Membership: Brother Broomstick, Brother Dickens, Brother D-Man, Brother Glove, Brother Harmony, Brother Have-Not, Brother Inquisitor, Brother Peach Pie, Brother Post, Brother Powerful, Brother Redeye, Brother Reeko, Brother Super-Hero, Brother Waycool, Brother Wonderful, Abner Doolittle, Jikjak, Sister Gladiola, Sister Sweet

Purpose: Survival, often by pillaging what they need from others

Affiliations: D-Man (Dennis Dunphy), Leila Davis, Falcon (Sam Wilson) (formerly brainwashed servants)

Enemies: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Jack Muldoon, the denizens (Monsters) of the realm around Zero Street

Base of Operations: Zerotown, the caverns below Manhattan;
formerly an insane asylum in Manhattan and later Zero Street in Dimension Zero (aka Mad Dimension)

Aliases: The Band of Brothers and Sisters

First Appearance: Captain America I#201 (September, 1976)

Powers/Abilities: The Night People had no paranormal abilities, and tended to work as a group so they could often overcome others by sheer weight of numbers. All members initially suffered from some degree of mental illness. Later, many homeless people joined the group--although they were not all clinically insane, they certainly weren't of the standard behavior type.
Brother Wonderful (Doolittle) had access to various devices and weapons of his own design, such as the Dimension Machine. In addition, they had access to the equipment from their asylum, including a shock-therapy device.

History:
(Captain America I#202 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Abner Doolittle was a nuclear physicist who ended up going insane and was placed in an asylum on Zero Street in Manhattan. However, to help in his recovery, Doolittle was allowed to continue his work; in the asylum, he created a device for dimensional travel, which warped the entire asylum and its residents into another dimension, where Doolittle was made ruler, or first among equals, as Brother Wonderful. The rest of the patients became his subjects--most of them took similar types of names.
Soon after, they found that the dimension was populated by monstrous fire-breathing creatures.

(Captain America I#201) - Doolittle began sending the former patients to Earth to raid stores for supplies for their realm. They stole whatever they wanted: a harp, a shipment of Marvel Comics, antique telephones, a judge's gavel, etc.--never money, jewels, or the like. Because they always appeared after dark, they were dubbed "The Night People".
Eventually, Doolittle got the idea of recruiting one of Earth's super-heroes to fight the creatures. They learned that Leila Taylor was the girlfriend of the Falcon, so they kidnapped her to Zero Street, knowing that this would bring the Falcon to them. As predicted, the Falcon rushed to rescue Leila, and Doolittle opened a portal in space in front of him. The surprised Falcon arrived in Zero Street and was gassed, bound, and brought before Brother Wonderful, who used the asylum's shock-therapy machine to brainwash the Falcon and Leila into serving him as Brother Super-Hero and Sister Sweet.

(Captain America I#202) - Doolittle then sent the Falcon to fight off one of the monsters, and the hero successfully defeated it by knocking it into the "chasm of space" surrounding the asylum. However, Doolittle then realized that there were many more monsters on the planetoids surrounding Zero Street. His solution to the problem was to shunt all of the monsters to Earth and let the rest of the super-heroes deal with the creatures. Meanwhile, Captain America learned of the existence of the Night People from "Texas Jack" Muldoon, and the two of them waited for the warp to open up again around the site of the former asylum, then they traveled to the dimension of Zero Street.

(Captain America I#203) - Cap located the Falcon, but both he and Leila now considered themselves part of the Night People and fought against Cap. The Night People intended to subject both Cap and Texas Jack to shock-treatment to force them to join them. However, these plans were interrupted by the onslaught of several of the monsters. Doolittle activated his Dimension Machine, equipped with a sonic device to produce a sound irresistible to the monsters--their own instincts would force them to leap through the portal and into Earth's dimension. However, Cap managed to dupe Doolittle into "testing" the device on Leila and the Falcon, followed by Texas Jack; he next hurled Brothers Wonderful and Inquisitor through the portal, and it was then easy enough to convince the rest of the confused Night People into using the portal to escape the onrushing monsters. Cap went through the Portal as well, after setting off Doolittle's destruct mechanism, which destroyed the portal.

(Marvel Team-Up I#52) - The Night People arrived back in Manhattan, where they were gathered up by the NYPD (for the most part, anyway). One of the monsters had escaped through the portal as well.

(Captain America I#204) - Brothers Inquisitor and Wonderful were remanded into SHIELD custody for containment and therapy. The brainwashing effects on the Falcon and Leila were eventually reversed by SHIELD scientist Dr. Hartman.

