A
villain published by
Marvel Comics. The
Rhino first appeared
in
Amazing Spider-Man #41 in 1966.
Alex O'Hirn was a small time crook with lots of muscle and little
on his mind. He had fallen in with a bad crowd and was employed by
several New York gangs as hired muscle. That was until he was
approached by a group of ambitious criminals with a plan to create
a super-powered enforcer.
The group selected O'Hirn because of his superior strength and
substandard brains, thinking that he would be easily manipulated.
O'Hirn agreed to take part in their schemes and was subjected
to a number of experimental treatments to boost his strength to super-human
levels. O'Hirn was then outfitted with a tight fitting suit of
extremely durable grey material that deflected bullets and allowed
O'Hirn to use his strength without fear of physical injury.
Finally, the suit was equipped with a horn on the head, giving
O'Hirn the appearance of a rhinoceros, and was dubbed the Rhino.
The first mission for the new enforcer was to kidnap the son of
newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson and hold him for ransom. The
Rhino decided that he was uninterested in splitting the money from
the crime and turned on the group that gave him his powers. He then
attempted to kidnap John Jameson, but ran afoul of Spider-man.
The two fought and the Rhino was defeated and sent to jail, where
his strength was kept in check by keeping him sedated.
Eventually, the Rhino escaped and fought again with Spider-man,
the two becoming regular foes. The Rhino later had his strength
boosted by the Leader and fought the Incredible Hulk. He was
defeated and soon found that his costume had been afixed to his
skin so that he could not remove it. Fearing that he would
forever be stuck with this freakish appearance (not to mention the
hygenic issues of being trapped in a one piece outfit), he sought help in
removing the suit, during which time he clashed with Ben Grimm,
also known as the Thing.
The Rhino eventually had the suit successfully removed, but commissioned
another from master criminal Justin Hammer. The new suit was
superior to his original and O'Hirn continues to use it to this day.