Dum Dum Dugan

Dum Dum Dugan
Dum Dum Dugan (center right) on the cover of Secret Warriors, #4 (May 2009). Art by Jim Cheung.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Timothy Aloysius Cadwallander Dugan
Team affiliations	S.H.I.E.L.D. Howling Commandos Flying Commandos Great Wheel "Avengers" (1959) Godzilla Squad
Notable aliases	Libra
Abilities	Skilled marksman

Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is an officer of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is one of the most experienced members of Nick Fury's team, known for his marksmanship with rifles and for his impressive physique. He is recognized for his trademark bowler hat.

Neal McDonough appeared as the character in the 2011 Marvel Studios film Captain America: The First Avenger.

Publication history

Dum Dum Dugan first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Dum Dum Dugan received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #2.

Fictional character biography

Dugan is originally portrayed as a British citizen (in Sgt Fury #1) but later retconned to be born in Boston, Massachusetts. During World War II, while working as a circus strongman, Dugan helps Nick Fury and Sam "Happy" Sawyer escape the Nazis during a mission as recounted in issue 34. Dugan joins the British Army, and when Sawyer is charged with creating Fury's First Attack Squad formally listed as "able Company", nicknamed as the Howling Commandos, Sawyer invites Dugan to transfer into the US Army and become Fury's second-in-command. Dugan's exceptional strength saves the day in several of his adventures in the Sgt. Fury comic books. Dugan is an enlisted man with the rank of corporal which during World War II he wears on the front top of his trademark bowler hat.

Dugan leaves the U.S. Army before the Korean Conflict, but rejoins during the Korean War as second Lt. under the promoted 1st Lt. Fury once again as Fury's second-in-command of the reformed Howling Commandos. Fury had already received a battlefield promotion to second Lt. earlier.^[1] Dugan remains with Fury when Fury continues his military career into the Vietnam War as shown in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Annual #3 and 4, and later into espionage work. Dugan exact officer rank is not stated but is he addressed as "Captain" at one point. Dugan remains with Fury when Fury goes into the CIA and later into the original S.H.I.E.L.D.

Different accounts state that Dugan and other members of Fury's Howling Commandos receive the Infinity Formula to explain how they all remain youthful and active despite being all into their 60s and 70s in the modern era. Other stories contract this artifical maintainance of youth as Dugan by merely dyeing his hair and suffering a heart attack.^[2]

Later on in life he is placed in charge of internal security on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.

Dum Dum Dugan is placed in charge of a SHIELD Unit coined The Godzilla Squad, charged with the task of tracking and stopping the radioactive kaiju.^[3] Over the twenty-four issue series, Dugan goes from loathing the creature's destructive tendencies to accepting the beast's existence after Godzilla saves him on numerous occasions. Dugan later recalls a long list of his greatest nightmares, one of which includes Godzilla.^{[volume & issue needed]}

After suffering his heart attack, Dugan is formally promoted to Fury's permanent second-in-command of S.H.I.E.L.D. as "Deputy Director" <refCaptain America (Vol 1) #284</ref>, though he has acted as such before his formal appointment.

Power Struggles

In Marvel Graphic Novel #18: She-Hulk, Dugan ran SHIELD during one of Nick Fury's absences. His authority is usurped by the craven, sex-obsessed agent Roger Dooley. She-Hulk and her boyfriend Wyatt Wingfoot are illegally captured. Dugan protests Dooley's forcible strip-search of She-Hulk in public but is over-ruled. His authority is regained when Dooley is killed in action.

Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. (1988)

During the Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. six issue series, Dugan and the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D. later deal with another mutiny from within. Dugan was shown to have been shot to death while taking out the trash.^[4] In this series, Hydra was revealed to have been a sister organization of S.H.I.E.L.D. both directly controlled by the mysterious council who had replaced many of the organization's top brass including Deputy Director Dugan with Life Model Decoy android duplicates in order to force the survival of fittest selection process that the council had been forcing between the two competing organizations over the decades.^[5] All the officers who were thought to be killed were shown to have been replaced with Life Model Decoy android replacements and were found alive. Dugan retires along with many of the older officers at the end of this series.^[6] Dugan's retirement does not last long, as he rejoins Fury when the next version of S.H.I.E.L.D. (now known as Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate) is created.^[7]

