List of Marvel Family Enemies - King of The Crater

King of The Crater

Only appearing in Captain Marvel Adventures #5. After a volcano explodes in the United States, Billy, who is near the scene, is called by Sterling Morris to go there. Several volcanoes are going off, and one shoots a square-cut block at Marvel, which he knocks away and realises must be man-made. Billy asks the governor about it, and finds that the Chief of Police is evacuating people from the state, but nobody knows when the next one will explode and they fear many lives have been lost. A woman then appears and asks the Governor and Chief to save her baby. Cliche. She lived in Swan Creek Canyon, she thought her husband brought out all the children, but little Johny is still in there. The Chief says Swan Creek is doomed and he cannot order his men to go there. Billy says he will go, and when the Chief tries to stop him he goes behind a bush and transforms. When the Chief asks him about Billy, he says he is not there. Captain Marvel then flies to Swan Creek. Marvel finds Red Hot liquid rock spurting through Swan Creek. He finds the cabin, which is on fire. He rescues Johny and flies through the roof with him, and sees lava has stopped spurting from the volcano. He transforms and gives the baby back to the Woman. The Chief points out to he Governor that no sooner do the refugees all clear out, then the fire dies down. The Governor says it is like a human villain is using it to torment people. Billy takes them to where the block hit the ground, but it is gone. The men leave, but Billy stays to look for it, not realising two men in protective clothing are watching him from a bush. They attack him and stun him with a gun blow to the head when the word of power is half spoken.

When Billy comes to he is bound and gagged, and a man who tells Billy he is in a cave that leads of the tube of the volcano, introduces himself as Mawks, and claims he is King of the Crater. On a map he shows a mountain chain from Alaska to the Panama Canal, below that it becomes the Andes in South America. Underneath it he has found a high pressure chain of fire from the centre of the Earth. His men and he will build machinery to control that fire. They can start volcanoes anywhere in the Rockies, which they plan to. They'll sit on top of the fire and rule a strip of country where nobody will come, except by their permission. The permission will cost plenty. Mawks revels he captured Billy so he could broadcast his terms to the World. He removes Billy's gag, holds up a mike, and tells him to tell the listeners they have to do what he (Mawks) says. Billy tells the people a man calling himself Mawks, King of the Crater, is causing all the eruptions. He swears he will flood the mountain country with fire unless he's allowed to rule it, but Billy then says he's not going to succeed, and that Captain Marvel will beat him, infuriating Mawks. Mawks says he will be Boss, and does not believe in Captain Marvel. Billy starts saying 'Shazam', but only gets to Sha before he is dazed with a blow from a henchman. Mawks tells the listeners what the smacking noise was, and calls himself 'Majesty Mawks' while signing off. He tells the thug to toss Billy down the shaft without any heat armour. Just before he hits the fire Billy says Shazam and transforms, enabling him to survive the fire. He sees the machinery Mawks talked about, run by men in heat armour, even the rock is red-hot. He sees the pipe to the centre of the Earth and says 'Mawks is the greatest heating engineer the world has ever produced.' The alarm goes off and two men recognise Marvel, and try to stab him in the heart with long shafts. Marvel knocks them out, so two more fire Red Hot lava and liquid air at him, which turns the lava cold and seals Marvel in solid rock. They are about to call 'King Mawks' when Marvel breaks out, and this time he is ready for the attack, allowing him to catch a ball of lava, which solidifies, and use it like a bowling ball on the machinery that pumps fire to the Volanos. He climbs up a ladder to see what Mawks is up to on the top floor. Mawks, unaware of what has happened, hears from his thug that people in the Valley are encouraged by the report of Cap and say Mawks will not last long against him, so Mawks decides to splash liquid fire all over this part of the World, and tells the thug to tell his men to put he machinery in high gear. Suddenly his men appear and tell him Marvel has smashed up the machinery. Marvel appears and merely eats the bullets meach fires at him. he tears open the suit of Mawks and tells him to stop the eruption. Mawks says he cannot, as if Marvel smashed the machines, all the pressure is released. There'll be an eruption greater than anything he planned. He claims it is Marvel's doing not his, says 'GOODBYE!' then leaps down the tube, killing himself.

Cap knows he is responsible, so decides he will put a stop to the Volcano. Using his strength he closes the shaft, then seeing a big drill he makes a new exit for the fire to go. The Heat, Smoke, Steam, and Lava is sent into a Canyon, Marvel summons the lightning, and Billy reports the story, then says the only result of the rater King's huge plot is that a seldom visited spot in the Rockies where there used to be a canyon is now a lake of hardened lava which will never threaten harm to anybody again.