Major Disaster
Major Disaster | |
---|---|
Notable aliases | Bennett Brodsky |
Abilities |
|
Major Disaster is a former DC Comics supervillain and reluctant amoral superhero.[1]
Publication history
Major Disaster debuted in Green Lantern (volume 2) #43 and was created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.[2]
Fictional character biography
Paul Booker was nothing more than a cheap crook. On the run from the police, he found an unlocked apartment window and climbed in to hide out.
Unbeknownst to him, it belonged to Thomas Kalmaku, Green Lantern's former friend and confidant. Accidentally activating a hidden control panel, he discovered Kalmaku's casebook on Green Lantern. Using this, he found out the secret identities of both Green Lantern and the Flash.[3]
Armed with this knowledge, he decided to embark on a criminal career under the name of "Major Disaster", and hired a group of criminal scientists to create devices for him capable of causing natural disasters. Using his new powers, he set out to kill the crime fighters, but was defeated and was thought to have died in the ensuing explosion. Disaster was revealed to wear a device that protected him from any disaster he created. This device made his atoms reform over time, invisibly returning him to human form, but his luck against Green Lantern failed to improve, as he was defeated again.
After his defeat, Green Lantern used his ring to erase the memory of the Flash's secret identity and placed a mental block stopping him from telling anyone else about the Green Lantern's own identity.
Major Disaster threatened the United Nations on behalf of the racist group Nurike. He attempted to destroy the UN Manhattan buildings using a master fissure he started, but was stopped by Karate Kid. He would later join forces with the Lord of Time to torment Karate Kid.[4]
Insanity
Booker found that his power had started to internalize in him, but was growing in magnitude and slowly destroying him. He sought to remove the excess power by transferring it onto Superman, and was defeated again. Superman, aided by Batman, also defeated him when he joined General Scarr's Army of Crime.
Seeking to finally kill Green Lantern, Booker threatened to destroy the Baldwin Hills Dam unless Jordan faced him. At the time,
For a time, Booker served as an operative of the international crime cartel known only as SKULL when its leader, Simon Pons, recruited him into the cartel. Both Booker and SKULL ran afoul of the Outsiders when SKULL began kidnapping prominent scientists, superheroes, and millionaires. He also caused the destruction of the Outsiders' Station Markovia headquarters, making it sink off the coast of Los Angeles.
Injustice League
It was while in prison that Disaster first met the Mighty Bruce, a computer wizard who stole money from huge corporations to give to charity. The Mighty Bruce suddenly seemed vital to Disaster's future plans of a villainous team: the
Once free, the League decides that their criminal career would be easier in
Justice League Antarctica
Attempting to go legit, the Injustice League were given a chance by Maxwell Lord, the then-chief of the JLI. They somehow managed to stop a terrorist attack and were subsequently sent to the South Pole to form the Justice League Antarctica, along with other nuisances G'nort and the Scarlet Skier. The team was short-lived, as Disaster destroyed their embassy whilst defeating a waddle of killer penguins. The team, though lacking an embassy, stayed together, acting as bodyguards for Maxwell Lord when he was in a gunshot-induced coma. They also joined the American and European Leagues, the team called the Conglomerate, and the intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo in pitched battle against Despero. Major Disaster, in an effort to stop Despero, turned Times Square into smoking rubble. Afterwards, they departed from the League.
Back to villainy
Following this, the group returned to crime. They attempted to steal from the cult of Minister Sun, only to have their loot stolen back from them. Disaster's career took a boost when he accepted a deal from
Suicide Squad
The Injustice League team then received an offer from the government to work on the
Disaster stayed with the Squad until Superman gave him a chance to prove his heroic worth in defeating a number of Superman's foes.
Hero again
Batman also followed Disaster's career, and the Dark Knight chose him to serve on a substitute Justice League of America while the regular members went back in time to
Finally acting as a hero and receiving some respect for the first time in his career, Disaster jumped at the chance and remained with the team following their return and the subsequent battle with the powerful Atlantean sorceress Gamemnae. After joining, he became extremely close to Faith and is the only person in the League to have seen her true form.
Major Disaster later joined the
Death
During Infinite Crisis, Major Disaster was present at the Battle of Metropolis. He is quickly killed by Superboy-Prime amidst the chaos.[5]
During the events of Blackest Night, Major Disaster is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps along with the other heroes killed by Superboy-Prime and who head for Earth Prime to torment him. Superboy-Prime destroys them by using the black ring cycling through the power set of emotions resulting in a burst of colored energy that destroys Black Lanterns.[6]
Post-Flashpoint
In the
Powers and abilities
Major Disaster's powers originally came from a set of weapons he used to cause natural disasters. Over time, exposure to these weapons made the powers internalize and now Disaster can cause chaos at will. His deal with
In other media
- Major Disaster makes minor non-speaking appearances in Justice League Unlimited as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. Prior to and during the episode "Alive!", Lex Luthor takes command of the Society, but Grodd mounts a mutiny. Disaster sides with the latter, only to be frozen by Killer Frost and killed off-screen by Darkseid along with Grodd's other loyalists.
- Major Disaster appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by James Arnold Taylor.[9] In his most notable appearance in the episode "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!", he battles Batman, Red Tornado, and the latter's creation Tornado Champion. Despite being defeated, he damages Tornado Champion, contributing to his transformation into the Tornado Tyrant.
References
- ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
- ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
- ISBN 978-1-4654-8578-6.
- ^ Karate Kid #12-15
- ^ Infinite Crisis #7
- ^ Adventure Comics (vol. 2) #4-5
- ^ Superman/Wonder Woman #15
- ^ Harley Quinn Vol 3 #52
- ^ "Comics Continuum by Rob Allstetter: Saturday, May 9, 2009".