Welcome back, Spider-Man fans! I can’t believe that it’s May, can you? The month of May, not the aunt! Anywho, as you’ll undoubtedly recall from last month’s Spider-Tracer article (Don’t tell me you missed it! I’d be… crushed!), we discussed Spider-Man’s former agent, Maxie Schiffman. Spider-Man had just won a wrestling match, which had brought him to Shiffman’s attention. Of course, this all set in motion the events which led to Spider-Man becoming a friendly neighborhood superhero. However, things might not have happened the way they did without Peter Parker in a makeshift mask encountering wrestler Crusher Hogan! But just who was Crusher Hogan? I’m glad you asked, because he’s the subject of our Spider-Tracer article this month! Who better to end a trio of articles with that began with the Burglar and continued with Maxie Shiffman? What? Don’t tell me you were expecting Bonesaw McGraw! Bonesaw is NOT ready (On a serious note, RIP Randy Savage)!
Crusher Hogan first appeared in “Amazing Fantasy” #15 waaaaaay back in 1962, the same issue that, you guessed it, Spider-Man himself first appeared in. But before we go any further, we need a little history on Hogan, and for that, we need to flash forward to “Spider-Man’s Tangled Web” #14!
We learn that Crusher is wrestling for an organization that’s failing and soon to surely be bankrupt. In order to bring in the fans and money that he and his fellow wrestlers need to stay in business, Hogan allows himself to become a “villainous” character which the audience finds exciting. As an extra added bit of insurance to gain that much-desired bigger audience, cash is offered to the man who can last three minutes in the ring with Crusher Hogan (the amount of money has gone up in future retellings and retcons of this tale as time has gone on, but the original amount was $100).
This brings us back to the events of “Amazing Fantasy” #15. Coming from a financially strained background, Peter Parker soon learns of the cash reward and attempts to cash in on his newly acquired spider-powers. Donning a makeshift mask, Peter enters the ring.
Overconfident, Crusher promises to make things painless for the “little Masked Marvel”. Using his newfound agility, Peter is easily able to avoid Crusher.
Without warning, Peter sticks to and climbs a nearby pole with Crusher in hand until he begs to be put down and gives up.
Peter wins the money he was promised and soon goes on to become the amazing Spider-Man!
Crusher’s career is finished thanks to the embarrassment, as is the wrestling organization. Despite all of this, Crusher bares no ill-will towards Spider-Man; in fact, he actually comes to view him as his hero. Years later, in “The Amazing Spider-Man” #271, we find that Crusher has become a janitor in a local gym and lives in a rundown old apartment. Here, Crusher likes to regale frequenters of the gym with stories of how he trained Spider-Man, even giving him his costume and web-shooters. As you can tell, Crusher likes to tell tall tales, and everyone is very skeptical of what he says.
One of the gym’s best fighters is a Bobby Chance. When his agent, Manslaughter Marsdale, finds out that Chance doesn’t wish to renew his contract with Marsdale and his boss, Madame Fang, Fang informs Marsdale to “deal” with Chance. Crusher Hogan overhears this and later tries to warn Bobby Chance. His warning, unfortunately, comes too late, and Marsdale and his gang show up.
Hogan tries to save Bobby, but soon, one of Marsdale’s goons starts to fire his gun. It turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as Spider-Man overhears the gunshots. He arrives just in time and mops the floor with Manslaughter Marsdale and his crew. Bobby Chance mentions the stories of Crusher training and giving Spidey his first costume, a set of “facts” that Spider-Man falsely corroborates much to the thanks of Crusher Hogan.
A grateful and relieved Hogan thanks Spider-Man for not disproving his stories. In the end, the gym regulars look at Hogan with a newfound sense of respect.
I find it hard to believe that Hogan would have continued working for Marsdale and Fang, so where do you guys reckon Crusher is these days, and what’s he up to (My bet is that he went to Fogwell’s Gym!)? Let me know in the comments section below!
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These things happen.
I love that story of Spider-Man going along with Crusher Hogan. As for where he is now? I can’t think of any other gyms than Fogwell in the Marvel Universe, so let’s say he got a job as a fight trainer for S.H.I.E.L.D., you know, with his experience training Spider-Man and all. 🙂
As for Bonesaw’s jokes, those were in line with the times. I loved Bonesaw’s portrayal. Never understood why they needed to change the name from Crusher to Bonesaw, but with Macho Man playing the role, they could have called him Bunny Man and it still would have been great!
Did anyone else think that one of the spectators looked like JJJ?
CHAZZ! (That’s got to be the new Crawlspace tagline!)
That was one of the highlights of DeFalco’s run. Tangled Web also had a decent Crusher Hogan spotlight, cowritten by Brian Azzarello and Scott Levy, AKA Raven.
@Hornacek
People also said “Chazz!” when taking pictures. It was an odd time.
@Andrew: (insert GIF of Grandpa Simpson saying “It was the olden days!”)
You could get away with questioning another man’s sexuality back in 2002 – I remember those insults to Bonesaw getting big laughs in the theater. Today Spidey would be cancelled for saying stuff like that.
@Bill Slattery the worst wrestler origin take is Tobey’s Spidey making homophobic jokes towards Bonesaw McGraw in SM 1.
@hornacek – It’s probably because so many other takes on the origin usually have him beating up Crusher or whichever wrestler they decide to use. It was a nice touch in regards to how the original handled it.
A part of Spidey’s origin I always seem to forget is that Spidey doesn’t actually beat up Crusher – he wins the fight by picking him up and crawling up the pole, making Crusher give up. It showcases Spidey’s strength without having him actually hit anyone.