Dan the Dyna-Mite
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| Dan the Dyna-Mite | |
 Dan the Dyna-Mite from Young All-Stars #6 Artist Brian Murray |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | World's Finest Comics #5 (Spring 1942) |
| Created by | Mort Weisinger and Hal Sharp |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Daniel Dunbar |
| Team affiliations | All-Star Squadron Young All-Stars |
Dan the Dyna-Mite is a fictional character, a teen-aged superhero published by DC Comics. He was the young sidekick to the character TNT, and was created by Mort Weisinger and Hal Sharp for DC Comics. TNT and Dyna-Mite made their debut in World's Finest Comics # 5, and starred in Star-Spangled Comics # 7-23.
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[edit] Character History
Danny Dunbar was the star pupil of Thomas N. Thomas, a high school chemistry and physical education teacher.
One evening while Thomas and Dunbar were working on an experiment, Thomas' hand accidentally touches Dunbar's and both teacher and student found themselves feeling more energized. Thomas realized that each of them had somehow absorbed the chemicals with which they had been working. By touching each other, Thomas and Dunbar became charged with an unknown form of energy and briefly possessed superhuman powers.
They decided not to reveal their discovery publicly for fear that it wouldd be misused. Instead, they use their news super-powers to fight crime as costumed heroes. Thomas became known as TNT and Dunbar as Dan the Dyna-Mite, and both joined the wartime All-Star Squadron. Thomas and Dunbar each wore a "dyna-ring." By pressing the rings together, Thomas and Dunbar triggered a chemical reaction that temporarily charged the two heroes with energy.
In April 1942, TNT and Dyna-Mite battled Nazi saboteurs who were attempting to blow up a dam in Colorado. When the saboteurs fled in a car, the pair gave chase in their own auto. One of the bullets hit the tire of the heroes' car and it crashed and burst into flames. The young hero Iron Munro pulls TNT and Dyna-Mite from the wreckage. TNT was dead, and his spirit is carried off by the Valkyrie called Gudra (a member of Axis Amerika). Munro takes Dyna-Mite to a hospital, where he soon recovered.[1]
Danny was grief-stricken but bucks up when President Roosevelt requested that he and other young members of the All-Star Squadron take a cross-country tour to encourage the buying of War Bonds.[2] His depression was worsened by the assumption that without TNT, he could no longer use his own super-powers. Soon Danny learns he could activate them by wearing both dyna-rings and pressing them together.[3]
In his "golden years," Dan joins his childhood friends Neptune Perkins, Doiby Dickles, Merry Pemberton and the Tornado Twins to form "Old Justice". They were all once sidekicks to older superheroes. They advocate abolishing teen super-teams and butted heads with Young Justice many times. Over the course of the Sins of Youth storyline, a rally in D.C. over this issue occurs. It is attacked and dozens of adult superheroes turn young and the Young Justice members turn adult. Old Justice, unaffected, find themselves having to supervise the chaotic crowd of younger heroes, with the aid of the now adult Young Justice. Temporarily working out the JLA HQ in Happy Harbor, everyone must deal with Klarion the Witch Boy, other younger supervillains and dozens of magically created monsters. It comes down to every available hand in a vicious battle in the snowfields outside an Alaskan scientific complex. At the end of the adventure, once Klarion is blackmailed into restoring the altered heroes, Old Justice realizes Young Justice really are worthy heroes.[4]
[edit] Powers
As with his mentor, he possessed a ring which controlled his powers, releasing them only when the two rings came into contact. Originally he wore only one of the rings, but after his mentor died, he discovered he could wear both rings and release the power by pressing both rings together himself.
[edit] Dyno-Mite Dan
Functional forgeries of the rings were later bought online by a superhero wannabe who called himself Dyno-Mite Dan. He appeared only once, after joining the Vigilante's short-lived new Seven Soldiers of Victory. All members of this group were slaughtered by the Gods of the Miracle Mesa (the Sheeda).[5]
[edit] Other versions
In the Elseworlds miniseries The Golden Age by James Robinson and Paul Smith, TNT is killed in an apparent accident, and Daniel Dunbar becomes very depressed. He volunteers for a government experiment (dropping an atomic bomb on him) which transforms him into the powerful Dynaman, who possesses vast superhuman strength, durability and the power of flight. However, it is revealed late in the miniseries that the Ultra-Humanite removed Dunbar's brain and replaced it with that of Adolf Hitler. Members of the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron unite to defeat Dynaman in a colossal battle in Washington, DC.
[edit] Some Appearances
- Secret Files & Origins Guide to the DC Universe 2000 #1
- Star-Spangled Comics #7-23
- Young Justice #16-20
- Young Justice: Sins of Youth #1-2
[edit] References
- ^ Young All-Stars #1 ((Jun 1987}) DC Comics
- ^ Young All-Stars #3 ((Aug 1987}) DC Comics
- ^ Young All-Stars #6 ((Nov 1987}) DC Comics
- ^ Young Justice #16 ((Jan 2000)) DC Comics
- ^ Seven Soldiers #0 ((Apr 2005)) DC Comics
