Timber Wolf (character)

Timber Wolf
Timber Wolf as depicted in Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 3) #42 (January 1988). Art by Greg LaRocque and Mike DeCarlo.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Adventure Comics #327 (December 1964)
Created by	Edmond Hamilton John Forte
In-story information
Alter ego	Brin Londo
Species	Metahuman
Place of origin	Zuun (31st century)
Team affiliations	Legion of Super-Heroes
Notable aliases	Karth Arn, Lone Wolf, Furball
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed and agility

Timber Wolf (Brin Londo) is a character appearing in American comics published by DC Comics. He is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the planet Zoon (spelled in later stories as Zuun), and possesses enhanced strength and agility.^[1]

Publication history

Timber Wolf first appeared in Adventure Comics #327 (December 1964) as Lone Wolf, created by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte. He joined the team in Adventure Comics #372 (Sept 1968).

Fictional character biography

Brin Londo gained powers from experiments conducted on him by his father, Mar Londo. Karth Arn, Mar's jealous android assistant, switches identities with Brin, but the plot is eventually revealed when "Lone Wolf" first meets the Legion.^[2][3] He is an early graduate of the Legion Academy.^[4] He is thought dead for six months, but is later revealed to have been kidnapped by the villain Tyr (during his captivity his features become more lupine). He has a long-standing romance with fellow Legionnaire Light Lass; they break up due to a misunderstanding when Light Lass finds Timber Wolf embracing Saturn Girl on a frozen asteroid. In Action Comics #377 (July 1969), Timber Wolf battled addiction to the juice of the Lotus Fruit.^[5]

In the fourth Legion of Super-Heroes series, Timber Wolf is transformed into a large dog-like creature dubbed Furball, due to being blasted with radiation by Doctor Regulus during his attempt to destroy the sun. Jo Nah (Ultra Boy) hid this from the Legion because of Brin's desire to keep his friends from finding out what had he had become.

Furball goes missing,^[6] resulting in a cadre of the Legion members seeking Furball and Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox). They eventually discover that Darkseid is involved in a scientific process to create a demigod from a young girl, Aria. The small Legion troop eventually find Darkseid, but fail to stop him from transforming Aria into the Gemini Entity. Darkseid is angered by Gemini's unwillingness to do the job he created her for, and also her kindness towards Brin, and restores Brin to his human form, knowing that this will eventually kill him.

In Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) Annual #3 (1992), Brainiac 5 discovers that Brin's "condition" was the eventual result of his father's scientific machinations which has deteriorated Brin to the point of a fatal malignancy. Brin decides to wait out the remainder of his life with a small group of Legion friends that he feels are "family". Gemini magically appears and because of her deep friendship with Brin, tries to cure him, by transporting him back to the time before he was experimented on with Zuunium, but accidentally shifts the two of them back to late 20th century Earth, which transforms Brin into a hybrid form.

Subsequently, in the Timber Wolf miniseries, Brin is discovered by a "secret" low-profile underground, government-subsidized group Point Force that recruits "meta-humans without reputations" for undercover operations. He reluctantly joins Point Force, realizing they may be his only hope of finding and rescuing Gemini, who has been kidnapped by the Dominators for use as a god-like power source.

Eventually he is befriended by the "New Blood" super-hero Jamm and was experimented on again by mad scientists who sought to create their own "Timber Wolf". The process transformed Brin again, making him physically wolf-like but retaining his mind. Timber Wolf returned to the future and ultimately reconciled with the Legion.

The mute Furball incarnation appeared in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5, along with various Legionnaires from alternate worlds, to battle the

at the end of time.

Reboot

In the post-

, as he met Apparition while Ultra Boy was part of the team lost in the Second Galaxy, and formed a strong connection with her. Timber Wolf later realized his feelings for Apparition were only those of a friend, but Ultra Boy remained jealous.

This version of the character had a healing factor. Later, the serum that gave him his powers caused him to mutate into a feral werewolf.

