Elongated Man

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Elongated Man
	Biography \| Abilities \| Sue Dibny \| Silver Age biography
	Bibliography \| Publication history \| Writers \| Artist \| Superman in other media

The Elongated Man

The Elongated Man, as seen in 52 Weeks 13
Art by Kevin Nowlan

Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance
Created by	John Broome (writer) Carmine Infantino (artist)

Characteristics

Alter ego	Randolph Dibny



Affiliations	Justice League of America Justice League Europe Super Buddies Croatoan Society



Abilities	- Super elasticity

Portrayals in other media

Justice League Unlñimited:
Jeremy Piven
Batman: The Brave and the Bold:
Sean Donnellan

Randolph "Ralph" Dibny, known as the World-famous Elongated Man, is a DC Comics fictional hero known for his elastic superpowers and detective skills. He fist appeared as a supporting character in The Flash vol. 1 No. 112 (May 12, 1960).

1 Publication history
2 Fictional history
- 2.1 Silver Age
- 2.2 Modern Age
3 Powers
4 In other media
5 References
6 See also

[edit] Publication history

The Elongated Mand debuted within the pages of the Flash (issue #112,May 12, 1960), after eleven adventures with the Scarlet Speedster, starting in Detective Comics #327 (May 1964), got his own series of adventures in the back back feature of the title (replacing the Martian Manhunter). The only regular character was his wife, Sue Dibny.

Dibny joined the Justice League of America (again, as replacement of the Martian Manhunter)in the issue #105 of the first series (May 1973) and becomes one of the longest staying members. He is one of the four original members who stayed when the League relocated in Detroit.

After the cancellation of the original title, he didn't continue as part of the re-branded "Justice League International", but rejoined when they started the Justice League Europe branch (Justice League Europe #1, April 1989). Around this time the Elongated Man got his first and only miniseries, titles "Europe '92".

When Justice League Europe was canceled, the character only made cameos and guest appearances. Notably in Starman.

In the early 00s, Ralph and his wife, along with a group of former Justice League International members and Mary Marvel, ventured to form the Super Buddies, whose adventures were published in a miniseries titled Formerly Known as the Justice League (2003) and then in a JLA: Classified story arc titles I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League (2005). Between this stories, but taking place after them, Ralph and Sue were at the center of Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis, in which she was killed off.

In 2006 - 2007, the now widower Ralph Dibny became one of the lead characters of 52 Weeks, a weekly year long limited series. He was the first to appear and visited many of the mystical aspects of the DC Universe to finally be reunited with his wife.

The corpses of the Dibnys were reanimated as zombies during the Blackest Night crossover event. However, they were not among the resurrected characters at the end.

[edit] Fictional history

[edit] Silver Age

According to the pre-Crisis Who's Who, "when Ralph Dibny was nine years old, his parents took him to a traveling sideshow where he met an Indian rubber man. Ralph's fascination with the ability of India rubber men to stretch lasted into his adulthood. Dibny learned that each rubber man he had met liked a soft drink called gingold, and he deduced that it somehow gave them their stretching ability without their knowing it. Dibny learned that gingold's main ingredient was the juice of the fruit of the gingo plant from Yucatan. He isolated an unknown chemical within the plant, drank a large dose of it, and gained superhuman stretching powers"^[1].

The Flash

In "The Mystery of the Elongated Man!", when the Elongated Man debuts in Central City as a hero Flash initially suspected him as the author of a series of robberies; however, after he helped him apprehend the author and even trusted him with his secret identity, a friendship and mutual trust relationship started between the two heroes.

In The Flash vol. 1 #115 ("The Elongated Man's secret weapon!", September, 1960), it is revealed that the Elongated Man earned enough money as an entertainer to retire. In order to learn more about the Gingold fruit, he visits the place where it originally grows, the Yucatan Peninsula, where he learns that a group of aliens plan to shrink all intelligent forms to take over the world. He teams up again with the Flash to defeat them.

