le BEAVER

Real Name: Pierre Dentifris  (see comments)

Identity/Class: Human technology user
   citizen of Canada

Occupation: Crackpot; super-patriot;
    former hotel and airline magnate

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: An army of beavers; Bellhop;
    presumably Band of the Bland (Black Hole/Morton Kribbee, Sitting Bullseye/Oliver Bedwette, Spanker/Fred Hovel), Black Talon (Thibodaux Boudreaux), Doctor Angst (Floyd Mangles), Jackpot, Jokester, Greedy Killerwatt, Kong Lomerate, Maller, Pro-Rata, Puffin, Quizling, and Wally Sidney (see comments);
    unrevealed relationship with Brotherhood of Evil Prepositions (Amonger, Arounder, Betweener, Of, Underneather, Withiner), Galactongue

Enemies: All-Night Party (pawns), Howard the Duck, Beverly Switzler, Sgt. Preston Dudley (and his horse, Prince, and his dog, "Elizabeth"), the USA;
    presumably Andy the Angel, Chirreep, Jennifer Kale, Korrek, Master C'haaj, Hemlock Shoals, Claude Starkowski (see comments)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Canada's only Super-Patriot;
    possibly le Castor (see comments)

Base of Operations: Canada (by Niagra Falls)

First Appearance:  Howard the Duck I#9 (February, 1977)

Powers/Abilities: Dentifris was paralyzed in all of his extremities except his teeth (?), and was confined to a wheelchair. He wore an exo-skeleton ("the most formidable one ever designed by man") to enable him to regain normal motor ability. This enhanced his strength and durability to unrevealed levels (presumably at least enhanced human). It also presumably enhanced his digging and chewing abilities. The source of his exo-skeleton is unrevealed.

    He used an army of trained beavers that could chew through solid trees in minutes, and were able to work together to kidnap a human; they would lose the will to live if he died.

    Le Beaver also had a history of involving bellboys in his plots, and using robot planes against his enemies.

Height: 5' 10" (by approximation)
Weight: 200 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White (balding)

History: (Howard the Duck I#9 (fb)) - Pierre Dentifris was once a wealthy and powerful man in Canada. A fanatical Canadian patriot, he loved his country, and grew sick of the USA, which he saw as invading and polluting his country with industry and (so-called) culture. Dentifris turned his resources to a daring plan to teach the USA a lesson. He airlifted a million beavers to construct a dam across Niagra Falls, planning to make it fall ze...I mean, the other way. His pets succeeded, slowing the Falls to a trickle, but the US Air Force arrived and dropped bombs on the dam, blowing it apart. As a result of this, Dentifris aged nearly 73 years in a few months and was almost completely paralyzed.

(Howard the Duck I#7 - BTS) - Dentifris decided to have a perfectly honest candidate run for president of the United States, and then ruin him in the public eye. He hoped that this defeat would lay bare the rottenness of the USA's political process and engineer the Dispirit of '76. Then he and his pet beavers would invade the USA, be welcomed as heroes, redeem his country, and ultimately allow Canada to annex the USA. To this end, he manipulated the All-Night Party to nominate Howard the Duck as its presidential candidate.

(Howard the Duck I#8 - BTS) - Dentifris sent the Bellhop to besmirch Howard's name, which he did. Howard lost the election.

(Howard the Duck I#9) - Dentifris had the Bellhop bring Howard and Beverly to Canada in a robot plane, which he crashed just across the Canadian border. When Howard and Beverly survived, he sent the Bellhop to finish them off in person; but when this failed, Dentifris donned his exo-skeleton and sent his beaver army to abduct Beverly. Howard followed them to Niagra Falls, where the Beaver confronted him and explained the reason for his actions. He then challenged Howard to battle him on a tight-rope across the Falls, or else his beavers would chew down the tree in which Beverly had been placed, causing her to drop into the Falls. Howard approached the Beaver, but then turned around and ran away. As Howard jumped off the rope, the recoil upset the balance of the Beaver, who plunged into the Falls.

Steve Gerber's unpublished script for Howard the Duck#1 "Secret Crisis II" (fb) - BTS) - Beaver was transported -- along with Dr. Angst and the Band of the Bland (Black Hole, Sitting Bullseye, Spanker, Tillie the Hun), as well as Black Talon, Bzzk J'oh, Dr. Bong, Jackpot, Jokester, Greedy Killerwatt, Kong-Lomerate, Maller, Pro-Rata, Puffin, Quizling, and Wally Sidney -- to within a giant fire hydrant-like construct in an interdimensional space between Reality-616 and Reality-791021 (mirroring the storyline generated by the dark matter-powered Poporb of Krylorian techno-artist Chirreep).

    In addition to this  construct, a motor-home (specifically a Winnebago)-like structure -- containing Andy the Angel, Dakimh the Enchanter, Jennifer Kale, Korrek the Barbarian, Man-Thing, Master C'haaj, Hemlock Shoals, Claude Starkowski -- was also present.

(Steve Gerber's unpublished script for Howard the Duck#1 "Secret Crisis II") - Tillie sat on Doctor Angst's left side of the table (as opposed to Doctor Bong's right side), directly between Angst and the Black Hole.

