Dragon Lord is the name of several unrelated fictional characters appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

Publication history

The first Dragon Lord appeared in '' Sub-Mariner'' #52-54 (August–October 1972), and was created by

Bill Everett William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie (comics), Zombie and Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), Daredevil ...

(artist)

Mike Friedrich Mike Friedrich (; born March 27, 1949) is an American comic book writer and publisher best known for his work at Marvel and DC Comics, and for publishing the anthology series '' Star*Reach'', one of the first independent comics. He is also an ar ...

(writer). The Dragon Lord Yu-Ti first appeared in ''

Marvel Premiere ''Marvel Premiere'' is an American comic book anthology series that was published by Marvel Comics. In concept it was a tryout book, intended to determine if a character or concept could attract enough readers to justify launching their own ser ...

'' #15 (May 1974), and was created by

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...

and

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz , ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day vers ...

. The character subsequently appears in ''Deadly Hands of Kung Fu'' #10 (March 1975), ''Marvel Premiere'' #22 (June 1975), '' Master of Kung Fu Annual'' #1 (1976), ''Deadly Hands of Kung Fu'' #21 (February 1976), ''Iron Fist'' #6-7 (August–September 1976), ''Marvel Team-Up'' #64 (December 1977), ''Power Man and Iron Fist'' #74-75 (October–November 1981), and ''Immortal Iron Fist'' #4-8 (May–October 2007), and #10-14 (December 2007-June 2008). Tako Shamara first appeared in ''

Marvel Spotlight ''Marvel Spotlight'' is a comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics as a try-out book. It stood out from Marvel's other try-out books in that most of the featured characters made their first appearance in the series. The series or ...

'' (vol. 2) #5 (March, 1980), and was created by

Marv Wolfman Marvin Arthur Wolfman (born May 13, 1946) is an American comic book and novelization writer. He worked on Marvel Comics's ''The Tomb of Dracula'', for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade (character), Blade, and DC Comi ...

and

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko. Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular ac ...

. In his first appearance the character battled a huge dragon from the past called a Wani, a monster that destroyed his ancestors' villages in 1582. The creature that Tako battled was intended to be

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

but since Marvel no longer had the rights to the character (which had lapsed the previous year) the creature was modified to a dragon called The Wani. Ral Dorn, the Dragon Lord, appeared in ''

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...

'' Annual #16 (1981), and was created by

Ed Hannigan Edward Hannigan (born August 6, 1951) is an Americans, American comics artist, writer, and editor for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Career Ed Hannigan's first credited comics story was published in Marvel Comics' Brand licensing, licensed ' ...

and

History

Dragon Lord

The Dragon Lord was a fanatic bent on avenging Japan's defeat in World War II. Although blind, he appears to be able to "see" mentally. He used Sunfire as an ally, but

Namor Namor McKenzie (), also known as the Sub-Mariner, is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-artist Bill Everett for comic book packager Funnies Inc., the character first appeared in '' Moti ...

later convinced Sunfire of Dragon Lord's intentions to conquer the world for his own benefit. The two heroes stopped Dragon Lord's plans and destroyed his base.

Nu-An

Nu-An is the

Yu-Ti Yu-Ti is the name of several characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Yu-Ti is the leader of the mythical city K'un-Lun and is a supporting character of Iron Fist. Publication history The Yu-Ti first appeare ...

(a name given to the rulers of K'un-Lun) who also uses the alias of Dragon Lord as did his fathe
Lord Tuan

Tako Shamara

In his first appearance the character battled a huge dragon from the past called a Wani, a monster that destroyed his ancestors' villages in 1582. Dragon Lord later appears in Camp Hammond as an official recruit for the Initiative, only to be killed when K.I.A. attacks the group of new trainees. The surviving trainees, along with

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

and the Taskmaster, present his ashes and a flag to Shamara's family at their Long Island home. Shamara's son states that he intends to honor his father by taking up his mantle.

Ral Dorn

Ral Dorn was a human of Earthly parentage who leads the Dragon Riders of the extradimensional world of Rammatpolen. The Dragon Riders use dragons as mounts in their journeys through time and space. Ral Dorn has used the Dragon Man as his own mount. Ed Hannigan spoke of the character's creation stating, "

Shooter Shooter may refer to: People * Rod Beck (1968–2007), American baseball pitcher nicknamed "Shooter" * Shooter Jennings (born 1979), country music singer * Evan McPherson (born 1999), American football placekicker nicknamed "Shooter" * Adrian Sh ...

wanted to keep the name Dragon Lord, but he wanted a new character that wasn't a kung fu character. He asked me to create one."

Powers and abilities

Nu-An is shown to have some degree of minimal combat skills. He does not appear to age due to him eating a fruit from off the Tree of Immortality. The Tako Shamara version of the Dragon Lord could summon dragons and control them through elixirs created in his cauldron. He was mocked by Taskmaster for this flaw, who felt that such an ability would not be useful in combat due to its time-consuming nature.

References

External links

Dragon Lord (disambiguation)
at Marvel.com
Dragon Lord
at the Marvel Database Project * * * * * * * * {{Steve Ditko Characters created by Bill Everett Characters created by Marv Wolfman Characters created by Mike Friedrich Characters created by Steve Ditko Comics characters introduced in 1972 Comics characters introduced in 1980 Comics characters introduced in 1981 Marvel Comics superheroes Marvel Comics supervillains