Eugene Patilio is an aspiring hero and the son of former Super Villain Leap-Frog. His power derives from electric coils in his boots that give him the ability to leap great distances. He has petitioned to join the Defenders, the Avengers, and to become Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man’s sidekick.
A Small Frog in a Big Pond
Born in New York City, Eugene Patilio is the son of Super Villain Vincent Patilio, AKA Leap-Frog , who invents spring-coiled boots which enable tremendous leaps. Wearing a frog costume equipped with these boots, Vincent has a relatively minor career as the super criminal Leap-Frog, often defeated by Super Heroes such as Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man.
After Eugene’s mother Rose dies from breast cancer while Vincent was in prison, young Eugene is placed in the custody of Vincent’s sister Rosemary (“Marie”) along with her husband Gus Colorito. Although, Gus passes away not long thereafter. When Vincent is released on parole, he moves into Marie’s Brooklyn home. As the son of a less-than-impressive “Super Villain,” the straight-A student Eugene is mercilessly teased as a child, even adopting his uncle’s last name when he moved in hopes that he wouldn’t be recognized; however, his father’s identity was inevitably revealed (when local newscasts once incorrectly called Vincent by Eugene’s false last name).
After Vincent’s parole, he finds work promoting a local used car dealership dressed as a clownish frog; the teasing from Eugene’s peers intensified until he snaps and steals one of his father’s four spare frog costumes, which he dons to seek revenge on the school’s bullies. Unable to control the costume, Eugene’s father saves him from a beating and in doing so, violates house arrest to rescue his son. Vincent struggles to go straight and support Eugene, moving the pair of them to uptown Manhattan and out of his sister’s house. While Vincent takes a job as a low-level salesman, Eugene must work after school as well to help the family make ends meet. Vincent slowly becomes angry and bitter, much to Eugene’s dismay, and hit bottom after he slaps his son during an argument. Eugene concludes that the best way to lay the ghost of the criminal Leap-Frog to rest was to turn the costume into a powerful force for good. And so, he dons another of his father’s costumes to become the Fabulous Frog-Man.
Leaping Lily Pads
Eugene's Frog-Man suit contains electrical coils in its web-footed boots that greatly enhance the wearer’s leaping ability, allowing him to achieve tremendous heights and distances (lengths up to 60' at a 45 degree parabolic arc reaching 15' at the apex, or 30' straight up), powered by the battery pack on the suit’s back. The suit is heavily padded, and smaller coils inside the suit’s skin enable the wearer to bounce off walls with minimal damage.
Recent versions of the Frog-Man suit include a powered strength-enhancing exoskeleton (enabling the user to lift 1 ton) and computer-controlled gyroscopic stabilizers for leaping accuracy.
Bully Frogs
Frog-Man goes up against a handful of enemies as he attempts to be a Super Hero, such as White Rabbit, and makes some mistakes along the way, inadvertently helping the wrong side on occasion.
His most deadly foe is Alyosha Kravinoff, AKA Kraven, who nearly kills him. He also goes up against Karl Morgenthau, AKA Flag-Smasher, U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M., and the villainous computer technician from Earth-691 now-android, Michael Korvac, AKA Korvac.
Frog-Man's Friends
Eugene’s family life is strained after his mother passes and his father Vincent ends up in prison for his time as the Super Villain Leap-Frog. Though, Eugene lives with his aunt Rosemary “Marie” Patilio Colorito and her husband Gus Colorito; his father ends up moving in with them eventually. When Vincent hits rock bottom, he slaps Eugene, and doesn’t entirely support Eugene’s Super Hero aspirations. He does, however, save Eugene, and assist him alongside other heroes, showing that maybe Eugene’s penchant for heroism rubs off on him.
When Eugene’s a budding hero, he attempts to assist Spider-Man and Johnny Storm, AKA Human Torch, and afterward Eugene forms the Misfits with Mortimer Toynbee, AKA Toad, and Oliver Osnick, AKA Spider-Kid (later Steel Spider). Although, they disband shortly after they form. He later helps the Avengers defeat Flag-Smasher and joins the Fifty State Initiative (which made him an Avenger), and joins Iron Man’s band of allies against Korvac.
Fabulous Frog-Man
Frog-Man’s career started off well, as he saved an ungrateful woman from four purse-snatchers, but the police believed him to be Leap-Frog and began pursuing him. Trying to help Spider-Man, he leaped into James Sanders, AKA Speed Demon’s battle against Spider-Man and Human Torch, inadvertently aiding Speed Demon. Out of control, he finally bounced into Speed Demon at full speed, knocking him unconscious and accidentally earning his first victory. Inspired, Eugene decided to continue his new career as a Super Hero, earning Vincent’s reluctant approval. Eugene began carrying the costume in his backpack, and when the thrill-seeking criminal White Rabbit tried to rob a Kwikkee Burger fast food restaurant, Eugene suited up but was nearly killed before Spider-Man saved him. Afraid Eugene would die pursuing the White Rabbit as Frog-Man, Vincent went to the police and offered to go undercover in the White Rabbit’s gang, but Spider-Man and Frog-Man both independently pursued the Rabbit, and Vincent ended up facing down his own son; however, the Rabbit was captured, the truth revealed, and Vincent earned a hefty reward for his efforts, giving him the money he needed to turn their lives around, and the conviction that his past need not define his present.
