WHITE DRAGON
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human, citizen of the USA
Occupation: Triad leader, criminal, martial artist
Group Membership: Dragon
Lords
formerly Hood's
army
Affiliations: Beetle (Abner Jenkins), Blizzard (Donnie Gill), Chemist (Ulysses Greitzer), Constrictor (Frank Payne), Hammerhead, Killer Shrike (Simon Maddicks), Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), Maggia, Midnight Sun (M'Nai), Mr. Negative (Martian Li), Razor-Fist (Douglas Scott), Shadow Ghosts
Enemies: Bloodshed
(Wyndell Dichinson), Bomber of C-Town (Tak), Philip Chang, Daughters of
the Dragon (Misty Knight, Colleen Wing), Faces of
Fear (Batboys, Deathlok Simulcrum, Fixer/Norbert Ebersol, Mentallo/Marvin
Flumm, Mister
Fear/Alan Fagan), Hood
(Parker Robbins), Jackpot (Sara Ehret), Lightmaster
(Edward Lansky), Lee Min, Moon Knight (Marc Spector), Prowler (Hobie
Brown), Shang-Chi, Shark (homeless man), Si-Fan,
Skull Crusher
(Chao Sima), Sons of the Tiger (Abe Brown, Bob Diamond, Lin Sun), Speed
Demon (James Sanders), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Spot
(Johnathon Ohnn), Squid
(Don Callahan), Tiger's Claw (Wu Fong, others), White
Rabbit (Lorina Dodson), Leiko Wu
formerly Mr. Negative (Martian Li)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Black Dragon
Base of Operations: White Dragon's Estate, South of
London, United Kingdom
Chinatown, London, United
Kingdom
formerly Chinatown, New
York City, New York
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man I#184 (September, 1978)
Powers/Abilities: White Dragon is an exceptional martial artist. His mask contains devices to discharge knock-out gas through the nostrils and flames through the mouth; the fuel supply for the latter is stored in hidden pipes on his back. His gloves end in steel claws, usually coated with a powerful sedative; combined with his martial arts skills, these claws can cut concrete.
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(Amazing Spider-Man I#184-185) - White Dragon, leader of the Dragon Lords in Chinatown, NYC, tried to force Philip Chang to join his gang. Philip was from Hong Kong and lived in NYC with his aunt and uncle who owned a restaurant. Spider-Man rescued Philip and in the end defeated White Dragon and delivered him to the police.
(Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man I#36 - BTS) - Phillip Chang remembered how Spider-Man had fought the White Dragon.
(Marvel Team-Up I#144) - A gang war began in Chinatown because White Dragon killed the leader of Tiger's Claw. The Tiger's Claw gang wanted Philip Chang amongst their ranks. White Dragon smoked him out of the restaurant of his uncle. Both Spider-Man and Moon Knight came to help. White Dragon beat up Philip who refused to fight. Spider-Man prevented a bombing and Moon Knight discovered that White Dragon was working for the Kingpin in order to seize control over Chinatown. Moon Knight then knocked out White Dragon.
(Night Moves) - Explicitly breaking up with Kingpin, who
had no real control over Chinatown, White Dragon led the Dragon Lords in
a secret alliance with the Maggia's Hammerhead family, who were in gang
war against the Faces of Fear and their Chinatown allies the Si-Fan. In
a response to the ongoing gang problem, Chinatowns citizens set up their
own force, Tiger's Claw, for self-protection. Reports that the ghost of
Fu Manchu, deceased leader of Si-Fan, was haunting a restaurant in
Dragon Lords territory led some street level superheroes to investigate
and become a thorn in both sides of the conflict. Learning that the
Si-Fan had smuggled their late leader's corpse into Manhattan (intending
to resurrect him), the Dragonlords stole Fu Manchu's remains, so the
Si-Fan's interim leader, the blind antique shop owner Lee Min, tried to
trick the heroes into taking down White Dragon and the Dragon Lords.
Meanwhile Hammerhead demanded White Dragon murder the meddling heroes,
promising to eliminate Tiger's Claw leader Wu Fong in exchange. White
Dragon kidnapped Mei Li Wong, owner of the restaurant, purportedly for
ransom but really to bait the heroes to a fireworks warehouse where
superpowered mercenary Killer Shrike was waiting in ambush, while two
other minions took Mrs. Wong to Pier 38 to drown her. The heroes rescued
both Mrs. Wong and Wu Fong, the latter of whom informed them of the
rumor that the Maggia and White Dragon have allied. This alliance also
allowed the Dragon Lords to distribute exclusive crack drug developed by
the Maggia's Chemist, using Chinatown as test area. While trying to stop
street violence, the heroes discovered a Dragon Lords headquarters under
the South Street Elevated Highway near the Brooklyn Bridge, but this
proved to not be their main base.
