Titano attacking the Daily Planet building in the style of King Kong, from Showcase Presents Superman Volume 2 (2006). Art by Curt Swan and George Klein.
Titano the Super-Ape (/taɪˈtænoʊ/) is a supervillain who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a foe of Superman. The character is a small chimpanzee named Toto who was sent into space for test flight, until an exposure of combined rays have made him grow to gigantic size and gave him Kryptonite-like powers. As a "Super-Ape", Titano rampaged through Metropolis several times in Superman and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen during the Silver Age, and also appeared in some "Tales of the Bizarro World" stories in Adventure Comics. After a poorly-received 1978 appearance, Titano was not used again in the comic.
Different versions of the character, with different origins, appeared in the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths and New 52 continuities.
Publication history
Titano first appeared in Superman #127 (February 1959) in a story called "Titano the Super-Ape!"[1] He was created by writer Otto Binder, penciler Wayne Boring and inker Stan Kaye. The character was inspired by the 1933 film King Kong, one of the many famous science-fiction and horror films swiped by Superman editor Mort Weisinger during this period.[2]
The character was well received, so Weisinger decided to bring him back for a second story in July 1960.[3] In the first story, Boring drew the character with a chimpanzee head on a giant gorilla body; for the rematch, Boring drew a gorilla head instead, making the character look more like King Kong.[3]
Titano made another brief appearance in a January 1961 Superman story ("Superman Meets Al Capone!", issue #142), where he served as an introductory plot device to get Superman lost in time. By August 1961, Titano became a novelty character, appearing in a Superman backup feature starring Krypto the Superdog ("Krypto Battles Titano", issue #147), and this trend continued over the next few years, as Titano appeared in occasional "Tales of the Bizarro World" backup stories in Adventure Comics, and made lightweight appearances in a few Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen stories between 1962 and 1965.
In 1978, Martin Pasko brought Titano back for a two-part story with the Atomic Skull in Superman #323 and 324 — a story that Pasko looked back on with regret, as revealed in interview from 2007: "I thought — foolishly, in retrospect — that I might be able to treat a giant ape that shot kryptonite energy from its eyes with the same straight face I brought to Bizarro. I couldn't, and matters were not helped by the art. We kept forgetting that what you got when you called upon the hyper-realistic and earthbound Curt Swan to draw menacing giant monsters invariably looked cute and cuddly at best, and at worst, like something that reminded you of an old Toho movie and made you look for the zipper. I seem to recall that the mail suggested that Titano was one Weisingerism that was best relegated to obscurity".[4]
Fictional character biography
Pre-Crisis
Originally named Toto, a chimpanzee who was dubbed "one of the world's most intelligent chimps". Rocketed in his spaceship, he is bombarded by the combined radiation from two elements, which mutates him into a giant ape with Kryptonite-based abilities. Renamed Titano by Lois Lane, he captures her. Superman stops his first rampage through Metropolis by throwing him across a time barrier and into the prehistoric past.[5] A year later, Superman accidentally transports Titano back to modern Metropolis, and has to trick him to return him to the past.[6]
After another trip through time into the present day, Titano is picked up by Allura, the ruler of a world of giants, who arranges to transport him to her home planet.[11]
Writer Martin Pasko revived Titano in Superman #324 (June 1978).[12] In this revival, Titano is manipulated by the Atomic Skull into becoming a ferocious killer, rather than being an original, but misunderstood super-ape.[2]
The pre-Crisis Titano appears in a dream of the character Ambush Bug.[13]
Post-Crisis
The Post-Crisis version first appeared in the "Tears for Titano" story in Superman (vol. 2) Annual #1. Titano was originally a normal baby chimpanzee used in cruel scientific experiments for the US government. This lab is headed by Dr. Thomas Moyers, an irresponsible man who caused the creation of Rampage; Amanda Waller; and Sarge Steel. The chimpanzee gains his name from a mean-spirited joke by the other staffers.
