Wanted: The Human Fly Gang – The Comics Archives

WANTED: Earth-Two's Most Dangerous Super-Villains

The Human Fly Bandits

Group information

Member names: John Rotor (leader), others unnamed)

Residence: Usually Mobile
Occupation: Professional Criminals
First Appearance (Golden Age): Flash Comics #100 (October 1948)

Character History

Nothing is known of the life of John Rotor before he became research assistant with Professor Albert Garvey, a physicist with expertise in gravitational forces. For reasons unclear, Garvey fired Rotor but not before the latter had gleaned a great sense of Garvey's research in gyroscopics, allowing to develop a car and a belt that allow the user to move in three dimensions. Garvey had contacted Carter Hall to help develop the products commercially and en route to a meeting. the Halls see a car pass them with Garvey evidently in distress. To their shock, the car turns a right angle with the ground and begins to scale the side of a building. Quickly donning their uniforms as Hawkman and Hawkgirl, the two give chase but the criminals fling Garvey from the car as a distraction. As Hawkman moves to catch the Professor, Hawkgirl follows the criminals to their next stop, where she is quickly overcome.

Safely on the ground, Garvey explains to Hawkman the nature of Rotor's threat and how he had formed his "Human Fly Bandits". Hawkman swiftly gives chase and find Hawkgirl bound among the Gang. He immediately engages in fisticuffs with the criminals and is initially successful. Rotor shocks him however by using Garvey's gyrobelt to run up the wall and across the ceiling, dropping in on Hawkman from above. As the two struggle, the Gang revives and pile on, eventually subduing Hawkman and escorting him bound to a metallurgical chamber in the Gang's liar where Hawkgirl is bound inside a large thermometer. Hawkman is bound with her but not before he manages to snag a vial of acid in an apparent escape. The Gang leaves with a hot oven running, trusting the heat to raise the mercury and drown the Hawks,

After the Gang leaves, Hawkman drops the avid into the mercury, causing an expansion that shatters the thermometer and blows them free. Using the broken glass to cut their bonds, the two take to the skies in pursuit of the Bandits. Catching sight of them on a highway leaving town, the swoop in and batter the crooks before they can use the car against them, ultimately causing the Bandits to wreck and destroy the car. From this point, the dazed vandals are not match for the airborne heroes and are soon bound up safely for jail.

The later activities of the Human Fly Bandits or the fate of Garvey's technology are unrevealed.

hawkman vs the human fly bandits inks color resize

Powers and Abilities

John Rotor and his gang were reasonably fit, though not exemplary, humans. Rotor, as leader, possessed sufficient scientific acumen to exploit, it not develop, Garvey's technology. He evidently possessed some metallurgical skills, the extent and nature of which are not clear. Once Garvey's devices were in their possession, the Gang could navigate in three dimensions with seemingly little regard for gravity. The gyromobile could be driven up walls and the gyroscopic belt allowed the wearer to even run across ceilings. The power sources of the devices and the limitations thereof are undetermined.

Weaknesses and Limitations

Separated from their technology, the Human Fly Bandits were normal humans and could be over-powered and captured.

Multiversity

The Human Fly Bandits have not appeared in any timeline but Earth-Two to date.

Appearances

Issue	Comment	Reprinted in
Flash Comics #100	1st appearance, vs. Hawkman	Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Super-Villains #3