#1: Red Dragon Comics (Street & Smith). When his father is killed by the head of the Gestapo known only as #1, the Black Crusader dons an all black costume save for the white cross (one vertical and two horizontal lines) to hunt him down. The Black Crusader has one special weapon, a quick drying plastic spray that allows him to cast instant masks and become a master of disguise.
A-5: 1940, Amazing Mystery Funnies #18 (Centaur). A German spy. He died in an accident when he stole a prototype stratospheric aircraft designed and built by Dr. Karl Jordan and guarded by Larry Kane.
Abdul the Terrible: 1941, Captain Fearless #1 (Holyoke Publishing). Abdul is a Middle-Eastern villain operating out of the Sahara. He's an enemy of the French Foreign Legion in general and Rusty Dugan in particular.
Ace of Spades: 1940, Phantom Lady 20 (Fox). An oil scandal is brewing in the sleepy western town of Death Butte and witnesses are killed before they can come forward. So Senator Knight fakes a vacation trip to the touristy old west town to investigate along with his daughter Sandra and her boyfriend Don Borden. What they get is a murderous female cow-girl dressed in form hugging black and her partner the foreman of the oil fields. The Ace of Spades is unmasked by Phantom Lady as saloon singer Queenie. While trying to escape, she comes to an unfortunate end by driving her horse off one of the cliffs that gives Death Butte its name.
Agar: 1940, Amazing Mystery Funnies #19 (Centaur). Billed at the Colossal Bigtop Circus as the "Man without a Brain" Agar was an attraction controlled by Professor Henry Trepper. Being without personal volition Agar does not respond to pain and exhibits amazing strength and flexibility (for a human). Even after Professor Trepper's capture by Fantom nothing has been revealed of Agar's background. All that is known is that Trepper hypnotized some poor subject and gradually removed all traces of his personal volition. Once Agar reached this point Trepper used him to gain revenge on (read kill) his ex-wife and several other people.
Agent Z1: 1941, Amazing Man Comics #24 (Centaur). Ruthless Nazi agent stationed in the US. He was captured by the King of Darkness.
The Airmaidens: 1942, Air Fighters Comics v2 n2 (Hillman). The maidens are the beautiful assistants and wingwomen of the Valkyrie.
The Albino: (Fox). Anthony Durrant writes: This monster of the jungle was an albino exile who had a disease that he could pass to others by touch, with fatal results, when they died, they turned white like the Albino himself. He was the assistant of a girl who set herself up as a rival to Rulah, the Jungle Goddess, and pretended that she could root out the mysterious killer. In the end, the Albino died of his disease, but not before he killed the girl with his deadly "petrifying" touch as an act of revenge.
Ali Pasha: 1939, Jumbo Comics #5 (Fiction House). Ali Pasha is a rotund mystic who studied under the yogi Massap Rey and after his death kept his skull which still contained dark mystic powers. Pasha was a master hypnotist and seemed to have some scientific knowledge as well as other dark arts. He meets up with the scientist Dr. Howard, his daughter and her fiance and Howard's assistant Stuart Taylor as he's uncovered a way to make something invisible but not how to restore it. Associated with the invisibility, is a way to reduce subjects to electronic impulses and transport them, but he doesn't know how to control it. Pasha has a castle with dungeons and complete lab where he does his work and keeps Rey's skull. The castle is manned by murderous blood-thirsty Africans whom he keeps under control through his mystic/black arts powers.
Amazons: 1940, Fight Comics #10 (Fiction). In the Brazilian jungles, Oran comes across a strange rocket ship disgorging an army of women. Investigating, he soon finds himself back in their hidden society and meeting their queen. He's immediately forced to fight a dinosaur like monster in an arena. He manages to kill it, but not before using it to break free from the arena. He escapes by their rocket ship and contacts the authorities who come and round up the Amazon army, though he still thinks fondly of their queen.
American Crime Ring: 1940, Amazing-Man Comics #17 (Centaur). This was a well-organized, high-tech gang run by Carl Weltner in Chicago. Though quite profitable none of the members knew exactly what the gang raised money for. In actuality Weltner was the front man for the Great Question. The high-tech equipment was supplied by the Great Question. The gang was disbanded after Amazing Man captured Weltner and destroyed much of the gang's equipment.
Anarchy Circle: 1940, Amazing-Man Comics #17 (Centaur). This was an anarchist's group supported by the Great Question. One known member was Madame Olga.
Dr. Anderson/the Twin Terrors: 1940, Super Spy #1 (Centaur). Dr. Anderson is a physician but his business dried up. He studied other sciences on the side and as he slowly ate through his savings he accidentally discovered a way to copy the atomic structure of himself, to make a duplicate that he could control via his thoughts, otherwise it was completely inanimate. He used this duplicate to commit bank robberies while he himself was safely at home. Ultimately, the police got suspicious especially while they had a couple of detectives at his home talking with him while his duplicate gets apprehended. One detective secretly follows and watches Anderson and sees him operate the machine and confronts him and gets the whole story. Note: DC had a similar though costumed villain in Dr. Double X introduced in 1958.
