It’s hard to think of a villain more forgettable than the Tumbler. Granted, by their very nature forgettable characters are hard to think of, but I digress. With over 80 years of publications, it’s only natural that many characters introduced in Captain America comics be forgotten. But the Tumbler is special in the fact that not only has he been cast aside by creators and fans, but even in his published history he was cast aside and destined to never reach greatness. From his origins into super-villainy, his minor exploits, and even after his death he has been ignored and belittled.
John Robert Keane’s first appearance was in Tales of Suspense #83. We learn from flashbacks that he was rejected by the criminal class, and wasn’t “even important enough to waste a good beatin’ on!” (Lee and Kirby 4) After being rejected by these members of the underworld, Keane sought revenge. He took inspiration from Captain America, believing that with training he would be able to defeat those who rejected him. Keane joined a circus and undertook a training routine that involved acrobatics, strength training with the strong-man, and dodging the pins thrown by the jugglers. But before Keane could enact his vengeance on the gang who rejected him they were captured by the police. As such, he decided to then battle Captain America in order to prove himself. As the Tumbler, Keane breaks into Avenger’s Mansion and begins to battle Captain America, quickly gaining the upper hand.
Or so he thinks.
The foe Keane was fighting was not actually Captain America, but instead, a robot called the Adaptoid that had incapacitated Captain America and taken on his appearance in the previous issue. As the two villains battle, Captain America breaks free of his bonds, just in time for the Adaptoid to be thrown into the closet where Cap had been imprisoned. The Tumbler gloats for a moment but is quickly defeated by the real Captain America. The real Cap doesn’t even struggle against the Tumbler, dodging every attack and quickly incapacitating his new foe. It seems that the only purpose of the Tumbler in this issue was to contrast how no one could replace Cap, even if that person/robot had copied all of Cap’s skills and abilities. Keane’s presence was otherwise so unimportant in this issue that it doesn’t even mention his real name.
Keane’s only appearance for the next 7 years would be in a single panel during a flashback (Lee and Kirby 18). His next substantial appearance came in 1973 and was just as ignominious as the first. This story took place as an organization called the Committee to Regain America’s Principles, secretly a front for the evil organization The Secret Empire, was working to discredit Captain America. This committee was taking out television ads that questioned Rogers’s authority, morals, and origins. As Rogers is walking down the street, reflecting on this turn of events, he comes across Keane robbing a local store. Their encounter is short-lived, with Rogers quickly overpowering Keane, but we learn from Keane’s thought bubbles that this robbery is involved in a larger plot to discredit Captain America (Englehart et al. 12). Keane manages to escape, further frustrating Rogers.
The next day Rogers goes to a boxing charity event that was set up by the committee as part of an agreement to stop the ad campaign against Rogers. When he arrives at the event, he realizes that his opponent is none other than Keane, now without his costume but still immediately recognized by Rogers. Rogers insists on taking Keane to jail for his crime from the previous day, but Keane attempts to escape. Cap again manages to quickly defeat Keane, but just as their battle is ending Keane cries out in pain and dies (Englehart et al. 19). We the reader can see that Keane was killed by another villain hiding in the shadows, and learn that this turn of events was a continuation of the plan to discredit Captain America. After 7 years of near-complete absence from publications, the Tumbler had only been brought back in order to be killed in a larger plot to discredit Captain America.
But even in death, the Tumbler couldn’t escape mediocrity. A decade later, a new Tumbler appeared. In Captain America 291, Rogers is driving along late at night when he stumbles upon someone wearing the Tumbler’s costume robbing the building of a life insurance company. We quickly learn that this isn’t Keane, but this version of the Tumbler is doomed to be just as pitiful as the original. While the new Tumbler escapes Captain America, he accidentally leaves behind the package he had just stolen. Cap examines the package and finds a life insurance policy for the original Tumbler, John Keane.
The comic switches to the new Tumbler and through a flashback, we learn this new Tumbler is Michael Keane, the brother of the original Tumbler. When John died, Michael and his mother tried to cash out on the life insurance policy John had taken out. The company, Guardian Life Insurance, refused, saying that John’s illegal acts as the Tumbler made it impossible for them to pay on the claim. With the family name tarnished, Michael was unable to find work and their mother died of illness. Michael then swore vengeance on Guardian and went through intense training in order to become the new Tumbler.
When Keane arrives at his home he encounters Captain America and, amidst continued combat, they talk about John. During this, Cap even addresses John’s lack of importance saying “I’m sorry that he died as uselessly as he’d lived.” (Mantlo and Trimpe 9) Despite his disdain for John, Cap agrees to help Michael bring Guardian to justice as they had committed fraud by insuring a criminal with no intention to pay. The two of them break into Guardian’s headquarters and find insurance policies for numerous criminals, assumedly with no intention of ever paying those claims. The two are soon attacked by security guards who further emphasize the ineptitude of the original Tumbler by revealing that John Keane was the only insured supervillain to die thus far.
As expected, Captain America and Michael Keane manage to defeat the swarms of security guards and alert the authorities to the wrongdoings of Guardian Life Insurance. But this whole adventure only further emphasized the worthlessness of the original Tumbler. In life, John Keane never accomplished anything more than robbing a local store, and his brother outperformed him on the latter’s first adventure. John Keane, in death as well as life, struggled to reach even mediocrity.
Bibliography
Englehart, Steve, et al. “When a Legend Dies!” Captain America and the Falcon, vol. 1, no. 169, 1973, 7-20,.
Lee, Stan, and Jack Kirby. “Enter… The Tumbler!” Tales of Suspense, vol. 1, no. 83, 1966, p. 4.
Lee, Stan, and Jack Kirby. “Lest We Forget!” Captain America, vol. 1, no. 112, 1969, p. 18.
Mantlo, Bill, and Herb Trimpe. “To Tame a Tumbler!” Captain America, vol. 1, no. 291, 1983.