Black Hand

Golden Age Origin
Black Hand was the nemesis of Captain Flag who was unknowingly also responsible for the creation of Captain Flag. Black Hand kidnapped John Townsend to steal the wealthy inventor's plans for a new bomb sight intended for the Army. But Townsend wouldn't talk, so Black Hand had his cronies snatched Townsend’s useless and drunken son Thomas to use as leverage. When John Townsend still refused to cooperate, Black Hand killed him using the power of his diseased right hand.

Black Hand then turned his attention toward Thomas to do the same, but then an eagle crashed through the window, snatched Thomas Townsend, and flew off with him. During the months that followed, Thomas Townsend nurtured by the eagle, built himself up and repented of his ways. One day the eagle arrived at his aerie with an American flag which Thomas took as a sign and adopted the identity of Captain Flag.

Captain Flag and Yank (as the eagle was now called by Captain Flag) returned to Black Hand’s hideout and fought Black Hand and his minions. However during the fight the mansion hideout was set ablaze with our heroes narrowly escaping. Black Hand was assumed to have died in the fire.

Black Hand somehow survived though and returned to fight Captain Flag on several occasions. The first was a plot to free Nazi prisoners from Canadian prisons. Then another time, Black Hand unleashed a deadly germ into a factory’s air conditioning unit in an attempt to obtain the radium that he knew would be used to treat the victims. Finally, Black hand attempted to steal Poet Pirate’s book of verses containing clues to a treasure and then assembled a cutthroat pirate crew to obtain it. This time though, Black Hand’s fate was sealed, as he ends up hanging from the freighter’s yardarm, suffering a pirate’s death.

Golden Age Appearances

 * Blue Ribbon Comics #16-19,21-22