In the first pages of his third appearance, ("The Elongated Man's under-sea trap!", The Flash vol. 1 #119, March, 1961), a newspaper front page, reveals that the Elongated Man has married a debutante named Sue Dearbon (this is her first appearance), which implies that he has given up his secret identity by then. He goes diving during their honeymoon and a race of under-sea alien fishermen kidnaps him. After some time Sue decides to call the Flash, who manages to rescue him.

Although in The Flash vol. 1 #124 ("The Space-Boomerang trap", November 1961) the duo also fight a last alien invasion, from that point on, they start teaming up to defeat classic Flash villains, the first being Captain Boomerang. In The Flash vol. 1 #130 ("Kid Flash meets the Elongated Man", August 1962) they fight the Weather Wizard along with Kid Flash. In The Flash vol. 1 #134 the two heroes fight Captain Cold, and in The Flash vol. 1 #138, The Pied Piper.

Detective Comics

Due to their wealth, Ralph and Sue spend their time traveling through America and the world, enjoying lives of leisure. Often in the course of their travels Ralph, a brilliant amateur detective, found intriguing mysteries that he solved using his wits and powers.

Detective Comics #327 (Miles to nowhere, May, 1964) is the Elongated Man's first solo adventure, his first mystery to solve and his first exhibit of silly behavior (he pasted a banner in his back to announce that he's "the World-famous Elongated Man" to a town that didn't recognize him). The next issue has his first nose twitch.

Most of the crimes he solved involved common thieves performing apparently abnormal crimes; however, there were some actual extraordinary cases, like the Rajah in "Peril in Paris" (Detective Comics #344 or Martin Beene, who could mentally elongate objects that were touched by the Elongated Man ^[2]. During this era he teamed up with Zatanna, the Atom, Green Lantern, Superman and mostly, Batman and the Flash.

Justice League of America

After several of those team ups, including some with the Justice League of America in Justice League of America #51 (when Hawkman, Batman, Green Lantern and the Atom helped Zatanna to finally find her father) and #104, the Elongated Man finally joined in issue #105 as the 11th full time member. Right after joining he team he proved his usefulness by being key in defeating the Queen Bee.

After most of the original JLA members left, he stayed along with Aquaman, Zatanna and a returning Martian Manhunter along with four new members in Detroit.

Around this time, Ralph and Sue investigate a mystery surrounding the first issue of a magazine that was going to be published by Edgar Allen Poe^[3], Sue publishes a book called "My Life With Ralph Dibny".^[4]

[edit] Modern Age

Ralph Dibny, a born detective with a thing for attention and a knack for contortionism, was born a march 21st. ^[5]grows in the tiny, rural and ordinary burg of Waymore, Nebraska^[6]. While dreaming of big city fame and glamour, he is practically ignored under the shadow of his popular brother Ken Dibny, an Eagle boy scout, football star and eventually, real estate whiz and town Major. Consequently, he resources to pranks and jokes to avoid being ignored, which is his worst fear. ^[7].

As a fan and emulator of "India rubber men", he observed that all of them had one thing in common: A taste for a soft drink called "Gingold". Unaware that it could be lethal in an ordinary man, Ralph distilled the essence of Gingo, the fruit used in the drink, which triggered something in his metabolism that made his body really elastic^[6]. He became a superhero and his first adventures are similar to those seen in at least The Flash vol. 1 No. 112, 115, 119 and 124. In the modern version, it's revealed that he met Manhattan socialite Sue Dearbon in her debut ball. She hated high society events and was bored during the event, so, unlike her family, she is fascinated by Ralph when he crashes it as a publicity stunt. They date, get married and what starts as crazy adventures and a superfluous mutual crush ends up in real love. They travel the world while he keeps solving mysteries, which seems to her like living a fun endless series of Thin Man movies.

Eventually, Ralph Dibny joins the Justice League of America and stays until the events of Legends^[7]. In Identity Crisis, it is revealed that in the modern version of that era, Sue was welcomed in the Satellite headquarters, where one night she was sexually assaulted by Dr. Light^[8]. Flash arrived on time to separate Sue, the League attacked and held Dr. Light and Ralph knocked him with Hawkman's mace. Ralph takes his wife to the hospital and Flash, Green Lantern, the Atom, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Zatanna resolve to erase the memory of the villain and make him harmless.

