Toru Tarakoto (Earth-616)

The Monster Master

Toru Tarakoto sought to take over Japan and purge it of foreign invaders. He became so fanatical in this desire that he allied himself with the Communist government of the People's Republic of China, who financed his development of Zoga the Unthinkable, a giant robotic dragon. Toru then adopted the costumed identity of the Monster Master. The energies utilized in creating Zoga were detected by Toru's research superior, Professor Goro Watanabe. Feigning ignorance, Toru helped Goro in establishing Project: Delta, apparently to investigate these energies.

Toru, his lover Fujiko Watanabe and Goro were present in the laboratory of Fujiyama Industries, where Iron Man demonstrated the power of his tractor beams and energy rays. Toru suggested that Iron Man might help with Project: Delta. Iron Man agreed and accompanied them to a remote island in the Sea of Japan. As they investigated the island, Toru scouted ahead of everyone, then suddenly vanished. Soon afterwards, Zoga appeared and and attacked the others. Zoga incapacitated Iron Man and drove off the remaining members of the team. The Monster Master then guided Zoga back to a secret base operated by the Chinese. Toru later appeared to Goro and Fujiko, claiming to have been knocked unconscious during Zoga's attack.

Later, Zoga appeared over Japan, assaulting an oil refinery, easily resisting Japan's air defenses. Iron Man flew after Zoga, but it managed to escaped his detection. Zoga was later detected and attacked by the Japanese Air Force. Iron Man followed the fight and confronted Zoga again, only to be knocked from the sky. Iron Man recovered and continued the assault, while Goro readied a weapon that Iron Man had instructed him to bring. Iron Man dodged Goro's next energy blast, which struck a parabolic mirror manned by Goro and was reflected back at Zoga's eye, causing Zoga to overheat and crash. Iron Man pulled the Monster Master from Zoga's head and unmasked him as Toru before he died.