Red Ghost

Kragoff or Red Ghost and his merry band of simians. What motivates a villain to train monkeys then take them to outer space to expose them to cosmic radiation? Who else would come up with such a ridiculous plan? 10/10 points for scheming, got to hand it to him it's a good idea. 1/10 for villain nastiness, why monkeys couldn't he have gone with panthers or sharks? Any way this from Chris at the Rapsheet
Ivan Kragoff, a scientist working for the Soviet government, had distinguished himself among party leaders with his advanced theories on cosmic radiation and its mutagenic effects. These theories were based in large part upon his observation and study from afar of America's Fantastic Four, who had gained their superhuman powers from exposure to cosmic rays. Kragoff calculated that the circumstances that caused the high radiation levels that gave the Fantastic Four their superhuman powers were about to be repeated. He proposed to party leaders that he and a team of trained simians be sent in a spaceship into Earth orbit to be exposed to cosmic radiation in the hopes that they too would develop superhuman abilities.
Unknown to Soviet officials, however, Kragoff timed his launch to coincide with a mission that the Fantastic Four's leader Reed Richards, alias Mister Fantastic, had planned to the mysterious Blue Area of the moon. Kragoff intended to journey there himself and use whatever superhuman powers he might develop to defeat the American scientist, whom he fiercely envied. Kragoff launched his spaceship, and during a cosmic ray storm he gained the ability to make himself intangible at will. His three trained simians--a gorilla, an orangutan, and a baboon--gained super simian abilities at the same time. Kragoff dubbed himself the Red Ghost.