Hawley Griffin, the Invisible Man

Real Name: Hawley Griffin

Identity/Class: Human Mutate

Occupation: Government agent

Affiliations: originally The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

later The Martians

Enemies: Fu Manchu; Professor Moriarty;

later The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, especially Edward Hyde

Known Relatives: None known

Aliases: None known

Base of Operations: The Secret Wing of the British Museum

First Appearance: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1 (America's Best Comics)

Powers/Abilities: Permanently invisible, although this didn't extend to his clothing, so that if he wanted to make use of his abilities, he had to do so naked. Plus, his powers are ineffective on Edward Hyde, due to Hyde's ability to see in infra-red.

History: As recorded in the H. G. Wells novel, The Invisible Man, Griffin was a former physicist who discovered the means to become invisible at the cost of his sanity. At the conclusion of the novel it seemed that Griffin had been killed by a mob, but the body that remained was an albino, which Griffin, according to his Oxford records, had not been. In reality, Griffin had simply captured an albino to use as a test subject, and, after hypnotising the albino to believe that he was Griffin, Griffin turned him loose into the world, invisible and brainwashed. While the unnamed albino was slaughtered by the mob, Griffin, now invisible, hid in a school for young girls, where he impregnated at least three of them while claiming to be the Holy Spirit.

This attracted the attention of the British Government, and they dispatched Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain to the school. There they managed to subdue and capture Griffin, and afterwards the British Government managed to persuade him to work for them in return for a pardon and a possible cure for his invisibility. He worked for them during a mission to recover a stolen mineral called Cavorite, which allowed objects to fly. Griffin proved instrumental in the League's victory, tracking down the villain behind the theft - Professor James Moriarty.

However, on the League's second mission, battling the invading Martians, Griffin turned traitor and sided with the aliens. He arrogantly hid within the League's base, where he assaulted Mina and turned the water in the Thames into something that immobilised the Nautilus. However Griffin had not realised that Edward hyde could see him, until the brute caught him. Since the only person in the world Hyde had any respect for was Mina, he decided to especially punish the traitor for attacking her. He brutally raped Griffin, then left him to die slowly and painfully from his injuries. 

Comments: Adapted by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil from the character created by H.G. Wells.

Much of the above profile provided by "David".


Rodney Skinner, the LXG movie Invisible Man

Real Name: Rodney Skinner

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Thief, government agent

Affiliations: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Enemies: The Fantom, Sanderson Reed, Dorian Gray

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The Secret Wing of the British Museum, the Nautilus

First Appearance: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a.k.a. LXG, 20th Century Fox, 2003)

Powers/Abilities: Permanently invisible, although this didn't extend to his clothing, so that if he wanted to make use of his abilities, he had to do so naked.

History:

Rodney Skinner was a thief who heard about the original Invisible Man's formula and decided it would be an ideal tool in his chosen profession. However he didn't realise the process was irreversible, and after a while tired of being invisible. Recruited by the British government into their League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with the promise of an antidote to his condition, he was sent on the mission to stop the Fantom from starting a world war. Not trusted by any of his team-mates, largely because he had skulked through the cabins of the Nautilus and worn out his welcome spying on his fellows, when the team was betrayed they all believed Skinner was the traitor. However the true villain was Dorian Gray, who was in the employ of their enemy. Realising no one trusted him, Skinner went undercover. When Gray fled with the team's stolen secrets, Skinner hid away in his vessel, and was thus able to lead the League to the Fantom's hideout. While waiting for his fellows to arrive, Skinner scouted the enemy base, discovering the Fantom was intending to create an army based upon Skinner, Mina and Hyde's unique conditions, and augmented by technology stolen from Nemo. In the final battle Skinner proved his worth, planting explosives throughout the enemy complex, though he claimed this act of heroism was just because he'd lose a franchise if there were more invisible men.

With the bombs planted, he then aided Sawyer and Quatermain in fighting an armored man with a flamethrower and another invisible man, Sanderson Reed, although Skinner was badly burned in the process. However Reed fared worse than him in the long run, and Skinner is once more the sole user of Griffin's process.

Comments: Played in the movie by Tony Curran.

Skinner was the name of a landlord in the original novel, so presumably this was where the new Invisible Man's real identity was derived.


CLARIFICATIONS: He is meant to be the same character as

but should not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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