Origin
Trung Tuan was a promising scientist from Vietnam who was recruited by Red China at a young age. He was separated from his wife and son and taken away from his village to create a new type of explosive for the Communist armies. Whilst mixing a deadly batch of chemicals, Tuan started recollecting thoughts of his past life. The momentary lapse in concentration caused an accident and left him deformed, with him missing his chin and lower head and neck. Due to his disfigurement, he feels he can never go back to his past life.
Creation
Half-Face was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan.
Story Arc
Half-Face appeared in Tales Of Suspense #92-#94 (Aug.-Oct. 1967) as an Iron Man villain. In this story arc he has redesigned the Titanium Man suit after finding the Soviet assassin floating helplessly in the sea after his last defeat to Iron Man (Tales Of Suspense #83, Nov. 1966) and improves on the existing suit itself, adding in new features and allowing the armor to effortlessly withstand Iron Man’s strongest attacks. When Iron Man appears at Half-Face’s castle in Vietnam, the battle between The Golden Avenger and the new Titanium Man rages into a nearby village endangering the lives of the villagers there As fate would have it, Trung Tuan’s family had relocated here and would themselves have been destroyed if not for Iron Man. The scientist realises the error of his ways and destroys his creation, vowing from now on to fight for freedom. Iron Man notifies the authorities both Titanium Man and Half-Face have perished, allowing Tuan to return to a normal life away from the conflict with his family.
Powers and Abilities
Half-Face lacks any sort of supernatural or metahuman abilities, however he does have a extraordinary intellect bordering on genius, allowing him to design and create advanced technological devices and gadgets with limited resources, such as robot dogs, advanced traps, a destructive energy ray, and improving on the advanced technology of the Titanium Man suit, and making it even more potent.