A character named Lupine, who resembled Furball, briefly appeared in an earlier story as a hologram, but due to the creative team changing this was not taken up.

Threeboot

In the 2004 reboot, written by

at her hands, by sneaking around Princess Projectra and anonymously activating Phantom Girl's Legion Ring alarm only when he was sure of Projectra's own safety.

This version of Timber Wolf has all the powers of the former iterations, but despite being fully human, he has some animalistic traits "carried over" to his otherwise humanoid body, like clawed fingernails and slightly elongated canines.

Post-Infinite Crisis retroboot

The events of the Infinite Crisis miniseries have restored a close analog of the

. Timber Wolf is included in the Legion and seemingly reconciled with Lightning Lass.

In the crossover story "

.

The New 52

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, in a second Legion Lost series, Timber Wolf, along with Chameleon Girl, Wildfire, Dawnstar, Tellus, Tyroc, and Gates are trapped in the 21st century while pursuing a time-travelling genetic terrorist. After exposure to the terrorist's mutagen, Brin's fingernails became hardened, resembling sharp talons which he could expel like projectiles (although not without some pain), regrowing new ones in a matter of seconds.

DC Rebirth

In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock", Timber Wolf is among the Legionnaires who appear in the present after Doctor Manhattan undid the experiment that erased the Legion and the Justice Society of America.^[7]

In Brian Michael Bendis' Legion of Super-Heroes run, Timber Wolf is reimagined as having been experimented on as a child and given powers in an attempt to defend the primitive Zuun. However, by the time the process was perfected, the planet had already been devastated. Deeply affected by this, Brin joined the Legion to prevent such disasters from happening again.^[8]

Powers and abilities

Originally, Timber Wolf was superhumanly strong, fast and agile, but when the serum changed him into a wolf-like

, he gained claws, enhanced senses, the ability to heal quickly from injuries, and even greater strength. As a side effect, he is often prone to outbursts of savage fury.

Through exposure to a mutagen while trapped in the 21st century, he gained the ability to fire off his nails as projectiles, regrowing them almost immediately.

Equipment

As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, he is provided a Legion Flight Ring. It allows him to fly and protects him from the vacuum of space and other dangerous environments.

In other media

Television

• Timber Wolf makes a cameo appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Far From Home" as one of several captive Legionnaires under the Fatal Five's control.
• Timber Wolf appears in Legion of Super Heroes (2006), voiced by Shawn Harrison.^[9] This version previously lived on the planet Rawl, where his father Mar experimented on him and the native animals and gave him the ability to transform into a large wolf-like creature, intending to use him as a weapon in galactic conquest. Afterwards, Brin escaped and lived in the wilderness for some time before being rescued by the Legion, who help him gain control of his abilities. However, he retains irreversible genetic damage that causes him to be unable to fully return to normal and have animalistic traits even when not transformed.

Film

• Timber Wolf appears in Legion of Super-Heroes (2023), voiced by Robbie Daymond.^[10][9] This version is a council member of the Legion Academy.
• The Legion of Super Heroes (2006) incarnation of Timber Wolf makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!.^[11]

Video games

• Timber Wolf appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.^[12]

Miscellaneous

• The Legion of Super Heroes (2006) incarnation of Timber Wolf appears in the tie-in comic
  Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century.^[13]
• Timber Wolf appears in the Smallville sequel comics.^[14]

Further reading

• The Legion Companion by Glen Cadigan, TwoMorrows Publishing (2003)
• "Examing Bendis’ New Legion of Super-Heroes Group Picture", Comic Book Revolution (July 26, 2019)
• "What to Expect From DC’s New Legion of Super-Heroes" by Mike Cecchini, Den of Geek (Sept 30, 2019)
• The DC Comics Encyclopedia DK Publishing (2004)
• "Who's Who: Timber Wolf", The Legion of Super-Bloggers (2015)

References

External links

• A Hero History Of Timber Wolf