| Gorgon | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Justice League Europe #15 (June 1990) |
| In-story information | |
| Full name |
|
| Team affiliations | Extremists |
| Abilities | Possesses superhumanly strong tentacles |
Gorgon is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
The most common of the Gorgons was part of the evil gang called the Extremists. [1] He is based on the Marvel Comics supervillain Doctor Octopus, but his tentacles are organic rather than mechanical.
The Andonis Bal incarnation of Gorgon first appeared in New Teen Titans (vol. 2) #24 (October 1986), and was created by Marv Wolfman and Eduardo Barreto.
The Extremist incarnation of Gorgon first appeared in Justice League Europe #15 (June 1990), and was created by Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones, and Bart Sears.
The Dr. Mortimer incarnation of Gorgon first appeared in Countdown #29 (October 2007), and was created by Giffen, Jones, and Sears.
The Earth-8 incarnation of Gorgon first appeared in Justice League of America (vol. 5) #1 (April 2017), and was created by Giffen, Jones, and Sears.
Greek archaeologist Andonis Bal and his wife Angelika are on an excavation at the base of Mount Olympus when a statue of Medusa they had found comes to life and attacks them. With Andonis blinded by the attack, Mento experiments on him and transforms his hair into snakes so that he would be able to see in all directions. Gorgon serves Mento solely out of fear. [2]
The first Gorgon is a supervillain from Angor, a duplicate of Earth in another dimension. The Extremists wipe out Angor in a nuclear explosion, leaving only themselves and a few heroes who flee to Earth. The Extremists pursue the heroes and it is revealed that all but one of them had died and the surviving one, Dreamslayer, used androids of his comrades, including Gorgon, to replace them. The androids are deactivated and stored in the Watchtower. [1]
The second Gorgon is a robotic duplicate of the first Gorgon, one of many robots created by inventor Mitch Wacky as part of a theme park attraction. After the death of virtually all heroes and villains on Angor, Dreamslayer uses the robot duplicates to re-create the Extremists. The Extremists are defeated by Justice League Europe and stored in Madame Clouseau's Wax Museum in Paris. [1]
In Lord Havok and the Extremists series (2007), a new version of Gorgon is featured, a denizen of Earth-8. This version is a scientist who was working on genetic alteration to give a person the ability to deal with threats by changing into a monster form. After being caught in an explosion at his lab, Mortimer is transformed into a Gorgon-like creature whose head tentacles each possess a different personality. After one of the tentacles kills his girlfriend, a distraught Mortimer is recruited by Lord Havok. [3]
The Earth-8 incarnation of Gorgon is a member of the Extremists who escaped his world before it was destroyed in a nuclear war. He battles the Justice League before being killed by Black Canary. [4]
The Andonis Bal version of Gorgon can see with the snakes that replace his hair. Each snake can generate beams that temporarily petrify whatever they hit.
The Extremist versions of Gorgon have a set of tentacles on their head that can grapple with superhuman strength.
An unidentified Gorgon makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Shadow of the Hawk".