Biography - Part 5
On the day of the final Incursion, a novice hipster sorcerer misread a spell for summoning a “demon” and accidentally brought D-Man back to life. Dennis’ mind and body were back under his control, and he had one of the best days of his life. He was cheered by the public when he stopped a bank robbery by the Serpent Society. He visited Avengers Mansion to apologize to Captain America and Jarvis told Dennis how Cap always spoke highly of him. He got back into the UCWF, with Rage as his tag-team partner. He even got to eat a lot of pies. Unfortunately, it was just one great day, because the entire multiverse collapsed and was destroyed before the next sunset. [Secret Wars Too #1]
Anywho… things got back to normal because of some stuff people did. Dennis ended up joining the support team for Sam Wilson, who now served as Captain America after Steve lost the Super-Soldier Serum and its youthful effects. Sam was more open and proactive about his own political stances than Steve Rogers, who preferred to represent the American Dream and its ideals in the abstract. A “hacktivist” called the Whisperer released S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secret Kobik files on a project to use Cosmic Cube fragments to re-write reality. Sam helped the Whisperer escape a S.H.I.E.L.D. dragnet and faced criminal charges for his intervention. The Whisperer, in turn, gave Sam detailed files on Hydra operations, allowing him to secure an immunity deal from S.H.I.E.L.D. in exchange for bringing down the terrorist organization completely. Still, this all meant no more security clearance or special privileges for the current Captain America. Sam, Dennis and Misty Knight set up a Hotline for people to reach out to Captain America directly if they needed help, and they secured private donations for the Captain America Hotline to fund Sam’s personal view of his mission as “Cap.” [Captain America: Sam Wilson #1]
D-Man was back to his old self as a good-natured man who was occasionally out of his depth. He worked for Sam as his pilot and mechanic, while helping run the Hotline. Sam occasionally gave blog updates on Captain America’s mission to the public, which Dennis did his best to film and post. Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon acting as Sam’s teenaged sidekick, mocked old man Dennis for his efforts to understand social media. D-Man was gushing when Steve Rogers regained his youth and declared he would not reclaim Captain America’s shield, supporting Sam Wilson’s tenure in the suit as a joint Captain America. Still, #TakeBackTheShield was trending for weeks as the public tried to pressure Sam into letting the original Captain America represent the United States alone. Dennis occasionally got into action against the Serpent Society or other foes, but his ultimately gentle nature made him better suited to support work than field work. [Captain America: Sam Wilson #2-14]
Dennis got the chance to strut his stuff thanks to a one-night-only event bringing back the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation. The exhibition was a charity show to benefit the homeless, so Dennis was eager to return as the headlining four-time intergalactic championnnnnnnn! Dennis got back into costume as Demolition Dunphy and arranged for special backstage passes for his boyfriend Chris, Sam, Falcon and Rage. Dunphy got slightly concerned when he learned his mystery opponent was Battlestar. Dennis once gave “Lightning Lemar” a hard time in the ring during Battlestar’s brief UCWF career, and they had clashed again in Washington D.C. during Viper’s riots. Battlestar had no grief with Dennis, though, and they even teamed up out of the ring to stop organizer McMayhew from stealing the charity money. [Captain America: Sam Wilson #15]
Unfortunately, Sam Wilson’s tenure as Captain America ended poorly. When Steve Rogers was “revitalized,” he had been replaced by a Hydra operative, subtly undermining Sam’s status as Cap. When Rage was falsely arrested for crimes by the private policing Americops, Dennis and others encouraged Sam to release footage to the public proving Rage was an innocent victim of the Americops. When the judge declared the footage inadmissible at trial, Rage was convicted and the streets went wild with people rioting to protest the verdict. Sam resigned as Captain America in protest of the American judicial system, thanks in part to the manipulations of Hydra Steve. D-Man did what he could to help Sam’s brother Pastor Gideon Wilson clean up after the rioting, but the Hotline and extended staff no longer had a Captain to answer for them. [Captain America: Sam Wilson #18-21]
Not long after, Steve Rogers successfully conquered America in the name of Hydra, using the S.H.I.E.L.D. Act and his new status as director to claim emergency powers over the United States through legal but deceitful means. Dennis and Misty got in contact with Sam Wilson in exile, and they set up an underground railroad ferrying people north to freedom in Canada, away from Hydra’s oppression. D-Man shared the secrets of the Night People with Sam, using an abandoned subway train line which contained a magical connection between different points to aid their transport of the new “undesirables,” such as dissidents, Inhumans and mutants. [Captain America: Sam Wilson #22-24]
After Hydra fell, D-Man and Rage worked together in New York during the Poison invasion. Poisons were extra-dimensional parasites who fed on the Klyntar symbiotes. Their life cycle involved the young Poisons consuming a symbiote and their host, assimilating their knowledge and powers for an adult Poison but killing the original two entities. The Poisons started by forcibly bonding symbiotes to powered heroes on Earth before turning them into new Poisons. D-Man and Rage were among the first heroes who died and were transformed like this into Poisons loyal to the Hive. The young Jean Grey was also turned into a Poison, but she resisted and used her psychic abilities to destroy the Poison Queen. The cascading consequences seemed to kill every other Poison in existence. [Venomized #2-5]
Given the death of the Hive, it is quite uncertain how D-Man both survived and stopped being a Poison. Whatever the mechanism involved, it may also explain how he had lost his powers by the next time he was seen. Dennis fell on hard times again, breaking up with his boyfriend Chris and no longer having the strength for super-heroics. He was moping around at home when Lockjaw of the Inhumans got involved in his life. Lockjaw pulled D-Man into a great quest to locate Lockjaw’s missing siblings, from the Savage Land to the Negative Zone. Over the course of this adventure, D-Man’s spirits lifted and he ended up adopting one of Lockjaw’s brothers. [Lockjaw #1-4] Dennis even cleaned up and went out on the town with the guys for Ben Grimm’s bachelor party. [Fantastic Four (6th series) #5]
Dennis returned to looking for his purpose in life. He got a job working inmate securi
ty at the newly rebuilt Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane. There were some good people on staff, like John Jameson and Misty Knight, but Mayor Fisk had his own plans for the facility. Dennis did his best to set a decent example to the inmates, encouraging Grizzly to reform and even talking down the Punisher when Castle took a hostage. A major riot took place when the Unwanted escaped, generations of test subjects used and abused by past doctors and wardens who now sprung up from the bowels of the asylum. Dennis was stabbed in the chest during the riot and nearly died. Although Norman Osborn was driven out and replaced by Jameson as the new warden, Dennis apparently chose not to remain on staff long term. [Ravencroft #1-5]
[Note: When Dennis was dying from his injury, the vampire leader of the Unwanted offered to turn Dennis into a vampire to save him. Dennis did recover, and the Unwanted claimed he was responsible, but anything that happened took place behind the scenes, and Dennis has not presented as a vampire in his subsequent appearances.]
For his next job, Dennis took a position at the Matt Baker Center as a volunteer aid helping queer youths. In particular, Dennis lent his experience to Super Trans, a support group for super-powered trans kids with powers. D-Man earned the kids’ respect when the Syndicate attacked their guest speaker Spider-Man, leading to an unexpected team up. [Marvel Voices: Pride (2nd series) #1] D-Man may not have his powers anymore, and he may not have been cut out for super-heroics in the first place, but Dennis Dunphy has an enormous heart and an honest desire to help people just because they need it. Maybe not the greatest super-hero, but he is a hero.