Titano the Super-Ape () is a supervillain who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a foe of Superman. The character is a small chimpanzee named Toto who was sent into space for test flight, until an exposure of combined rays have made him grow to gigantic size and gave him Kryptonite-like powers. As a "Super-Ape", Titano rampaged through Metropolis several times in Superman and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen during the Silver Age, and also appeared in some "Tales of the Bizarro World" stories in Adventure Comics. After a poorly-received 1978 appearance, Titano was not used again in the comic.
Different versions of the character, with different origins, appeared in the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths and New 52 continuities.
Publication history
Titano first appeared in Superman #127 (February 1959) in a story called "Titano the Super-Ape!" He was created by writer Otto Binder, penciler Wayne Boring and inker Stan Kaye. The character was inspired by the 1933 film King Kong, one of the many famous science-fiction and horror films swiped by Superman editor Mort Weisinger during this period.
The character was well received, so Weisinger decided to bring him back for a second story in July 1960. In the first story, Boring drew the character with a chimpanzee head on a giant gorilla body; for the rematch, Boring drew a gorilla head instead, making the character look more like King Kong.
Titano made another brief appearance in a January 1961 Superman story ("Superman Meets Al Capone!", issue #142), where he served as an introductory plot device to get Superman lost in time. By August 1961, Titano became a novelty character, appearing in a Superman backup feature starring Krypto the Superdog ("Krypto Battles Titano", issue #147), and this trend continued over the next few years, as Titano appeared in occasional "Tales of the Bizarro World" backup stories in Adventure Comics, and made lightweight appearances in a few Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen stories between 1962 and 1965.
In 1978, Martin Pasko brought Titano back for a two-part story with the Atomic Skull in Superman #323 and 324 — a story that Pasko looked back on with regret, as revealed in interview from 2007: "I thought — foolishly, in retrospect — that I might be able to treat a giant ape that shot kryptonite energy from its eyes with the same straight face I brought to Bizarro. I couldn't, and matters were not helped by the art. We kept forgetting that what you got when you called upon the hyper-realistic and earthbound Curt Swan to draw menacing giant monsters invariably looked cute and cuddly at best, and at worst, like something that reminded you of an old Toho movie and made you look for the zipper. I seem to recall that the mail suggested that Titano was one Weisingerism that was best relegated to obscurity".
Fictional character biography
Pre-Crisis
Originally named Toto, a common chimpanzee who was dubbed "one of the world's most intelligent chimps". Rocketed in his spaceship, he is bombarded by the combined radiation from two elements, which mutates him into a giant ape with an incredible physique and Kryptonite-based abilities. Renamed Titano by Lois Lane, he captures her. Superman stops his first rampage through Metropolis by throwing him across a time barrier and into the prehistoric past. A year later, Superman accidentally transports Titano back to modern Metropolis, and has to trick him to return him to the past.
Over the next few years, Titano is visited in the past by several characters, including Superman,Krypto the Superdog,Bizarro and Jimmy Olsen.
After another trip through time into the present day, Titano is picked up by Allura, space ruler in a world of giants, who agrees for transporting him to her home planet. Titano settles down with a female ape in his own size.
Writer Martin Pasko revived Titano in Superman #324 (June 1978). In this revival, Titano is manipulated by the Atomic Skull into becoming a ferocious killer, rather than being an original, but misunderstood super-ape.
The Pre-Crisis Titano appears in a dream of the character Ambush Bug.
Post-Crisis
The Post-Crisis version first appeared in the "Tears for Titano" story in Superman (vol. 2) Annual #1. Titano was originally a normal baby chimpanzee used in cruel scientific experiments for the US government. This lab is headed by Dr. Thomas Moyers, an irresponsible man who caused the creation of Rampage, the super-strong alter-ego of Dr. Kitty Faulkner, also in the employ is Amanda Waller operating under the orders of Sarge Steel. The chimpanzee gains his name from a mean-spirited joke by the other staffers.