In 1991 Marvel released an ongoing series about an NFL player who saves a child, hurting his knee in the process. Unnecessarily long story short, he steals an indestructible football uniform and uses it to fight crime. Bad story, but wait till you hear the name. NFL Superpro.
Even if you aren't completely convinced this is a bad series idea, try reading it. Even as a kid, I couldn't help but see that this was nothing but a shameless advertisement for the NFL. Plus, the first issue had Spider-man in it, like every series of the early 90s that they knew didn't stand a chance, but still wanted to be forced down people's throat.
Not only did he suck, but his villains did too. Quick Kick, a ninja kicker. Instant Replay, a time manipulating assassin. And last but not least a football player who used steroids and turned into an insane giant monster.
Where is he now? The most recent reference to him was in a Marvel Team up issue, where Stilt Man tells Daredevil "I beat up a guy called Superpro last week. Silliest looking guy..."
This next shining example "I've got a GREAT idea for a character!" is none other than this strapping man. His name is Demolition Man, but you won't see him labeled as much other than D-Man, except for his listings online. His first appearance was as a wrestler in a super hero wrestling league, and his big fight was against the Thing. They wrestle and the Thing wins, despite D-Man's unwillingness to throw the fight. A couple of years later, he joins up with Captain America and becomes one of the many heroes at Cap's disposal during and leading up to when Cap stops being Cap and becomes USAgent. Honestly, the story on D-Man is really not that interesting. Like most characters that writers didn't know what to do with, they made him mentally unstable and then secluded him from the rest of the Universe.Where is he now? D-Man has popped up in Marvel in a couple of the recent events. If you read the Captain America portion of Civil War, you'll see a hologram of him used as a distraction to help the resistance achieve an objective. He apparently also pops up in Dark Reign as a military man.
The next stop on our tour of the obscure isn't obscure if you've read Captain America's comics. He's none other than Batroc the Leaper.
Batroc has been around for ages. He first appeared back when Captain America shared a book with Iron Man.
Batroc has had a long history as a villain. He's fought everyone from The Punisher, Spider-Man, Gambit, Black Panther, to attacking the Avengers as a whole. He has no super powers, and his only real threat is his martial art, savate, a french form of kick boxing, and his strategical mind. Despite the fact that he is a criminal, Batroc prides himself on his code of honor. He's reformed a few times, once with Baron Zemo's Thunderbolts, and again later by joining the Initiative, training soldiers in combat.Where is he now? Unlike the other characters we've looked at today, Batroc is a constant in the Captain America world. Every time the series is restarted, or even when certain writers took over, he is brought in to either commit a crime, or just for a rematch with Cap. Unfortunately, in the newest run, he wasn't brought in until the new Captain America was already in uniform.
That's all the characters for now. So here's your homework. Any one that can go back to the D-Man picture and tell me what 2 characters Marvel ripped-off to create the costume for D-Man will get a prize when they become available. Limit first 3 people to correctly e-mail me the correct answer. Winners will be posted once there are 3. Click the contact me button above the mission statement and write "D-Man contest" in the subject box.
