Marvin Blair

Marvin Blair

A criminally irresponsible research chemist for the Miles Steel Corporation, promoted to the position of vice-president after pioneering a revolutionary new steel-producing process capable of producing steel a full 20 percent stronger than ordinary steel at a far lower cost, who abruptly resigns from the company approximately a year later, ostensibly because he wishes to retire to enjoy his accumulated wealth, but in reality because he knows full well that the new steel-producing process he created produces such extraordinary "magnetic tension" in the final product that "after a certain time--roughly a year," any structure made from the steel "gets so weak that the whole thing disintegrates at once," posing the imminent threat of horrifying disasters in which entire bridges, buildings, and airplanes will suddenly and mysteriously vanish. After racing from place to place to combat a series of such disasters--and after seeing to it that every structure made from the new Miles steel has been dismantled and replaced with reliable steel--Superman brings the unscrupulous Blair to justice in October-November 1950 (WF No. 48: "The Great Steel Mystery!"). (TGSB)