Fantomas

Fantomas is one of the most popular fictional arch-villains and master criminals in the history of French crime fiction. He is the creation of Marcel Allain (1885-1970) and Pierre Souvestre (1874-1914), a team of French writers. Fantomas was created in 1911 and appeared in a total of 32 volumes written by the two collaborators, then a subsequent 11 volumes written by Allain alone after Souvestre's death. The character was also the basis of various film, television, and comic book adaptations. His importance to the genre cannot be overestimated, as he represents the transition from the old-fashioned villains to modern-day serial killers.

Fantomas is first and foremost a sociopath who enjoys killing in a sadistic fashion. He is totally ruthless, gives no mercy, and is loyal to none, not even his own children. He is a master of disguise, always appearing under an assumed identity, often that of a person whom he has murdered. Fantomas makes use of bizarre and improbable techniques in his crimes, such as plague-infested rats, giant snakes, and rooms that fill with sand.

Fantomas's background remains vague. He might be of British and/or French ancestry.

In the books, it is established that c. 1892, the man who later became Fantômas called himself Archduke Juan North and operated in the German Principality of Hesse-Weimar. There he fathered a child, Vladimir, with an unidentified noblewoman. In circumstances unrevealed, he was arrested and sent to prison.

C. 1895, Fantomas was in India. There, an unidentified European woman gave birth to a baby girl, Hélène, whose father might be Fantomas, or an Indian Prince who was Fantomas' acolyte. The girl was raised in South Africa.

In 1897, Fantomas was in America and Mexico. There, he ruined his then-business partner, Etienne Rambert.

In 1899, he fought in the in South Africa under the name of Gurn. He fought in the Transvaal as an artillery sergeant under the command of Lord Roberts. He became aide-de-camp to Lord Edward Beltham of Scottwell Hill and fell in love with his younger wife, Lady Maud Beltham.

Upon their return to Europe, soon before the first novel begins (c. 1900), Gurn and Lady Beltham were surprised in their Paris love nest, Rue Levert, by her husband. Lord Beltham was about to shoot Maud when Gurn hit him with a hammer then strangled him.

Fantomas then impersonated Etienne Rambert and framed his son, Charles, for a murder he had committed. His adversary, the determined French police detective Juve, truly obsessed with his capture, exposed Fantomas and turned young Charles Rambert into a journalist, Jerome Fandor, now working for La Capitale.

Lady Beltham remained constantly torn between her passion for the villain and her horror at his criminal schemes. She eventually committed suicide in 1910.

Fandor fell in love with Hélène and, despite Fantômas repeated attempts to break them up, married her.

Fantômas' evil son, Vladimir, reappeared in 1911. Vladimir's girl-friend was murdered by Fantomas and Vladimir himself was eventually shot by Juve.

 
Jindrich Styrsky cover for Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, Fantomas (The Dead Man Who Kills) (detail), 1929.