The Avenger

After globe-trotting adventurer Richard Henry Benson's wife and daughter were murdered, the shock turns his hair and skin bone white and freezes his facial muscles. Though he can no longer display emotions through his facial expressions, he learns his flesh is now malleable, allowing him to mold it like clay, so that he can disguise himself with the aid of hair dye and colored contact lenses. Vowing to avenge his family and fight for other victims of crime,Benson becomes the Avenger, a.k.a. the Man of a Thousand Faces, and gathers a team of assistants to aid him, forming Justice Inc.

Created by Paul Ernst for Street and Smith, the first installment of The Avenger pulp magazine, Justice Inc., was published in September 1939. Like many Street and Smith writers, Ernst used the pseudonym Kenneth Robeson, a move intended to make readers believe he was the product of the same writer as the massively popular Doc Savage. The Avenger followed his Street and Smith stablemates Doc Savage and the Shadow into comics and radio in the 1940s, and though never as successful as either, continues to appear in both books and comics to this date.

Crossovers TO The Avenger

 * DC Universe The Avenger was part of DC's First Wave imprint, sharing this universe with versions of Batman, Black Canary, Rima the Jungle Girl and the Blackhawks.
 * Doc Savage The Avenger features in Dynamite's 2014 adaptation of Justice, Inc., which also features the Doc.
 * Marvel Universe The Avenger features in Dynamite's 2014 adaptation of Justice, Inc., which references Heinz Krueger, the German spy who killed Dr. Abraham Erskine (the man behind the US supersoldier project) in the Marvel Universe.
 * The Shadow The Shadow features in Dynamite's 2014 adaptation of Justice, Inc., which also features the Shadow.
 * The Spirit The Avenger was part of DC's First Wave imprint, sharing this universe with a version of the Spirit.