The Puppet Master, real name Phillip Masters, is a supervillain in the Fantastic Four comics. His first appearance was in Fantastic Four volume 1 #8. His origin was told in Marvel Team-Up volume 1 #6. It has been suggested that Felicia (pseudonym) be merged into this article or section. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to the date or issue of a characters first appearance. ... The Thing and Alicia Masters. ... Doctor Doom, one of the most archetypal supervillains and his arch-enemies The Fantastic Four (in background). ... The Fantastic Four is Marvel Comics flagship superhero team, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuting in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. ... Marvel Team-Up is the name of several comic book series published by Marvel Comics. ...

Character biography

The Puppet Master uses radioactive clay to make puppets of people that he can then control, attaching them to strings and moving them as puppets, presumably he has some sort of psionic ability that enables him to do this. He is the step-father of Alicia Masters, a blind girl who holds an attraction to Thing. He once tried to take over the world but was thwarted in this effort by the Fantastic Four. The Thing and Alicia Masters. ... The Thing (Benjamin Jacob Ben Grimm) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, a founding member of the superhero team The Fantastic Four. ...

The man who would become the Puppet-Master was born in a small Balkan nation. He moved to the United States as a young man. He was socially maladjusted and had no friends. After he finished college he went into business with Jacob Reiss. Philip was jealous of Reiss' wealth and of his family and decided to sabotage his workplace, but Reiss caught him in the act and when the two fought Reiss was accidentally killed in an explosion. Unfortunately, Reiss' daughter Alicia was caught in the explosion and blinded as a result.

Playing the explosion off as an accident, he started a relationship with and then married Reiss's wife, Marcia, and adopted Alicia. When his wife died it was more than he could bear and he lost his sanity. It was at this time that he first began experimenting with radioactive clay that he was somehow able to use to psionically control specific individual's bodies. He thought to exploit this talent to the fullest and drew up a plan to take over the world. He didn't get very far with the plan before the Fantastic Four stopped him.

He was once thought to have been killed when he fell out of the window of a fairly tall building, but he miraculously survived. Later on, he was transformed into living clay. Yet, he was eventually returned to normal.

He has frequently been an ally of Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom, real name Victor von Doom, is a Marvel Comics supervillain. ...

Powers and abilities

The Puppet Master has no revealed superhuman abilities but was once a brilliant biologist. He is an extremely talented craftsman and very gifted in experimental science. His greatest strength was his ability to create marionette puppets which he modeled after real people in order to physically control them. How he did this was never adequately explained other than he used some type of special radioactive mixture. The clay he used in this mixture was magical and slightly radioactive and comes from a remote area near Wundergore Mountain, Transia, site of the prison of the elder god Chthon. He may have some type of psionic ability which complimented this process, enabling him to control his victims, although the process may be entirely the result of the magical proprties of the clay. He has a Doctorate in biology. Chthon is a fictional character, a demonic Elder God in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

Ultimate Puppet Master (?)

In the Ultimate Extinction arc of the Ultimate Galactus trilogy, a man closely resembling Phillip Masters approaches Misty Knight to retrieve his "wife" Alicia from cult leader Paul Matreiya. This may refer to Alicia Masters. Since Alicia and Silver Surfer had a romantic relationship, and Paul Matreiya is revealed to be the Ultimate incarnation of the SilverSurfer, it well may be that Edward Shaffer is the Puppet Master's introduction into the Ultimate Marvel universe. However, Alicia Masters has recently appeared in Ultimate Fantastic Four, and it seems is starting a relationship with the Thing. Ultimate Extinction is a five-issue comic book limited series that takes place in the Ultimate Marvel universe. ... The Thing and Alicia Masters. ... The various characters of the Ultimate Marvel Universe, as seen on the cover to Ultimates (v2) #12. ... Ultimate Fantastic Four is a comic book published by Marvel Comics, part of the Ultimate Marvel line featuring classic Marvel Universe characters re-imagined for a modern audience. ...