Yuri Topolov was a Soviet scientist and the first foe of the Hulk. Working with radiation at a Russian missile site mutated him into a large-headed dwarf. Though his body was deformed, his mind was enhanced to a genius-level intellect.

Under the auspices of the Kremlin, Topolov sent a Soviet spy named Igor Drenkov to the United States to steal the secrets of the Gamma bomb. Though Igor was captured, he managed to transmit a message to the Gargoyle, informing him that the American's experiments with gamma radiation created a monstrous being known as the Hulk. Topolov became obsessed with the Hulk and decided that he must either kill him or bring him back to Russia as a symbol of his power.

Boarding a rocket-firing submarine, the Gargoyle journeyed to the United States and sneaked into the American military base. Encountering the Hulk and Rick Jones, the Gargoyle incapacitated him with a gun designed to sap the will of an opponent. He brought the unconscious Hulk and Rick Jones back to Russia, but when they arrived, he discovered that the Hulk had reverted to his human form of Doctor Robert Bruce Banner. This revelation was devastating to the Gargoyle, who longed for nothing else than to look normal. Banner told him that he was familiar with cases like him, and that he could cure his deformity, though the treatment would also mean that the Gargoyle would lose his enhanced intellect.

Banner began treating and Topolov and succeeded in curing him. Topolov was so grateful he turned against the Soviets and managed to destroy several Soviet generals by detonating the military base where he worked, enabling him to "die like a man."^[1] However, he passed his deformity on to his son, Gremlin.