[2] The first Western character published by Timely, the predecessor of Marvel Comics, the Masked Raider is Jim Gardley, who with his horse Lightning dedicates his life to fighting the lawless and bringing justice to the oppressed.
Operating anonymously, he approached and interacted with several superheroes, while investigating the activities of the mysterious Enclave,[9] such as their efforts to revive Korvac.
[10] In his investigation, the Masked Raider finds a mysterious murder case, but determining it to not be the Enclave's work he instead draw New York's superheroes attention to it.
[11] In a 2022 storyline, his name was revealed to be Carlo Zota, a known mad scientist and supervillain that was involved in the creation of Adam Warlock.
In American Comic Book Chronicles, Kurt Mitchell and Roy Thomas write that the Masked Raider is "a lifeless Lone Ranger imitation.