Black Terror

Debuting in Exciting Comics #9 (January 1941), the original Black Terror's secret identity is Bob Benton, a pharmacist who formulated a chemical called "formic ethers" which granted him superpowers; he fought crime with his sidekick Tim Roland (the "Terror Twins"). Over successive revivals the identity is retold variously: as a retired/renamed Benton (AC Comics) who returns as a violent vigilante; as an ageless, sleepless "Terror Knight" after chemical exposure (Darkline Comics); as a costume impersonated by an undercover FBI agent (Eclipse Comics); and, in Alan Moore's Terra Obscura, as Benton having transferred his consciousness into a computer program called Terror 2000 which runs a crime-prevention program in Invertica City and later transfers into the deceased Tim in that storyline.

Sources identify the Black Terror as a costumed superhero persona recurring across Golden Age and revival publications. The provided material does not give consistent, detailed descriptions of costume elements; the identity is visually signaled in comics by a recognizably recurring costumed figure used to represent the Black Terror across covers and team-ups.

Original (Nedor Comics) abilities derive from the chemical "formic ethers," granting Bob Benton unspecified superpowers used to fight criminals and wartime threats (Nazis, mad scientists, hypnotic femme fatales). Later versions vary: AC Comics depicts a human vigilante (Mark Benton) whose behavior becomes violent; Darkline Comics presents chemical-derived halted aging and sleeplessness; Eclipse Comics depicts a non-powered undercover agent using the costume; America's Best Comics/Terra Obscura depicts a transferred consciousness (Terror 2000) implementing technological, programmatic crime-prevention and later inhabiting the deceased Tim in that narrative. The character's exhibited capacities therefore range from chemically enhanced physical powers to agelessness to technological/administrative control depending on the incarnation.