Vandal Savage
Vandal Savage is a comic book supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
Vandal Savage was a male human born in the year 1,000,000 B.C. on Earth-2 where he was 40 summers old when he became the chieftain of a tribe of Cro-Magnon men. He was leading a hunting part one day when a meteor crashed onto the surface where he was exposed to its fiery gases. Falling unconscious, he was recovered by his tribe where he remained in a state between living and death for many months until he made a recovery. Seemingly unchanged, in time it was discovered that he came to outlive the entire tribe and determined he had been made immortal from the meteor's energies. This allowed him to live across the centuries where he had been involved in various periods of history. In Ancient Egypt, he was the great pharaoh Cheops who built the pyramids and centuries later he came to be Julius Caesar where he turned Rome into a conquering empire. Contrary to history, the assassination of Caesar by Brutus was a failure and the immortal man continued where many years later he took on a new identity as Genghis Khan. In that time, he was the leader of a plundering horde that pillaged the lands. It was then that he determined that there was too much danger in being prominent as he could be killed accidentally with the man deciding to operate from behind the scenes. As Vandal Savage, he came to be an advisor to William the Conqueror who he urged him to attack England. Later on, he served under King Philip as an advisor and led the Spanish armada against Drake. As Napoleon's aide, it was he who was responsible for planning the many victories of him. Savage then led Bismarck to victory over France when he operated as Baron von Savage. (Green Lantern v1 #10)
Doiby Dickles drove a mysterious man to a Park Avenue club, and was attacked by goons soon afterward. He asked for Green Lantern to investigate, and returning to the club the stranger said his name was Vandal Savage, and messing with Doiby was just a joke to get Green Lantern's attention. He knew GL knew Alan Scott, and asked for a meeting. In his civilian identity Alan met with Vandal, who wished to purchase his safe deposit box at the Wheat Exchange Bank, saying he was superstitious, and that he thought it would bring him luck. Alan turned him down, and Savage smiled to his face, but sent goons to break into the bank, stealing 100 shares of Consolidated Steel Savage needed to become chairman of the company. GL and Doiby investigated Consolidated, and Vandal knocked them out, using GL's weakness of wood, and put them in chairs in which GL couldn't move without electrocuting Doiby. Vandal knew all about GL, including his secret identity, and decided to tell them his story. He was an immortal Cro-Magnon, and loved power, so he wanted America to lose WWII, knowing he could manipulate the country far more efficiently if it was a dictatorship. Vandal bid them adieu, revealed that the chairs they were in were just a projection, and warned them that he'd reveal GL's identity if they interfered in his plans. Savage was appointed the US war labor chief, and the heroes followed him to Washington while Savage sent more gunmen against them. GL exposed Vandal as a fraud, he was using Doiby's birth certificate since he didn't have one, and fearing life imprisonment for defrauding the US government he fled to his cavernous hideout in Kentucky with the heroes in pursuit. He trained a gun on them, and said he was almost sorry to see them go because they'd relieved the boredom of immortality for him. GL used his power ring to disintegrate the floor beneath Savage, and he plummeted into its cavernous depths. (Green Lantern v1 #10)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Vandal Savage was an immortal would-be world conqueror, over 30,000 years old, who has taken on hundreds of identities in his long life. Vandal Savage was originally Vandar Adg, a member of a Cro-Magnon tribe who (along with the man who would be known as the Immortal Man) was transformed by a meteor into a superior and extremely long-lived being. (He is not completely immortal, but his lifespan is so incredibly long that he merely had a few white streaks by the 853rd century.)
