Red Ghost - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

Ivan Kragoff was born in Leningrad, in what was at the time the Soviet Union. Before becoming the Red Ghost, Ivan was a Soviet scientist bent on beating the Americans to the moon and claiming it for the Communist empire. He assembled a crew of three trained primates — Mikhlo the Gorilla, Igor the Baboon, and Peotr the Orangutan — which he subjected to specialized training regimens of his own design, then took off on his lunar rocket trip on behalf of the USSR, while on the very next panel, the Fantastic Four were aiming their own rocket for the same destination.

Kragoff knew enough of the Fantastic Four's history, and he purposefully designed his rocket in such a way that he and his crew would be heavily exposed to the cosmic rays that would, he expected, give them superpowers. This was successful: Kragoff gained the ability to become as intangible and invisible as a "ghost", Mikhlo became super-strong and super-durable, Igor gained the ability to shapeshift and could transform into nearly anything, and Peotr gained the ability to control either gravity (like Graviton) or magnetism (like Magneto) (accounts vary by writer). They landed on the Blue Area of the Moon.

The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, as he called them, battled the Fantastic Four soon after gaining their powers, first meeting the Thing. Red Ghost encountered Uatu the Watcher during this fight, who said he would bring the two warring groups together in a fight for supremacy over the Moon. The Red Ghost and his apes first defeated the Four and kidnapped the Invisible Girl. But he was defeated by the Fantastic Four and left on the Moon when the apes rebelled against him after the Invisible Girl deactivated a force field, allowing them access to the food the Red Ghost kept from them. Mikhalo then broke down the metal door, freeing the Invisible Girl. The Red Ghost got into the Watcher's base hoping to use his secrets, but was unable to understand the technology, and was thrown from the area by the Watcher. The Fantastic Four then used a paralyzing ray to stop him.

With his Super-Apes, he later again battled the Fantastic Four on the moon, and again encountered the Watcher. Kragoff was accidentally teleported to Earth by the Watcher's matter transporter. The Red Ghost was expelled from the Communist Party and his Super-Apes were impounded. He formed an alliance with the Mole Man who was trying to use an earthquake machine to attack the surface world, and battled the Avengers, but was defeated. Back with the Super-Apes again, Kragoff appeared among the villains assembled by Doctor Doom to destroy the Fantastic Four. Kragoff eventually lost his original powers. He formed an alliance with the Unicorn to steal Anthony Stark's cosmic-ray intensifier, which he used to gain the new superhuman power of a mist-like form and to give powers to his new trained apes, Alpha and Beta. He battled Iron Man and the Unicorn, but was defeated by Alpha and Beta, who turned against him. He later formed an alliance with Attuma and battled the Defenders, but was defeated.