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Old 06-14-2017, 04:24 PM   #1
MikeandRaph87
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DC Villain Profiles

I thought about this thread for a while. I am of DC preference and a Batfan. I have a love of the villain side as well and thought about posting pieces about various villains in the DC Universe and discussing the different ones that I post or whatever you all post a write up on. The frequency of the villains I post will depend upon participation. Hope you like the idea.

I will start with a reluctant villain,Blockbuster (Mark Desmond). He first appeared in Detective Comics#345(1965) and reoccurred until his death in 1987 22 years later. He was once a chemist who ingested a steroid he developed to give him super strength. The reason why he wanted super strength was never explained. Despite not being a true villain he was incorporated into the villain team Secret Society of Super Villains to act as the team's muscle. Mark had a history of being used by others. Originally his older brother a low level criminal in the Gotham underworld,Roland took advantage for financial gain and against Batman once Batman and Robin got involved. From that point on an interesting yet strange plot twist developed. Mark is near mindless capabilities saw Batman as trying to hurt him so he wanted to kill Batman for harming him. However, when they middle school aged Mark was an acquaintance of Bruce Wayne who saved him from drowning.Somehow after his accidental mutation he remembers this and when Bruce removes his cowl he stops his rampage to kill Batman. He listens to only Bruce Wayne and his brother Roland. An interesting side note is that Roland was held off by Dick "Robin" Grayson in his first appearance alongside his behemoth brother and thirty two years later they will face each other multiple times over Roland's control of Bludhaven. After his involvement with the super villain organization he would try to help a suicidal woman in her twenties on Christmas Eve. He apparently died when saving her after Batman misunderstood the situation from the nearly nonverbal monster. He washed up on the shore of northern Virginia and wondered into a West Virginia mining town where was taken in and found peace. X years later he was recruited by the government to join the Suicide Squad despite not having any prison sentence to work off. Perhaps a cure for his condition was offered for his participation? I am honestly not sure. In the inception mission Blockbuster was killed off against the Brimstone creature saving the day for the Suicide Squad. After that he did appear except for a flashback story in Batgirl Year One which depicted Robin (Dick Grayson) and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) stopping him from derailing a subway train and harming the passengers. I am curious of the level of super strength of Blockbuster compared to others. He held his own if not overpowered Superwoman who I would believe would have equal the super strength of her counterpart Wonder Woman. Especially when compared to the other two muscle focused Bat Rogues Killer Croc and Bane. During most of Mark's 22 year run as a reluctant villain he was the lone muscle focused villain in the Batman Rogues Gallery.

Ironically his brother was dusted off and he suffered an accident to become just like his brother was. However, Roland unlike Mark was truly evil. A couple of years after he was mutated he sold his sold to Neron to become hyper intelligent to match his super strength Perhaps aside from gaining a Kingpin-like role over Gotham's little sister city, his best arc was when he put a hit on Oracle(Barbara Gordon)'s head for her hacking into his crime syndicate's computer mainframe and taking all of his resources away. Roland like his brother would be killed off. Roland's death was controversial for Dick Grayson because Nightwing allowed for it to happen instead of stop it. This would be played up again in Blackest Night when everyone's demons are revisited with the zombie Black Lantern Corps.

The New 52 came and went and during that time Mark Desmond as Blockbuster was back from the dead more than a quarter century after being dead to fight low level heroes Hawk and DOve alongside c-list Batman villain Signal Man never to be seen again before the Rebirth. Roland is back as Blockbuster instead as Dick Grayson recent encountered him. Will Roland serve as Nightwing's archenemy? Time will tell.

In other media I believe Blockbuster I was used to serve as a background character alongside KGBeast during the Bat-embargo in the SSoV in Justice League's final season and used as a fairly minor character in Batman:The Brace and The Bold. Roland appeared as Penguin's right-hand man in the recent Batman:The Telltale Series. While Blockbuster has had other media exposure he never got a prominent role in anything to date.

Should the reluctant villain that was Blockbuster I be brought back full time or is Roland, the evil brother a more effective villain? Thoughts on the Blockbuster brothers?

Mark Desmond aka Blockbuster I
Roland Desmond aka Blockbuster II

Roland Desmond pre-mutation.
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