When the Si Fan offered one million dollars cash for Fu Manchu's corpse, the White Dragon agreed to an exchange, and a parley was arranged to be held between Si-Fan hireling Silver Samurai backed by six tong assassins, and White Dragon and twelve Dragon Lords. Having infiltrated Lee Min's shop in disguise, Shang-Chi forewarned the heroes about the encounter so they could also be present. However, Silver Samurai betrayed the flag of truce and teleported away with the body, leaving his tong underlings to battle the Dragon Lords and heroes. White Dragon and the Dragon Lords were defeated and arrested, losing Hammerhead's support in the process. Though White Dragon insisted that the Samurai's treachery would only intensify the war, Chinatown's citizens optimistically celebrated the at-least partial victory with a party.
(Spectacular Spider-Man Annual#12/3) - In Hogan's Alley, the Prowler, working alongside his brother, Abe Brown, fought a gang of criminals attacking homeless people. Abe took a knife to the leg blocking an attack on the Prowler, and then sent the Prowler after the last gang member, who was fleeing on foot. The White Dragon stepped out of the shadows and attacked the injured Abe. The Dragon was about to use his fire breath, but he was shot in the arm by a homeless guy, Shark. He dropped his mask, igniting an incendiary device within it, to create a diversion and escaped.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1 (fb) - BTS) - Mr. Negative killed some of White Dragon's men in Sunset Park to gain control over Chinatown. Soon thereafter White Dragon joined the Hood's army. The Hood sent him to Chinatown to supervise all operations there with his Dragon Lords including Mr. Negative's business.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1) - White Dragon had a meeting with Mr. Negative to inform him about the takeover of his businesses and that Mr. Negative was going to pay 65% of all his earnings to the Hood. White Dragon was surprised when Mr. Negative agreed to it, but Mr. Negative then shook his hand to corrupt White Dragon. Sent back to the Hood the corrupted White Dragon attacked several of Hood's agents including Bloodshed, Lightmaster, Speed Demon, Spot, Squid and White Rabbit while informing the Hood that all Tong's stood united behind Mr. Negative to keep the Hood out of Chinatown. The Hood then shot White Dragon several times and the seemingly dead White Dragon returned to his uncorrupted state.
(Web of Spider-Man II#9/2) - Now calling himself Black Dragon, he was sent to Ryker's to retrieve Boomerang on orders of Mister Negative (Boomerang had talked to the DA about selling out the Eastern Wind). After retrieving Boomerang and killing a body double to make it appear as if his target was dead, Black Dragon was on his way out when the local heroine Jackpot confronted him.
(Web of Spider-Man II#10/2) - Jackpot tried to beat up Black Dragon, but he got back up when his gang (possibly the Dragon Lords) arrived and assaulted her with several electrified whips. Unable to endure the shocks, she fainted and was left in the rubble of Ryker's. When Jackpot later found the headquarters of Mister Negative, the Black Dragon revealed Boomerang was still alive.
(Web of Spider-Man II#11/2) - Black Dragon held his prisoner Boomerang while Mister Negative discussed the recent events with Jackpot until she saw a way to escape his headquarters with Boomerang. She shot her grappling gun at Black Dragon and kicked Mister Negative in the face. After dealing with Negative's henchmen, she held a gun to the crimeboss' head, who decided to let them go.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#1 - BTS) - Without the influence of Mr Negative he reverted to his normal self and renamed himself the White Dragon. He eventually relocated to London to become a Triad (Chinese maffia) leader that ruled London's China Town.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#2 (fb) - BTS) - The White Dragon owned a brothel in London's business district that was partly run by his associate Razor Fist. The sadistic vigilante who would often hurt the working girls.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#3 (fb) - BTS) - For unrevealed reasons, the White Dragon went to work for Midnight Son who convinced him to help whipe out the triad's leadership. With all the leaders dead, Midnight Son could use a Chao-Siwang prayer to give him unlimited power so he could take control of all the clans and rule China. The White Dragon was willing to give his life when the time would come to usher in this new era.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#2 (fb) - BTS) - After closing the bars the White Dragon and his men would regularly visit the Wall of the Dead. The Wall held the names of all the deceased White Dragon Clan warriors.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#3 (fb) - BTS) - The White Dragon, his clan and the Shadow Ghosts had successfully killed all but one triad leader called Skull Crusher.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#1 - BTS) - The White Dragon ordered Razorfist and the Shadow Ghosts to kill Leiko Wu, an undercover MI6 agent who had infiltrated in Skull Crusher's clan and had slaughtered five of the Dragon's men to prove herself.