Twenty thousand years ago, Vandal Savage and his clan migrated out of Asia as they sought new lands. During this time, the four thousand strong clan followed him until they discovered a crashed space craft that contained a slain Oan. However, they were not alone as a Burning Martian had survived the crash and it began to kill scores of the Cro-Magnon tribe. It took Savage two months before he managed to kill it and it was only because the creature desired death. (JLA v1 #86) Among his people, the beast was known as the Dakath or the Burning but it was only twenty millennia later did he learn that the beast was a Martian. Vandal later kept the severed head of the creature sealed in one of his headquarters. (JLA v1 #85)
In the 15th century, Vandar Adg had gained the service of the Metamorph Ahk-Ton and acquired the Orb of Ra allowing the immortal to create an army of homunculi to serve him in attacking Prince Khufu Ma-at Kha-taar. (JSA v1 #43) In 2578 BC, Egypt had fallen under the rule of Vandal Savage who had taken on the identity of the Pharaoh Khafre. Around this time, Bonnie Baxter of the Time Masters had arrived from the 20th century where she was thrown into a prison cell by Khafre's guards. Nabu appeared before her and took her to safety with his magic and asked for her aid in overthrowing the immortal Khafre. He intended to combine magic with the science from the time traveller where she gave him her communicator. Upon combining the pair, he crafted the blue Scarab of Kha-ef-re which Bonnie used in overthrowing the Pharaoh who was encased in binging wrappings to contain him as his immortality would cause him to rise again. (Time Masters v1 #6) Centuries ago, Savage fell madly in love with a woman, but she thought Savage was vulgar and demanding, and would have nothing to do with him, Savage blackmailed her into sitting for a painting, and blackmailed Leonardo da Vinci into painting her. The Mona Lisa was the result, and it became one of da Vinci's most famous works. (Final Night v1 #2)
Savage served in many militaries, playing the role of conqueror and king numerous times, frequently clashing with the Immortal Man in his various identities. (Vandal claimed to have been many historical conquerors, such as Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan, but it is likely he's exaggerating.) He also founded movements and groups to aid him, such as the Illuminati.
By the 19th century, he had adopted a new identity as Monsieur Savage where he settled in Gotham City after stealing Napoleon Bonaparte's gold. During this time, he came to be diagnosed with cancer but learnt of a secret box that held the secret of eternal life. This saw him attempting to find it and its secret in order to prolong his long existence and worked with a man named Thomas Wayne towards this goal. For this task, he came to hire the bounty hunter Jonah Hex where they were thwarted by a time-displaced Bruce Wayne who retrieved the box and left Savage unconscious. (Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne v1 #4)
In the 1940s, Vandal saw an opportunity to gain power, which led him to battle with many heroes of the era, including Green Lantern and the Justice Society of America. He allied with the Injustice Society of the World, to increase his chances, but ultimately failed.
Later, Savage pressured the House Un-American Activities Committee into investigating the JSA, and forcing the hero team to disband. Locus came to Savage, asking him for help in destroying the JLA. Savage recruited Solomon Grundy, Thorn, Eclipso and Clayface II and sent them against the League. (JLA: Year One v1 #2) Savage and Locus oversaw T.O. Morrow's attempts at creating artificial life. (JLA: Year One v1 #3) Locus turned against Vandal Savage, razing his headquarters to the ground. (JLA: Year One v1 #9)
During the war, he took an interest in the work of a brilliant and influential Nazi scientist named Klaus Schimmel. He had the genius that had produced Baron Blitzkrieg and the Axis Amerika as Hitler's response to the Justice Society. When the war ended, he was taken to the U.S. due to his knowledge of metagenetics but eventually the government stopped funding his work after there was little progress from him. Looking for a new source of funding, Schimmel received a hidden patron that was actually Vandal Savage. Savage came to determine that Schimmel's breakthrough had been largely a fluke and that he only progressed when Vandal began supplying him with cell samples from the Justice Society that he had gained from his battles with the superheroes. With this backing, Schimmel in his new identity Egrin Wahrman established the Symbolix corporation where he continued his work in Metahuman genetics. (Damage v1 #12)
Sometime ago, he attempted a coup in Brazil with the army gathering to oppose him which forced Vandal to go into hiding. He conquered a remote village in this time where he conscripted the men for his army whilst he availed himself of the women. During this time, one such woman kept resisting him long after the men had surrendered and had made multiple attempts to kill Savage. For this, he came to respect her and even fell in love with her as she became the few people he cared about in the world. The pair were happy together and she even bore him a daughter named Scandal Savage with Vandal beginning to change. However, ultimately, this was all part of a trick by her where she decided to take her own life the moment Vandal was happy as a form of punishment for his actions. (Secret Six v3 #29)
Years later, Vandal began to age again, and sought out the meteor that gave him his longevity; he was seemingly destroyed by it, but was actually revitalized. Vandal has since engaged in more Machiavellian plots, preferring less direct conflicts.
