| Elongated Man | |
|---|---|
 Elongated Man as depicted inWho's Who in the DC Universe #7 (September 1985). Art byCarmine Infantino. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | The Flash #112 (February 25, 1960) |
| Created by | John Broome (writer) Carmine Infantino (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Randolph William "Ralph" Dibny |
| Species | Metahuman |
| Team affiliations | Justice League Doom Patrol Black Lantern Corps Secret Six Justice League Europe Justice League Task Force |
| Partnerships | Sue Dibny The Flash Plastic Man |
| Abilities | (As a metahuman):
(As a ghost):
(Both):
|
Elongated Man (Randolph William "Ralph" Dibny) is asuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. He first appeared inThe Flash #112 (February 25, 1960).[1]
The character made hislive-action debut onThe CW's live-actionArrowverse television seriesThe Flash, portrayed byHartley Sawyer. Additionally,Jeremy Piven, Sean Donnellan, andDavid Kaye have voiced the character in animation.
Elongated Man was created by writerJohn Broome andpencilerCarmine Infantino, with significant input from editorJulius Schwartz, who wanted a new supporting character for theFlash.[2] Schwartz has noted that Elongated Man was only created because he had not realized thatPlastic Man was available due to DC obtaining the rights to him in 1956 alongside otherQuality Comics properties. However, Infantino and inkerMurphy Anderson stated that they never used Plastic Man as a reference.[3][4][5]
In his 2000 autobiography,The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino, the artist wrote, "I really liked Elongated Man because it was comical and I enjoyed drawing comedy. It was also one of my favorite strips, because it was as close to animation as I could do in a comic book. I liked being able to test the limits of the comic book form and this strip allowed me to do that."[6]
Elongated Man received a solo backup feature inDetective Comics, where he was redefined as a detective who loves odd mysteries and travels theUnited States in a convertible with his wife, searching for them.[7] Sometimes they would travel the world or meet other DC superheroes likeBatman,Green Lantern, theAtom andZatanna. This feature became sporadic during the late '60s and throughout the '70s. However, in 1973, he became a member of the Justice League of America, and he is mostly seen in that title from 1973 to 1995.
As a teenager, Ralph Dibny was fascinated by contortionists, or people who displayed feats of agility and suppleness. He learned that all of the body-benders he spoke with drank a popular soda called "Gingold". Ralph set to work learningchemistry and developed a super-concentrated extract of the rare "gingo" fruit of theYucatán, which gave him his elasticity.[8] In his first appearance, the Flash suspects Elongated Man is behind several crimes, but he helps capture the criminals, who reveal they used a helicopter to frame him.[9]
Ralph Dibny was one of the earliestSilver Age DC heroes to reveal his secret identity to the public, and also one of the first to marry his love interest. After teaming up with several other superheroes like Batman, Green Lantern, the Atom, Zatanna and the Justice League of America, he became a member of the team. Eventually, his wife Sue Dibny became a member as well. The couple was also notable in having a stable, happy, and relatively trouble-free marriage—an anomaly in thesoap operatic annals of superhero comic books.
Ralph Dibny played a central role in the events ofIdentity Crisis, with the main arc of the series revolving around Sue Dibny being murdered. The two's relationship, and the events that led to and resulted from her death, were used as primary narrative devices throughout the series for examining the respective personal relationships of other JLA andJSA members.
The effect of Sue's death on Ralph (compounded by the fact that Sue was apparently pregnant at the time of her death) would come to shape his character significantly in the events followingIdentity Crisis, eventually culminating at the end of52.
Ralph and Sue appeared as members of the Justice League offshoot theSuper Buddies in the miniseriesFormerly Known as the Justice League and its sequel story arc "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League" published inJLA: Classified #4–9. The latter arc was produced beforeIdentity Crisis, but published afterwards. A running joke in "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League" involves the possibility of Sue's pregnancy.
In the 2006 series52, a grief-stricken Ralph Dibny is contemplating suicide when he is informed that Sue's gravestone has been vandalized with an inverted version of theSuperman logo—theKryptonian symbol for resurrection.[10] Ralph travels toDoctor Fate's tower and attempts to use Fate's helmet to resurrect Sue, only forNeron andFelix Faust to appear, with Faust being revealed to have been posing asNabu. Neron appears and kills Ralph, but realizes that he cast a binding spell that traps him and Faust in the tower.[11]
Following Ralph's death, he and Sue appear as ghosts and gain the ability to possess human bodies, similar toDeadman.[1][12][13][14] In the 2009 eventBlackest Night, Ralph and Sue Dibny are temporarily resurrected asBlack Lanterns.[15]
InThe New 52 continuity reboot, Ralph Dibny is resurrected and depicted as a rogue member of theSecret Six under the alias of Damon Wells a.k.a. Big Shot.[16] Dibny makes his return as Elongated Man inSecret Six (vol. 4) #12.[17]
Elongated Man gained his abilities by drinking a refined version of a soft drink named Gingold that contains gingo fruit extract. It is revealed inInvasion! that Elongated Man is ametahuman and that the Gingold interacted with his latent meta-gene. An ordinary human would not develop such powers through ingesting the extract.[18]
As his name suggests, Elongated Man can stretch his limbs and body to superhuman lengths and sizes. These stretching powers grant him heightened agility, enabling flexibility and coordination that is beyond the natural limits of the human body. He can contort his body into various positions and sizes impossible for ordinary humans, such as being entirely flat so that he can slip under a door, or using his fingers to pick conventional locks. He can also use it for disguise by changing the shape of his face, although this is painful and difficult for him. Ralph's physiology has greater physical limitations thanPlastic Man; there is a limit to how far he can stretch his finite bodily mass, and he cannot open holes in his body as Plastic Man can.
Elongated Man's powers also greatly augment his durability. He is largely able to withstand corrosives, punctures and concussions without sustaining injury. It has been demonstrated that he is resistant to high velocities that would kill an ordinary person and that he is also more resistant to blasts from energy weapons that would kill ordinary humans.
In addition to his stretching abilities, Elongated Man is a professionaldetective and highly skilled indeductive reasoning. He is considered one of the most brilliant detectives in the DC Universe, comparable toBatman. He is a talented amateur chemist as well. A meta-side effect of his powers coupled with his detective skills is enhancedolfactory sense, allowing him to "smell" when something is "not right", or if a clue or mystery is at hand.
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Elongated Man appears as a character summon inScribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.[28]
[Jim Amash]: Was there any discussion about Plastic Man when you did 'The Elongated Man' with Julie? [Carmine Infantino]: No, he never mentioned him.
Not knowing that DC owned these old Quality characters—and Julie'll deny it, I guess, and say they wanted to do something different—but they came up with the Elongated Man instead of Plastic Man, and they came up with the Atom instead of Doll Man. They could have resurrected either of these two characters ... [b]ut the whole concept of Plastic Man would have escaped them. It's just crazy humor, and it needs someone who really understands that stuff.
...editor Julius Schwartz later said that if he'd known DC owned the name 'Plastic Man' (which it had acquired when Quality Comics, Plas's publisher, sold its properties to DC in 1956), he'd never have chosen such an unwieldy name for his own character.
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