Marcus Kingsly
Childhood was simple for Marcus in those days. A typical American child, born to simple country folk on a small farm outside of Greensboro North Carolina, he showed an early affinity for machines. Tinkering in the barns with discarded tractor parts and car parts scrounged or traded for, he would create the most fabulous gizmos- egg sorters, pig catchers, even a hand tree-climber that kept him from getting pounded by the Jenkins boy more than once.
As a young man, Marcus worked in various jobs, tinkering for spare money and becoming the local handy guy. Though he was quite popular with the local adults, Marcus never made a lot of friends with the kids his age. He had a few buddies, but like him, they were also the local outcasts. However this did not matter to Marcus, because they were his friends and they made life fun and they loved his gizmos.
Marcus’ education growing up was limited, he was schooled mostly by his parents, however there was a local school teacher in town. Marcus went to the school house for a number of months; however his father (Thomas) needed him on the farm more often as the growing season started up, so his education was cut short. However while Marcus never had much of a formal education, his knowledge of machines just kept growing as we would tinker with them in his spare time.
It wouldn’t be until Marcus was much older that he would actually get a chance to return to school. Marcus’ first time back into a school house would be in 1913 at the age of 15. He remained in school for the next 3 years, his father back on the farm had enlisted the help of their younger son. His parents had made a decision that Marcus needed to get an education, and put his knowledge of machines to good use. However after the first year in school, Marcus and his buddies’ lives would change forever.
When the world exploded into the fire of war, all eyes turned to Europe. America remained neutral but they still watched. The old men in town jawed back and forth about this and that, everyone had an opinion on the fighting. Marcus and his pals, just shy of fighting age, romanticized and theorized about what it would be like. One time, his pals convinced him to build a "war machine", part of some make believe play. Marcus gladly indulged them and built a smoke belching, claptrap, rumbling machine that played at fighting. He wouldn't see its like again until many years later.
When they came of age, they signed up. They didn’t want to miss out on the action they had dreamed about over the passed few years. They wanted to “Stop the Hun” and protect their families back home. As could be imagined they didn’t know exactly what they were getting into at first, but even once they did, they never turned back.
The trenches were hell. Men were cut down like the corn back home or split into pieces like cord wood. The stink, the wet, the smoke, and gas, all were unbearable. You had to stay constantly hidden in fear that the man in the trench across from you might get in a lucky shot. Two of his buddies went over there with him… and only one of them made it past his first week in the trenches. From that point on, Marcus and Bobby Bennet were joined at the hip and he swore to himself he would keep Bobby alive and bring him back home in one piece.
Time after time, Marcus and Bobby marched with the rest of the damned into the teeth of the Hun, their machineguns making short work of their comrades. When things began to look hopeless, he decided to make a change for him and for Bobby.
Calling on his knack for all things mechanical, he constructed a modified uniform for him and his friend. The uniform made the two of them nearly impervious to bullets, but it was so heavy that only a couple of big farm boys could wear it for any length of time. The impervious suits drew the attention of his commanders and he soon found himself assigned to another task.
Marcus was put into a unit of trench fighters, a place where his talents and gizmos might be able to provide a decisive edge. Bobby and Marcus had his impervious suits and the commander of the unit expected more of that genius. Soon he had a whole squad of men tricked out in impervious suits and he had modified a few weapons that would allow them to move into the enemy trenches like living weapons. These would prove to be only the first of many gizmos which Marcus would construct during the war. Many lives were saved by Marcus, and more still were taken.
His secret missions into the enemy trenches and later back into the rear of the enemy lines were exciting and much safer by far than the wholesale slaughter of the trenches and no-man’s land. He kept Bobby alive and all the while he fought the Hun, breaking their secret weapons and performing invaluable missions for the allies.
However, while Bobby would return home from the war in prime condition, Marcus would not be so lucky. It took place during a raid, it was early morning, the fog still covered the ground, the sound of gun fire was getting more intermittent. Marcus signaled to the others to follow him like they had done so many times before, riding through no-man’s land in an armored tractor of Marcus’s making. This vehicle, while not armed, could move troops faster and as safely as the early tanks of his time.
They approached the trench, and entered, they’re guns blazing, tearing through the Huns, who would return fire in between their retreats. From the other trench, cheering could be heard, because whilst they were in the trench, the Huns were oft to distracted to worry about the others. Once their ammunition was exhausted they headed back for the tractor. The few who still had rounds fired back at the Huns, trying to keep them at bay as they fell back.
They got out of the trench with no problem, it was only whilst they loaded into the tractor that they had a problem… Bobby and the others hopped into the armored wagon that Marcus pulled behind the tractor, after which Marcus moved back to the tractor to pull it around and leave. As he headed up to the Tractor, a saw something fly through the air towards him. He turned and shoved the wagon half over, to shield the others from the blast, however his arm wouldn’t be so lucky. That day Marcus lost his left arm, it was the first major injury he would incur, but it would not be his last.
After the war, he was sworn to secrecy about his projects and the dozen or so gizmos he had concocted either by design or on the fly. The government put him to work for the remainder of his military service term and then as a private consultant and contractor afterwards. By the end of the war, he would walk away with a medal of honor, and multiple purple hearts.
Marcus turned a pretty penny with his designs after the war, utilizing clever licensing agreements and patent restrictions to hedge his investments. Even when something was made for the government he managed to keep a piece for himself. His life was turning for the better and he was more than willing to get caught up in the adventure of it all.
His money afforded him opportunities, and his inventions and ingenuity kept him insulated even when the Great Depression hit. He took to investing in expeditions, adventures and other speculative ventures and through these he amassed even more wealth but even more importantly he expanded his knowledge of the world and its secrets, secrets that could be used to infuse his inventions with renewed genius.
Through his travels he uncovered many secrets, made a number of connections which he would later call in favors from as necessary. Marcus Kingsly later became known as the Iron Devil. He attained this name because of a number of things, mainly among these was his appearance. Marcus had a mechanical left arm that replaced the one he lost during the war. The hand could be unscrewed and replaced by a different fixture, making him appear at times unearthly to some, as they see him one minute with a hand there, and soon after it has been replaced by some utensil, weapon, or whatnot.
On top of having a mechanical left arm, his right side of his face had been damaged in a chemical accident, he had covered this by a metal plate, shaped relatively to his face. Where his right eye was, he had replaced it with a solid white glass sphere. These two visible modifications have caused him to stand out from the populace. However, Marcus is known not as a villain or criminal, but instead as a great benefactor in the community, and a law abiding citizen.
Tags: Pulp Inventor