Vandal Savage and Abraxas, Inc. uncovered the secrets of the time pyramids and infected Superman with time seeds from the pyramids. Vandal set a forcefield around Superman and Metropolis Park, and as the seeds dropped they turned the park into a prehistoric jungle that comforted Savage because it reminded him of his beginnings. Superman broke through the forcefield and the seeds spread to the heart of Metropolis. Vandal talked to reporter Lana Land and claimed the time-reversal in Metropolis Park was due to a time-flux, and that Abraxes placed a forcefield around it to study it and find a way to get fossil fuel from it. He went on to say that Superman destroyed the force field because he didn't think things through, and undid Abraxes' work. Superman and the Forgotten heroes traveled back in time to the Big Band and destroyed the original time pyramid, erasing the pyramids from the present and undoing the damage they did to Metropolis. (Action Comics v1 #553)
Later on, Savage met with Nadjia Wahrman and Baron Blitzkrieg in cyberspace and decided to make another attempt at capturing Damage. They all believed Damage’s DNA would unlock the mystery of the Metagene, and Vandal Savage promised to clone new superhuman bodies for the Baron and Nadjia. He then planned to create an army of superhumans loyal only to him. (Damage v1 #0)
Vandal Savage wanted a superteam to destroy the Titans so he captured Omen and forced her to pick and locate number of villains for his team. Vandal couldn’t guess that Omen chose villains she knew would not get along in the long run. Savage assembled Siren, Gorilla Grodd, Red Panzer, Lady Vic and Cheshire as Tartarus. He promised Tartarus an opportunity to control mankind’s destiny. (Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant v1 #1)
The Sun-Eater engulfed the sun, and Savage arranged for off-world transport because he believed Earth was doomed. He took advantage of the chaos on the ground, robbing the Louve and making of with the Mona Lisa, a portrait of his old infatuation. He was captured by Batman and Superman. (Final Night v1 #2)
Whilst in Africa, he received a distress signal from his stronghold that contained the corpse of Dakath and went back. Once there, he found many of his men gripped in terror from a powerful telepathic onslaught. Trapped in the vault, he remained there and killed the few men he could reach as an act of mercy. Savage determined that the assailant was another Martian like the one he killed long ago who sought the corpse of its brethren but was unable to open the dimension lock. The Justice League came to the site where they took Vandal Savage into custody along with the dimension lock where they went to the Watchtower only to find the attacker had attacked their headquarters as well. (JLA v1 #85)
Many years ago, Savage was told by another immortal named Hassan-I-Sabbah of a means of curing him of the constant pain he received from the tumours in his body. In exchange for cybernetic upgrades to his Ghost Wolves, Khyber informed him that the secrets he sought lay with the Monks of Rama Kushna. However, he did not know the location of their mystical home of Nanda Parbat but stated that clues to its whereabouts may reside in the small nation of Bhutran. Under the guise of General Sheng Fan (Cannibal), he corrupted an entire Chinese battalion into serving him where he offered them riches in exchange for their aid. Thus, around 10 years ago, he along with this army sought to attack Bhutran so he could forcibly get the knowledge he wanted from the Rana Bhutra who was the small country’s spiritual leader. (Superman v1 #710)
In modern times, a plot of Savage's gone awry destroyed the city of Montevideo in Uruguay, and Savage lost an eye in battle with the Martian Manhunter, after which he went underground.
