Biography - Part 4
Following the apparent death and later resurrection of many Avengers in a conflict with Onslaught, the entire roster to date was called in to deal with the threat of Morgan le Fay and the Twilight Sword. Demolition Man honored his oath as an Avenger, even if some of the haughtier members like Namor and Moondragon questioned his qualifications to be there. 
Captain America had no reservations about Dennis and made D-Man part of his personal strike team during the mission. When the dust settled, D-Man returned to Zerotown with a set of groceries earnestly donated by Jarvis and the Avengers to the Night People. [Avengers (3rd series) #1-4] Dennis would later emerge from Zerotown to aid the Avengers at their darkest hour when the team fell to the Scarlet Witch’s chaos. [Avengers (1st series) #501-502]
As time passed, though, there were no more Night People and no more Zerotown. Just D-Man, the homeless super-hero. Either due to his brain damage or a pre-existing condition, Dennis became mentally unwell and could not simply leave his sewer dwelling. He began hearing voices and demonstrated symptoms akin to schizophrenia, believing the Cosmic Gamesmaster had chosen him for a quest to recover the Infinity Gems for a greater cause. In reality, he was arrested for vagrancy and living in squalor. D-Man still thought like a super-hero, interrupting robbers at jewelry or convenience stores when they caught his attention. However, if he saw something shiny enough, he became convinced the trinket was an Infinity Gem and stole it from the people he just saved.
D-Man’s costume led people to assume he was Daredevil mostly, and his antics came to the attention of the Daily Bugle’s Ben Urich. Ben worked out who Dennis was and what he was doing after the third jewelry store, and traced him down into the sewers. D-Man was initially honored to speak to Urich, who always gave such good press to his hero, Daredevil. When Ben started to question him about the robberies and the Infinity Gems, though, Dennis became paranoid that Ben was sent by his enemies and ran off. In the end, Ben Urich managed to reach D-Man by calling upon his friend Daredevil to come down into D-Man’s lair with him. Daredevil told D-Man that his quest was over, and together they led Dennis to get cleaned up and receive the psychiatric treatment that he needed. [The Pulse #11-13]
Dennis presumably got medical and mental health support after this, but the details are uncertain. He became an intermittent presence in the Avengers’ world over the next few years. D-Man was caught in a S.H.I.E.L.D. sweep as an anti-registration hero during the Superhuman Civil War. [Civil War: War Crimes #1] However, at the onset of Norman Osborn’s reign of H.A.M.M.E.R., D-Man was reportedly at the door trying to get an interview for the new Avengers team. Victoria Hand sent him away and used him as a warning / insult for the future. [New Avengers (1st series) #49, Dark Avengers (1st series) #2] Dennis was back as a welcome presence at Avengers Mansion once the Registration Act was dismantled, but he clearly wasn’t taken too seriously. He won a pie eating contest one afternoon against Valkyrie, Noh-Varr and the Thing. [I am an Avenger #2] However, as one of the many rejected applicants for Luke Cage and Jessica Jones’ new nanny, it was clear that Dennis felt he was on the outside looking in. D-Man seemed desperate to bond with the team, and yet utterly incapable of doing so. [New Avengers (2nd series) #7]
[Note: Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #1 told a D-Man story where he joined the Army during the Registration era and tried to find himself as a hero overseas like Cap did. His fellow soldiers learned he was a former Avenger and asked him for additional training and inspiration. This issue was framed as in-universe Marvel Assistant Editors proposing story ideas that were better than the senior editors’ ideas, so it’s unclear whether this D-Man story was fully in continuity.]
D-Man’s loneliness and mental health issues made him a candidate for Wonder Man’s squad of Revengers. Experiencing his own mania at the time, Simon Williams became fixated on the idea that the Avengers as a concept did not work. He blamed his former team for the unchecked instability of members like Hulk and Scarlet Witch, the creation of the genocidal A.I. Ultron and the ego-fest of the Superhuman Civil War, which allowed for Norman Osborn’s reign. Wonder Man assembled a team to force the Avengers to disband before they caused even more harm. Each of the Revengers was a hero in their own mind. Some had suffered their own losses, like Goliath’s uncle dying during Civil War or Virtue’s people the Skrulls. Some, like Century, owed Wonder Man a debt. But many like Captain Ultra, Atlas, Devil-Slayer and D-Man were bitter and isolated second stringers, who were swayed by the idea of blaming someone else for their problems. [New Avengers (2nd series) Annual #1, Avengers (4th series) Annual #1]
After the Revengers’ defeat, Dennis continued to be exploited when the Hydra Queen and Codename: Bravo worked to undermine Captain America and the institutions he championed on behalf of their new Hydra. They first brainwashed Henry Peter Gyrich into whistleblowing against the Witness Protection Program for super-villains and former terrorists who turned evidence against their higher-ups. Dennis Dunphy was forcibly brainwashed as well to serve as Gyrich’s muscle, the new Scourge of the Underworld. Dennis was programmed to believe the justice system had failed and Captain America was a traitor to his own ideals. The programming was unstable due to Dennis’s own progressive brain damage, and he occasionally slipped back into his true personality. Gyrich was equipped with a trigger, allowing him to reboot his pawn into Scourge again whenever this happened.
As Scourge, Dennis killed the latest Viper and seriously injured S.H.I.E.L.D.’s agent Diamondback, who was guarding him. Rachel recognized Dennis, but a head injury put her into a coma before she could pass on what she learned. Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter coordinated an investigation into the compromised protection program and determined Scourge’s next target, the former Porcupine. Cap saved the witness’s life and forced Scourge into fighting him hand-to-hand by destroying his rifle. Once he heard his voice and saw his moves, Steve reali
zed who Dennis was and tried to reach him through the brainwashing. Dennis’s mind was coming undone, but his brainwashing still made him believe Cap was the one who betrayed him. The Captain’s hesitation put him at a disadvantage and Scourge was in a position to strike Cap dead with his own shield. In order to save Steve’s life, the newly-arrived Sharon Carter shot D-Man in the chest. Dennis only had a few moments to make sense of what was happening before he passed away in Steve’s arms. [Captain America (6th series) #11-14]