Chaos at Diamond Distributors Signals the End of an Era for the Comic Book Industry
Perhaps lost in the shuffle of…all the…everything…going on in the world in the past few weeks…is the potential end of an era for comics. For 20 years, the only way for comic shops to get their comics was through Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., the Baltimore-based company that once served as the sole warehouse and supplier […]
The post Chaos at Diamond Distributors Signals the End of an Era for the Comic Book Industry appeared first on Den of Geek.
This article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World.
Captain America: Brave New World finds Sam Wilson on his heels. A vast conspiracy has entangled Sam’s mentor Isaiah Bradley, and Sam doesn’t know who to trust. He certainly can’t trust President Thaddeus Ross, nor can he trust Ross’s new aide Ruth Bat-Seraph. He can’t even trust most of his fellow members of the Armed Forces.
Sam has one glimmer of hope on the inside, a boots on the ground soldier (William Mark McCullough) who worked with Sam on a mission to recover canister of adamantium and knows better than to trust commanding officers. The soldier helps get Sam necessary information and helps keep an eye on questionable orders, a fact that gives viewers hope that Captain America can prevail.
That is, until, the soldier reveals his name on his uniform and we see that he is Dennis Dunphy. The vast majority of viewers take no notice of the name, and why would they? Dennis Dunphy is among the most Z-list characters in the pages of Marvel Comics. Among those who recognize Dunphy’s name, however, a sense of despair sets in.
After all, Dennis Dunphy is Demolition Man, the biggest loser in Avengers history. And if Sam’s relying on D-Man, then he has no hope.
Constructing the Demolition Man
Created by writer Mike Carlin and artist Ron Wilson, Dennis Dunphy made his debut in 1985’s The Thing #28, where he was the wrestler Demolition Dunphy. To achieve his dreams of wrestling glory, Dunphy accepted a proposition by a group called Power Broker Incorporated, who gave him superhuman strength and durability.
Much to Dunphy’s surprise, Power Broker isn’t offering superhuman augments out of the good of their heart. They’re running a gambling ring and fixing fights, something that offends Dunphy’s morals—at least, offends them more than the idea of getting enhancements for athletic competition. Dunphy turns against Power Broker and joins sides with the Thing, occasionally wrestling with and losing to the rocky Fantastic Four member.
That story set the model for Dunphy’s life. He may have a good heart, but he’s easily duped and always defeated.
Dunphy’s superhero career started with Captain America #328 (1987), written by Mark Gruenwald and penciled by Paul Neary. Investigating a dangerous new anti-hero called the Super-Patriot (the original name used by John Walker, who becomes USAgent of the Thunderbolts), Cap stumbles upon Power Broker’s illegal ring of enhanced superwrestlers. The wrestlers swarm Cap, but help comes in the form of Dunphy, who finally suits up as Demolition Man.
And what a suit it is. Remember Daredevil’s original costume, the horrid brown and yellow get-up that very much seems like the design of a blind man? That’s literally what Demolition Man wears, with the addition of Wolverine’s headset. Ugly and unoriginal, that’s D-Man’s costume.
D-Man served as supporting character in Captain America comics for a while, as Steve Rogers clearly had a soft spot for the guy. Demolition Man became a key ally when Rogers left the Captain America identity, going rogue under the codename the Captain, while Walker stepped in for a brief and disastrous tenure as the Sentinel of Liberty. But even then, D-Man blew it at every turn, constantly getting injured, knocked out, and captured.
Still, Steve sees the best in everyone, so when he reclaimed the Captain America title and reformed the Avengers, D-Man got an invite. On their first mission, Dunphy waited in the Quinjet while Cap and the others investigated the baddies, a bomb blew up the jet, seemingly killing D-Man. Instead, Dunphy lost his memory and lived on the streets for years. Nothing of value was lost.
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The Unluckiest Avengers
No one has used D-Man as much as Gruenwald, which means that the character has basically lived on as a joke, a perpetual loser in the Avengers orbit. When Luke Cage and Jessica Jones read his application to be their daughter’s nanny, the two quickly rejected him. He gets killed by the villain Scourge, but only gets resurrected by a kid who screws up a demon-summoning spell and brings back D-Man instead. Perhaps the most damning depiction came in an issue of Kurt Busiek and George Perez’s Avengers run, in a panel that showed every single Avenger giving Dunphy a wide berth, trying to stay away from his terrible smell.
In fact, D-Man’s sole victory came when he bested the Thing and Marvel Boy in a pie-eating contest.
As mean as all of this sounds (and, you know, it is), Demolition Man brings something new and unique to the world of superhero comics. Because most superhero stories are power fantasies, few losers get to stay losers forever.
Sure, John Walker started out as a hateful guy whose jingoism propelled him to success he didn’t deserve, but he garnered fans who thought their favorite deserved respect. Now, USAgent rarely stands out in the superhero landscape, just one more generic do-gooder, albeit with a slightly bad attitude.
Over at DC Comics, Guy Gardner and Booster Gold broke out as losers who somehow ended up on the Justice League. Writers Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis imbued both characters with tons of personality, making them interesting without making them successful. But again, they get fans and those fans demand respect for their faves, turning Guy and Booster into generic heroes, devoid of personality.
D-Man has fans, but we love him precisely because he isn’t a power fantasy. He isn’t cool, he isn’t succesful. He’s a doofus who fails at every turn and yet keeps going, and that’s exactly what makes him interesting.
A Demolished Hero
Like Sam Wilson himself, Demolition Man has a chance to gain popularity through an MCU appearance. Will Captain America: Brave New World turn D-Man into a potential A-lister? Will we see D-Man in a Disney+ series, defeating baddies with his pie-eating skills?
Fortunately, no. Late in Brave New World, the physically unimpressive Sterns finds Dunphy and immediately kills him. The one person that Sterns beats up himself is D-Man, who dies the way he lived: a complete loser.
And that’s exactly why we love him.
Captain America: Brave New World is now in theaters.
The post Captain America Brave New World Just Introduced the Most Pathetic Avenger to the MCU appeared first on Den of Geek.
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