By the 853rd century, Vandal Savage was recognized as a major foe of the Justice Legion A, and allied with the mad stellar computer Solaris in an attempt to conquer the galaxy. He met his end when Chronos remotely tampered with his equipment, sending him back in time to Montevideo- just in time to be annihilated.
Among his newest plots was to extinguish the families of the Golden Age heroes of the Justice Society where he intended to personally execute the original members. To achieve that end, he manipulated the Nazi supervillain team known as the Fourth Reich into being his agents where they massacred several superhero families such as those of Commander Steel. (Justice Society of America v3 #3) Savage himself decided to kill Wildcast and his son where he nearly murdered the pair but was defeated by the Justice Society who had arrived in time after saving the other families from the Fourth Reich. (Justice Society of America v3 #4)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of history was created with a different series of events.
Around 46,000 years ago, Savage came to observe the sky and determined that an object whose fragment was heading towards Earth. To find where it would land, he brought together the finest minds in three continents to develop mathematics to determine to crash location. Once done, he killed the scientists thus preventing their discovery of algebra from going to the world whilst Vandal sought the fragment that came to Earth. At the site, he discovered a rock of golden metal that contained cosmic powers unknown to the world. Thus, he kept it in his safekeeping as he spent the centuries afterwards in studying the unknown object. In each era, he consulted minds of science and magic to study the object but never gave them a full picture behind its origins. Through this study, he determined that a primordial cosmic being known as Perpetua who predated the universe had been locked away with measures made to prevent her return. Savage later determined that in the centuries that would follow a second aspect of the comet would arrive in the form of a cosmic energy called the Totality that would come to the planet. Vandal continued his study of the rock where he established a special club consisting of scientists he had gathered for the task. By the modern age, one of the members who felt had potential to uncover the Totality's secrets was a young intelligent man named Lionel Luthor. Luthor proved intelligent and managed to discover the cosmic forces tied to creation where he went about examining them for Savage. He determined that mankind was destined for great cosmic power which had been taken from them when the universe was made and their strength was divided between humans and Martians. Thus, Lionel secretly conducted experiments on Martian xenoforms whilst looking to awaken Perptua even though this was at odds with Savage's goals. Upon learning of Lionel's actions, Savage had the man's research destroyed and his mind erased where he was left as a drunk with no memory of his past. In the meantime, Vandal prepared to ensure that the Totality could never come to Earth as he wanted to stop what he believed was the doom that would affect all creation if the events leading to Perpetua came to pass. (Justice League v4 #18)
A decade ago, he began living in an American suburb under the identity of Jon Savage where he had another daughter who came to be known as Kassidy Sage. During this time, he looked to commit a ritual in order to please his gods with the murders being regarded as the works of a serial killer by the police. They named the unknown perpetrator at the time as the Vandal with a profiler finally being able to crack the case and a squad capturing Savage though the person responsible was killed in the process. Afterwards, Savage was sent to prison for the murders with his daughter Kassidy becoming estranged from him and later joining the FBI to solve murders as a profiler. (DC Universe Presents v1 #10)
Savage then looked to enact his thousands of years old plan which was to draw back the comet that empowered him and use it to enhance him again to take over the Earth. To accomplish this goal, he needed potent power sources in orde to bring the comet back into Earth's orbit. (Superman/Wonder Woman v1 #26)
He later targeted Superman where he found a way to weaponise Hypertime and sought to trap the Man of Steel in the past. (Action Comics v1 #1000)
Savage later assembled a new incarnation of the Injustice Gang to achieve his goals and dispatched his Neoanderthals to take over the planet but they were stopped by the Justice League. At that time, Lex Luthor had arrived where he usurped control over Vandal's headquarters for his Legion of Doom and seemingly killed the immortal. (Justice League v4 #1)
