 | The topic of this articlemay not meet Wikipedia'sgeneral notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citingreliable secondary sources that areindependent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to bemerged,redirected, ordeleted. Find sources: "Big Ben Donovan" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Big Ben Donovan | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #14 (October 1973) |
| Created by | Steve Englehart Billy Graham |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Benjamin Donovan |
| Species | Human |
| Abilities | Super-strength |
Benjamin "Big Ben"Donovan is afictionalcharacter appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Depending on his appearance in the comics, Big Ben Donovan is a either criminal lawyer who has appeared in the comics that starredDaredevil andLuke Cage or a gang leader.
Donovan was portrayed by Danny Johnson in theMarvel Television seriesDaredevil andLuke Cage (both 2016-2018), set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Leilani Barrett voices the character in the MCU animated seriesYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2025).
Big Ben Donovan first appeared inLuke Cage, Hero for Hire #14 and was created bySteve Engelhart and Billy Graham.
Big Ben Donovan is a large man and alawyer that is close to 8 feet (2.4 m) in height. Mrs. Jenks hired him to settle the last of Mr. Jenks' affairs. When Mrs. Jenks would be giving Big Ben Donovan the payoff, he drunkenly went after Mrs. Jenks who ran to the office ofLuke Cage. This led to a fight between Luke Cage and Big Ben Donovan which ended with Big Ben Donovan surrendering upon the misunderstanding being cleared up. Big Ben Donovan agreed to help Luke Cage out in any way.[1]
Big Ben Donovan later witnessed Mrs. Jenks' confession of killing a reporter named Phil Fox (who was actually killed by Billy Bob Rackham). He then informed Luke Cage about Mrs. Jenks' confession before she died.[2]
Big Ben Donovan acted asClaire Temple's lawyer in order to clear her of the murder charge. He then continued working as Luke Cage's lawyer until he started working withJeryn Hogarth.[3]
Big Ben Donovan had a brother named Paul who just became the leader of the Thunderbolts Gang where they made the mistake of fighting theMaggia for control of their turf. After his brother was killed in prison by operatives of the Maggia, Big Ben Donovan's sanity broke where he vowed vengeance on those responsible starting with Assistant District AttorneyWilliam Carver's brother Lonnie. During the struggle with William Carver, a sniper tried to shoot them at Lonnie Carver's funeral only to end up orchestrating the event that turned Bill Carver into Thunderbolt. Then Big Ben Donovan hijacked a Maggia shipment that was under the supervision ofCaesar Cicero. When Big Ben Donovan turned to Luke Cage for help, they defeated Caesar Cicero's men before being defeated byMan Mountain Marko who brought them to Caesar Cicero. Before Caesar Cicero's men could bury Luke Cage alive,Iron Fist and Thunderbolt arrived to help Luke Cage and Big Ben Donovan. Upon Thunderbolt realizing that Big Ben Donovan had Lonnie Carver killed, Thunderbolt removed his mask and advanced towards Big Ben Donovan as Luke Cage emerged from the ground to intervene. Before Thunderbolt died of his powers' side effects that aged him to an old man, he was happy that he now knows who killed his brother.[4]
Big Ben Donovan later came under the employ ofTombstone at the time when Tombstone was working for the Serbian Black Maria Gang. When the "Marvel Knights" investigated the criminal activity, Tombstone sentBengal, Big Ben Donovan, andBullet to deal with them.[5] Big Ben Donovan faced off againstDaredevil whereBlack Widow's "widow bites" managed to take down Big Ben Donovan.[6]
Big Ben Donovan was incarcerated in the Cage, where he gained weight. Upon Tombstone being incarcerated at the Cage, he enlisted Big Ben Donovan,Hypno-Hustler, and a secondRocket Racer to help him againstKangaroo. When the three villains held Kangaroo down so that Tombstone could kill him, the prison guards intervened.[7] Kangaroo beat back his attackers, which landed Big Ben Donovan, Hypno-Hustler, and Rocket Racer II in the prison infirmary.[8]
It was revealed that Big Ben Donovan has a son named Little Ben Donovan who Big Ben Donovan left as a kid. He did manage to put money into his son's trust fund so that he could go to Columbia University after high school. During that time, Eric Slaughter took over the criminal organization at the docks, where he had his minion Floyd kill a dock worker.[9] Agent Purcell of a rogue task force had found Big Ben Donovan in his prison and forced him to take the rap for the dock worker's murder and be sentenced to death or else they will harm Little Ben Donovan.[10]
Five days from his execution, Big Ben Donovan was visited byDakota North where she recorded his confession and his conversion to Islam. He later got a visit from Matt Murdock, who wanted to be his lawyer.[11] Matt Murdock expressed his interest in helping Big Ben Donovan getting cleared of all charges. Though Big Ben Donovan denied that he was innocent and later tried strangling himself in his cell.[12] Matt Murdock later visited Big Ben Donovan in the prison's hospital where he told Matt Murdock to back off.[9] Upon bringing Little Ben Donovan with him, Matt Murdock visited Big Ben Donovan and told him that Floyd confessed to his crimes.[10]
During the "Shadowland" storyline, Big Ben Donovan metDeadly Nightshade at Ryker's Island when it comes to dealing with the members of theFlashmob (consisting ofChemistro,Cheshire Cat,Comanche,Dontrell "Cockroach" Hamilton,Mr. Fish, andSpear). While Dontrell Hamilton, Mr. Fish, and Spear were released, Big Ben Donovan was unable to secure the release of Chemistro, Cheshire Cat, and Comanche due to their warrants and/or parole violations.[13]
During the "Gang War" storyline, Big Ben Donovan was shown on the map to have territory inMott Haven, Bronx andPort Morris, Bronx.[14] A flashback showed that the gang members that worked for him had fought the A.I.M. Agents onMadame Masque's side to keep them out of their territory. His territory was claimed by theMenagerie offscreen.[15]
Big Ben Donovan has super-strength.
Back in his early days, he sported really big platform shoes where the tips and the heels are made of steel that enable him to do powerful kicking attacks.
| Supporting characters | |
|---|---|
| Enemies | |
| Teams | |
| Publications | |
| Other media | |