Despite his father’s disapproval, Eugene continued to covertly act as Frog-Man, once aiding Spider-Man against some warehouse-robbing thugs, but his “help” accidentally allowed the criminals to escape. When Hank McCoy, AKA Beast, came to speak at Brooklyn University, Eugene saw his chance to join a super-team, and interrupted the speech to audition for the New Defenders. The audience supported Frog-Man’s pitch, but before Beast and his fellow Defenders Bobby Drake, AKA Iceman, and Warren Worthington III, AKA Angel, could answer, the newly empowered berserk superhuman Walrus broke through a wall to attack them. The New Defenders ordered Eugene to stay back, but all three heroes were quickly taken down by the Walrus. Frog-Man leapt to their rescue, but was swatted away and swiftly realized he was in over his head; however, the Walrus then collapsed of his own accord (a combination of his fading powers and indigestion from all the Kwikkee Burgers he had loaded up on before the battle), giving Eugene another apparent victory. Having observed the battle on TV, Vincent then arrived to drag Eugene home, ending his affiliation with the Defenders before it could start.
When the Toad later proclaimed himself Spider-Man’s partner, Eugene read about it and became both jealous and suspicious of the man who was claiming the role Eugene had sought for himself; he tailed the Toad and witnessed him hiring numerous thugs to attack Spider-Man in hopes of making himself look better. Frog-Man intervened before the fight could begin and held his own against the Toad. When Spider-Man’s metal-tentacled admirer Spider-Kid (Ollie Osnick, later Steel Spider) joined the melee, the three would-be heroes decided to form a team as the Misfits (though Spider-Man mockingly suggested the names “The All Wiener Squad,” “The Oy Team” and “The Spastic Three”). However, the Toad quickly left to return to his criminal ways, and the Misfits disbanded almost immediately. Shortly thereafter, Vincent moved himself and Eugene back into Marie’s Brooklyn house.
While interrupting a kidnapping as Frog-Man, Eugene encountered Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, who ordered him to go home to his father. Eugene disobeyed, but first called the police and told them what he knew before tracking the kidnappers. When the power behind the kidnappers was revealed to be the legendary criminal mastermind Yellow Claw, Eugene was captured, interrogated, and eventually left to be killed by an army of giant frogs. Eugene befriended the enormous amphibians and led them in an attack on the Yellow Claw, creating a diversion that allowed Captain America, with help from Spider-Man, Beast, Angel, Iceman, and Human Torch, to foil the Claw’s plans. Having faced death at the Claw’s hands, Eugene began treating the Frog-Man identity with greater respect, and his father acquired a degree of pride in his son’s triumphs.
After Eugene graduated from high school and left town to go off to college, Vincent worked briefly with Damage Control, and Damage Control’s Eugene Strausser made some repairs and improvements to the Frog-Man suit in return. Vincent became skilled with computer technologies, and designed an exoskeleton for the Frog-Man suit as well as a computer guidance system to control the suit’s traditional chaotic leaping. While Eugene was back in town for a week’s vacation from school, he went out patrolling in his old Frog-Man suit, and invited Spider-Man to dinner with himself, his father, and his aunt. Despite some initial discomfort, the evening turned out to be a success until interrupted by the news that the White Rabbit and Walrus had read of Frog-Man’s return and teamed up to destroy him. Spider-Man set out to capture the duo, and Eugene quickly slipped away to follow him. Vincent donned the new and improved Frog-Man costume to aid his son, and the two Frog-Men defeated both criminals with Spider-Man’s help.
Eugene was placed in mortal danger after Alyosha Kravinoff, AKA Kraven, the son of Sergei Kravinoff, AKA Kraven the Hunter, ingested some of his father’s jungle potions and reverted to his cruel “Kraven” personality. Alyosha built a menagerie by capturing super-powered beast-men including Aleksei Sytsevich, AKA Rhino, William Taurens, AKA Man-Bull, Jerome Beechman, AKA Mandrill, and Frog-Man (regardless of Eugene’s lack of any physiological frog-like characteristics). Despite Eugene’s pleas for mercy, insisting he wasn’t even the original Frog-Man, Kraven harpooned him and left him for dead; however, Frog-Man later resurfaced as part of Kentucky’s registered Super Hero team formed under the Fifty State Initiative.
During the Skrull Invasion, Frog-Man was imitated and replaced by a Skrull. He later joins a support group to deal with the trauma of being replaced. After Flag-Smasher and U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. attacked the United Nations, Frog-Man helped the Avengers defeat them. He then took a job as a busboy at Isaac’s Oysters, which was run by Isaac Christians, AKA Gargoyle, former Mayor in Virginia and a retired vigilante.
Soon after, Frog-Man joined Iron Man, Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat, Gargoyle, and their eclectic team of heroes on an interstellar adventure to pursue Korvac. The former computer technician resurrected in an android body, Korvac stole the Power Cosmic from Taa II, Galactus’ worldship, to boost his powers to godlike levels. He used telepathy to lure Hellcat and Iron Man into bizarre visions, so it was up to Frog-Man and the small band of allies to save them off-planet. Their encounter with Korvac ultimately left Iron Man corrupted by the Power Cosmic, making him the Iron God, who vowed to use his powers to redeem the universe. Though wary of his new powers, the team set a trap for him with the help of Victor Von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom, but "Iron God" used his new abilities to slay them all. Though Iron Man came out of it realizing what he had done and used the power to restore them.
