero realized that the Leap-Frog acted defensively, but had yet to make any offensive move. The Leap-Frog then started ricocheting from wall to wall, while increasing his speed. Daredevil was too slow to grab or touch him. The Leap-Frog then broke through a window and escaped into the night, while taunting the Daredevil.[2]
The following morning, at 8:30 AM, the Leap-Frog robbed a bank. His crime was reported in the radio news.[2]The Leap-From was depicted escaping with his loot. He was amazed at how easy it was to rob the bank, and thought of ways to challenge himself. Meanwhile, Daredevil had tracked him down and prepared to ambush him. He jumped "Froggy" and got his hands around the surprised villain. Leap-Frog struggled to escape, and used the loot as a club on Daredevil's head. A dazed Daredevil let go of his opponent. The villain was leaping all around him and mocking him. Daredevil recovered and used the cable from his Billy Club to ensnare the Leap-Frog. He brought the villain crashing to the ground and started pulling him.[2]
With the Leap-Frog immobilized, Daredevil started repeatedly punching him in the face. The villain feigned surrender, but was actually playing possum. He kicked Daredevil's face. Daredevil started punching him again. The Leap-Frog tried to escape by leaping away, but Daredevil kicked one of his legs and prevented him from doing so. Daredevil then delivered a knock-out punch and send Leap-Frog flying into a nearby pool of water. Shortly after, Daredevil delivered the defeated villain to the police.[2]
Vincent next send a written message to lawyers Foggy Nelson and Matthew Murdock, asking them to defend him in court. Foggy seemed against the idea, as he wanted nothing to do with costumed super-villains. However, Matthew wanted to take the case, claiming that he found super-villains intriguing.[2]
Originally Matthew Murdock was supposed to represent Vincent in court, but he was replaced at the last moment by Foggy Nelson.[3] Vincent attended his trial, while wearing a civilian suit. The district attorney presented, as evidence against him, the shoes of the Leap-Frog's Suit and explained how they worked. Vincent claimed never to have seen the shoes before, and never to have worn the suit. He claimed to have a severe fear of heights.[3]
Vincent next claimed that these shoes were too small for his feet, and could never fit him. The district attorney challenged him to wear the shoes, which was exactly what Vincent wanted. The shoes fit the man, and he admitted being the Leap-Frog. But then used the shoes to leap away and attempted to escape. The Leap-Frog broke through a window and discovered he had made a fatal mistake. His shoes had to be tightly fastened on his feet to work properly, but the district attorney had somehow removed the fasteners. The super-villain was falling from a great height, while one of the shoes fell away.[3]
The Leap-Frog landed on the street and was in pain. His single shoe had broken his fall and saved his life, but one of his legs was broken. Vincent heard someone calling him a fool for failing to wait for his rescue, and discovered someone towering above his body. He looked up and discovered that his would-be savior was the Stilt-Man, who the Leap-Frog considered to be deceased. The Stilt-Man explained that he had read about the Leap-Frog's capture and had decided to help the man escape. Stilt-Man was looking for a partner and thought the Leap-Frog could join him in a new career of crime. They could have been an unbeatable team, if the Leap-Frog had not ruined the plan by bungling everything like an an amateur.[3]
On the street, Vincent was immobile and possibly unconscious. The Stilt-Man tried to lift Vincent, in order to escape with him and get some medical help for him. The Stilt-Man was convinced that the Leap-Frog's injuries were treatable. The Stilt-Man then realized that Daredevil was approaching and switched his attention to his old foe. He apologized to the Leap-Frog for leaving him behind, but he had an urgent matter to attend to. [3]
A healthy and free Leap-Frog was next seen as a member of the Emissaries of Evil. [4] At night, under the full moon, the Leap-Frog was searching for Daredevil. He paid no attention to Matt Murdock, seeing him as just a blind man on a park bench. Matt recognized him, and swiftly changed into Daredevil. He ambushed the Leap-Frog and grabbed one of his legs.[4]
Daredevil swinged the Leap-Frog around and threw him to the ground. The Leap-Frog moved his legs to get Daredevil to let go of them, and regained his freedom. He kicked Daredevil in the face. Daredevil retaliated with his own kick to Leap-Frog's face, and then punched the villain. Leap-Frog suddenly escaped, while challenging Daredevil to follow him. Daredevil did manage to trail the leaping villain. He was aware that the Leap-Frog was leading him to a trap, but he wanted to face the Emissaries.[4]
The Leap-Frog led Daredevil to the largest electric power plant in New York City, where the other for Emissaries were waiting to attack the hero. At first, Leap-Frog was content to watch the others take their turns with the hero. When the Gladiator and the Matador teamed-up against Daredevil, the Leap-Frog was eager to join them. When Daredevil took out the other two villains, the Leap-Frog tried to attack him from behind. This attack and the rest of the Leap-Frog's attacks during the battle were ineffectual. At some point, the Matador tried to cover Daredevil with his cape, but Daredevil switched places with the Leap-Frog. The Matador was unaware of the switch and beat-up the Leap-Frog, knocking him out.[4]
Daredevil tied-up Electro, Gladiator, Leap-Frog, and Matador together, and left them for the police to free and transport to prison. He relied on Electro's own electricity to shock the other villains into submission.[4]
