Elongated Man
Elongated Man is a male comic superhero who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Randolph William Dibny was a male human born as the the second son of an average Midwest American family. (The Flash v1 #112)
It was shown that he had an older brother who was named Ken Dibny. (The Flash v1 #112)
When he was 9 years old, his parents took him to a travelling sideshow where he saw an Indian rubber man. Rather than go with the others, he decided to stay and see the rubber man's act and even went to see the performer where he asked them how they accomplished their show. The performer simply told him that it was a trade secret but this simply led to the young boy vowing to learn their secret of stretching. (The Flash v1 #112)
When he was an adult, he decided to pursue his childhood dream of learning the secret of the Indian rubber men and went to see the shows of five such performers in the country. However, he could not learn about their secret art and became dejected at the possibility that there was no deeper secret. It was then that he recalled that each rubber man kept a bottle of Gingold with them and he examined the drink. After studying a sample, he isolated a secret main ingredient of a little known tropical fruit and through chemical means isolated the essence into a serum that he drank. At first, he felt nothing but eventually found that he had the ability to stretch his body that now had an almost rubber-like property. (The Flash v1 #112)
Elongated Man
He joined a new Justice League of America that had gathered to fight the villain Brimstone who had been battling Cosmic Boy. (Legends v1 #1)
It was noted that Ralph and Sue had taken in Traci 13 after her mother had died. (Blue Beetle v7 #16)
A short time later, Sue was attacked in their home by an unknown assailant, who murdered her. Ralph was convinced that old JLA enemy Dr. Light was behind the murder, and he resolved to hunt him down. Ralph believes that Dr. Light is the culprit because Sue was brutally assaulted and raped by Light back when Ralph was a member of the Justice League. Although Ralph was not aware of it at the time, the League decided to alter Dr. Light's mind to make him less threatening, and also "mind-wiped" Batman, who refused to go along with the procedure. (Identity Crisis v1 #2)
During a manhunt, Doctor Light came to regain his lost memories and reverts to his more perverse and deadlier self. (Identity Crisis v1 #1) However, it is later discovered that Sue had been killed by Jean Loring, ex-wife of Ray Palmer aka the Atom. Jean had hoped that the threat to family members would reunite her and Ray. (Identity Crisis v1 #7) After Sue's death, Ralph abandoned his Elongated Man persona and stopped drinking Gingold. (52 v1 #1)
52
Later, he along with the other members of the Croatoan Society that included Detective Chimp, Terri Thirteen, and Edogawa Sangaku came to find Tim Trench dead with the helmet of Doctor Fate, Nabu. Ralph comes to investigate and asks for help from the Shadowpact, Detective Chimp's other group. A voice from within the helm of Doctor Fate, unheard by the other members of the group, speaks to Dibny and promises to fulfill his desires if he makes certain sacrifices. (52 v1 #18)
Ralph ventures to Nanda Parbat and gets into a fight with the Yeti. The Perfect Accomplished Physician comes to the rescue. Both he and the Yeti are members of the Great Ten, defenders of China. At Nanda Parbat, Rama Kushna tells Dibny, "The end is already written". (52 v1 #32)
Dibny was at Dr. Fate's tower where he began the spell to resurrect Sue, puts on the helmet of Fate, and shoots it, revealing Felix Faust, who was posing as Nabu. Faust planned to trade Dibny's soul to Neron in exchange for his own freedom. Ralph reveals that he was aware of Faust's identity for some time, and that the binding spell surrounding the tower is designed to imprison Faust, not to counter any negative effects of the spell. Neron appears and kills Dibny, only to realize too late that the binding spell responds only to Dibny's commands: through his death, Ralph has trapped Faust and Neron in the tower, seemingly for all eternity, though his methods of doing so are unknown. (52 v1 #42)
It was later revealed that Dibny's magical, wish-granting gun worked and that Ralph and Sue are now reunited as ghost detectives, investigating a school where a paranormal phenomenon has just occurred. Ghost Sue turns to ghost Ralph and tells him his nose is twitching again. (52 v1 #52)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
Overview
Personality and attributes
After gaining his powers, he came to refer to himself as the Elongated Man. (The Flash v1 #112) With his powers, he took on a different physical appearance and once operated under the name of Big Shot. (Secret Six v4 #6)