He came to join the Totality that consisted of a group of heroes and villains looking to safeguard the Multiverse. (Dark Nights: Death Metal v1 #7)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Across his immortal life, he had taken many names and ad been various figures in history including the Egyptian Pharaoh Cheops, the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, and the warlord Genghis Khan before staying under variations of his name as Vandal Savage. (Green Lantern v1 #10) At one time, he took on the name of Sheng Fan which translated to mean ‘Cannibal’ in Chinese and was when he corrupted a Chinese battalion to serve him. (Superman v1 #710) One time, he adopted the identity of Jon Savage and was responsible for a string of brutal murders where he was known to the media as the Vandal. (DC Universe Presents v1 #10)
In his earlier years, he preferred to be a prominent figure in different periods and had been actual historical figures. However, he later decided to operate from behind the scenes and instead operated as an advisor whilst secretly amassing power for himself. Savage had said that his million year history meant that he often suffered from boredom where the only thing that came to amuse him was the chess game of power. (Green Lantern v1 #10)
The Immortal Man claimed that his ancient foe was perhaps the most evil man who had ever lived. (Action Comics v1 #553)
He saw himself as a visionary who was a veteran and orchestrator of every significant war that mankind had ever fought with him stating that he would continue to shape the world for the war of tomorrow. This was all according to his own vision for the future and he often manipulated others to achieve his goals with him stating that fascists were the easiest to manipulate. (Justice Society of America v3 #3)
Savage said that he was a superstitious man. (Green Lantern v1 #10)
Over the centuries, he had a number of children and descendants that included:
- Scandal Savage : a dark haired female born from a Brazilian woman who was Vandal's life and a person he genuinely loved. (Secret Six v3 #29)
- Kassidy Sage : (DC Universe Presents v1 #10)
- HORDR_ROOT : originally a man with black hair who due to a genetics defect meant that he could not walk. Through his studies, he managed to determine that his father was Vandal Savage but he refused to accept the man as his progeny due to his defects. In desperation, the man sought to transfer his consciousness into a mechanically augmented body and created a digital approximation of his mind. However, his creation killed him and took the name of HORDR_ROOT where he claimed to be Vandal's son and due to his ability to access technology he was accepted by his parent. (Superman v3 #47)
- Salvaxe : a young boy who was bullied by other kids where he loved reading stories about barbarians. After being exposed to the black mist, he was revealed to had been a descendants of Vandal Savage where his body transforemd into a large muscular form where he came to serve his ancestor. (Action Comics v2 #49)
Over thousands of years, he had mated with many women with it said that half the world was made of his bastard offspring. Despite that, he never cared for any of the women except one who had earned his respect. (Secret Six v3 #29)
Powers and abilities
Originally, Vandal Savage had been an ordinary Cro-Magnon man until he was exposed to energies from a fallen meteor that gave him eternal life and made him immortal. (Green Lantern v1 #10) It was said that the immortality that was given to him also led to immortal cancer tumours to spawn in his body with these not killing him but leaving Vandal in constant pain. (Superman v1 #710)
He was noted for possessing a keen mind and was able to apply symbolic logic to the 6th degree to come to his inevitable deductions. (Green Lantern v1 #10)
Among his followers included the Neoanderthals that consisted of prehistoric Neanderthals that were saved from extinction and genetically altered to give them a variety of powers which intended to take control of the planet. (Justice League v4 #1)
He was noted for being the creator of Velocity 9 that was a drug that was able to impart superspeed on the user but its effects could cause the person to age and die in the process. (The Flash v2 #13)
Savage once assembled a team of supervillains that followed his command where he gave them the name Tartarus. (Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant v1 #1)
One front that he operated from in the modern age was Abraxas, Incorporated that was a business through which he hid some of his operations. (Action Comics v1 #553)
He had in his possession a dimension lock that was a vault that only he could open with it being the only thing that kept its contents parallel to normal space-time. (DC Universe Presents v1 #10)
Notes
- Vandal Savage was created by Alfred Bester and Martin Nodell where he made his first appearance in Green Lantern v1 #10 (December, 1944).
