Origin
Leonard Gade was a selfless man who devoted his life and scientific knowledge to creating inventions for the good of mankind, rather than use them for personal gain. This would earn the ire of rival scientist, George Sporvan, who hired an assassin to kill him. The assassin attempted to kill Gade by pushing him into his chemical furnace, but instead of burning alive the combination of chemicals caused Gade to turn invisible. Realizing that exposure to specific vibrations would cause him to turn invisible and visible at will, Gade decided to get revenge against his would-be killers. Tracking the assassin back to Sporvan’s office, Gade attacked Sporvan and his men invisibly. Briefly revealing himself, Gade was able to trick Sporvan into shooting one of his accomplices. Afterwards, while fleeing the police, Sporvan deduced that Gade would return to his lab and so rushed ahead of him in order to wait for him. Sporvan proved to be correct, and although he at first succeeded in rendering Gade visible again, it wasn’t long before the vengeful scientist was able to turn himself invisible once more. Then, before the shocked eyes of the police, Gade tossed Sporvan onto his disintegration device, killing him. Not aware of Gade’s presence, the police had no idea what had happened and therefore left soon afterwards. Gade would then decide to use his powers as the Invisible Man for the good of mankind.
Powers and Abilities
Gade was a brilliant scientist and inventor. After exposure to a mixture of unknown chemicals, he gained the ability to turn invisible at will by altering the vibrations of his body and thereby allowing him to bend light rays around himself to become invisible. How Gade managed to retain his eyesight while invisible is unrevealed.
Originally, Gade’s powers needed to be recharged by his experimental generator, for otherwise he would be trapped in whatever state he was in (whether visible or invisible) until he could recharge. The number of state changes Gade could undergo and the length of time before his power’s charge wore off is unrevealed. Gade also had a specially made belt that could trigger his transformation between visibility and invisibility as it contained a small charge similar to that of his experimental generator.
However, upon becoming part of the Crazy Sues, Gade did not appear to require any devices to change his state, but he did appear to have limited control of his powers, as parts of his body constantly phased in and out of the visible spectrum.
Gade also had a disintegration weapon that could break down any object into stray atoms upon contact.