Leap-Frog later joined the Defenders, a group of villains using the name. He served under the orders of Libra. When the team faced the heroic Defenders for a Day in combat, Leap-Frog fought against the Falcon. While the two fought in hand-to-hand combat, they were suddenly attacked by Valkyrie. She was suffering from warrior madness and hallucinating that the combatants were Rock Trolls.[7] Valkyrie quickly defeated both the Leap-Frog and the Falcon, and threw them away. As they were flying away from the battleground, Leap-Frog could not understand why Valkyrie was attacking her own allies.[7]
Leap-Frog next appeared as an employee of Justin Hammer. He and several other super-villains resided in Justin Hammer's Villa. When Tony Stark caused an explosion in the Villa, Hammer called on his agents to respond. Leap-Frog and the others were confronted by Iron Man, who threatened them. [6] During the fight against Iron Man, Iron Man grabbed hold of the wings of Beetle Armor MK I and removes them. Unable to fly, the Beetle called for help. The Leap-Frog responded to the call and attempted to rescue the Beetle. Iron Man took control of the Beetle's tentacles, used them to swing the Beetle around, and forcefully threw the Beetle to the Leap-Frog. The two villains collided in mid-air, an event which took them both out of the fight. [5]
Father
Vincent's career as a supervillain included fights against Daredevil,[8][4] the Defenders,[7] and Iron Man.[9] He ended up in prison, served his time, and was eventually released. He then returned to his wife Rosie and young son Eugene. Rosie Patilio was the breadwinner in the family and her salary had kept them afloat financially. But then Rosie died of cancer. In need of financially supporting his family, Vincent got a job. He sold inferior merchandise on the East Side of Manhattan. The earnings were barely enough to pay the rent for their home. He could not afford anything else. His teenager son Eugene was still in school, but had to get his own job to help support the family. Eugene worked his tail off after school, and had less time for studying. Vincent worried that his son was living an inferior life and that he could not help him.[1]
Vincent increasingly fell into despair. At this time, his son Eugene donned a version of his costume to attempt to create a heroic career as Frog-Man. Vincent was proud of his son for capturing the villain Speed Demon,[1] but his pride turned to disapproval as Eugene continued to serve as a superhero. Vincent forbade his son to adventure as Frog-Man.
When the villainess White Rabbit reappeared, Patilio went undercover to join her gang on behalf of the police, which brought him into conflict with his son, who, as Frog-Man, tried to take down the White Rabbit. Patilio ultimately defeated the White Rabbit with the help of his son.
Presumably, Patilio remains retired from adventuring.Attributes
 |
Abilities
Weaknesses
- Vincent Patilio has never had any success as either an inventor or a super-villain. He struggles financially just to pay the rent for his home.[1]
- The abilities of Leap-Frog as a super-villain derive from the Leap-Frog's Suit and a pair or modified shoes. Both the suit and the shoes have been out of his reach or sabotaged, leaving Vincent helpless.[3]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Leap-Frog's Suit: Suit equipped with electrically powered leaping coils that allow him to reach a height of 6 stories per jump.
Notes
- Daredevil thinks that the codename Leap-Frog is "corny".[2]
- While held on a choke hold by the Leap-Frog, Daredevil realized that Vincent is a strong man.[2]
- The Stilt-Man has accused the Leap-Frog of being a fool, a bungler, and an amateur.[3]
- Daredevil considers the Stilt-Man to be far more dangerous than the Leap-Frog.[3]
- At one point, Vincent considered the Beetle to be his friend and cared for the other man's safety.[5] It is unclear if they have kept contact with each other.
- As depicted in Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 121 (September, 1982), Vincent Patilio has anger management problems. He feels deeply humiliated for all his past failures and partly blames "show-off" superheroes for them. He feels uncontrollable anger whenever he even sees superheroes. He has slapped his own son in anger, before even realizing that he is becoming abusive.[1]
- Vincent Patilio constantly struggles with feelings of despair.[1]
- Vincent Patilio spend his imprisonment in Ryker's Island.[1]
See Also
- 24 appearance(s) of Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
- 6 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
- 4 minor appearance(s) of Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
- 8 mention(s) of Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
- 37 image(s) of Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
- 4 quotation(s) by or about Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
- 1 victim(s) killed by Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Vincent Patilio (Earth-616)
Links and References
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap-Frog_(comics)
- His profile in the Appendix to the Marvel Handbook.
- Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- Gamers' Handbook of the Marvel Universe
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Marvel Team-Up #121
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Daredevil #25
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Daredevil #26
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Daredevil Annual #1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Iron Man #127
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Iron Man #126
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Defenders #64
- ↑ Daredevil #25–26
- ↑ Iron Man #126–127
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 6