Typhoon (comics)

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caption=Typhoon, art by Jamal Igle
character_name= Typhoon
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Flash" #294, (February 1981)
creators=Gerry Conway (writer)
Jim Starlin (artist)
real_name = David Drake
species =
homeworld =
alliances = Secret Society of Super Villains
aliases =
supports=
powers = Weather manipulation

Typhoon (David Drake) is the second supervillain in the DC Comics universe to use this title. He has been a frequent foe of the DC super-hero Firestorm, but has clashed with other heroes as well. He first appeared in a backup story in "Flash" #294, (February 1981) entitled "The Typhoon Is A Storm of the Soul", and was created by Gerry Conway and Jim Starlin.

Fictional character biography

David Drake was a research scientist at Concordance Research. Drake teamed with fellow scientist Martin Stein, who was secretly one half of the hero Firestorm, to develop a new bathysphere prototype. Drake designed the housing of the vessel while Stein developed the small nuclear reactor that was to be the craft's power source.

Concordance bought the rights to a boat called the Neptune Explorer, captained by a man named Anton Hammer, in order to use it to test the bathysphere, dubbed the Manta. Stein and Drake travelled to the South Pacific aboard the Neptune, but a tropical storm moved into the area in which they were to lower the Manta. Hammer insisted on carrying on the tests even though conditions were unfavorable. Drake acted as the pilot for the Manta while Stein remained aboard. When lowering the Manta, the Neptune Explorer began to shift and Hammer panicked, fearing the larger boat would capsize. Despite the protests of Stein, Hammer cut the Manta loose. Stein slipped away and transformed into Firestorm. Firestorm managed to stabilize the sphere and keep it from sinking, but a deranged Hammer shot Drake as he exited the sphere. While Firestorm subdued Hammer and his crew, the severely wounded Drake fell backwards into the submersible. The Manta capsized, and its reactor breached catastrophically. The intereaction of the ocean water and the experimental nuclear pile caused an explosion that destroyed the vehicle and triggered Drake's metagene. His skin turned blue and his hair red. He gained the ability to generate and control storms, wind and lightning.

A mentally unstable Drake battled Firestorm, destroying the Neptune Explorer in the process before fleeing. After saving the ship's crew, Firestorm pursued Typhoon, eventually intercepting him over Sydney, Australia. Firestorm disrupted Typhoon's powers by super-cooling the air around him, the shock returned Drake to normal. Firestorm left Drake in the care of a Sydney hospital, thinking his powers gone for good. Some time later, Drake was deemed cured and released.

After a string of revenge motivated attacks including an attempt of the life of his own wife, Typhoon grew to a tremendous size at the center of a storm of his generation before Firestorm was able to stop him. Drake was later found floating in the East River. Depowered and lacking identification, Drake spent a year in a New York hospital in a catatonic state as a John Doe.

A storm in the area reawakened Drake and reactivated his powers. He kidnapped his children and took them to Pittsburgh, which was now Firestorm's home city. When his daughter told him he scared her sometimes, a guilt ridden Drake returned his children to their mother and stepfather. His ex-wife told him that she never wanted him around her or the children again.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Drake next served as part of an army of super-villains led by Lex Luthor that attempted to conquer a trio of Earths during the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

After the dissolution of the Crisis, Drake retreated to the Caribbean and honed and increased his powers, obsessed with revenge on Firestorm for his defeat at the Nuclear Man's hands. After a matter of months he returned to Pittsburgh and razed much of the city in an attempt to draw Firestorm into a confrontation. Typhoon had gained the ability by this time to grow to a tremendous size, enabling him to encompass an area over multiple states. Firestorm defeated him by generating a sonic boom in the eye of the system Drake was generating, "popping" and depowering him. Drake was once again delivered into the hands of the authorities.

Captains of Industry

Some time later, the Sunderland Corporation secured Typhoon's release to act as a superhuman agent, this was a precursor to their formation of the Captains of Industry. After helping him regain his sanity, Sunderland equipped Drake with a costume and sent him to defend Vandermeer Steel, from Firestorm. At this time, Firestorm was on a crusade to wipe out polluting corporations and his battle with Typhoon threatened to once again destroy Pittsburgh. Firehawk attempted to intervene, but was assaulted by Drake. The distraction she provided enabled Firestorm to encase Typhoon in amber, defeating him. Typhoon was once again imprisoned.

The Slab

Much later, Typhoon surfaced as part of project being conducted at the Slab, a prison for super-powered inmates. Typhoon and others at the facilities were being inhumanely experimented upon by unscrupulous scientists attempting to learn about the metagene. The illegal experiments upon Drake and the others were shut down by Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, who had infiltrated the prison in disguise.

Typhoon was either released or escaped and began working as a superhuman mercenary. He next appeared when he was hired to attack a software company owned by Jesse Quick in her civilian identity.

Current status

Eventually, Typhoon was captured, along with Multiplex, by Cliff Carmichael, the long time rival of Ronnie Raymond, who planned to use the pair to help him exact revenge on Firestorm. He cybernetically enhanced Typhoon to allow him to act as a power source for Multiplex's duplicates, but was once again defeated by Firestorm.

During the recent events chronicled in "Infinite Crisis", Typhoon was one of many superhuman criminals who joined the villainous Society organized by Alexander Luthor, Jr. He was among an army of villains that attacked Sub Diego.

Following the resolution of the Crisis, Typhoon battled the new Blue Beetle who was attempting to defend a coastal town in Mexico from the villain's rampage. Beetle tricked Typhoon into igniting an offshore oil rig, leading Typhoon to revert to his David Drake form to escape the effects of the fire. Beetle then captured Drake and presumably remanded him over to authorities.

Powers and Abilities

*The accident that gave David Drake his abilities made him, in essence, the living eye of a storm. As Typhoon, Drake generates a whirlwind around the lower half of his body that enables him to fly or hover. Typhoon can also project lighting from his fingertips, channeling the energy at times as powerful electric blasts.
*Typhoon can also generate storms of tremendous strength that generate tornadoes and driving hail. While the storms were originally localized to Drake's vicinity, over time he has gained the ability to generate entire storm systems that can stretch over multiple states. Typhoon can also grow in size relevant to size of the system he is generating. At times, he has grown larger than a skyscraper when generating a system of sufficient strength.
*Typhoon can change back and forth between his superhuman form and that of David Drake at will. Curiously enough, he has recently shed his costume and returned to operating in the nude.

External links

* [http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=typhoon2 DCU Guide: Typhoon]
* [http://www.dcuguide.com/chronology.php?name=typhoon2 DCU Guide: Typhoon Chronology]
* [http://darkmark6.tripod.com/firestormind.html Firestorm Index]