Admiral Nodope was part of Imperial Japan's navy during World War II. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese sent a fleet of troops to attack the San Francisco coast. Admiral Nodope led ships on this attack. They were opposed by the Human Torch and his sidekick Toro. The two flaming heroes damaged Nodope's ship, forcing him to retreat back to Japan. There, he was ordered by his superiors to prevent the Torch and Toro from fleeing the country with a bunch of recently liberated American soldiers. During the conflict, the Torch and Toro turned a pile of scrap metal into a tidal wave of molten metal which they used to smother the Japanese soldiers attacking them. The soldiers were killed instantly, including Admiral Nodope.[