Elongated Man
Elongated Man is a male comic superhero who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Ralph Dibny
He was the second son of an average Midwest American family. 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
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)
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. These abilities 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)
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).
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.
Films
Appearances
- The Flash v1:
- Elongated Man v1:
- Countdown to Final Crisis v1:
- Secret Six v4:
External Links
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