Elongated Man

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Template:Superherobox The Elongated Man is a fictional comic book superhero in the DC universe. He is a reserve member of the Justice League. His first appearance was The Flash (vol. 2) #112 (May 12, 1960). He was partially created by Julius Schwartz, who noted he only created the character because he didn't realize DC Comics had acquired Plastic Man in 1956.

The character has won and been nominated for several awards over the years, including winning the 1961 Alley Award for Best Supporting Character.

Contents

Character history

According to his origin, as a teenager, Ralph Dibny adored contortionists, or people who displayed feats of agility and suppleness. He learned that many of these body-benders drank gingold juice. Ralph set to work learning chemistry and developed a super-concentrated extract of the stuff, which gave him his stretching powers.

Ralph Dibny was one of the earliest Silver Age DC heroes to reveal his secret identity to the public, and also one of the first to marry his love interest. He and his wife Sue Dibny became effectively partners, solving mysteries and participating in Justice League adventures as equals. They were also notable in having a stable, happy, and relatively trouble-free marriage — an anomaly in the soap operatic annals of comic books. Fans of the characters often referred to Ralph and Sue as the "Nick and Nora Charles of the super-hero set" (a reference to The Thin Man movies).

Identity Crisis

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In Identity Crisis #1, published in June 2004, tragedy struck these beloved, if second-tier, characters when Sue was murdered in the Dibny home just before she was going to surprise her husband with the news that she was pregnant. Ralph and Sue also appeared as members of the Justice League offshoot the Super Buddies in the miniseries Formerly Known as the Justice League and its sequel story arc "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League". published in JLA: Classified #4-9. The latter arc was produced before Identity Crisis, but published afterwards. Unfortunately, a running joke in "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League" involves the possibility of Sue's pregnancy, and seems somewhat morbid after Identity Crisis.

Crisis of Conscience

Ralph later appeared in the JLA storyarc Crisis of Conscience. It revolves around the revelation that Batman is aware of the mindwipe that stemmed from the aftermath of Dr. Light's attack on Sue Dibny. The questionable morals of the League serve as the foundation for the company wide crossover Infinite Crisis.

52

Template:Main Following the events of Infinite Crisis, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have vanished and will not return until One Year Later. 52 will be preceded by the 80-page one shot Brave New World. One of the storylines introduced for 52 will feature the Elongated Man. He will become a major recurring character in the mini-series 52. So distraught over the death of Sue, Ralph will contemplate suicide.

Powers and abilities

As his name suggests, the Elongated Man can stretch his limbs and body to super-human lengths and sizes. These stretching powers grant the Elongated Man heightened agility enabling him flexibility and coordination that is extraordinarily beyond the natural limits of the human body. He can contort his body into various positions and sizes impossible for ordinary humans, such as being entirely flat so that he can slip under a door, or using his fingers to pick conventional locks. He can also use it for disguise by changing the shape of his face, although this is painful and difficult for him. Ralph's physiology has greater physical limitations than Plastic-Man; there is an extent to how far he can stretch his finite bodily mass.

The Elongated Man's powers also greatly augments his durability. He is largely able to withstand corrosives, punctures and concussions without sustaining injury. It has been demonstrated that he is resistant to high velocities that would kill an ordinary person and that he is also more resistant to blasts from energy weapons that would kill ordinary humans. His physiology is more like that of an ordinary human than Plastic-Man and as a result he does not share Plastic Man's nigh invulnerability.

The Elongated Man gets his abilities from a combination of drinking a soda named Gingold that contains the extract of a (fictional) fruit called gingo and his natural latent metahuman physiology. The extract interacts with a latent gene that Ralph has, thus activating his super powers. It was revealed in Invasion #3 that it was a metagene reaction to the Gingold elixir that had always provided him with his stretching powers, meaning that he is, in fact, a metahuman and that an ordinary human would not develop such powers through ingesting the extract. Also, most people are extremely allergic to highly concentrated Gingold.

The Elongated Man is also professionally trained as a detective and is highly skilled in deductive reasoning. Often considered one of the most brilliant detectives in the DC Universe, his name is also a play on The Thin Man detective serial. He is a talented amateur chemist as well. He also speaks French.

Other media

The character has appeared in a few episodes of Justice League Unlimited voiced by Jeremy Piven. This is the first television series in which he has made any appearance.


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