To Ralph's surprise, on his 30th birthday, he learns that his brother and the entire town of Waymore is proud of him and follow him on the news.^[7]

Justice League Europe

After the Justice League of America reforms as the Justice League International, Maxwell Lord decides to split the team in two and locate one in Europe. Ralph is invited to join and relocate in Paris, home of it's European headquarters and Sue is made a honorary member.

Around this time Ralph teamed up with Batman, Robin, Slam Bradley and Sherlock Holmes to foil a plan by Edgar Moriarty, a descendant of Professor Moriarty^[9].

When Maxwell Lord is shot to a coma state, the new UN representative, Ambassador Kurt Heimlich, decides to fire Ralph along with other JLI members (Sue is kept as part of the team, though). They all recover their status after discovering that Heimlich is an agent of Queen Bee of Bialya. Ralph participated in the fight against Brainiac during the Panic in the Sky events along with most of the JLI members.

Ralph and Sue briefly fell apart due to the actions of the Modoran dictator and super-villain known as Sonar, who threatened the peace in Europe using Copperhead, Warp, and Eurocrime as henchmen. To Sue's dismay, Ralph suspected the apparently benevolent dicatator and started investigating. Although they temporarily separate, eventually Sue stepped in and helped her husband to and save the day.

When JLE reforms, Sue becomes its coordinator and Ralph changes costume^[10]. However, the JLI and the JLE eventually dissolve.

Starman

Along with the Shade and the original Starman, the Dibnys helped Jack Knight to fight Culp and his villain hordes in Opal City. Ralph was key to defeat the Mist and uuring these events he got to meet and save the reputation of Hamilton Drew, a famous XIX century detective and his childhood idol. Ralph and Sue decided to stay in Opal after the Culp menace ended and Jack Knight retired.

Super Buddies

The Dibnys were recruited by Maxwell Lord along with other JLI members to form a new team with an accessible approach to common people. The team defeats the E-Street Bloodsuckers, escapes from Roulette and foils a Manga Khan invasion^[11]. In further adventures of the team, Fire convinces Sue that Ralph rates among men as "a four" (out of ten), giving Ralph an inferiority complex as a result. Ralph and the rest of the team also manage to escape from hell^[12].

Identity Crisis

As a plot to get JLA members to pay attention to their loved ones, Jean Loring attacks Sue Dibny and accidentally kills her. Ralph is morally destroyed by her death. After the funeral he asks the Wally West, Kyle Rayner and Justice League ex-members that witnessed Dr. Light attack on Sue to go after him, since he was their main suspect. Light hired Deathstroke to defend him from the group seeking hm, and starting with Ralph, he managed to knock out all of them temporarily, but the JLA ended up defeating him and Dr. Light escaped. When Atom learns that his wife was the murderer he sends her to Arkham Asylum^[8].

In Crisis of Conscience (Justice League of America, volume 2 #115 - 119]]) Ralph's house in Opal City is destroyed by members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains who had their memories erased like Dr. Light. He tags along with the League during their first fight against them and when they decide to reveal Batman that they also erased part of his memory. Without his elixir, Ralph protects Linda Park for Wally.

52

After Infinite Crisis, during the year of absence of Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman, Ralph Dibny was one of the most prominent heroes, going on a quest for Sue that took him most of that time.