The Ant Woman: (Fiction). This evil white woman has made a home with her stolen gold and jewels in a lair underground, the entrances resemble large ant hills. She rules over native slaves and poisonous red ants. Her crimes and endeavors bring her to the attention of the Red Panther and when her lair is being destroyed by fire she seems to fall her to her death covered with maddened ants.
Anti Shock Gibson: 1942, Speed Comics #23 (Harvet). A Nazi spy on the lam hides out in a vacant residence. However, it happens to be the home of Robert "Shock" Gibson and when he sits in Gibson's Electrical Energizer which he mistakes for a covered chair, he is endowed with duplicate powers of Shock Gibson. He wears a similarly designed costume and is equal to Shock in powers but he doesn't pose as the hero, so he's not a faux version. They soon meet on the seas as an attack is launched on a ships carrying troops overseas (of which the newly inducted PRIVATE Robert Gibson is one). Unable to fight him directly, Shock leads the Nazi on a merry go-round chase as he tackles the various U-Boats and German ships until both he and the spy are out of power. At which point, he is easily laid out by a right cross.
The Ape: 1943, Startling Comics #21 (Standard): Dr. Fawcett is a scientist, experimenting with the idea of injecting soldiers with gorilla hormones. However, unknown to the FBI, he's really working for Nazi agents but holding out for more money. A scuffle leads to an accident and Dr. Fawcett is transformed to a super-strong gorilla with his human intellect intact. Able to bend steel in his bare hands, he begins a series of sabotage acts on production centers with the Nazis. While his plans are stopped by the Oracle and their U-Boat hideout blown up, the Ape escapes and vows revenge on the Oracle.
Arpor: 1941, Fantastic Comics #15 (Fox). Arpor is the high priest of a cult of Kali in the US. In addition to counterfeiting coins, he has a hatred of Samson and tries to kill him through various death traps and a lightning gun (a lightning rifle in actuality). His cult is smashed and he's captured by Samson and David. Arpor is made up to look more like a Mongol and the statue of Kali is in the style of a Buddha. His cult is made up of what look like American gangsters as well as other Asians similar to himself.
Assinoff: 1940, Popular Comics #54(Dell). Formally Rassinoff, he's the fiendish head of secret police of Eurasia, a small country. He's opposed by Dr. Hormone. His grand-daughter slipped Rassinoff one of Hormone's pills that gave him donkey ears and tail, and a new name.
Asteroid Witch: 1950, Amazing Adventures #1 (Ziff-Davis). Anthony Durrant writes: This beautiful damsel from another dimension was luring spacefarers to her asteroid, where she would seduce them and drain the soul from their bodies! Her last victim was one Spike Kelley, who had just thought he'd seen his Martian lover Kell-E commit suicide by jumping through the window of their flat! After learning of the Asteroid Siren's existance from another spacefarer, Kelley stole a transport ship and headed off into the banned constellation where the Asteroid Witch's asteroid was located. However, Kell-E had only faked her death and arrived on the asteroid in her spaceship wielding a dimension busting gun that - once the Asteroid Siren had fled her asteroid - sent the woman into the seventh or eighth dimension! After her confrontation with the Asteroid Witch, Kell-E - whose gender made her immune to the Asteroid Siren's telepathic powers - took Spike home in her own spaceship.
The Avenger: 1941, Weird Comics #12 (Fox). The Avenger is the masked and robed leader of the Secret Nine. The other members are not costumed. The Secret Nine is an enemy organization in the US with international reach and stealing military secrets. When one of their agents double crosses Sandra Tarnov, another of their agents, she gets revenge by exposing him to the Tarmanian Government and signs her own death warrant. However, the Avenger's agents kidnap the wrong woman, getting Miss Tilbury who doesn't even look like the other woman. This draws her wannabe boyfriend Caius Martius Wheeler aka the Dart into the case. The Avenger falls from a bridge and is presumed dead. His real identity is unrevealed.
The Avenger II: Anthony Durrant writes: This gentleman set out to kill thirteen millionaires and was stopped by John Law, the so-called "scientective," in a story spread out over a number of issues.
Avenging Axe: 1947, Manhunt #1 (Magazine Enterprises). See The Executioner.
Azkor: 1941, Amazing Man Comics #19, (Centaur). A scientist of unknown origin who created a gas which was so virulent that a thimble-full could wipe out an entire city in hours. He was supported, in his Latin American base, by Nazi agents. He was stopped (killed) by the Masked Marvel and his agents.