Dragon Man


Dragon Man is a fictional character, a former supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is an artificial dragon-like humanoid android who was animated via alchemy.

Publication history

Dragon Man first appeared in Fantastic Four #35 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

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.
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. 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.
Dragon Man was later studied by Hank Pym at his laboratory. He was restored to life again by Diablo and was defeated by Pym as Goliath and escaped. Dragon Man battled Hercules and the Avengers destroyed Diablo's army of Dragon Men.
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 Namor. It was next used by Gregory Gideon to attack the Fantastic Four. Dragon Man was then sent by Machinesmith to attack Captain America. He became the mount for the extra-dimensional dragon rider Ral Dorn. Dragon Man then fought Hulk and Kate Waynesboro when it was under the control of Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime.
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.
Dragon Man was used as a servant of Aron the Rogue Watcher.
He faced Spider-Man during the Acts of Vengeance, when he was unleashed on him by Wizard.
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. 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 storyline, 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.
Alyosha Kraven later began collecting a zoo of animal-themed superhumans, 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 #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.
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 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.
Following this, he seemingly reforms, as he, Artie and Leech were seen at Franklin Richards' birthday party.
He has since been upgraded by Valeria Richards and joined Reed Richards' Future Foundation. Valeria used her talents to upgrade Dragon Man to have super-intellect and have the power of human speech. Dragon Man would become an adopted member of the Future Foundation and guardian of the gifted children in that program.
As part of the Marvel NOW! event, Dragon Man created the Thing Rings for Darla Deering to wear which enables her to become Miss Thing upon some particles enabling her to transform into her Thing Exoskeleton.

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 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.
Dragon Man was initially non-sentient, but had the capacity for limited self-motivated activity.
Dragon Man has been reprogrammed by Valeria Richards and now has super-intellect and the capability of human speech.
Dragon Man is vulnerable to intense cold and certain ultrasonic frequencies.

Other versions

Earth X

In the Earth X reality, Dragon Man had come into possession of King Britain, who would use the android as a steed in combat.

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.

In other media

Television