Darrel Dane (Earth-Two)

Darrel Dane was the shrinking superhero Doll Man.

History

Freedom Fighters

In the summer of 1941, the Doll Man and the masked crime-fighter Midnight both tracked the mysterious figure calling himself Uncle Sam to a laboratory just in time to see Sam and six other super-heroes, the first of the Freedom Fighters, vanish within a vortex. Doll Man and Midnight ran into the vortex and were transported to the Nazi-occupied Paris of the alternate Earth called Earth-X. The two heroes aided the French Resistance there until February 1942, when they discovered the Japanese were about to attack California. The heroes returned to their own Earth via one of Uncle Sam's vortices, and Doll Man joined a new band of Freedom Fighters in returning to Earth-X to thwart the invasion.

All-Star Squadron

Doll Man returned to his own Earth afterward, and served in the All-Star Squadron. Later that year, Doll Man opted to permanently relocate to Earth-X with a handful of other heroes to combat that world's Nazi menace. The Freedom Fighters continued to fight for several decades. Finally, with the help of the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America, the Freedom Fighters ended the war. Doll Man and his fellow heroes went to Earth-One to fight crime but, through a misunderstanding, found themselves wanted by the law. This situation was resolved and Doll Man returned to Earth-X to help rebuild it.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Size Alteration: By willing himself to do so, Doll Man can shrink to a height of six inches and proportionate weight, or return to his normal size and weight. At his six-inch height Doll Man retains the strength of a normal size man.
• Telekinesis: After migrating to Earth-One after bringing peace to Earth-X, Doll Man develops telekinetic abilities, which he refers to as "mind over matter."^[1]

Abilities

• Chemistry
• Physics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)

Notes

• Doll Man was created by Will Eisner, first appearing in Feature Comics #27. However, the Earth-Two version of Doll Man first appeared in Justice League of America #107 by Len Wein and Dick Dillin.
• This version of the Doll Man, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.

• In 1956, DC Comics obtained the rights to the Quality Comics characters, and re-introduced them 17 years later as the Freedom Fighters in Justice League of America #107 (October 1973).

• The Freedom Fighters were relocated to a parallel world, one called "Earth-X", where Nazi Germany had won World War II. The team was featured in its own series for 15 issues (1976–1978), in which it temporarily left Earth-X for "Earth-One" (where most DC titles are set).

• In 1981, some Quality Characters became recurring guest-stars of All-Star Squadron, a superhero-team title set on "Earth-Two", the locale for DC's WWII-era superheroes, and at a time prior to when the Freedom Fighters were supposed to have left for Earth-X. They later appeared with the rest of DC's superheroes in Crisis on Infinite Earths, a story that was intended to eliminate the confusing histories that DC had attached to its characters by retroactively merging the various parallel worlds into one. The Freedom Fighters became a mere splinter group of the All-Star Squadron.

• Doll Man's origin was explained in Freedom Fighters #10, mirroring the origin of the Golden Age Doll Man, but set on Earth-X. However, when the Freedom Fighters appeared in All-Star Squadron (Volume 1), Doll Man was already active as a hero, on Earth-Two before moving to Earth-X.
  • The death of Earth-X's Martha Roberts at the hands of the Nazis was added to the story.
  • The strength of Doll Man was greatly reduced. In the Quality Universe, Doll Man had the strength of 20 men, and could rip apart jail cells with his bare hands.

Related

• 51 Appearances of Darrel Dane (Earth-Two)
• 8 Images featuring Darrel Dane (Earth-Two)
• Quotations by or about Darrel Dane (Earth-Two)
• Character Gallery: Darrel Dane (Earth-Two)

Footnotes

Freedom Fighters member This character is or was a member of the Freedom Fighters, a team of American super-heroes who fight threats to the nation and its ideals under the leadership of Uncle Sam. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Freedom Fighters members" category.

All-Star Squadron member This character is or was a member of the All-Star Squadron in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "All-Star Squadron members" category.