Captain Jared Hood

CAPTAIN JARED HOOD

Real Name: Jared Hood

Class: Magically-enhanced human

Occupation: Pirate

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: An undersea cave

First Appearance: Sea Devils #18 (July-August, 1964)

Powers: Magical fumes made Hood a fish man, with scaly skin, webbed hands and feet, and the ability to breathe on land or water. Hood was a vicious pirate armed with grenades.

History: (Sea Devils #18) - Captain jared Hood was a vicious pirate apprehended by the Sea Devils, who banished him from the sea. Hood promised to destroy them all, and he discovered an undersea cavern that sunk beneath the sea millennia ago and contained Pleistocene flora and fauna. A dark age wizard banished criminals to the caves, and fumes in the cave turned them all into fish men. Hood did his research, and presented themselves to them as a savior who could change them back into human, and he demonstrated his “power” by becoming a man fish, knowing full well he’d simply allowed himself to be exposed to the cave’s fumes for the requisite amount of time. They agreed to serve him in exchange for a cure, and he drew attention to his band by having them raid a coffee cargo ship, knowing the Sea Devils would get involved. The Sea Devils followed his men to the cave, where they were transformed into fish men, and Hood promised to put them on trial for their crimes against him. The Devils escaped his clutches, and were almost out of the prehistoric world when a cage closed on them. A fish man they’d saved earlier from a prehistoric beast freed Nicky and Biff, and promised to help them again when he could. Hood gloated at his victory, but Dane and Judy escaped and overpowered him, demanding to know what the cure to their condition was. He led them to a giant plant, claiming it was the cure, but it turned out to be a crusher plant that threatened the Devils lives. On shore Biff and Nicky found themselves human again, and realized there never was a cure. They returned to the cave, saved their friends, and turned the fish men against Hood. Hood used a grenade to kill most of his former allies, and when he lobbed his last grenade at the Devils it was the fish man the Devils saved who gave his life to shield them from the explosion. The Devils were furious with Hood, and told him he’d be spending the rest of his life in jail.

Comments: Created by an unnamed writer & Howard Purcell.