Better Publications broke the mold when they came out with their iconic figure of The Black Terror, specifically their second one as the first was a villain from a Woman In Red story from a year before. Exciting Comics #9 in 1941 premiered the superhero version of the Nemesis Of Evil whose outfit has made him one of the most recognizable characters of the Golden Age. What most modern-day geeks would probably label as Super-Punisher, Black Terror has a look that anime hero Captain Harlock would borrow a few decades later. His bizarre origin is of course one of medicinal use, but not the substance abuse kind that heroes like Hourman or Underdog would be roped to as similar to Captain America he only needed the drug the one time. Bob Benton ran a pharmacy that was constantly getting hit up by mobsters for protection money. One day, the mayor's secretary Jean Starr and her hunky boyfriend Rodney fight off two hoods pestering Bob for dough along with a local kid named Timmy. Bob hires Timmy as an assistant as he's working on a new tonic as a health booster, and he accidently creates a formula mixed in with acid obtained from ants which when inhaled gives the person permanent super-strength and a level of invulnerability as Bob realizes when he lifts an entire safe with one hand. Bob decides to use his newly discovered powers to be a costumed hero and gets Timmy to get a flashy outfit from a nearby costumer who happened to have two versions of the same pirate-themed character in adult and kid size. Bob puts on his new tights and adopts the name Black Terror as he scares the same pair of thugs who came the drug store to collect their fee, later turning them over to the police. Timmy overhears a mobster calling about causing a train wreck if the mayor doesn't give into their demands. After telling Bob about his, Timmy goes and makes his own version of the super-formula and gets similar powers. Timmy dawns the junior super-suit and gives himself the superhero name of "Timmy" which completely goes against the idea of a masked crimefighter having a secret identity if they use their real name for their superhero persona, even though he is sometimes referred to as Kid Terror. Timmy chases after Black Terror whose invulnerability isn't as absolute as he would want as the gangsters knock him out and tie him to the train tracks. Luckily, Black Terror's self-appointed sidekick Timmy arrives and frees him as the skull-crested savior uses his super-strength to stop the runaway train. Jean and Rodney get there as Black Terror takes the opportunity to simultaneously punch out Rodney for previously beating up the crooks who made Bob look weak, and at the same time stealing a nonconsensual kiss from Jean just because he was feeling randy after his first case as a superhero. From this point on, Bob and Timmy worked as a duo called the Terror Twins, even though it was clear that they weren't twins as one of them was at least a decade older. Black Terror's wacky self-congratulatory origin did lead to one of the more successful runs of a superhero for the time, so much so that he is one of the most overused public domain characters when it comes to comic publishers rebooting an old hero that they're sure Gen-Zers will ravenously eat up.
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