Major Disaster

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Major Disaster

Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Green Lantern v2 # 43
Created by	Gardner Fox Gil Kane

Characteristics
Alter ego	Paul Booker
Affiliations	Justice League, Justice League Elite, Army of Crime, Injustice League, Justice League Antarctica, Suicide Squad, SKULL
Notable aliases	Bennett Brodsky
Abilities	Alter probability to cause disasters (e.g. earthquakes, asteroid showers)

Major Disaster is a former DC Comics supervillain and reluctant amoral superhero. He debuted in Green Lantern (volume 2) # 43. He was killed in Infinite Crisis #7.

1 History
2 Powers
3 Appearances
4 Other media

[edit] History

Paul Booker was nothing more than a cheap crook. On the run from the police, he found an unlocked apartment window and climbed in to hide out.

Unbeknownst to him it belonged to Tom Kalmaku, Green Lantern's former friend and confidant. Accidentally activating a hidden control panel he discovered Kalmaku's casebook on Green Lantern. Using this he found the secret identities of both Green Lantern and the Flash.

Armed with this knowledge, he decided to embark on a criminal career under the name of "Major Disaster", and hired a group of criminal scientists to create devices for him capable of causing natural disasters. Using his new powers, he set out to kill the crime fighters, but was defeated and was thought to have died in the ensuing explosion. However, Disaster was wearing a device that protected him from any disaster he created. This device made his atoms reform over time, invisibly returning him to human form. However, his luck against Green Lantern failed to improve, as he was defeated again.

Major Disaster's debut. Art by Murphy Anderson.

After his defeat Green Lantern used his ring to erase the memory of the Flash's secret identity and placed a mental block stopping him from telling anyone else Lantern's own identity.

[edit] Insanity

Booker found that his power had started to internalize in him, but was growing in magnitude and slowly destroying him. He sought to remove the excess power by transferring it onto Superman, only to be defeated again. Superman, aided by Batman, also defeated him when he joined General Scarr's Army of Crime.

Seeking to finally kill Green Lantern, Booker threatened to destroy the Baldwin Hills Dam unless Jordan faced him. At the time John Stewart had taken the Green Lantern mantle and when he arrived at the dam, Disaster was confused, as he still believed Jordan was Green Lantern. Believing that Green Lantern was ridiculing him he destroyed the dam and nearly the majority of Los Angeles. Due to one of Lantern's constructs, Disaster was defeated and went insane, believing everybody to be Green Lantern.

For a time Booker served as an operative of the international crime cartel known only as SKULL, he was recruited into the cartel by its leader Simon Pons. Both Booker and SKULL ran afoul of the Outsiders when SKULL began kidnapping prominent scientists, superheroes and millionaires.

[edit] Injustice League

It was while in prison that Disaster first met The Mighty Bruce. A computer wizard who stole money from huge corporations to give to charity, The Mighty Bruce suddenly seemed vital to Disaster's future plans of a villainous team, The Injustice League. The team consisted of Disaster as leader, The Mighty Bruce, Multi-Man, Cluemaster, Big Sir and Clock King. Disaster and the League came into possession of a Thanagarian warship left over from a recent alien invasion of Earth and planned to use the weapons on board to attack the Justice League. Unfortunately for them, Guy Gardner, who was clearing up a Khund warship close by, intercepted their radio transmission and came and tore the Injustice League's ship to pieces and took the group into custody.

Once free the League decided that their criminal career would be easier in Europe and travelled to Paris to set up base. Unfortunately the Justice League Europe branch had just opened its doors and the League found themselves in the same "French for Beginners" class as the JLE. They were quickly deported from France. Their next mission involved breaking the bank at the Club JLI casino on the island of Kooey Kooey Kooey. Whilst this operation was a success, they were unable to spend their winnings as the Island started to drift into the ocean. Recruited by the JLA, Disaster helped avoid the ensuing geological and tectonic chaos by assisting Aquaman in anchoring the island to an underground volcano. He then chose to stay and face justice rather than flee, despite having the opportunity.

[edit] Justice League Antarctica

Attempting to go legit, the Injustice League were given a chance by Maxwell Lord, the JLI chief and somehow managed to stop a terrorist attack. Sent to the South Pole and christened the Justice League Antarctica, along with other nuisances G'nort and the Scarlet Skier, the team was short lived as Disaster destroyed their embassy whilst defeating a waddle of killer penguins. The team, though lacking an embassy, stayed together, acting as bodyguards for Maxwell Lord when he was in a gunshot-induced coma. They also joined the American and European Leagues, the team called the Conglomerate, and the intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo in pitched battle against Despero. Afterwards, they departed from the League.

[edit] Back into villainy

Following this the group defaulted back to crime. They attempted to steal from the cult of Minister Sun only to have their loot stolen back from them. Disaster's career took a boost when he accepted a wish from Neron that greatly enhanced his disaster causing powers making feats much easier and giving him far more disasters to cause, at the cost of his soul. Apparently at Neron's direction, Major Disaster lived up to his name when in Aquaman #14 he caused a series of events to occur that resulted in the destruction of a commercial airplane and a military submarine with all onboard both vessels killed. This destruction also caused the death of Thanatos, a minor Aquaman villain who had sought to replace the King of Atlantis.

[edit] Suicide Squad

The team then received an offer from the government to work on their Suicide Squad. During their mission Big Sir and Clock King were killed with only Multi Man surviving due to his immortal nature, and Cluemaster seriously injured and scarred. Left without his usual allies Disaster stayed on with the Squad until Superman offered him a chance to prove his heroic worth in defeating a number of Superman's foes.

[edit] Hero again

Batman also followed Disaster's career and the Dark Knight chose him to serve on a substitute Justice League of America whilst the regular members went back in time to Atlantis. Finally acting as a hero and receiving some respect for the first time in his career, Disaster jumped at the chance and remained with the team following their return. Since joining he has become extremely close to Faith and is the only person in the League to have seen her true form.

This was highly out of charcter for Batman, who essentially said "i don't care what you've done before, I need you now" considering that Batman has never before exhibited such a "forgive and forget" attitude. Indeed, Batman twice defied the rest of the superheroes when they trusted Hal Jordan during his time as Parallax (during the Final Night and Day of Judgment storylines). It is possible, however, that the full extent of Major Disaster's crimes (which have been responsible for hundreds of deaths) were or are unknown to Batman or the others, given the nature of how they occur (causing a plane to crash, for example).

Major Disaster later joined the Justice League Elite, a covert-ops arm of the Justice League led by Sister Superior. During the JLE series it was revealed that he was an alcoholic. Later, while fighting with the Justice Society of America Booker used his powers while hungover, resulting in Hawkgirl being severely injured. At the end of the Justice League Elite series he resigned from the league and asked them to 'wait a few months before sending any visitors in capes'.

It appears he was killed by Superboy-Prime during the Battle of Metropolis in the pages of Infinite Crisis #7, which has been confirmed by both DC Comics and Wizard Magazine.

[edit] Powers

Major Disaster's powers originally came from a set of weapons he used to cause natural disasters. Over time, exposure to these weapons made the powers internalize and now Disaster can cause chaos at will. His deal with Neron greatly enhanced his powers enabling him to see the strands of chaos around him. The disasters he can now control theoretically range from being able to command asteroid showers without breaking a sweat to causing heart attacks, nose bleeds and even making people trip up. He appears to have no real limitations, though he lacks fine control now. He has devised a force field for himself, using his powers to redirect attacks, though he seems not to use it much. While Major Disaster is adept at creating chaos, it takes him great effort to stop the disasters he starts.