Roger Aubrey (Earth-616)

Destroyer
Name	Roger Aubrey
Current Alias	Destroyer
Aliases	Dyna-Mite, Mighty Destroyer
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Formerly Head of the Penance Council of the V-Battalion, Invaders Crusaders,
Relatives	Brian Falsworth (lover, deceased)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′2″ (1.88 m)
Weight	221 lbs (100.24 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Grey-haired, Blond (formerly)
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human, Mutate
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	presumably London, England
Cause of Death	Killed by M.O.D.O.K. Superior
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	English, British
Occupation	Retired, formerly V-Battalion leader, adventurer, freedom fighter
Education	Unfinished college degree
Base of Operations	Symkaria
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Bob Powell, Roy Thomas, Frank Robbins
First	Invaders #14 (November, 1976) (First Identified Appearance, as Dyna-Mite) All Winners Comics #8 (April, 1943) (Retroactively Credited) Invaders #26 (December, 1977) (As Mighty Destroyer)
First	Invaders #14 (November, 1976) (First Identified Appearance, as Dyna-Mite) All Winners Comics #8 (April, 1943) (Retroactively Credited) Invaders #26 (December, 1977) (As Mighty Destroyer)
Death	Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (Vol. 2) #10 (March, 2023)
Death	Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (Vol. 2) #10 (March, 2023)

 My mind's been sharpening against the whetstone of fascism for nearly a century. 

—Destroyer (Roger Aubrey)

History

Roger Aubrey as Dyna-Mite

Origin

Accompanying his friend Brian Falsworth to Nazi Germany just prior to the outbreak of World War II, Roger Aubrey became a captive of the Reich upon war breaking out.

He was subjected to experiments conducted by Colonel Dietrich, and was shrunk to a height of 12 inches. Brainwashed, he returned to the U.K. as Dyna-Mite to become a member of the Crusaders, a group of Allied superheroes who each unwittingly owed their powers to the Nazis. Unknown to the team, their ally Alfie was a German agent, and the group had been formed with the intention of discrediting the Invaders and assassinating King George VI. After encountering the Invaders, Alfie's villainy was exposed by Roger and the evil plan was thwarted.

Colonel Dietrich was subsequently captured and forced to reverse the process which shrank Roger; Aubrey then took on the new identity of the Destroyer (recently abandoned by Brian Falsworth), and went behind enemy lines to continue the fight.

Modern Times

Once the war ended, Roger joined Brian and several other heroes in secretly forming a covert group, the V-Battalion, dedicated to preventing anyone like Hitler from ever again threatening the peace of the world. When Brian died in a car crash in 1953, Roger offered to take on the identity as a tribute to his lover, but was denied by Brian's father Montgomery. Instead he soldiered on as the Destroyer, leading the V-Battalion into the 21st century. He was forced to re-evaluate his aggressive position after being temporarily killed, and handed over the Battalion's leadership to the more moral hands of Jim Hammond (the Human Torch).

When the Thin Man revived the Invaders, Roger became wary of his true goals and began to investigate. He called on the group for assistance against the forces of Baroness Blood, during which fight he came to accept Joseph Chapman as a worthy Union Jack successor to Brian. Following this, Roger and his ally Hammond confronted the Thin Man and effectively deposed him as leader of the Invaders.

The Century Game

Roger later joined Radio Company, a ham radio club, alongside Steve Rogers, Pam, a Korean War nurse, and John Koroki, a former rocket scientist. During one of their meetings, the group heard a coded message being broadcast from an unknown source. With Roger's help, the message was decoded and revealed the location of a potential terrorist attack, which was subsequently thwarted by Steve and the Winter Soldier. Radio Company continued to monitor the broadcasts and decode the messages; Roger theorizing they were part of a game-like global conspiracy to influence world events. The last message lead Captain America to a power plant in Germany called The Forge where he uncovered the Outer Circle, a shadowy organization that had a hand in many key moments throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Roger used his contacts and discovered that the Outer Circle, via A.I.M., was planning something and offered his assistance to Steve. Roger met with Steve, Sharon and Peggy Carter, Nick Fury, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Outer Circle defector The Redacted, and concluded that A.I.M. were after an underground facility in lower Manhattan once belonging to Arnim Zola. The group planned to meet in two days to stake out the location but were ambushed by the Outer Circle's agent: M.O.D.O.C., the Mental Organism Designed Only for Control, an alternate form of M.O.D.O.K., who erased their memories and scattered them around the country. The group was missing five days and in that time, A.I.M. took over Lower Manhattan. Regaining their memories with the help of Emma Frost, the heroes regrouped as a new iteration of the Invaders and prepared to liberate Manhattan.

The Invaders split up into three sub-teams, each with a specific task. Roger and Sharon were tasked with destroying A.I.M.'s command center. During their mission, the two quickly became friends, with Roger telling Sharon about his past adventures and his relationship with Brian. After destroying the command center, Roger, along with the rest of the Invaders, was again confronted by M.O.D.O.C., who placed them all in their own mind prison where they were forced to relive painful memories. Roger managed to free himself and the rest of the team, and subdue M.O.D.O.C.. However, M.O.D.O.C. reverted to M.O.D.O.K. and shot Roger with a blast of energy, killing him instantly.

Legacy

Roger was laid to rest in his native England next to Brian following a memorial service attended by his friends and former team mates from the Invaders, V-Battalion, and Crusaders . In Roger's honor, Sharon took up the mantle of the Destroyer and vowed to continue his fight against evil.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

• Shrinking: The Destroyer retains the ability to shrink down to 12" tall, while maintaining his full strength level. He keeps this power a close secret to maintain the advantage of surprise.

Abilities

• Fighting Skill: Destroyer is an exceptional hand-to-hand fighter with decades of experience.
• Peak Physical Condition: Despite his old age Roger maintains the strength and vitality of a man half his age.

Notes

• The Crusaders were created as counterparts to the Freedom Fighters (Golden Age characters originally owned by Quality Comics, and later, at the time in question, by DC Comics). Simultaneously to the Invaders encountering the Crusaders, each one of whom was an analogue of one of the Freedom Fighters, over in the Freedom Fighter's title, that team also encountered a group called the Crusaders, each one of whom mapped onto a member of the Invaders. In Dyna-Mite's case, he was a tip-of-the-hat to Doll Man.

Trivia

• Roger was in a homosexual relationship with Brian Falsworth the second Union Jack, making them among the first chronologically gay characters in Marvel Comics.

See Also

• 62 appearance(s) of Roger Aubrey (Earth-616)
• 3 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Roger Aubrey (Earth-616)
• 6 minor appearance(s) of Roger Aubrey (Earth-616)
• 6 mention(s) of Roger Aubrey (Earth-616)
• 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Roger Aubrey (Earth-616)
• 11 image(s) of Roger Aubrey (Earth-616)
• 3 quotation(s) by or about Roger Aubrey (Earth-616)

Links and References

List of Appearances

• Invaders #14 - First Appearance (As Dyna-Mite)
• Invaders #26 - First Appearance (As the Destroyer)

Complete List