Crusher Hogan

Origin

Crusher Hogan was the champion of a wrestling league that was losing it’s battle to the bigger, slicker rival Global Wrestling promotion. Instead of taking a bigger money offer to leave his employer and finish out his career with Global (as his wife had implored him to do), Hogan concocted a plan to capitalize on his natural wrestling ability and get people coming to the arenas to watch him. He publicly insulted the fans and challenged members of the crowd, offering a large cash prize to anyone who could last three minutes with him.

His tactics worked for a time. People started coming to the shows in greater numbers, hoping to see the champ humbled, and the struggling company slowly began to turn around. No one could last with the champ until a young Peter Parker ( Spider-Man) learned of the challenge. Parker had just received his powers and was looking for a way to cash in. Peter jumped into the ring, his face covered by a makeshift mask, and quickly humiliated Hogan.

Creation

Crusher Hogan was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Major Story Arc

After the embarrassing loss, Crusher Hogan’s life became a shambles. The wrestling company went broke, his wife left him, and he was relegated to working as a custodian at a local boxing gym. There he would make exaggerated claims to anyone who would listen, claiming he had trained Spider-Man and gave him the famous red and blue costume.

As fate would have it, Spider-Man and Crusher Hogan would cross paths one last time and Hogan would finally get a chance to redeem himself. Hogan came to the aid of a young boxer who was threatened by gym owner Madame Fang and her muscle-for-hire Manslaughter Marsdale. Hogan was overmatched and doomed to certain defeat until Spider-Man appeared and made the save. Spider-Man, taking pity on Hogan for the way his life had gone after their first run-in, backed up Hogan’s claims and left him with some sense of dignity in the eyes of his peers.

Other Media

In the 2002 Spider-Man film, the character of Crusher Hogan was renamed Bone Saw McGraw and played by the late wrestler “Macho Man” Randy Savage. This name for the character was also used in the Broadway Musical, Spiderman: Turn off the Dark.