History
Origin[]
3-D Man was a 1950s hero who came about through the unique merger of two brothers, Hal and Chuck Chandler. Chuck was a test pilot for NASA in 1958 who was abducted by alien Skrulls during an important test flight for the XF-13 rocket plane. Earth was seen as a strategic location in the ongoing conflict between the alien Kree and Skrull Empires, so the Skrulls were seeking information on Earth's space program and had captured Chuck to interrogate him. Chuck resisted and escaped on the XF-13, accidentally causing the explosion of the Skrull spacecraft in the process. While his brother Hal watched, the radiation from the explosion seemingly disintegrated Chuck, who disappeared in a burst of light. The rocket plane itself crashed in the Mojave Desert, and Hal, though injured, went over there to rescue him. Hal later discovered, however, that the light burst had imprinted an image of Chuck on each lens of Hal's eyeglasses. It was revealed that the Skrull radiation has caused him to become a living two-dimensional person within the glasses. Through concentration, Hal could merge the images and cause Chuck to reappear as a three-dimensional man whenever he put on the glasses. In this state, Chuck's normal abilities were tripled, and he took on a red-and-green appearance. Chuck and Hal became the costumed adventurer known as the 3-D Man and single-handedly subverted the Skrulls' early attempts to undermine Earthly civilization as well as the Cold Warrior.[4]
Hal would remain comatose whenever the 3-D Man was active but remained aware of the 3-D Man's activities through a mental link. Later, a Skrull's ray weapon altered the transformation so that Hal was the 3-D Man's dominant consciousness for some time. Both brothers' minds seemed to be present in the 3-D Man at all times, but only one of them (usually Chuck) would be in conscious control of the 3-D Man's form on any given occasion.[5]
Retirement[]
After a brief career as a costumed adventurer, Hal decided to retire the 3-D Man, partly because he was thinking about starting a family, and partly because he was afraid his brother's consciousness might somehow be lost during periods when Hal was the 3-D Man's dominant consciousness. Hal settled down into a career as a research scientist, got married to Chuck's former girlfriend, Peggy Clark, and raised two sons named after Chuck and Hal. He had only activated the 3-D Man twice in recent years. In the first attempt, Hal came upon Bruce Banner, and became afraid his Hulk persona would manifest. After fighting Hulk, who actually did come about, he retired permanently from the persona -- but not before his family discovered that Chuck was somehow still alive and Hal had been hiding this secret from them.[1] However, 3-D Man was among the heroes summoned by the Grandmaster. During this time as 3-D Man, Chuck seemed to be its dominant consciousness again.[6]
Triple-Evil[]
More recently, Hal began to feel a strange impulse to travel to the Himalayan mountains of India. Unbeknownst to him, the presence of a powerful mystical artifact was calling to him. The artifact was a pyramid-shaped shard of light, one of three such shards that were created by the universe in reaction to the presence of pure evil that was cast adrift in this dimension by the extradimensional gods known as the Trion. One of these shards were captured by the Skrulls who had abducted Chuck Chandler, and its energies had merged with Chuck in creating the 3-D Man. Chandler also heard the call of the other shard and mounted an expedition to find it. He was betrayed, however, by Jonathan Tremont, one of the expedition's guides, who claimed the shard for himself. Hal was held captive by Tremont for many years, and Tremont used the power of his shard to create the religious organization called the Triune Understanding. Tremont had discovered the true origin of the shards and hoped to use the Understanding to end the threat of the Trion's cast-off evil, which he termed the "Triple-Evil." Tremont also sought out alternate weapons against the Triple-Evil. He used the power of the shard that was internalized in Hal Chandler to release the powers within a new follower, Delroy Garrett Junior, creating the superhuman champion Triathlon. Triathlon unknowingly held the essence of both Hal and Chuck within himself.[7]
Ultimately, Tremont and the hero team Avengers (which now included Triathlon among their members) fought the Triple-Evil and the aliens it had corrupted. Tremont sensed that he might overwhelm the power of the Triple-Evil, to use it for himself to become as a god, and then to reward himself with dominion over all the Earth. Instead, Triathlon found the remaining third shard and, coupling it with the power within him as personified in the 3-D Man, he wrested control of the shard used by Tremont. Using all three shards, a Triathlon/Hal Chandler/Chuck Chandler amalgamation emerged and was able to destroy the Triple-Evil.[7]
Kang the Conqueror[]
Triathlon/3-D Man used the pyramid that once housed the Triple-Evil to return the Avengers to Earth, which had since been conquered by the time traveling Kang. They used the power of the pyramid, channeling the energies of all those who fell on its assault for millennia, to fight back and ultimately Kang was defeated. Triathlon returned to Peggy Chandler, separating himself from Hal and Chuck and restoring both of them to physical form. Triathlon found his triple-powers had remained, although Hal and Chuck no longer possessed the power to transform into 3-D Man.[8]
The Initiative & Secret Invasion[]
After Garrett's graduation from the Initiative training program, they presented him with the gift of their original 3-D Man costume, and asked him to bear the name.[9] During the Skrull invasion they provided assistance from afar and continued to assist Garrett afterwards.[10]
Death[]
Following a mysterious attack on Garrett, the Chandlers fell victim to a similar attack, resulting in Charles' death and Hal being beaten severely and falling into a coma.[11]Attributes
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Powers
- Intelligence: Above normal
- Speed: Enhanced human
- Stamina: Peak human
- Durability: Peak human
- Agility: Peak human
- Reflexes: Peak human
- See True Forms of Skrulls
Through concentration, Hal could merge the images of his brother imprinted on his glasses and thus cause his brother Chuck to reappear as a three-dimensional man, clad in an altered version of his experimental flight suit and endowed with physical abilities roughly three times greater than those of an ordinary human. Hal would fall into a trance-like state when Chuck appeared, and Chuck could only exist in the three-dimensional world for three hours at a time, after which Hal had to revive.
As the 3-D Man, Chandler possessed roughly three times the physical abilities and sensory acuity of an ordinary human in peak condition and is capable of slightly superhuman strength and speed. His stamina, durability, agility and reflexes are also estimated to be superhuman, namely roughly triple that of a human in peak physical condition. He could also see Skrulls in their true form no matter what form they took.Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Costume Specifications:
- 3-D Man's Suit: A specially designed NASA flight suit (circa late 1950s), altered in appearance and bonded to his skin.
Notes
- This character has no known relation to Charles Chandler IV, who's a member of the band Zip-Tones.
See Also
- 23 appearance(s) of Charles Chandler (Earth-616)
- 7 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Charles Chandler (Earth-616)
- 14 image(s) of Charles Chandler (Earth-616)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Charles Chandler (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Incredible Hulk #251
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #14
- ↑ Marvel Premiere #35
- ↑ Marvel Premiere #35–36
- ↑ Marvel Premiere #37
- ↑ Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Avengers (Vol. 3) #50
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 3) #52–55
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #12
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #16
- ↑ Atlas #1
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Golden Age 2004 Vol 1 1