(Captain America I#418 (fb) - BTS) - Apparently some of the Night People escaped capture and made a new base, Zerotown, in the caverns beneath Central Park, Manhattan, which was founded by Brother Have-Not. Brother Inquisitor apparently escaped from SHIELD and became the new Brother Wonderful.

(Captain America I#410) - D-Man (Dennis Dunphy), after nearly being drowned by his Infinity War doppelganger, wandered into the caverns of Zerotown. Still somewhat mentally-addled from being frozen for a length of time, he was discovered and easily captured by the Night People. Dennis was brought before the new Brother Wonderful, who was not amused by Dennis' lack of speech or interaction.

(Captain America I#411) - Brother Wonderful directed the Night People to force D-Man to talk--when D-Man threw off a whole crowd of them, Brother Wonderful was impressed and wondered if he could be "The One."

(Captain America I#418) - Brother Wonderful subjected D-Man to shock-therapy in an effort to force his allegiance or information. After failing, Brother Wonderful considered having D-Man executed, but Brother Have-Not stopped him, wanting to keep D-Man alive as a source of strength. Jikjak informed D-Man of Brother Have-Not's tyranny, and during a "foraging" (make that stealing) mission on the streets of New York, D-Man tried to stop Have-Not. D-Man ultimately exhausted Have-Not's strength by fighting him from a distance. Afterwards, D-Man decided to stay with the Night People, his new friends.

(Captain America I#440) - Captain America traveled to Zerotown to recruit D-Man for an assault on AIM Island, Boca Caliente; but D-Man turned him down, telling Cap that the Night People needed him.

COMMENTS: Created by Jack "King" Kirby.

I think the monsters that plagued the people of Zero Street look similar to the Borers (or it could just be that Kirby drew them both). If they are related, then it might mean that Zero Street was connected to the Negative Zone. There is neither evidence to confirm or refute this.

Captain America I#418 comments that the cavern which houses Zerotown was once the dwelling place for subterranean creatures and cabals of sorcerers. This would likely have made it the former base of the Conspiracy.

D-Man has shown up a few times since Captain America I#440 , and you could stretch that to make the Night People behind the scenes. You could. I won't. That'd be covered in D-Man's Appendix entry.

I'm well aware that Zero Street shows up in Earth/Universe/Paradise/My-God-Will-It-Never-End X, but have ZERO interest in covering that info. If you want to summarize it and send it to me, I'll consider adding it here...eventually...maybe...

The Falcon obviously has his own entry all over the place and Leila Taylor will eventually get one at the Appendix...in about a decade (or two). They're both way beyond the scope of this entry.

Also, most of the characters from Zero Street can be considered BTS if they're not actually seen in any issues of Captain America I#201-204 or Marvel Team-Up I#52, and the ones from Zerotown can be considered BTS if they're not actually seen in any issues of Captain America I#410, 411, 418, and some for 440. For the most part, I only listed the issues in which they were directly seen.

The Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#7 (June, 1985) Appendix: Other Dimensions calls the dimension the Night People went to Dimension Zero. The Official Index To The Marvel Universe: The Avengers, Thor & Captain America#4 (September, 2010) --Captain America I#201 (September, 1976) Locations/Items: Mad Dimension. Captain America: America's Avenger#1 (August, 2011) uses both names: Dimension Zero & Mad Dimension.
--Gammatotem

Profile by Snood. Additional sub-profiles by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Night People have known connection to:

Zero Street and Zerotown have no connections to

Brother Powerful

To the best of my knowledge, Doolittle is the only one of the Night People to have appeared solo, separate from the rest. There are dozens of other "Brother" and "Sister" characters, but if they're not in one of the issues listed in the History, they're not Night People.

Abner Doolittle has no known connection to:

Brother Broomstick

Brother Glove

Brother Post

Brother Waycool

Brother Redeye

 

They accompanied Brother Have-Not on a foraging mission

 

--Captain America I#418

 

 

Brother Dickens

 

A resident of Zero Street, he was nearly captured by security while raiding a toy store, but called in his Brothers to help him

--Captain America I#201 (Captain America I#201, 418

 

 

Brother Harmony

 

He, along with Brother Peach Pie, learned that Leila Taylor was the girlfriend of the Falcon and then kidnapped her back to Zero Street.

 

--Captain America I#201

 

Brother Have-Not

 

He was both the finder and founder of Zerotown. He is either a mutant or a mutate, and he used his powers to serve as hero, enforcer, and defender to the Night People. However, while he had some strong support, he also had begun to exert his own tyrannical will over the rest of the group. Using strength drained from the rest of the Night People, he rolled a large boulder over the passage out of Zerotown. He only allowed a few of his closest allies to join him in foraging in the outside world, while the others were trapped in Zerotown. He wanted to keep D-Man around in order to keep his own abilities at a superhuman level, and so he convinced Brother Wonderful and the others not to execute him.

He could drain energy from others to enhance his own physical abilities, weakening his victim in the process.

--Captain America I#418

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brother Inquisitor

 

He served as judge and jury to the Night People, resolving all disputes and solving all issues.
After a period of detainment by SHIELD, he apparently returned to the Night People in Zerotown, where he became the new Brother Wonderful.

--Captain America I#201 (Captain America I#201-202, 203, Marvel Team-Up I#52, Cap204, 410-411, 418

 

Brother Peach Pie

 

He, along with Brother Harmony, learned that Leila Taylor was the girlfriend of the Falcon and then kidnapped her back to Zero Street.

--Captain America I#201

 

 

 

Brother Powerful

 

He was present when a security guard tried to capture Brother Dickens. He held the guard while the others overwhelmed him.

--Captain America I#201 (Captain America I#201, 418

 

 

 

Brother Reeko

He was the first one in Zerotown to spot D-Man, and drew the attention of the others.

--Captain America I#410

 

Brother Super-Hero

The name the Falcon was given after being brainwashed by the Night People. He was also referred to as Brother Falcon.

--Captain America I#202 (Captain America I#202-203, Marvel Team-Up I#52, Captain America I#204

Brother Wonderful

The original Brother Wonderful, of Zero Street, was Abner Doolitle. 

--Captain America I#201 (Captain America I#201, [202(fb)] 201-203, Marvel Team-Up I#52, Captain America I#204

After the group reformed in Zerotown, it would appear that Brother Inquisitor became the new Brother Wonderful, but that is uncertain.

--Captain America I#410 (Captain America I#410, 418

Abner Doolittle

He was the one who designed the Dimension Machine and sent Zero Street and the rest of the asylum to the alien dimension. He was known as Brother Wonderful on Zero Street.
Following a period of detainment by SHIELD, he somehow came into the service of Roxxon's Nth Command, where he adapted the scientific principles of the Dimension Machine to create the Nth Projector, a portable unit able to transport matter into other realities.

Roxxon later offered to assist Thundra into returning to her world of Earth-Femizonia, and showed her that there existed a divergent world which had not merged with Machus and remained true to the way she remembered it. Not trusting anyone, Thundra used the device to transport Doolittle and his associates (Albert DeVoor and possibly John T. Gamelin) to Femizonia so they couldn't stop her from stealing the device.
[As far as I know, Doolittle never returned from Femizonia.]

--Captain America I#201 (Captain America I#201-202, 203, [Marvel Team-Up I#52], Captain AmericaI#204,  Marvel Two-In-One#67

However, DeVoor has definitely been seen again on Earth-616, in Captain America I#289 and Fantastic Four I#263.

Thundra subsequently used the device to travel to Femizonia herself. Hyperion (of the Squadron Sinister) had fallen in love with her and tried to follow, but was a second or so behind and ended up trapped in an interdimensional void. It was from that void that he was rescued by Master Menace, who then used him to replace the Hyperion of Earth-712 in a plot to disrupt the Squadron Supreme's Utopia Program.
The Nth Projector's were key in the divergence of reality to form the timeline of Earth-Deathlok, as they were used to banish and exterminate the heroes of Earth. This diverged from Earth-616 in Captain America I#288, when Captain America and his allies destroyed the Nth Commands power source seconds before they could ambush the heroes.

Jikjak

 

 

One of the few youths living in Zerotown, he befriended the bewildered D-Man, and encouraged him to stand up to Brother Have-Not.

 

--Captain America I#418

 

 

 

 

Sister Gladiola

 

She was one of those present when Leila Taylor was first brought before Brother Inquisitor

--Captain America I#201

And, yes, that's the best shot of her--the better of the two, anyway.

 

 

Sister Sweet

This was originally the name given to Leila Taylor after she was brainwashed by the Night People. Her brainwashing was eventually reversed by Dr. Hartman of SHIELD.
--Captain America I#202 (Captain America I#202-203, Marvel Team-Up I#52, [Captain America I#204]

 

Later, another woman in Zerotown adopted the name. She was a staunch supporter of Brother Have-Not

--Captain America I#418

 

Zero Street

 

The original insane asylum which was warped into another dimension (see comments) by the Dimension Machine of Doolittle. It may have been destroyed when Captain America blew up the portal, or it may remain, floating in that unidentified dimension and overrun by the "monsters"

 

--Captain America I#201 (Captain America I#201-202, 203

 

 

 


 

Monsters of Zero Street

They originated from whatever dimension to which Zero Street had been shunted. They were savage, belligerent fire-breathing creatures and tended to rampage and attack anything they encountered.

One of them made it though the portal to Earth and escaped, despite the efforts of Spider-Man. It was discovered by Batroc the Leaper, who made an alliance with it. Batroc used the monster in a plot to steal a shipment of Trans-Uranium from SHIELD, which ran afoul of both Spider-Man and Captain America. The monster eventually went berserk and started glowing with some form of radioactive energy. Cap and Spidey followed it out to one of the Staten Island Ferries, and they sent the ship away from populated land and blew it up, destroying the creature.

--Captain America I#201 (Captain America I#201-202, 203, Marvel Team-Up I#52

 

 

 

 

 

Zerotown

 

A shanty town built in a cavern below Manhattan. It was discovered and founded by Brother Have-Not, and may have been the former base of the Conspiracy. Brother Have-Not used to keep the others trapped down there, but this stopped after D-Man defeated him. Now everyone stays there by choice

 

--Captain America I#410 (Captain America I#410, 418, 440

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abner Doolittle's Dimension Machine

A device created by Doolittle while he was an inmate at an insane asylum, it could create a portal between Earth and another dimension. The dimensional portals appeared as crackling fireballs.

Doolittle initially used it to transport the entire asylum to the other dimension, then he would periodically transport some of the inmates back to Earth so they could scavenge for supplies.

When a super-hero was needed to battle the monsters that inhabited the dimension, Doolittle used the machine to kidnap the Falcon.

Captain America later destroyed the Dimension Machine by activating its destruct mechanism; but Doolittle eventually adapted the scientific principles of the device to create the Nth Projector.

--Captain America I#201 (Captain America I#201-203

shock-therapy device

Formerly an apparatus intended to treat inmates at an insane asylum, it was modified by Abner Doolittle.

Consisting of a main unit with cables connecting to a pair of helmets, it was used to "cleanse" outsiders of their memories and brainwash them into serving the Night People.

After the Night People kidnapped the Falcon and Leila Taylor, Doolittle used the machine on them, and thereby enlisted the two into their ranks.

(Comment: After returning to Earth, both the Falcon and Leila were treated at a SHIELD psychiatric facility, and they were returned to normal.)

--Captain America I#201

images: (without ads)
Captain America I#203, p7, pan1 (various Night People (including brainwashed Falcon and Leila Taylor) confront Captain America)
Captain America I#418, p11, pan5 (Brothers Broomstick, Glove, Post, Waycool, and Redeye)
Captain America I#201, p2, pan1 (Brother Dickens)
Captain America I#201, p8, pan3 (Brother Harmony)
Captain America I#418, p3, pan4 (Brother Have-Not)
Captain America I#201, p12, pan4 (Brother Inquisitor)
Captain America I#201, p8, pan3 (Brother Peach Pie)
Captain America I#201, p3, pan1 (Brother Powerful)
Captain America I#410, p8, pan2 (Brother Reeko)
Captain America I#204, p1, pan1 (Abner Doolittle)
Captain America I#418, p6, pan3 (Jikjak)
Captain America I#210, p11, pan5 (Sister Gladiola)
Captain America I#418, p3, pan5 (Sister Sweet)
Captain America I#202, p5, pan4 (Zero Street, Falcon flying toward monster)
Captain America I#203, p11, pan3 (monsters of Zero Street)
Captain America I#410, p8, pan1 (Zerotown)
Captain America I#202, p16, pan5 (Dimension Machine; Brother Inquisitor, Abner Doolittle (background))
Captain America I#201, p14, pan3 (Falcon flies into dimensional portal)
Captain America I#201, p14, pan5 (Falcon emerges from dimensional portal)
Captain America I#201, p17, pan2 (shock-therapy device, about to be activated by Abner Doolittle)
Captain America I#201, p17, pan1 (Night People placing shock-therapy helmets on Falcon and Leila Taylor)

Appearances:
Captain America I#201-204 (September-December, 1976) - Jack Kirby (writer/pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks)
Marvel Team-Up I#52 (December, 1976) - Gerry Conway (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Michael Esposito (inks)
Marvel Two-In-One I#67 (September, 1980; Abner Doolittle only) - Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio (writer), Ron Wilson (pencils), Gene Day & Helpers (inks)
Captain America I#410-411 (December, 1992 - January, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Richard Levins (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks)
Captain America I#418 (August, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Richard Levins (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks)
Captain America I#440 (June, 1995) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Dave Hoover (pencils), Dan Bulanadi, Donald C. Hudson & Marie Severin (inks)

First Posted: 09/05/2002
Last updated: 01/01/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

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

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