Week 1: In day one Ralph is contemplating a gun with a label that indicates "Anselmo case, 1995". He's standing in front of the remains of his Opal City house (apparently destroyed by Monster Society) while answering to someone who's asking about it over the phone. On day 5 he's at a hotel, listening to phone messages while apparently contemplating suicide (with the "Anselmo Case" gun). One of the recordings is from the Elysium Mortuary, indicating that Sue's tombstone has been vandalized with a message.
Week 2: On day 1 Ralph collects evidence at the graveyard and declares the situation a mystery. On day 6, after she broadcast a Kryptonian praying for Superboy with a webcam, Dibny visits Wonder Girl at a memorial room at the Titans tower and declares her the author of the vandalism, revealing that the graffiti drawing on the tombstone is an inverted version of Superman's "S", the Kryptonian symbol for resurrection and that he deduced she's the only one with such knowledge.
Week 4: On day four, Ralph meets with Wonder Girl and the Cult of Conner at a special location to get ansers about the vandalism. Wonder Girl reveals that they are preparing the world for the return of Superboy and offers Ralph to immerse in the waters of the River Memon, which grants visions of the afterlife. Devem, the head of the cult, asks him to give them something that means the most to him. After the immersion, which Ralph called a scam, the cult is gone along with his wedding ring.
Week 7: On day 5, Ralph visits Booster Gold to get him to help with the investigation. He's ignored in favor of marketing and publicity deals and after realizing that, having a database from the future, Booster and Skeets (actually Mr. Mind in disguise) should have prevented Sue's death, he violently shoves and strangles him. Booster claims not being aware, and Ralph challenges him to prove he's a hero. After neutralizing a threat, Booster is publicly revealed as a fraud by an actor he hired to act as a villain (whose paycheck bounced) and Ralph seizes the opportunity to further denounce him.
Week 11: The Cult has spread nation wide among kids and Dibny has been chasing them. On night 5, he crashes a clandestine gathering at Washingon, DC's Seaton Park and apprehends and tries to interrogate some a cult member. They beat him and escape, but he gets a report from Opal City Storage that someone stole Sue's clothes and left the mark of the cult. On night 7, while he investigates, it's revealed that the Cult just stole some clothes to dress and effigy of her.
Week 12: On day one Ralph has located Wonder Girl's secret breaks into it. She's now a fanatic hiding from her friends. She tells him they stole the clothes and ring to make a Sue Effigy, since Devem wants to try to resurrect Sue before Conner. Ralph offers his help to revive her.
Week 13: Ralph goes to the ceremony Metamorpho, Green Arrow, Zauriel, and Hal Jordan (all authorities on resurrection) come with him. After listening to their advise, Dibny and his friends disrupt the ceremony, but the effigy of Sue crawls to Dibny and calls out to him as it burns; Dibny suffers a nervous breakdown as a result.
Week 17: Members of the Croatoan Society (a group of paranormal detectives including Detective Chimp, Terri Thirteen, Edogawa Sangaku, Tim Trench and Ralph) find Tim Trench dead with the helmet of Dr. Fate, Nabu. Detective Chimp contacts Elongated man to take the case. A voice from within the helm of Doctor Fate, unheard by the other members of the group, speaks to Dibny and promises to fulfill his desires if he makes certain sacrifices.
Week 21: On day 2, Nabu and Dibny cross to the Underworld beyond through a the Mictlan Gate, by coercing it's protector, Xolotl, an Aztec Demonguard / God.
Week 27: In Hell, Nabu teaches Ralph about Felix Faust's mistakes.
Week 27: The Spectre offers Ralph his heart's desire if he can punish a sane Jean Loring. He couldn't.
Week 31: Ralph confronts Wonder Girl, who tells him she discovered Devem was a fraud through an anonymous tip (adressed from Marseilles) and that she believes Super Nova is Conner. Ralph visits nova revealing he knows his identity and asks him to reveal his identity to Wonder Girl.
Week 32: Ralph goes to Nanda Parbat finds a golden charm necklace and faces a yeti before right arriving. He's saved by Yao Fei and sleeps for 3 days in the monastery. Yao asks him to help put the charm necklace on the Hu Wei, the yeti, to inhibit its rage. During the encounter Ralph saves Yao twice and gets the job done. The monks grant him permission to see Rama Kushna, who reveals him that the secret is that there's no death, that "death an illusion of being in time", "a trick of the light" and that "no love is wasted" or "lost in time". Finally she showed Ralph ho to see Sue again and leaves with the message that "the end is already written". When asked, Ralph declares that he wrote the end "back in may, at the end of the Crisis" [it might be the Infinite Crisis].
Week 33: At the Elongated Man Room of the Flash Museum, Ralph reveals the best birthday present he ever got from Barry was a time trip in which he teamed up with Edgar Allan Poe to catch Jack the Ripper. He gets the wish granting gun from the "Anselmo Case" (the one he was going to use to commit suicide) and get going.
Week 39: Ralph and Fate go to Atlantis, the birthplace of magic on earth, then turned wasteland,where the amnesic Aquaman points them to the Shackles of Arion. Dibny gets a shacle by exchanging it for his replacement wedding ring.
Week 41: Ralph visits Haven correctional facility. After figuring how Professor Morrow escaped (his benefactor placed teleportation micro-circuitry in the lens of the surveillance camara, the warden grants him a visit to Professo Milo, who as Dibny reveals, acquired the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath for his experiments and disguised it as part of his wheel chair.
Week 42: At the Tower of Fate (Salem, Massachusetts), after using the link of Arion and the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath to enact a spells of binding, Ralph begins to perform the last step to achieve his heart's desire; he puts on Fate's helmet, but shoots it with the wish granting gun of the Anselmo case. The helmet is projected and deformed without hurting Ralph and Felix Faust and Ralph's wedding ring are released from it. Dibny reveals he knew "Fate" was Faust all along, and that he was also "Devem" of the Resurrection Cult, trying to give him hope to either kill himself or walk into an incantation and deliver his pure and strong soul to the demon Neron. When Neron arrives, Ralph claims possession of Felix's soul, but he takes away the gun, the finger pressing the trigger, and the wedding ring (which Ralph was wearing in that finger for some reason). When Ralph asks the demon to "take his best shot" to defeat him, he shots with the ring and claims that the transaction for Felix's soul is complete. Ralph died but since the binding spell was still on the two villains end up forever locked withing the walls of the tower. The ring flies to Sue's tombstone.
Week 52: On day 6, in Sheffield, Alabama a pit opens up in the floor of a classroom of the "Golden Rule Preschool" after the kids drew something shocking in their pads. The investigators don't know who to call for answers, but the ghost of the Dibnys appear to investigate. Ralph's nose starts twitching.

