DRAGON LORD
Real Name: Tako Shamara
Identity/Class: Human magic user
Occupation: Electronics engineer
Group Membership: The Initiative
Affiliations: Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady), Bengal, Constrictor, Crusader, Diamondback, Gargoyle, Geiger, Geldoff, Henry Peter Gyrich, Komodo, Melee, Nighthawk, Red Nine, Scarlet Spiders, Stature, Stingray, Taskmaster, Yellowjacket (Criti Noll)
Known Relatives: Tako, Mari, Kiri, Tako the second (ancestors, deceased), unnamed father (deceased), Phyllis Shamara (wife), Mary Shamara (daughter), unnamed son
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Port Jefferson, Long Island
First Appearance: Marvel Spotlight II#5 (March, 1980)
Powers: Tako is a minor adept in the arts of magic, and can summon forth mystical creatures capable of performing superhuman feats.
History: (Marvel Spotlight II#5) - In 1582, the creature known as the Wani first appeared, assaulting villages along the Korean strait because their fishermen had offended O-Wata-Tsu-Mi ("Old Man of the Tide"). A noble samurai named Tako sacrificed his life to destroy the Wani with gunpowder, and his son, Kiri, declared that if the creature still lived, it would be destroyed.
Over the intervening centuries, Kiri's line passed down the mission of slaying the Wani from father to son, training one another in the arts of magic.
Finally, in recent years, the Wani was unearthed by an off-shore oil drill. Tako Shamara, latest in the line of men trained to combat the Wani, immediately took up the sword of the first Tako Shamara to combat it, despite his wife's objections. He summoned forth creatures to combat the Wani, but in the course of this battle, his family's house was crushed, nearly killing his wife and children! Tako finally took command of the Wani itself, and ordered it to free his family, then to disappear forever. With the Wani gone for good, his family's line of vengeance could finally rest.
(Civil War: Battle Damage Report) - Tony Stark considered Dragon Lord as a potential Initiative recruit.
(Avengers: The Initiative#8 (fb)) - Dragon Lord was drafted into the Initiative, and arrived in a busful of new recruits including Ant-Man, the Crusader, Melee, Geldoff, Red Nine, Geiger and Diamondback. Taskmaster inspected the recruits as they arrived, introducing himself as their drill instructor. Red Nine and the other recruits scattered when Ant-Man wound up in a fight with fellow recruit Stature.
(Avengers: The Initiative#9 (fb)) - Dragon Lord joined the other new recruits in a training exercise against Taskmaster and were quickly and soundly beaten. Later, Taskmaster observed them from the combat simulator control room, instructing the recruits to hold off training robots until Dragon Lord could summon a dragon with his chemicals. Taskmaster berated Dragon Lord for taking too long with his summoning. Suddenly, the rampaging KIA broke into the room and the recruits launched into battle against him.
(Avengers: The Initiative#8) - Dragon Lord's body was found by Yellowjacket after the hero was killed by KIA.
(Avengers: The Initiative#9) - Taskmaster came upon the carnage where Dragon Lord's body lay and chose to avoid a fight with KIA to spare his own life.
(Avengers: The Initiative#12) - Taskmaster and Triathlon brought Dragon Lord's fellow cadets with them as they presented the ashes containing Dragon Lord's remains and an American flag to Dragon Lord's wife, son and daughter. Dragon Lord's son declared that one day he would master his father's powers and join the Initiative himself. Taskmaster wryly remarked "Great. We better stock up on more jars."
Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman and Steve Ditko.
This story is set in the Marvel Universe, as
evidenced by two men who remark, "So what? The Avengers or the
Fantastic Four will take of it. They always do!"
Carycomix adds: Ever notice how much the Wani resembles "Droom the Living Lizard" from Tales to Astonish I#9? More than a coincidence, me thinks.
Apparently,
the Wani is actually Godzilla in disguise, as the Dragon Lord story was
an inventory story prepared in case Godzilla needed a fill-in story:
Comic Book Legends Revealed #239
--Loki
Profile by Prime Eternal
CLARIFICATIONS:
Dragon Lord should not be confused with:
The Wani
The Wani was a dragon summoned forth by O-Wata-Tsu-Mi, the Old Man of the Tide, to punish fishermen. After combat with the first Tako Shamara, it was seemingly killed, but actually rested for 500 years. It was finally awoken by off-shore drilling, and came to fight Shamara's modern-day descendent, but it was taken over by Shamara, who forced it to return to O-Wata-Tsu-Mi.
--Marvel Spotlight II#5
Appearances:
Marvel Spotlight II#5 (March, 1980) - Marv Wolfman (writer), Steve Ditko (artist), Jim Shooter (editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report (2007)
Avengers: The Initiative#8-9 (February-March, 2008) - Dan Slott,
Christos N. Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (artist), Tom Brevoort
(editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#12 (June, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage (writers), Steve Uy (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 09/01/2002
Last updated: 05/20/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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