Origin

During the second World War, Kevin Marlow (more commonly referred to as Keen instead of Kevin) was an American journalist who was captured by the Germans. Arrested for being a spy, Keen Marlow was held in a Concentration Camp. There, he became the human Guinea Pig for Professor Eric Schmitt, the Anti-Nazi scientist. Schmitt injected Marlow with a Super Soldier Serum. As such, Marlow endured a similar origin to Captain America, bar the Vita-Rays used to stabilise Steve Rogers.

Creation

Destroyer was created by Stan Lee and Jack Binder and first appeared in Mystic Comics #6 (1941).

Major Story Arcs

Destroyer

Endowed with the physique of a 'Super Soldier', Marlow escaped the Concentration Camp. He created his own super hero costume with a macabre skull-emblem to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. As the Destroyer, he fought Nazis on German soil. He occasionally worked with the Allied agent Florence Von Banger, while he repeatedly fought against Scar, Herr Sin & Von Maus.

Retcon

In the 1970's, Keen Marlow was retconned into Brian Falsworth. Captain America worked alongside Falsworth, and questionned him about the identity of an American called Keen Marlow. However, Falsworth remained silent on the subject.

Although Falsworth had the same experiences in the Nazi Concentration Camp that Marlow had, Falsworth became the heir to Lord James Montgomery Falsworth. As such, he later gave up the identity of Destroyer when he inherited the title of Union Jack.

Mighty Destroyer

Therefore, the title of Destroyer was passed to Roger Aubrey. Falsworth had worked alongside Aubrey, who had previously been known as Dyna-Mite with the Crusaders. As such, Aubrey became known as the Mighty Destroyer.

Later entries of the Official Handbook To The Marvel Universe indicated that Marlow allowed both Falsworth & Aubrey to use the name Destroyer at the same time. Therefore, this seems to indicate that there were three separate heroes identified as the Destroyer during World War II.

Other Versions

Destroyer MAX

In recent years, it was revealed that Keene Marlow continued to fight crime into his old age. Unlike Captain America who had retained his youthful physique & appearance, Marlow had continued to age. Many decades had passed since the 1940's, and as such Marlow was an old man. He had married an African-American woman, with whom he'd had a daughter (who had grown into an adult). However, Marlow discovered that his health was giving up on him, and that he had limited time before he would inevitably die from a heart attack. Desperate to protect his family before his heart failed on him, Marlow donned the Destroyer outfit in order to hunt down & kill his remaining enemies.

Powers & Skills

Despite the appearance of his costume, the Destroyer is actually a human being. As such, he doesn't demonstrate any excessive super powers. Yet because of his exposure to the Super Soldier Serum during the War, the Destroyer has abilities similar to those of Captain America. This includes enhanced strength, stamina & speed. He was also an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, was trained in the use of fire-arms, and was previously a talented journalist & war correspondent.

Television

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

In the 5-episode story, Six Forgotten Warriors, Keene Marlow appeared as one of the eponymous heroes. Like is comic counter-part, Marlow had fought alongside Captain America during World War II. His powers were fading, and he had long retired from fighting crime after a tragic accident. While trying to apprehend a bank robber, Marlow's wife was shot & died.

After retiring as the Destroyer, Marlow enrolled with SHIELD. There, he became a high ranking member agent. He also became a mentor to Spider-Man's father Richard Parker, and was good friends with Ben Parker.