Terra-Man (Tobias Manning) is a

supervillain A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...

appearing in media published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

, primarily as an enemy of

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

Publication history

Terra-Man first appeared in ''Superman'' #249 (March 1972) and was created by

Cary Bates Cary Bates (born 1948) is an American comic book, animation, television and film writer. He is best known for his work on ''The Flash'', ''Superman'', ''Superboy, the Legion of Superheroes'' and '' Captain Atom''. Bates is the longest-serving S ...

Curt Swan Douglas Curtis Swan (February 17, 1920 – June 17, 1996) was an American comics artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans call the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 195 ...

, and

Dick Dillin Richard Allen Dillin (December 17, 1928 – March 1, 1980)Richard Dillin
at the United States Social Securi ...

. According to Bates, the character was inspired by

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

Man with No Name The Man with No Name () is the antihero character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "''Dollars Trilogy''" of Italian Spaghetti Western films: '' A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), '' For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), and '' The Good, t ...

, who appeared in three

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

films from 1964 to 1966.

Fictional character biography

Pre-''Crisis''

The pre-''

Crisis A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when ...

'' incarnation of Terra-Man is a boy from the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

who the alien Currency-Criminal adopts after accidentally killing his father Jess. As an adult, Manning kills the alien, becomes an interstellar outlaw, and tames the

winged horse A winged horse, flying horse, or pterippus is a kind of mythical creature, mostly depicted as a horse with the wings of a bird. Winged horses appear in the mythologies of various cultures including, but not limited to, Greek mythology, Chinese Myt ...

-like alien Nova.

Post-''Crisis''

The post-''Crisis'' incarnation of Terra-Man is a businessman who attacks enterprises to protect the environment. Additionally, he wields weaponry that can manipulate the environment and an army of "Terra-Men" robots. In ''

Infinite Crisis "Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, ...

'' and its follow-up series '' 52'', Terra-Man joins the

Secret Society of Super Villains Secret Society of Super Villains (SSoSV) is a DC Comics title that debuted in May–June 1976. The series presented a group of DC's supervillains, mostly foes of the Justice League, Justice League of America. The series was cancelled with issue #1 ...

before being killed by

Black Adam Black Adam (Teth-Adam) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck, and first appeared in the debut issue of Fawcett Comics' '' The Marvel Family'' comic book ...

Powers and abilities

The pre-''Crisis'' version of Terra-Man has an altered physiology that slows his aging and allows him to survive unprotected in space.

Equipment

He wields a revolver that can fire tracer bullets, energy-leeching

tumbleweeds A tumbleweed is a kind of plant habit or structure. Tumbleweed, tumble-weed or tumble weed may also refer to: Films * Tumbleweeds (1925 film), ''Tumbleweeds'' (1925 film), William S. Hart film * Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935 film), ''Tumbling Tumble ...

, and laser lassos. Terra-Man uses an Arguvian space steed named Nova for transportation. The post-''Crisis'' version of Terra-Man uses weapons that manipulate the environment (i.e., plants and the earth).

In other media

* Tobias Manning appears in the ''

Justice League Unlimited ''Justice League Unlimited'' (''JLU'') is an American superhero animated series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation with DC Comics in season 3 and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Universe, and ...

'' episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part One: Weird Western Tales", voiced by

Ed O'Ross Ed O'Ross (born Edward Orss; July 5, 1949) is an American actor. His prominent roles include Itchy in ''Dick Tracy'', Max Kale in ''Walker, Texas Ranger'', Colonel Perry in '' Universal Soldier'', Lt. Touchdown in ''Full Metal Jacket'', ruthless ...

. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. This version is an outlaw from the 1880s. * Terra-Man appears in the ''

Legion of Super Heroes The Legion of Super-Heroes is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the Legion is a group of superpowered beings living in the 30th and 31st centuries of t ...

'' episode "Unnatural Alliances", voiced by Jeff Black. This version is a self-repairing android from the 41st century who the artificial intelligence K3NT created and sent back in time to the 31st century to kill a boy named Abel before he can create the technology utilized by

Imperiex Imperiex () is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He was initially introduced as an adversary to the superhero Superman before becoming a main antagonist for the crossover "Our Worlds at War". Imperiex has made limite ...

. In response, Imperiex works with K3NT's other creation, Kell-El / Superman X, to protect Abel, destroy Terra-Man, and preserve the timeline. * Terra-Man appears as a character summon in '' Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.''

References

External links

* Terra-Man (Earth-One) at DC Comics Wiki * Terra-Man (New Earth) at DC Comics Wiki
Terra-Man
at Comic Vine {{DC Western Characters Characters created by Cary Bates Characters created by Curt Swan Characters created by Dick Dillin Comics characters introduced in 1972 DC Comics businesspeople DC Comics male supervillains DC Comics orphans DC Comics Western (genre) characters Fictional environmentalists Superman characters