Phantasmo spent 25 years in Tibet mastering the mystic secrets of the grand high lamas. He returned to America and become a superhero, chose the name Phil Anson as a secret identity. Phantasmo's abilities included astral projection where he was as solid as he'd been inside his body, super strength, flight, the ability to grow to enormous size, and whatever else the story required. His body was vulnerable to harm while he was outside of it. He paid Whizzer McGee, a bellhop in the hotel where he stayed, to watch his body while he was fighting crime.