    As Kong began to speak, le Beaver scratched at the table and snarled at Kong, noting: "If vous KNOW quelque-chose, minkey-- PARLEZ!" <If you know something, monkey, speak!>

    Kong then explained that he believed they would gain great power by destroying their enemies.

(Steve Gerber's unpublished script for Howard the Duck#1 "Secret Crisis II" - BTS) - Kong Lomerate led the villains in a plot to destroy the other group.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, and Steve Leialoha.

    Even before South Park, the Canadians were a subject of mockery.

    To paraphrase Monty Python: He's French-Canadian; you can tell by his OUTRAGEOUS ACCENTE'!

    The smear campaign later became oddly true in the Howard the Duck Magazine.

    Le Beaver is Le Castor in French; Castor is also the Latin word for Beaver.
--Gammatotem

    Gerber's unpublished script (http://www.stevegerber.com/writings/scripts/index.php3):

• Obviously, the point at the start of these was that the events of the Howard the Duck magazine series and Bizarre Adventures#34 never happened in Reality-616. 
• I don't know how the story was to end, but Howard's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entry confirmed Howard as not originally coming from Duckworld, but that his reality had been warped/merged so that it was now his native world. The events of the Howard the Duck magazine occurred in Howard's history as a result of the reality merger. Steve Gerber himself approved the entry before it was published.
• Chireep's stories created or were based on an alternate reality (Earth-791021), which then merged with (or overwrote) Earth-616's, affecting Howard's behavior and memory. Howard indeed had all of the adventures from the magazines, and the few other stories prior to 1985, but they were the merged Howard, which is why he remembered Duckworld as his home. In that reality, his parents' names were Ronald and Henrietta, according to Gerber's story, BTW.
• When Chireep stopped making stories, the alternate reality split from Earth-616, and Howard was flung into the void, which is where Gerber's unpublished story took place.
• The "next issue" blurb was to be:
                                 POWER PLAYS!  BACK-STABBING!  CAREER

                                  STRATEGIES!  RUG-PULLING!  DEATH!  NEW

                                  CLOTHES!  MORE DEATH!  PLUS-- IN CASE

                                  YOU MISSED IT IN 1974-- THE ORIGIN OF

                                  HOWARD THE DUCK!  ALL IN THE ASTOUNDING

                                  CONCLUSION OF "SECRET CRISIS II"--

                                  REALITY: ITS PREVENTION AND CURE!

New and improved images plus edits by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Snood, slightly updated and reformatted by Luis Dantas

Clarifications: The Beaver has no known connections to:

• Gopher, Morton Erg, a landscaper who took a bubble bath in radioactive water, @ Howard the Duck I#32
• Gopher, "Tommy", She-Hulk would-be ally/sidekick of somewhat dubious canonical status
• Mandrill, Jerome Beechman, Daredevil/Defenders foe and former ally of Nekra, who (I believe) has also used a beaver army in the past @ Shanna the She-Devil I#4

Bellhop The Bellhop had his own reasons to hate Howard the Duck: His brother, Tommy, was an anti-aircraft gunner in the Viet Nam War who fired at an overhead enemy Mig, but missed and hit a wild duck instead; the duck fell to the earth, landing on a Vietcong landmine six inches from Tommy's face, killing him. When the Bellhop learned that a duck--namely Howard--was running for president, he was determined to end this somehow. (Howard the Duck I#7-8) - The Bellhop was contacted by Dentifris, and hired to besmirch Howard's campaign. He did this by cutting and pasting two separate photographs of Howard and Beverly, and making it appear that they were sharing a romantic bubble bath together--this caused much public outrage, and Howard swiftly lost the election. (Howard the Duck I#9) - Under further instructions from Dentifris, the Bellhop guided Howard and Beverly into a robot plane, and crashed it across the Canadian border. When they survived, Dentifris suggested more subtle means, to which the Bellhop responded, "I'll be so subtle, he'll barely know he's dead!" Employing subtlety, the Bellhop dresses in an "Uncle Sam"-type outfit and attacked Howard and Beverly in their sleep, armed with a hatchet. He was subdued by RCMP Sgt. Preston Dudley's Siberian Husky, Elizabeth. After being captured, he revealed his connections to Dentifris. --Howard the Duck I#7 (Howard the Duck I#7-9

images: (without ads)
Howard the Duck I#9, p15, pan2 (Main Image - le Beaver by Niagra Falls)
Howard the Duck I#9, p10, pan5 (Headshot - Pierre Dentifris)
Howard the Duck I#9, p16, pan2 (le Beaver, balancing on tightrope over Niagra Falls)
Howard the Duck I#9, p17, pan4 (le Beaver loses his balance and falls off tightrope)
Howard the Duck I#9, p2, pan2 (Bellhop)
Howard the Duck I#9, p13, pan1 (Bellhop in "Uncle Sam" costume)

Appearances:
Howard the Duck I#7 (December, 1976) - Steve Gerber (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Howard the Duck I#8 (January, 1977) - Steve Gerber, David Anthony Kraft& Don McGregor (writers), Gene Colan (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Howard the Duck I#9 (February, 1977) - Steve Gerber (writer/editor), Gene Colan (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks)
unpublished Howard the Duck story by Gerber - 1985