Robert "Bob" Benton was a world renowned but radical chemist and physicist who reportly lead a squad of Marines into Hitler's lost laboratories during the 40's. After the war ended, Bob used his science knowledge to give himself an edge against the Nazi threat that still lingered in the United States of America. Both Bob and his sidekick Tim Roland, known as Kid Terror, were given enhanced strength, speed and toughness due to Bob's special "Ether Elixers".

Many years passed and the 'Terror Twins' gained quite a reputation. Unfortunately Benton was to be betrayed by another so called costumed hero known as The Face. Tony Trent, known as The Face and The Black Terror had often fought by side against such foes as Japan Chem-X and their Kamikaze Clones, The Yellow Hand of Divine Fate and the Auschwitz Overseer. But by the end of the fifties The Face had changed. The mask he wore which everyone believed was simply a decorative disguise was in fact one of the Nine Masks of Mayhem. The specific mask that Tony Trent had found could instill great fear in others, but it could also influence their minds and thoughts into sinister purposes. Trent allied himself with a Communist group and set out to destroy the United States government but first he had to get rid of The Black Terror.



First, Trent had the mayor of Detroit murdered alongside Bob's girlfriend Jean Starr. Then through subtle manipulation and mind control The Face turned Tim Roland into a junkie, supplying him through his Russian agents with raw morphine and speed. When Bob found Tim shooting up a fight ensued between the two and Tim fell off the roof of police headquarters, landing on the staircase below and shattering his spine. Threats began to appear out of nowhere and the Black Terror found himself fighting numerous villains at once, almost losing his life many times over. The final straw though was the death of Bob's parents, both were found dead in their home from heart attacks, brought on by intense fear and panic. At the funeral Trent appeared to console his friend and fought beside him when Kamikaze Clones attacked the funeral guests. As the last Clone fell, Trent shot Benton seven times in the back and dumped his body on top of the coffins of his parents. The Face left Benton to die but he did not. Bob awoke at nightfall and ingested an experimental healing drug he carried with him that gave him the strength he needed to pull himself out of the grave. Returning to his lab, he began to realize that Trent had betrayed him. Fill with an inhuman fury Bob Benton opened a black book he had obtained from the Nazi's that contained directions on creating a "Dark Ether", a chemical that would significantly increase Bob's minor powers by infusing him with a dark essence from an alien dimension. Bob injected himself with a dark matter obtained from another world and became The Terror and went after The Face. After murdering Trent and destroying the mask, The Terror joined The Lost Legion and disappeared into the shadows. .