Dirk Anger

Dirk Anger is a satirical Marvel Comics character appearing in the book Nextwave. He was created by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen.

Anger is a thinly veiled, over-the-top parody of Nick Fury. Ellis originally intended to use Fury,^[1] but when that character was unavailable, he created Dirk Anger.

Despite the appearance of Nextwave characters in other Marvel titles, in 2006 Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada stated that Nextwave's setting was in a universe separate from the main Marvel continuity.^[2] However, recent issues of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, as well as Civil War: Battle Damage Report,^[3] consistently place Nextwave's activities in mainstream continuity.

Fictional character biography

Dirk Anger is the Director of the Highest Anti Terrorist Effort (H.A.T.E.), and apparently oversees all operations aboard the Aeromarine (a reference to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier - but while the Helicarrier is essentially a flying aircraft carrier, the Aeromarine appears to consist of several submarines, bolted together, with rocket engines). Anger is fully aware that The Beyond Corporation©, which funds H.A.T.E., is the newest version of terrorist cell S.I.L.E.N.T. However, he simply doesn't care.

Anger is over ninety years old, but has, through chemical means ("H.A.T.E. has the best drugs"), an extended lifespan. It has been hinted that Anger has been married at least once, and that he has met Winston Churchill and bested him in a hula hoop contest.

Anger has a multitude of psychological issues, including misogyny, bulimia, alcoholism, nicotine addiction, depression, sadism, and a fixation on a flowery house dress that may have belonged to his mother (in a scene reminiscent of Norman Bates). It is implied that his mother is in fact Andrea Dworkin, although this was made during an off-the-cuff comment.^[4] At one point, he was fed chopped-up baby chicks through an intravenous tube; it is unknown whether this is a regular treatment. He has also revealed (in Nextwave #6) that his wife, upon turning forty, refused to give in any longer to a fetish of his involving a wig, a chicken, and a bathful of acid; she then apparently took all his money, painted everything pink, had him adopt 'a million screaming little snot-factory children', and went under the belief that her womb would fall out should he touch her.

Dirk has been seen playing a bizarre form of Russian Roulette with a pistol larger than a semi-truck. The barrel curves back around to point at Dirk's seat atop the gun. He also attempted to kill himself by taking an overdose of pills in a bowl of ice cream. Shortly after he began to eat however, he got word that NextWave was in a death situation and he was free to watch them. Given a new will to live, he asks for "A case of vodka, eight loose women and a stomach pump!", which is how he apparently survives the poisoning.

Dirk Anger accidentally (and finally) committed suicide by hanging during his pursuit of the Nextwave squad. However, the Beyond Corporation© had installed a "Zombie Switch" in his brain, preventing him from dying, yet leaving him craving human brains. He apparently was completely destroyed when he ordered his aeromarine to ram Nextwave's ship into Beyond's floating city, claiming to the aeromarine crew that he "reinvented suicide as a group activity. Go me."

His final words are "My Name's Dirk Anger and I say ☠☠☠☠ all of you."

Awards

• Dirk Anger won the "Favorite Comics Villain" Eagle Award in 2007.

References