When he was young, he dreamed of gaining Big City fame and glamor. It was due to this that he liked being a spectacle. He would do anything to get some attention. Ralph never had a talent for singing or dancing but became obsessed with becoming a contortionist after seeing one at a carnival. As a superhero, he felt that all heroes did their deeds for glamour and glory on some level with some just using modesty as part of their heroic image. (Secret Origins v2 #30)
Ralph had said that the only thing that he ever really feared was being ignored. (Secret Origins v2 #30)
It was said that Ralph was always on the look-out for strange mysteries. (The Flash v1 #130)
He was noted to have had a brother named Ken Dibny who had been a football star, a real estate whiz and by 35 years old he was the youngest mayor in their home town. (Secret Origins v2 #30)
Ralph had said that his family was never really impressed with him. Instead, they and his home town always set their sights on Ralph's brother. (Secret Origins v2 #30)
It was said that Barry Allen had always liked Ralph Dibny. The issue he had with the Elongated Man at the time was that superpowers should not be used for personal gain. Ralph had said that he had loved Barry Allen but admitted that he was a bit of a 'cornball'. (Secret Origins v2 #30)
He and Sue were said to had taken in Traci 13 after her mother died where Ralph taught her how to be a detective. (Blue Beetle v7 #16)
Powers and abilities
Through chemical means, he came to extract the essence of a little known tropical fruit from Gingold that when ingested gave him superpowers. (The Flash v1 #112) The Gingo plant was said to grow only in the Yucatan where its trees produced the fruit. (The Flash v1 #115) The abilities provided by it gave his body an almost rubber-like property allowing him to stretch his limbs over great distances. Through exert of will power, Dibny could himself to stretch out almost indefinitely. (The Flash v1 #112) Despite that, it was shown to be affected by the Dominator Gene Bomb that targeted bearers of the Metagene. (Invasion! v1 #3)
Ralph could elongate his hands and fingers around a person to make an improvised cage to trap them. (The Flash v2 #206)
He crafted a uniform made along the lines of stretch nylon but one that was much stronger and possessing an infinitely more stretchable capability. (The Flash v1 #112)
Notes
- The Elongated Man was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino where he made his first appearance in The Flash v1 #112 (May, 1960).
- It was noted that editor Julius Schwartz later had said that if he'd known DC owned the name 'Plastic Man' (which it had acquired when Quality Comics, Plas's publisher, sold its properties to DC in 1956), he'd never have chosen such an unwieldy name for his own character.
Alternate Versions
- In Countdown to Final Crisis v1 #18 (2007), an alternate version of Ralph Dibny was shown to inhabit Earth-51 in the Multiverse. This was described as the perfect world where the heroes had defeated all the villains and ushered in an era of peace with many superheroes embracing their civilian lives. He was shown as being married to Sue Dibny and was close friend to Ray Palmer with them visiting them one day. At the time, Palmer was visited by the Monitor called 'Bob' and the Challengers from Beyond who was on a quest to find Ray to save the Multiverse. However, the Monitor intended to kill Ray with Ralph attempting to intervene but he was killed by 'Bob'.
- In The Flash v5 #53 (2018), an alternate version of the character called the Elongated Maniac was shown as being a native of the 25th century where he was a criminal serial killer. He was a villain of Commander Cold prior to him joining the Renegades with the Elongated Maniac killing hostages and wanting to become famous for his crime.
In other media
Television
- In Justice League Unlimited, the Elongated Man appeared in the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe where he was voiced by Emmy-winner actor Jeremy Piven.
- In The Flash, Ralph Dibny appeared in the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse where he was portrayed by actor Hartley Sawyer. Dibny was said to had been a member of the Central City Police Department and was a senior to Barry Allen when he first started working as a C.S.I.
- In Young Justice: Outsiders, Elongated Man appeared in the setting of the animated television series in the episode "Terminus" where he was voiced by actor David Kaye.
Films
- In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, an evil alternate reality version of the character named the Extruded Man appeared in the setting of the animated film in a non-voiced role.
Appearances
- The Flash v1: (1960)
- Justice League of America v1:
- Elongated Man v1:
- Justice League Europe v1:
- Countdown to Final Crisis v1:
- Secret Six v4:
External Links
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