Alternate Versions
- In Kingdom Come v1 #2 (1996), an alternate version of Vandal Savage appeared in the Kingdom Come reality set on Earth-22 in the Multiverse. This version came to join Lex Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front to facing against Superman's Justice League
- In Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes v1 (2011), an alternate version of Vandal Savage appeared in the crossover setting with IDW Comics Star Trek. It was revealed that Vandal Savage and Flint, a mysterious immortal encountered by James T. Kirk and his crew, were actually parallel universe versions of the same person. While one version adopted the name Vandal Savage and dedicated himself to conquest, the other version adopted the name Flint and turned his life towards art and science. In this timeline, Savage/Flint has adopted the name "Emperor Vandar the First", having somehow captured Q in the distant past and harnessed the entity's power for Vandar's own ends. When Kirk's senior staff and some of the Legion find themselves in Vandar's version of the 23rd century, they split into teams to confront Vandar in the present and find the source of his power in the past. Learning of Vandar's history, Kirk dismisses him as a stupid caveman who spent millennia with god-like power but lacks the imagination to do anything more with it than kill, torture and conquer anything he does not understand, affirming that he doesn't truly understand the hope that drives the worlds of Starfleet and the Legion. Back in the past, Brainiac and Spock are able to release Q from imprisonment and thus undo the timeline where Vandar became emperor of humanity.
- In The Multiversity: The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World v1 #1 (2014), an alternate version of Vandal Savage was shown to reside on Earth-40 where he was the immortal leader of the Society of Super-Villains. They discovered the existence of the Multiverse with Savage leading them to invade the neighbouring universe of Earth-20 leading to a conflict with the Society of Super-Heroes.
- In Future State: Suicide Squad v1 #1 (2021), an alternate future version of Vandal Savage was shown to exist in the possible timeline of Future State. This version came to survive till the year One Million where he was rewarded for his years of carnage by being transformed into a Lord of Chaos. Alongside Child, he helped lead the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man in an attack against the Justice Legion A where he infected them with the sins. This forced Wonder Woman to seek the aid of Teth-Adam on his home planet of Kahndaq in stopping his ancient enemies.
In other media
Television
- In Justice League, Vandal Savage appeared in the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe where he was voiced by actor Phil Morris.
- In Smallville, the character did not appear in the live-action television series but an immortal named Dr. Curtis Knox appeared who was portrayed by actor Dean Cain.
- In Young Justice, the character appeared as the primary antagonist where he was voiced by actor Miguel Ferrer.
- In the Arrowverse, Vandal Savage made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In The Flash, Vandal Savage appeared as a villain in his first appearance in the shared universe of Arrow with the character portrayed by actor Casper Crump.
- In Arrow, the villain retured as part of the cross-over episode with The Flash with actor Casper Crump returning to portray the role.
- In Legends of Tomorrow, the villain returned as part of the shared universe of Arrow where he was once more portrayed by actor Casper Crump.
Films
- In Justice League: Doom, the character appeared as the primary antagonist with actor Phil Morris reprising his role from the Justice League animated series.
- In Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, Vandal Savage appeared in the animated fil where he was voiced by actor Jim Pirri. He was shown as being made immortal from a meteorite that landed on Earth long ago where he adopted numerous guises over the years including Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan where over the years he sired thousands of children with one of them being Scandal Savage. By the modern age, he stated that he had more brushes with death than in centuries past due to the rise of superheroes and supervillains. Thus, he sought to secure his future in the event of his possible demise where he tasked his daughter and her lover to acquire the 'Get Out of Hell Free' Card along with Professor Pyg in order to perform an operation to have he item stitched into his body. This brought him into conflict with Amanda Waller and Zoom both of whom wanted the cards for themselves.
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, Vandal Savage appeared in the MMORPG video game setting where he was voiced by actor Brian Talbot.
Appearances
- Green Lantern v1: (1944)
- The Flash v1:
- Action Comics v1:
- JLA v1:
- Superman v1:
- Action Comics v1:
- Damage v1:
- Justice Society of America v3:
- Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne v1:
- Superman v3:
- Action Comics v2:
- Superman/Wonder Woman v1:
- Justice League v4:
- Dark Nights: Death Metal v1:
- Infinite Frontier v1:
- Batman v3:
