DAVE LANDERS

Real Name: David Alan Landers

Identity/Class: Human Paranormal (Alternate Earth: New Universe)

Occupation: Furniture mover, former security guard and cheese factory worker

Group Membership: Group of paranormals
formerly Waupaca Cheese Factory

Affiliations: Randy O'Brien, Stephanie Harrington, Lenore Fenzl, Charlotte Beck, Scuzz, Jeff Walters, Keso, Mutator, Merriam Sorenson, Quasar, Captain Manhattan, All-American, Metallurge, ESPeople, Woodsman, Dr. Jane Semple, Chrome, Stalagmite, Tanis Newhouse

Enemies: Pit Bull, Bloodhound, Vice Versa, Shrapnel, Regulator, Reinforcer, Receptor, Overshadow, Seka, CIA, Chuck Harrington, Dirtbag, the Para-Troop

Known Relatives: Sam Landers (father, deceased), Rose Landers (mother, deceased), Mark Landers (brother, deceased), Art Landers (uncle), Lisa Landers (sister-in-law)

Aliases: Mastodon, "David Landover", "Jumbo Jim Johnson", "the Wompus"

Place of Birth: Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Base of Operations: New York City, formerly the Clinic; Fort Benning

Hobbies and Interests: Watching television, carpentry and household handiwork, pinball

Religion: Raised Lutheran, now atheist

First Appearance: DP7#1 (November, 1986)

Height: 6'11" ...Weight: 525 pounds ...Eyes: Brown ...Hair: Brown, balding

Powers/Abilities: Landers possesses superhuman strength, and can bench-press 15 tons. His skin is resistant to injury, and can withstand bullets fired from 15 feet away. He also posseses superhuman endurance, allowing him to exert at peak level for two hours before fatigue begins to impair his performance. Strangely, he also possesses rapid hair growth, with his hair growing half an inch every 24 hours after being cut. Due to a mental block placed in his mind by the ESPeople, Dave is immune to any form of mind manipulation.

History: Dave Landers, born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on September 21, 1952, had a tragic past. In 1983, his older brother Mark commited suicide. The following year, his father died of cancer, and the year following, his mother also passed away.

(DP7 Annual#1)- On September 20, 1986, after a night of drinking, Dave awoke in tremendous pain. The effects of "the White Event" had made him a paranormal, and were only now being felt. His body began to bulge with muscles, and he was overcome with pain. Dave called his friend Susan Peterson to help him, but refused to be treated in a hospital.

 

BTS- As time wore on, the pain grew more tremendous. Susan continued to bring Dave food, but the pain was so great that he decided to kill himself by overdosing on pain medication.

(DP7#1)- Six days after his power first manifested, Dave was brought to a hospital for treatment, where he met Randy O'Brien. Learning they were both paranormals, they decided to check themselves in at the Clinic for Paranormal Research, where they entered therapy group C. In the therapy group, Dave met Stephanie Harrington, who he soon fell for romantically. When he learnt from O'Brien that the Clinic had a sinister agenda in gathering paranormals, Dave left the Clinic with the others in therapy group C.

(DP7#2)- Journeying to his trailer home for shelter, Dave and the others fought Vice Versa, Shrapnel and Bloodhound, three paranormals sent by the Clinic. By combining powers, they were able to defeat them.

(DP7#3)- After mobilizing his trailer home, Dave and the others were again attacked by the paranormal hunters. Dave refused to let Randy treat them after they were injured when their car flipped over. Dave accompanied Stephanie to her hometown, Sheboygan, where they again encountered the paranormal hunters.

(DP7#4)- While stopped for dinner at a small Wisconsin town, Dave was arrested by the local authorities, who mistook him for "the Wompus", a supposed monster that was mutilating cattle. Ultimately, Jeff Walters unmasked the true culprits, local teenagers.

(Untold Tales of the New Universe: DP7#1) - The group came to a Menominee reservation at Keshena, Wisconsin, and befriended a paranormal named Keso, aiding him against his paranormal sister Seka, who was raising the dead with her powers.

(Kickers Inc.#5)- Attacked by Kickers Inc., who were being controlled by Philip Nolan Voight, Landers fought Jack Magniconte, and beat him badly.

(DP7#5)- Dave and the others decided to see an exorcist, despite Dave's atheism, in case their powers were the result of demonic possession. However, this proved to be a false lead.

(DP7#6)- Trading in his mobile home for a Winnebago owned by his uncle Art, Dave decided to return to Sheboygan with Stephanie and Lenore Fenzl to recover Stephanie's children, while Randy, Jeff, and Charlotte Beck searched for Scuzz.

(DP7#7)- While Stephanie kidnapped her children, Dave ran into her husband, Chuck, who broke a baseball bat over Dave's head. Furious, Dave threw him through the air, leaving him horribly injured. Dave brought Stephanie to the hospital to heal him, but while they were there, agents of the CIA working for the Clinic captured Stephanie.

(DP7#8)- Attacked by CIA agents in the Winnebago, Dave was forced to abandon Lenore, and run for his life.

(DP7#10)- In the snowy wilderness of Wisconsin, Dave met a hunter named "the Woodsman", who took him into his home, and returned him to health.

(DP7#11)- Dave spent several months in the woods with the Woodsman, who taught Dave how to fight. Dave was grateful to him for his help, but felt unworthy for abandoning his friends, and was debating returning to the Clinic to rescue them, when the CIA caught up with him. This time, Dave was saved by six paranormals calling themselves "the ESPeople". Unwilling to remain with them, Dave decided to save his friends from the Clinic, so the ESPeople placed a mental block in his mind, to prevent him from remembering who they were. Dave had not gone far before the CIA reappeared, and brought him down with tranquilizer darts.

(DP7#12)- Reunited with Randy at the Clinic, Dave attempted to set the others free as well, but found they had been brainwashed. He and Randy were confronted by the head of the Clinic, Philip Nolan Voigt, who revealed he was a paranormal, and fought them. In the course of the battle, Voigt seemingly died when he entered the body of an Anti-Body he had created, similiar to Randy's, which Dave then destroyed.

(DP7#13)- Learning that Regulator had nearly killed Stephanie, Dave almost killed him, but Randy stopped him.

(DP7#14)- As new jobs were assigned around the Clinic, Dave was initially placed in sanitation, but was later transferred to security.

(Psi-Force#15)- When Mike Crawley, a new arrival at the Clinic, panicked, blew up a wall, and ran, Dave attempted to apprehend him, but he escaped.

(DP7#15)- Dave made notice of the Black Powers, who had donned new black jackets.

(DP7#16)- When the DDTeens and Black Powers got into a fight, Dave was summoned by Mothball to end the clash.

(Justice#16)- Along with the others, Dave followed the story of the "Justice Killer."

(DP7#17)- During an assembly at the Clinic, Dave had to halt a riot started by the Black Powers. He also found himself having to deal with Merriam Sorenson, who had a crush on him.

(DP7#18)- After Jeff ran from the Clinic to Pittsburgh, after learning his family had been killed when the city was destroyed, Dave joined with Lenore, Charlotte, Randy, Mutator, and Merriam to find him. As they travelled through the remains of Pittsburgh, they fell into a chasm.

(DP7#19)- While the others escaped the chasm, Dave was left behind, being too heavy to be carried. Falling further into the chasm, Dave discovered a volcano being created at the bottom of "the Pitt". He also found Jeff, and tried to carry him back to the surface, but couldn't make it; finally, they were saved by the ex-military agent Spitfire.

(DP7#20)- Traumatized by his experience in the Pitt, Dave nontheless had to combat the paranormal Pit Bull, whose jaw he broke in the course of their battle. Following the battle, Dave was apprehended by the military.

(DP7#21)- While being treated in a military hospital, Dave was approached by Jack Magniconte, now "the All-American", who informed Dave that the military was forming a paranormal army.

(DP7#22/The Draft)- Randy, Dave and Jeff were brought to Fort Benning, drafted into the US military, to serve as the country's paranormal fighting force. At Fort Benning, Dave met Bazooka from the Clinic, who revealed the Clinic had been shut down.

(DP7#23)- Dave's dreams were examined by Lt. Keith Remsen, in his guise at Nightmask. Through these dreams, Keith learnt of Stephanie, and her powers to heal.

(Psi-Force#23)- When Fort Benning was invaded by Wayne Tucker, Lindsay Falmon and Tyrone Jessup, come to rescue their friend Thomas Boyd, Dave initially fought them, but after learning they were on the run, empathized with them, and let them escape.

(DP7#23)- Dave was forced to accompany Bloodhound to Sheboygan to bring Stephanie to work for the military. However, Dave was unable to betray her, and struck Bloodhound down, then told Stephanie to flee the country. Dave also encountered Scuzz and the DDTeens, and told Scuzz to watch after Stephanie.

(DP7#24)- Dave broke Bloodhound's nose, and made for the Canadian border, but was caught, and returned to Fort Benning. Sgt. Haldeman, a paranormal psychic, attempted to discipline Dave with his powers, but Dave's mental block knocked him unconscious. Until his court martial could be held, Dave was placed in "the Black Hole", an impenetrable pit. The isolation made Dave go crazy, at one point hallucinating that the Woodsman had come to rescue him. Finally, Dave beheld a manifestation of his "dark side", who tried convincing him to impale himself on a sharpened piece of metal. A hallucination of Dave's brother Mark tried to talk him out of it, but failed, and Dave ran himself through the piece of metal.

(DP7#25)- Dave was brought to Fort Benning's hospital, where Randy operated on him, and saved his life.

(DP7#26)- Having recovered from his bout of insanity, and the injury he had inflicted on himself, Dave confessed to Randy that he had been wrong to try and take his life. He was transferred to a new prison until his court martial could begin.

(DP7#27)- In exchange for light treatment, the military sent Dave on a mission to the Pitt with two other paranormals to recover a missing science team, but once there, one of the others, "Dirtbag", turned on Dave, and tried to kill him. In the course of their battle, Dirtbag was killed. Dave found an immobile Randy, who had come to save him, in the path of lava, and came to his rescue. By doing this, Dave felt he had finally redeemed his suicide attempt.

