# Was the Black Ogre ever a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies, comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [April 6, 2024, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-black-ogre-ever-a-thing/999914 "2024-04-06T03:49:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-black-ogre-ever-a-thing/999914/1 "2024-04-06T03:49:35Z")
In this article, one included page from the December 1960 issue of Superman mentions four monsters–“the Wolfman, the Black Ogre, the Mummy, and the Abominable Snowman”. It seems as if the Black Ogre was assumed to be as well known as the other three. Was (he?) something more familiar circa 1960 that has faded from familiarity? > **[When Superman's Editor Called Out The Twilight Zone for Ripping Off Bizarro...](https://www.cbr.com/superman-twilight-zone-bizarro-world-ripoff/?utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_campaign=Echobox-CBR&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1712244419)** > > In their latest look at weird Silver Age letters to the Superman editor, CSBG shows a time the editor called out Twilight Zone for ripping off Bizarro ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-black-ogre-ever-a-thing/999914/2 "2024-04-06T05:08:17Z")
I think writer Otto Binder just had a thing for ogres as far back as the 1940s in Captain Marvel comics. An ogre and a wolf man were a couple of Mister Mind’s henchmen back in the day, so they probably got lumped together in his list of scary looking bad guys for the Bizarro story two decades later. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-black-ogre-ever-a-thing/999914/3 "2024-04-06T08:43:02Z")
WAG - it was something they created to get around Comics Code censorship rules, in much the same way that Conan comics couldn’t have “zombies” in them but “zuvembies” were A-OK because it was a term Robert E. Howard used in a short story. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-black-ogre-ever-a-thing/999914/4 "2024-04-06T10:48:58Z")
Quasimodo? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-black-ogre-ever-a-thing/999914/5 "2024-04-07T21:42:05Z")
Apparently the Black Ogre was some sort of Native American supernatural bad guy. [Black Ogre (Earth-616) | Marvel Database | Fandom](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Black_Ogre_(Earth-616)) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-black-ogre-ever-a-thing/999914/6 "2024-04-07T22:33:16Z")
But — as far as I can tell — the one in DC’s Superman comic looked pretty much nothing like the one at that Marvel link. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-black-ogre-ever-a-thing/999914/7 "2024-04-08T01:44:27Z")
AKA _[Nataska](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataska?wprov=sfti1#)_ Basically, a monster designed to terrify children. [![](https://www.adobegallery.com/metas/display/1630000) ](https://www.adobegallery.com/metas/display/1630000) > **[Hopi Nataska Ogre Katsina Doll - Kachina - Katsina Dolls - Hopi Pueblo -...](https://www.adobegallery.com/art/hopi-nataska-ogre-katsina-doll)** > > One of the favored carvings of many Hopi is that of Nataska, the feared Ogre of the Hopi. During the process of collecting food from Hopi homes for distribution to the Katsinas in the kivas, the Nataska make horrible noises to scare the children....