Religion: indeterminate
Name: unnamed henchman
Classification:
villain
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Superman (vol. 1) #2 (Fall 1939): "Superman and the Skyscrapers"
Creators: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster
Number of Appearances: 1
Enemy of: Superman
Occupation: henchman
Worked for: Butch Grogan
Gender: male
Superman confronted a night watchman that he caught sabotaging the Atlas Building construction site. Five construction workers had already died from this night watchman's previous acts of sabotage. Superman extracted from the duplicitous watchman the name of the man he worked for: Butch Grogan.
Superman went to Grogan's residence. A man answered the door at Grogan's home but refused to let Superman in the home. Superman barged in anyway. Despite being confronted by a being who was both angry and immensely powerful, the henchman was surprisingly loyal to Butch Grogan. For a long time he resisted Superman's questions and did not want to say anything about where his boss might be. Superman's congrontation with Grogan's henchman took place on pages 7 through 10 of the story "Superman and the Skyscrapers" in Superman #2 (Fall 1939). Grogan himself finally showed up, and Superman began interrogating the wealthy gang leader. But Grogan's henchman wasn't through! On page 11 the henchman returned, sneaking up on Superman and hitting him on the back with a wooden club. "Superman scarcely feels the blow . . . but the club bounces back and knocks out its wielder!"
It is difficult to determine how much the unnamed henchman knew about Butch Grogan's murderous criminal activities. Narration identifies the man as "Butch's henchman," so it is reasonable to conclude that the man was not simply a gentleman butler ignorant of his employer's evil-doing. But the man was never seen doing anything particularly violent or ruthless. He simply defended his employer, acting as a truly brave, loyal butler. It is not really clear if the unnamed man was a butler or not. He is never identified as such. He is not dressed as a butler. (Many butlers appeared in Superman comics from this era, so there are many characters to compare to.) Grogan's home does not seem like the type of mansion where one would typically find a butler. It is simply a nice suburban home. For these reasons, and particularly because the character is identified on multiple occasions as a "henchman" and never identified as a butler, we are going to refrain from identifying the character as a butler. He was undeniably a "henchman," and as such, he probably had knowledge of his employer's criminal activities.
Superman (vol. 1) #2 (Fall 1939): "Superman and the Skyscrapers"
Suggested links for further research about this character:
- https://www.comics.org/issue/528/
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=44189