Dugan calls on Squirrel Girl to help him take down various supervillains.^[8]

With Nick Fury's absence at the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Dugan is placed second-in-command to Maria Hill.^{[volume & issue needed]} Dugan is put in charge of mutant affairs, and deals with Wolverine.^{[volume & issue needed]} Dugan apparently knows a dire secret to Logan's past.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Civil War

In Marvel's Civil War crossover, Dugan, along with several other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, is sent to capture his fugitive friend Captain America. The entire group is defeated.^[9] He expresses regret to fellow agent Sharon Carter for trying to capture his friend.^[10] He also states his concerns about losing faith in S.H.I.E.L.D due to the war and the way the organization is run under Director Maria Hill.^{[volume & issue needed]}

After the events of Civil War and as Tony Stark takes over as director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dugan turns in his letter of resignation, stating that he does not approve of the changes Stark has made, or of the way he runs the organization. Dugan's resignation is not accepted however, as he is too vital to S.H.I.E.L.D. Despite Dugan's disapproval of Stark's leadership, Stark still trusts Dugan and Dugan alone with the command of a weapon that could send an abandoned Manhattan into the Negative Zone, destroying the island and anyone inside during World War Hulk, citing that Hulk and the Warbound are too dangerous a global threat to leave Manhattan free. Stark trusts that Dugan will know the appropriate time to execute the plan, if at all. Dugan never used the weapon.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Dugan later proved his worth and loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D during a confrontation with Maria Hill, where he forced her to confront the fact that she was apparentlly willing to take actions that would allow innocent people to die while still sticking to 'the book' because the alternative was to disobey orders, informing her that some situations weren't in 'the book'.^[11] Inspired by Dugan's words, Hill ended up putting her career on the line by locking down the United Nations under S.H.I.E.L.D. martial law so Stark could escape a tribunal going against him and track down the Mandarin, Dugan providing Stark with a version of the Silver Centurion armor after his Extremis abilities were deactivated.^[12]

Dum-Dum Dugan is stabbed through the chest by Wolverine's son, Daken.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Secret Invasion

It was later revealed that, shortly after the death of Captain America, Dugan was ambushed and stabbed by a Skrull impersonating Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, who then took his place.^[13] The Dugan impostor destroys the Peak, S.W.O.R.D.'s Orbital base, in a suicide strike that allows the Skrull armada to invade Earth.^[14] After the invasion, Iron Man discovers the Skrull kidnap victims alive and well, including Dum Dum.^[15] Dugan is later shown in a support group meeting with the others that had been replaced by Skrulls. Dugan wanted to leave immediately but was compelled into staying.^[16]

Secret Warriors

After a confrontation that goes badly between Nick Fury's Secret Warriors, and The Gorgon, Fury calls up Dugan's "Howling Commandos" PMC, for help in staff for Fury's missions, needing "a couple of nasty old bastards with a bad habit of shooting first and asking questions later." Dugan learns that the new S.H.I.E.L.D. organization has been controlled by their old enemies HYDRA right from the start,^[17] same as the older incarnations of S.H.I.E.L.D.^[18] Dugan later shows up in Fury's efforts to bring down HYDRA and yet another secretive organization, the Russian LEVIATHAN.^[19] Dugan and Jasper Sitwell soon became all what's left of the Howling Commandos PMC after battles with HYDRA and LEVIATHAN and were arrested by the U.N. At the end of Secret Warriors, Dugan and Sitwell were released.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Other versions

Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan in The Transformers from Marvel Comics.

1602

In Marvel 1602, the commander of Sir Nicholas Fury's soldiers is named Dougan.^[20] In 1602: New World, he is the defender of the Roanoke Colony.^[21]

Earth X

Dugan appears, on the other side of the afterlife, in the climactic battle against Mephisto's forces in Earth X Volume 1, issue 'X'. Along with multiple modern superheros, Dugan fights with many of his old 'Howling Commandos' comrades. He had perished due to being taken by the Hydra entity.^[22]

The Transformers

Dum Dum Dugan and Nick Fury show up in the issue "Prisoner of War!" from Marvel Comics The Transformers as guest characters along with Peter Parker and Joe Robertson. They also reference Godzilla's comic in this appearance, though not by name.