(DP7#28)- Now AWOL, Dave and Randy headed to New York City when they learnt that Voigt had re-appeared, and was running for president. When they attempted to confront him, Voigt sent Stephanie, Charlotte, Merriam, and Chrome (formerly Spitfire), all under his control, to fight them. Unable to fight back against Stephanie, Dave was defeated by her and Merriam. Voigt warned Dave and Randy that if they did anything to stop him, he would order their friends to commit suicide.

(DP7#29)- The six friends now reunited, took apartments in New York together. When they were attacked by the paranormal CIA agent Deadweight, Dave fought back against his power of gravity-control, but ultimately, it was Stephanie's son Ben who defeated him, by shooting him with his own rifle.

(Starbrand#18)- Dave and Randy encountered Jake Burnley, current wielder of the Starbrand. They informed him of Voigt's intentions, and Burnley tracked Voigt down, and killed him in battle. However, Dave and Randy wondered if Voigt could truly be killed.

(DP7#30)- That Christmas, Dave aided the local "super-hero" Captain Manhattan against his opponents, the Para-Troop. For Stephanie's Christmas present, he offered to drive her back home to Sheboygan, and gave she him a kiss in return.

(DP7#31)- After returning from Sheboygan, Dave was reunited with Mike Crawley from the Clinic, who told him that Scuzz had been brainwashed by a cult called "the White Eventists". Dave stole Scuzz away from them, and tried to de-program him, but ulimately, had to admit that the cult had made Scuzz a better person, and let him go his own way. Finally having given up on Stephanie, Dave got together with Merriam, who had pined for him all this time.

(DP7#32)- On February 23, 1989, Dave was shocked to learn of a paranormal called "the Cure", offering to take away the parabilities of others. That day, Stephanie returned from Sheboygan, and Dave was forced to choose between her and Merriam. Merriam took the choice out of his hands, by leaving him. Ultimately, Dave decided to retain his powers, afraid that Stephanie might not love him as a normal person.

(The War#4)- At the conclusion of World War III, Dave was among those paranormals informed by the Starbrand that he had removed all of the earth's lethal weaponry.

(Quasar#31)- Two years later, Dave met the Earth 616 super-hero Quasar, who had fallen into the Omniverse. Dave and his friends were skeptical at Quasar's claims to be from another dimension.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Ryan.

Dave has an extensive biographical profile in DP7#22.

Dave was part of a group of paranormals that appeared in the comic DP7 (Displaced Paranormals Seven). However, the group never went by that name, nor any other.

The tombstone of Dave's apparent Marvel Universe counterpart appears in Avengers West Coast#65. Only this Dave Landers only lived from 1986-1989. (of course, this is an in-joke via artist Paul Ryan).

The New Universe possesses interesting temporal characteristics. The White Event occurred on September 4, 1986, after which events moved in real time, at least up to the War, sometime in later 1989, or early 1990. They interacted with the Marvel Universe in 1991-1992 of real time, and were last seen in 1994, at the conclusion of the Star Blast saga. It's unlikely that the characters of the NU will be seen again (a true shame), but I'd like to think that they should somehow stay in real time. In addition, as the Prime One points out, since the Living Tribunal has isolated them from the rest of the Universe, they should be isolated from Eternity as well, meaning they won't be a part of 'Marvel Time' (or lack thereof).--Snood.

by Prime Eternal

Clarifications:
Dave Landers, Mastodon, has no known connection to anyone outside the New Universe, including:

Appearances:
DP7#1-6 (November, 1986 - April, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Romeo Tanghal (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#7 (May, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Romeo Tanghal & Paul Ryan (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#8 (June, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Al Williamson & Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7 Annual#1 (1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Lee Weeks (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Kickers Inc.#5 (March, 1987) - Tom DeFalco & Mark Gruenwald (writers), Paul Ryan (pencils), Sam DeLarosa & friends (inks), Wellington & Jackson (editors)
DP7#10 (August, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#11 (September, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#12 (October, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio
DP7#13-14 (November-December, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Psi-Force#15 (January, 1988) - Danny Fingeroth (writer), Javier Saltares (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#15 (January, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Justice#16 (February, 1988) - Peter David (writer), Lee Weeks (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#16 (February, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#17-23 (March-September, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
The Draft (1988) - Mark Gruenwald & Fabian Nicieza (writers), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Kyle Baker, Mike Gustovich, Klaus Janson, Lee Weeks & Keith Williams (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Psi-Force#23 (September, 1988) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Graham Nolan (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#24-31 (October, 1988 - May, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Starbrand#18 (May, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Tom Morgan (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#32 (June, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
The War#4 (1990) - Doug Murray (writer), Tom Morgan (artist), Howard Mackie (editor)
Quasar#31 (February, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Harry Candelario (inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Untold Tales of the New Universe: DP7#1 (May, 2006) - C.B. Cebulski (writer), Mark Bright (penciler), John Stanisci (inker), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First Posted: 04/08/2002
Last updated: 05/28/2006

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters