Constantine Drakon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Constantine Drakon | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
Constantine Drakon is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He is a martial artist created by writer Judd Winick and artist Phil Hester as a villain to Green Arrow, and he first appeared in Green Arrow vol. 4 #27 (2003).
Contents |
[edit] Detailed History
[edit] Childhood
Although his exact height has not been given, the Greek assassin Constantine Drakon is a short individual. As a child he was teased for this by other children. Once he started killing people at the age of ten, however, he found he was no longer sensitive about his stature. He claims that he had nothing strange or traumatic in his upbringing to turn him to murder, he was simply curious to see what he could do. Discovering that he was a prodigy at killing, Constantine proceeded to make a living out of it. He considers what he does not just a job but a vocation, and takes pride out of the businesslike manner in which he operates.
[edit] Coming to Star City
When troll like monsters began to terrorize the Elevast Corporation's construction sites (for a high-end retail center in a depressed area of Star City) the corporation hired Constantine Drakon. Drakon's job was to eliminate the monsters and cover up the link between them and the Elevast corporation. Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen's investigations into the monsters put him in direct confrontation with the European assassin. In their first encounter Drakon soundly defeated Green Arrow, killing a friend of Connor Hawke (Oliver Queen's son) and crucifying Green Arrow with his own arrows, choosing not to kill the archer because he wasn't being paid enough to kill superheroes (yet).
Drakon's next victim was attorney Joanna Pierce, niece of Black Lightning, who discovered information proving that an imperfect vaccine the Elevast Corporation produced had in fact turned human beings into the troll like creatures. Joanna Pierce had recently met and become involved with Oliver Queen. Although they had broken up almost immediately after starting a relationship, her death would greatly disturb him for some time to come.
Drakon would subsequently invade the Green Arrow household looking for copies of Joanna Pierce's evidence and face Connor Hawke in battle. Connor was losing the battle badly when he received assistance from Mia Dearden (Speedy). Even then he was only able to defeat Drakon by shooting though Mia's shoulder while Drakon was holding her hostage, and then blowing up the building with Drakon in it.
After that Drakon did not appear until he was hired by the Riddler as part of a revenge scheme against Green Arrow. Drakon attacked Green Arrow's former sidekick Arsenal, cutting the young hero's throat and taking him prisoner. Mia and Connor again squared off against Drakon, who again outclassed them in martial arts skill. But the two heroes outwitted him for a second time, this time luring him into a trap set by Shift of the Outsiders.
[edit] Controversy
Two controversies developed around the character during the course of his first appearance.
- Some fans felt that the way that Drakon defeated Connor Hawke was not in keeping with what had already been established concerning Connor's skill levels. In other appearances Connor had given both Richard Dragon and Lady Shiva good matches, but he was outclassed by Drakon.
- The character Joanna Pierce was introduced in the same story that first showed Drakon. Although Green Arrow was actively seeing his long time girlfriend Black Canary, he nonetheless pursued Pierce romantically, quickly sleeping with her then breaking up with her. Some alleged that Joanna's quick introduction, romance, and death at Drakon's hands was introduced entirely to give Green Arrow a personal reason to hate Drakon - an example of Women in Refrigerators Syndrome.
[edit] Powers and abilities
While Constantine Drakon possesses no meta-powers, he is nonetheless an extraordinary martial artist, and has bested Green Arrow (Connor Hawke), one of the DC Universe's top martial artists. This would put Drakon among the top of the DCU's martial artists, along with:
- Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
- Batman
- Bronze Tiger
- Richard Dragon
- Green Arrow (Connor Hawke)
- Lady Shiva
Unlike the above martial artists, Drakon has shown himself to be exceptionally skilled with firearms, and willing to use them. He has also shown spectacular speed in all of his appearances, catching multiple arrows fired at him on several occasions, as well as throwing a knife into a man's shoulder so quickly, no one even saw him perform the motion.
It bears noting however, that all arguments above apply only to the "Modern Day" DC Universe. Val Armorr, the Karate Kid (a character that appears in various stories set in the DC Universe's future) is usually accepted as being the greatest martial artist known in any time period of the DC Universe.