Ultimate Dum Dum Dugan

Dugan appears in Ultimate X-Men several times, once at the end of the Blockbuster storyline,^{[volume & issue needed]} then again, during New Mutants,^{[volume & issue needed]} and one more time as a hologram at the beginning of the Magnetic North story arc.^{[volume & issue needed]} Here, Dugan is scarred and aging but physically fit, and is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Director of Mutant Operations. He has a mysterious connection to Wolverine, even remembering Logan's real name while Wolverine himself couldn't recall it.^{[volume & issue needed]} Also of note is that this version of Dugan has never been seen with the mainstream version's trademark derby hat. In the "Ultimate Origins" five-parter it is shown that he was involved with Project: Rebirth, the project that made Captain America, appearing as an already grown man in 1943.^[23]

In other media

Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan as depicted in the 2011 film, Captain America: The First Avenger .

Television

• Dum Dum Dugan has a non-speaking cameo appearance at the end of the X-Men episode "Old Soldiers".
• Dum Dum Dugan appeared in the 1990s Iron Man animated series voiced by W. Morgan Sheppard. This version is active in the modern era.
• Dum Dum appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Wrath of the Red Skull". He was featured in a flashback where he, Gabe Jones, and Izzy Cohen were shown shadowed when Nick Fury explains how he and Captain America stopped the Red Skull.
• Dum Dum Dugan appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Meet Captain America". Dugan is shown active alongside the other Howling Commandos but only during the World War II era. In the episode "The Fall of Asgard", his spirit is voiced by John DiMaggio.

Film

• Gary Chalk portrayed Dum Dum Dugan (named "Timothy Dugan") in the 1998 TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of Shield.
• Neal McDonough plays Dum Dum Dugan in the 2011 Marvel Studios film, Captain America: The First Avenger .^[24] After Captain America breaks into a HYDRA facility to rescue his friend Sergeant Barnes, Dugan is one of the men he released from captivity, Dugan subsequently leading the prisoners in their escape with stolen HYDRA weapons. He is subsequently recruited as a member of Captain America's strike team to continue their attacks on HYDRA bases, and, along with Gabriel Jones and Montgomery Falsworth, is one of the unit's few survivors at the conclusion of the war.

Video games

• Dum Dum Dugan also appears as a non-playable hero in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Scott MacDonald. He helps the heroes retake the S.H.I.E.L.D. Omega Base from the Masters of Evil. He even has special dialogue with Wolverine when the heroes meet him the first time. He later appears in the Attilan council chamber. He also appears in the Spider-Man disk, in which Spider-Man protects him from Scorpion and AIM troopers.
• Dum Dum Dugan appears in Captain America: Super Soldier, voiced by Neal McDonough.

See also

• List of S.H.I.E.L.D. members

References

1. ^ Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Annual #2
2. ^ Captain America (Vol 1) #284
3. ^ Godzilla: King of the Monsters 1977 Marvel Comics.
4. ^ Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. #2
5. ^ Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. #5
6. ^ Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. #6
7. ^ Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Vol. 2) #1 (1989)
8. ^ Dan Slott (w), Matt Haley (a). "Eggnog, Toilet Paper and Peace on Earth" GLX-MAS Special (December 2005), Marvel Comics
9. ^ Brian Michael Bendis (w), Howard Chaykin (p), Jose Pimentel (i). "Disassembled" New Avengers 21 (August 2006), Marvel Comics
10. ^ Ed Brubaker (w), Mike Perkins (a). "The Drums of War" Captain America v5, 22 (November 2006), Marvel Comics
11. ^ Iron Man #26
12. ^ Iron Man #28
13. ^ Secret Invasion Prologue
14. ^ Secret Invasion #1
15. ^ Secret Invasion #8
16. ^ Avengers: The Initiative #20
17. ^ Secret Warriors #1-3 (2010)
18. ^ Nick Fury vs SHIELD #4 (1991)
19. ^ Secret Warriors #10-11 (2011)
20. ^ Marvel 1602 (2003)
21. ^ 1602: New World (2005)
22. ^ Universe X: Cap 2000
23. ^ Ultimate Origins #1 (June 2008)
24. ^ Lesnick, Silas (2010-06-07). "Neal McDonough Confirmed for Captain America". Superhero Hype. http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/102213-neal-mcdonough-confirmed-for-captain-america. Retrieved 2011-09-08. 

External links

• Marvel Directory: Dum Dum Dugan