- Dragon Man
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Dragon Man 
Publication information Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Fantastic Four #35 (February, 1965). Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby In-story information Team affiliations Future Foundation
New Enforcers
Frightful FourPartnerships Diablo Abilities Superhuman strength and durability
Flight
Flame projectionDragon Man is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is an artificial dragon-like humanoid android who was animated via alchemy. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #35 (February 1965).
Contents
Fictional character biography
Dragon Man is an android built by Professor Gregson Gilbert of Empire State University as an experiment. Gregson hoped to find a way to bring it to life. He could not find a way to do this until the alchemist Diablo arrived and brought it to life under his partial control using his supernatural powers. However, Dragon Man broke his control and attempted to kill Diablo.[1] Although Dragon Man is slow-minded to the point that he is incapable of speech, he understands orders given by Diablo and is a determined foe of the Fantastic Four (although the creature has always displayed a King Kong-like affection towards Sue Richards). Dragon Man is not especially malicious, although he is easily manipulated and provoked to violence.
After his first activation, Dragon Man was later revived. He encountered Medusa and Gorgon, and fought the Thing and Human Torch.[2]
Dragon Man was later studied by Henry Pym at his laboratory. He was restored to life again by Diablo, and was defeated by Pym as Goliath and escaped.[3] Dragon Man battled Hercules, and the Avengers destroyed Diablo's army of Dragon Men.[4]
Dragon Man was once found by the original X-Men, and was considered an unofficial mascot of sorts. After a period of time on the team, where he developed a deep affection for Jean Grey, Dragon Man had to be released to the creature filled island known, in the Marvel Universe, as Monster Island.
Dragon Man was reclaimed by Professor Gregson Gilbert, and sent by Lemuel Dorcas to attack the Sub-Mariner.[5] It was next used by Gregory Gideon to attack the Fantastic Four.[6] Dragon Man was then sent by Machinesmith to attack Captain America.[7] He became the mount for the extra-dimensional dragon rider Ral Dorn.[8] Dragon Man then fought Hulk at the Ringmaster's Circus of Crime.[9]
Dragon Man encountered the child superheroes called Power Pack. Gregson Gilbert later attempted to replicate the creation of the Dragon Man without the addition of alchemical interruptions, and this time succeeded. He created a number of androids based on other legendary creatures. These androids were defeated by Power Pack, and Gilbert and Dragon Man go to work at Disneyland.[10]
Dragon Man was used as a servant of Aron the renegade Watcher.[11]
He faced Spider-Man during the Acts of Vengeance, when he was unleashed on him by the Wizard of the Prime Movers.[12]
In addition to his servitude to Diablo, Dragon Man has served Super-Adaptoid and was also a member of the New Enforcers. In Spectacular Spider-Man #235-6, Roxxon Oil sprung him from a government containment facility in order to capture and dissect him to create robotic super-soldiers based on Dragon Man's powers; he was freed by Ben Reilly.
Dragon Man showed up in Africa under the service of mad scientist Eric Pain.[13] Though the creature was under a full rage, he ended up defeated once more by both superheroes. Afterwards, he resurfaced in Beyond!, destroying an Avengers Quinjet the group was using to escape.
During the Civil War,[14] he was spotted at the funeral of Stilt-Man. After poisoning the guests, the Punisher blew up the bar in which the wake had been held. He was later seen being arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.[15]
Alyosha Kraven later began collecting a zoo of animal-themed superhumans,[16] including Bushmaster, Gargoyle, Tiger Shark, Kangaroo, Aragorn, Vulture, Mongoose, Man-Bull, Swarm, Mandrill, Grizzly, Frog-Man, and Rhino. In the end, the Punisher managed to sabotage this zoo; though Kraven himself escaped to the Savage Land.
In Avengers: The Initiative #8, Dragon Man had been captured by the trainee heroes, having been attracted to Komodo.