Blackest Night

Among may dead characters, the Black Lantern Corps reanimate the bodies of Ralph and Sue. The couple attack Carter Hall in his home, Sue stabs Kendra Saunders, aka Hawkgirl, as Ralph goes against Hawkman. Ralph torments his old friend, saying that Hawkgirl had hated him, and then proceeds to then tore out Carte's heart. The hearts then disintegrated, powering the Dibny's rings by 0.02%^[13] The hawks are reanimated as well and the four zombies are next seen in Gotham City along Black Lantern Martian Manhunter and Firestorm (the six of them deceased JLA members) trying kill the Flash and Green Lantern.^[14] He and Sue are both turned to ash when the Indigo Tribe destroys their rings.^[15]

When the Black Lanterns are defeated, twelve of them are resurrected by the White Light. Barry Allen looks around to see if the Dibnys were among those people only to be told by Hal Jordan that for some reason they didn't come back^[16].

[edit] Powers

The Elongated Man can stretch any part of his body to incredible lenghts, but he need to drink the Gingo extract to keep them^[1]. He can stretch his entire body as much as 30 yards, can do some shape shifting to emulate other people's faces, can pass throeugh a keyhole and hide in a tire^[17].

His suit is made of a special fiber that stretches as much as his body does and goes back to its original shape^[1].

He's a good hand-to-hand combatant without his powers and a brilliant one with them^[1]. He's a self trained detective with skills that rival with those of Batman. His nose twitches whenever he senses a mystery. He speaks French and thanks to the money he made as an entertainer and his marriage to a wealthy socialite, he has enough money to travel comfortably around the world without the need to earn money.

In the current continuity Ralph Dibny is a metahuman whose metabolism rects with the Gingo elixir he created. Other people could die from ingesting it, but Ralph's body becomes elastic instead^[18].

[edit] In other media

Series	Actor	Appearances	Cameos	Year	Main article
Justice League Unlimited	Jeremy Piven	The Greatest Story Never Told, The Ties That Bind, Clash	Initiation,Dark Heart, Destroyer	2004 - 2006	Elongated Man (DC animated universe)
Batman: The Brave and the Bold	Sean Donnellan	Journey to the Center of the Bat	The Siege of Starro! Part Two	2008	Batman: The Brave and the Bold/Characters