Nothing is known of the history of the criminal known as the White Wizard until his henchmen made an appearance in Metropolis in the Fall of 1941.  Two oddly attired men, known as Shock Guards, pursued scientists in the late evening, using tridents emitting electrical currents that stunned their targets.  Emerging from a scientific lecture, Dr. Thomas Bond and Kent Thurston are accosted by the men, leaving them both stunned.  Thurston recovers to see the men carrying off Dr. Bond and gives chase. 
As they disappear into an abandoned building, Thurston pauses to assume his identity as the Invisible Hood.  Quickly catching up, he sees them disappear into an elevator and after subduing some thugs at the entrance, follows them down.

When he emerges deep underground, he is surprised to see what appear to be a small city.  Seeing his quarry, he witnessed Dr. Bond brought before a tall lanky individual known as the White Wizard.  The Wizard reveals that  Bond is the fourth scientist he has captured and that he will put to work on the Wizard’s plan for conquest.  The Hood quickly intervenes but a blast from one the minions reveals his face despite his cloak and he is quickly subdued.

Taken captive, he is left with his cloak and when Bond escapes and subdues one of the men guarding the cell, the Invisible Hood subdues the other with a chokehold.  Free from his prison, the Invisible Hood catches the Wizard at dinner and as the scientists begin to overcome the Shock Guards, the Wizard triggers an auto-destruct process that will destroy his underground hideaway.  The Invisible Hood abandons his fight with the Wizard and leads the scientists to safety, just as the ground collapses in on the hidden lair.  The Wizard is seen driving away into the distance (Smash Comics #27).

Later that winter, the Wizard used the knowledge he had gained of the Invisible Hood’s true identity to break into his home and steal his Invisible Cloak.  Working feverishly for days, the Wizard identify the formula of the chemicals that gave the cloak its properties and duplicated it, creating a dozen of the cloaks for his men.  A crime wave covered the city shortly thereafter as invisible men robbed banks, thwarted the law and kidnapped scientists for the Wizard’s work force.  Thurston, unable to work as the Hood, still pursued the Wizard.