A brief visit by Lois Lane to the government laboratories ended soon after Titano tried to escape his tormentors by leaping into Lane's arms. An accident caused the ape to gain super-strength and grow to enormous proportions. Attempting to kill Moyers, whom he saw as his tormentor, Titano was stopped by and engaged in a battle with Superman. The presence of Lane causes Titano to calm down, as he considered her a friend. Moyers used his equipment to reverse the transformation, but the stress of doing so kills Titano, who dies in Lane's arms. She later writes the Daily Planet article "Tears for Titano" in honor of the animal.[14]
Another version of Titano appeared as the mascot of a pizzeria before being discontinued after Turtle Boy (played by Jimmy Olsen) proved to be more popular.[15][16]
An unrelated monkey resembling Titano appears in Action Comics #854.[17]
Titano appears in Superman/Batman #28 as a disguise used by a shapeshifting alien.[18]
The New 52
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Titano was redesigned and given a new origin as a mutant albino gorilla created by a deranged biophysicist. Furthermore, he is only slightly larger than a normal gorilla.[19] He is later shown on life support in a Metropolis laboratory and killed by a creature appearing to be Superman.[20]
Titano was again redesigned by the creative team of Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr. This version is a giant chimpanzee robot with green-glowing inside parts, alluding to a Kryptonite origin.[21]
A fusion between two meteors (green kryptonite and uranium) caused Toto to grow in colossal proportions. As Titano, his size and strength are many times greater than a normal human being and he can project Kryptonite beams from his eyes.[23]
The post-Crisis version of Titano has similar powers, but he does not possess Kryptonite eyebeams.[24]
A Bizarro version of Titano from Bizarro World. Cover of Adventure Comics #295 (April 1962), art by John Forte.
Other versions
Bizarro-Titano, a Bizarro clone of Titano who possesses blue kryptonite-based powers, appears in Action Comics #295.[25]
Titano appears in The New Adventures of Superman episode "The Chimp Who Made it Big".[29] After he kidnaps Lois Lane, Superman uses a lead shield to defeat him, after which he is returned to normal.
Titano appears in the opening credits of Superman.
Titano appears in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Monkey Fun", with vocal effects provided by Frank Welker. This version was kept by Lt. Colonel Sam Lane and formed a bond with his daughter Lois Lane before being lost in space twenty years prior. After Superman finds him and returns him to Earth in the present, Titano gradually increases in size due to gases from the meteors and wreaks havoc on Metropolis before Sam pacifies him with a toy monkey. Afterward, Titano is taken into the custody of S.T.A.R. Labs, who stop his growth spurts and relocate him to a remote island where he can protect the local monkey population.
Titano appears in the Justice League Action episode "Harley Goes Ape!". This version was tended to by Harley Quinn before she worked at Arkham Asylum. Following his transformation, Gorilla Grodd controls Titano to fight Superman until Harley joins forces with Stargirl to free Titano, who defeats Grodd.
A hologram of Titano appears in the Superman & Lois episode "Closer".
Characters based on Titano have occasionally appeared in comics homaging the Silver Age Superman:
In Alan Moore's Supreme, the Titano equivalent is Stupendo, the Simian Supreme. Stupendo has a similar origin to the Silver Age Titano (except with Supremium radiation), but was subsequently befriended by Supreme and given a home on Conqueror Island.[31]
^Fleisher, Michael L. (2007). The Original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume Three: Superman. DC Comics. pp. 466–467. ISBN978-1-4012-1389-3.
^ abEury, Michael (October 2019). "World's Frightfest Comics: Superman vs. Monsters in the Bronze Age". Back Issue (#116). TwoMorrows Publishing: 3–14.
^ abEury, Michael (2007). Comics Gone Ape! The Missing Link to Primates in Comics. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 28. ISBN978-1893905627.
^Eury, Michael (2006). "Martin Pasko Interview". The Krypton Companion. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 158. ISBN9781893905610.
^Ordway, Jerry (w), Grummett, Tom (p), Hazlewood, Doug (i). "The Blaze/Satanus War Part 1 of 4: Sibling Rivalry" The Adventures of Superman, no. 493 (August 1992).
^Busiek, Kurt (w), Walker, Brad (p), Livesay, John (i). "3-2-1 Action! Part 3: Pal" Action Comics, no. 854 (Mid-October 2007).
^Morrison, Grant (w), Abell, Dusty (p), Royal, Jim (i). "Crisis One Million" DC One Million 80-Page Giant, no. 1,000,000 (August 1999).
^Burlingame, Russ (February 16, 2018). "DC Comics Unveils Earth 53 In Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Ape versions of Batman, Superman, The Atom, and Aquaman come and reveal that on their world, they are immortal and have solved this problem already -- in the year 2067. The Superman, by the way, appears to be the giant, kryptonite-powered gorilla Titano, given his stature and the giant "T" on his chest.