In Nova, Dragon Man was seen battling the newly revived Nova Corps consisting of Qubit, Fraktur, Tracel, Morrow, Irani, and Robbie Rider. He was subdued by the Corps using a gravimetric net.[volume & issue needed]
At one point, Dragon Man had been placed in the Negative Zone, and like most of the other prisoners, was conscripted into service when Blastaar attacked the prison. When the Shadow Initiative was sent in to liberate the prison, Blastaar sent Dragon Man against them. However, Komodo was able to use Dragon Man's attraction to her to convince him to switch sides.[17]
Following this, he seemingly reforms, as he, Artie and Leech were seen at Franklin Richards' birthday party.[18]
He has since been upgraded by Valeria Richards and joined Reed Richard's Future Foundation.[19]
Powers and abilities
Dragon Man gains its powers from its robotic materials, design, and construction, as well as unknown alchemical potions used by Diablo. Dragon Man is superhumanly strong and durable. He is able to stand toe to toe with the likes of Hercules and the Hulk in combat situations. He can use the wings on his back to fly. He can also exhale methane gas (produced by his digestive system) which can be ignited by striking together his specialized teeth, producing flame hot enough to melt iron.
The Dragon Man originally could military press sixty tons. Since it was a machine imbued with magic the artificial creature never grows tired. It can recharge itself by eating organic materials, and its wings did not allow it to fly. It uses two anti gravity generators located in its body to propel itself. Its large wings give it great mobility in the air and theoretically(ms) in water also.
Dragon Man was initially non-sentient, but had the capacity for limited self-motivated activity. Valeria Richards later upgraded his intelligence.[19]
Dragon Man is vulnerable to intense cold and certain ultrasonic frequencies.
Other versions
JLA/Avengers
Dragon Man appears as a villain in the series, appearing in the last battle, restrained by Green Lantern and breathing fire at Superman.[volume & issue needed]
In other media
Television
- Dragon Man appears in the 1978 Fantastic Four TV series. He was an android built for good by Professor Gilbert before its controls were stolen by his assistant George. With info from Professor Gilbert, the Fantastic Four used the cold to stop Dragon Man.
- Dragon Man appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Frightful." He appears as a member of Wizard's Frightful Four. His look had been heavily re-imagined for the show. While still a robot, Dragon Man is more human-shaped, has grey skin and large teeth, and his wings are part of his arms.
Video games
- Dragon Man appears as an enemy in Fantastic Four for PlayStation.
- Dragon Man appeared as one of the bosses in the 2005 game Fantastic Four.
- Dragon Man appears as a mini-boss in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. He is shown enslaved to the Mandarin. He is optional to fight because you can avoid him. A VS simulation disk has the heroes fighting Dragon Man on the Skrull home-world.
- Dragon Man appeared as an enemy in Spider-Man: Web of Fire on the 32X system.
Action figure
- Dragon Man had an action figure released by Toy Biz in 2006. The figure is part of the Fantastic Four Classics Series 2 line.
References
- ^ Stan Lee (w), Jack Kirby (p), Chic Stone (i). "Calamity On The Campus!" Fantastic Four 35 (February 1965), Marvel Comics
- ^ Fantastic Four #44-47
- ^ Avengers #41
- ^ Avengers #42
- ^ Sub-Mariner #15
- ^ Fantastic Four #134-135
- ^ Captain America #248-249
- ^ Fantastic Four Annual #16
- ^ Incredible Hulk #292
- ^ Power Pack vol. 1 #7
- ^ Avengers #321-323, 327-330, 332-333
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #61
- ^ Black Panther vol. 4 #8-9 and X-Men vol. 2 #175-176
- ^ The Punisher War Journal vol. 2 #4
- ^ Irredeemable Ant-Man #9
- ^ Punisher War Journal vol. 2 #13
- ^ Avengers: The Initiative #27
- ^ Fantastic Four #574
- ^ a b Fantastic Four #579
External links
- Dragon Man at Marvel.com
Categories:- Comics characters introduced in 1965
- Characters created by Jack Kirby
- Characters created by Stan Lee
- Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
- Marvel Comics robots
- Marvel Comics supervillains
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