Archie Masters was a timid, cautious astronomy professor who taught at Grand University somewhere in the eastern United States. A colleague created a device called an atom smasher, but the initial test went awry when Masters, preoccupied in his thoughts went into the room where the device was being used. He was bathed in atomic radiation but instead of killing him, the accident endowed him with various superhuman abilities such as strength, flight and invulnerability. With his confidence boosted, he used these powers to fight crime as the American Crusader. In his civilian identity, he pretended to be a meek pushover he once was, to the endless frustration of his secretary, Jane Peters, who would have loved to be Archie's girlfriend if he wasn't (as far as she could tell) so absent-minded and cowardly.

Archie later left his job at the university and fought Nazi forces throughout the European front. He found an assistant in Mickey Martin, an American teenager who was stranded in France when Nazi forces invaded it.

*America's Best Comics #6
*Thrilling Comics #32-35, 37-39, 41

*The Nedor comics [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/firstperiod.html were renewed] by Popular Library, which was eventually bought out by Fawcett Books. When Fawcett went out of business, Popular Library was sold to Warner Bros. A number of different publishers, however, are currently/have been using these characters without any lawsuits from Warner Bros., so any action over them is (probably) unlikely. They are still, however, "use at your own risk" characters.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20200813013432/http://free-universe.myartsonline.com/AmericanCrusader.html Free Universe (Archived)]
*[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/a/amcrusad.htm International Hero]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Crusader Wikipedia]
*[http://projectsuperpowers.wikia.com/wiki/American_Crusader Project Superpowers]
*[http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Archibald_Masters_%28Earth-ABC%29 DC Database]
*[http://nedor-a-day.blogspot.ca/search/label/American%20Crusader Nedor a Day]
*[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/american-crusader/4005-6251/ Comicvine]
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