Elongated Man

Elongated Man (Randolph "Ralph" Dibny) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in '' The Flash'' #112 (February 25, 1960).

The character made his live-action debut in the fourth season of The CW's live-action Arrowverse television series '' The Flash'', portrayed by Hartley Sawyer. In June 2020, Sawyer was fired ahead of the series' seventh season after social media posts with racist and misogynistic references resurfaced.

Publication history

Elongated Man was created by writer John Broome and penciler Carmine Infantino, with significant input from editor Julius Schwartz, who wanted a new supporting character for the Flash. Julius Schwartz has noted that Elongated Man was only created because he had not realized that Plastic Man was available due to DC obtaining the rights to him in 1956 alongside other Quality Comics properties. However, Infantino and inker Murphy Anderson stated that he never used him as a reference for anything.

In his 2000 autobiography, ''The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino'', the artist wrote, "I really liked Elongated Man because it was comical and I enjoyed drawing comedy. It was also one of my favorite strips, because it was as close to animation as I could do in a comic book. I liked being able to test the limits of the comic book form and this strip allowed me to do that."

Elongated Man received a solo backup feature in ''Detective Comics'', where he was redefined as a detective who loves odd mysteries and travels the United States in a convertible with his wife, searching for them. Sometimes they would travel the world or meet other DC superheroes like Batman, Green Lantern, the Atom and Zatanna. This feature became sporadic during the late '60s and throughout the '70s. However, in 1973, he became a member of the Justice League of America, and he is mostly seen in that title from 1973 to 1995.

Fictional character biography

As a teenager, Ralph Dibny was fascinated by contortionists, or people who displayed feats of agility and suppleness. He learned that all of the body-benders he spoke with drank a popular soda called "Gingold". Ralph set to work learning chemistry and developed a super-concentrated extract of the rare "gingo" fruit of the Yucatán, which gave him his elasticity. In his first appearance, the Flash suspects Elongated Man is behind several crimes, but he helps capture the criminals, who reveal they used a helicopter to frame him.

Ralph Dibny was one of the earliest Silver Age DC heroes to reveal his secret identity to the public, and also one of the first to marry his love interest. After teaming up with several other superheroes like Batman, Green Lantern, the Atom, Zatanna and the Justice League of America, he became a member of the team. Eventually, his wife became a member as well. The couple was also notable in having a stable, happy, and relatively trouble-free marriage—an anomaly in the soap operatic annals of superhero comic books.

''Identity Crisis''

Ralph Dibny played a central role in the events of ''Identity Crisis'', with the main arc of the series revolving around Sue Dibny being murdered. The healthy, stable relationship between Ralph and Sue, and the events that led to and resulted from her death, were used as primary narrative devices throughout the series for examining the respective personal relationships of other JLA and JSA members (and to a lesser extent, members of the supervillain community).

The effect of Sue's death on Ralph (compounded by the fact that Sue was apparently pregnant at the time of her death) would come to shape his character significantly in the events following ''Identity Crisis'', eventually culminating at the end of the weekly series '' 52''.

Ralph and Sue appeared as members of the Justice League offshoot the Super Buddies in the miniseries '' Formerly Known as the Justice League'' and its sequel story arc " I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League" published in ''JLA: Classified'' #4-9. The latter arc was produced before ''Identity Crisis'', but published afterwards. A running joke in "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League" involves the possibility of Sue's pregnancy.

''52''

In the 2006 weekly series ''52'', a grief-stricken Ralph Dibny is contemplating suicide when he is informed that Sue's gravestone has been vandalized with an inverted version of Superman's 'S' symbol—the Kryptonian symbol for resurrection. He confronts Cassie Sandsmark, and she tells Dibny that she is in a cult that believes that Superboy can be resurrected. She steals Ralph's wedding ring after the cult members try to drown Ralph.

During Week 11, after scaring some cult members and chasing them off, he gets a report that someone broke into a storage container in Opal City and stole Sue's clothes. In Week 12, Ralph finds Wonder Girl and she tells him they stole the clothes and ring to make a Sue dummy. She invites him to the ceremony.

During Week 13, Ralph goes to the ceremony. Metamorpho, the Green Arrow, Zauriel, and Hal Jordan come with him. Despite his initial agreement, Dibny and his friends disrupt the ceremony, but the effigy of Sue crawls to Dibny and calls out to him as it burns; Dibny suffers a nervous breakdown as a result.

During Week 18, other members of the Croatoan Society (Detective Chimp, Terri Thirteen, and Edogawa Sangaku) find Tim Trench dead with the helmet of Doctor Fate, Nabu. Ralph comes to investigate and asks for help from the Shadowpact, Detective Chimp's other group. A voice from within the helm of Doctor Fate, unheard by the other members of the group, speaks to Dibny and promises to fulfill his desires if he makes certain sacrifices. Dibny journeys with the helm through the afterlives of several cultures, where he is cautioned about the use of magic.

During Week 27, the Spectre promises to resurrect Sue in exchange for Dibny's taking vengeance on Jean Loring, but Dibny is unable to do so.

During Week 32, Ralph ventures to Nanda Parbat and gets into a fight with the Yeti