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#2) - While in one of his clubs, White Dragon was challenged by Shang-Chi who had travelled to London to find out what had happened to his former lover Leiko Wu. The White Dragon boasted that the only answers he would get would lie at the bottom of a shallow grave.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#3) - The White Dragon and Midnight Sun watched as Shang-Chi took on their men, but when the Sons of the Tiger and the Daughters of the Dragon also came crashing in they decided to retreat to White Dragon's estate. After Shang-Chi and Skull Crusher finally arrived at the estate they discovered the sacred room where all the heads of the killed Triad leaders were kept and stumbled upon the White Dragon. The White Dragon attacked both Shang-Chi and Skull Crusher and was relative successful in battling the two martial experts until Midnight Sun entered and used his powers to trap both of them. With the last Triad leader captured, the White Dragon realized his time had come and willingly bowed down to Midnight Sun to be decapitated to complete the ritual. After slaying the Dragon he then decapitated the last Triad leader as well, while Shang-Chi was helpless to intervene.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#4) - With all the Triad leaders dead Midnight Sun used a prayer of the Chao-Siwang. But Midnight Sun was unaware Skull Crusher had since passed leadership of his clan on to Leiko Wu. Without all the souls he needed as tribute, Midnight Sun angered the spirits of his ancestors who now cried for his destruction. In the end, Leiko Wu made sure all the deceased Triad leaders and White Dragon briefly returned to the earthly plane to grab Midnight Sun and drag him back to the underworld.
Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman (writer), Ross Andru (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks).
White Dragon has a one page profile (not very informative) as one of "Spider-Man's Forgotten Foes!" in Web of Spider-Man Annual#3. He further received a profile in the 2007 Spider-Man: Back in Black handbook and 2010 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z HC#13
It's been unrevealed how the White Dragon was able to become a Triad (Chinese maffia) leader that ruled London's China Town. Perhaps he was only released from Mr. Negative's influence to expand his empire to the United Kingdom.
White Dragon's appearances from Amazing Spider-Man I#184 till Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1 have been covered by Peter Kroon, Web of Spider-Man II#9 till Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#4 have been covered by MarvellousLuke.
The White Dragon has a profile with role-playing stats
in "Night Moves". These detail his body armor, claws, gas projector
and flaming breath, along with martial arts training. "Night Moves"
systematically calls the band "the Dragonlords", no hyphen. In "Night
Moves", one of the gang members (probably a Dragonlord) says "It's the
Year of the Dragon". The book was published in 1990, which was not a
Year of the Dragon. Per Wikipedia, there was a Year of the Earth
Dragon soon before that (February 17th, 1988 to February 5th, 1989),
and there wouldn't be a new Year of the Dragon until 2000. The
sentence is probably intended to praise the White Dragon and the
Dragonlords, not to refer the Chinese zodiac. - Skippy
Profile by Peter
Kroon & MarvellousLuke
with RPG updates by Skippy
Farlstendoiro
CLARIFICATIONS:
White Dragon has no known connections to
They were a gang in Chinatown led by the White Dragon. Many of them were trained in the martial arts. Tommy Li was a member of their ranks, but later became a lackey of the Smuggler (Erik Josten).
--Amazing Spider-Man I#184 (Amazing Spider-Man I#184-185, Spectacular Spider-Man II#49, Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1
images: (without ads)
Spider-Man: Back in Black, White Dragon entry (main image)
Amazing Spider-Man I#184, p12, pan1,2 (first appearance)
Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1, p3, pan6,7 (turned into the Black Dragon)
Amazing Spider-Man I#184, p14, pan4 (Dragon Lords)
Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#184-185 (September-October, 1978) - Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor), Ross Andru (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks)
Spectacular Spider-Man I#36 (November, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim
Mooney (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Marvel Team-Up I#144 (August, 1984) - Cary Burkett (writer), Greg
LaRocque (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man I#49 (December, 1980) - Dragon Lords only - Roger
Stern (writer), Jim Mooney (pencils), Bruce Patterson (inks), Denny
O'Neil (editor)
Web of Spider-Man Annual#3 (1987) - Roger Stern (writer), Jim Mooney
(artist), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Night Moves (1990) -
Anthony Herring (writer), Jeff Butler, Mike Machlin (artists), Karen
S. Boomgarden (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man Annual#12 (1992) - Glenn
Herdling (writer), Tod Smith (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Danny
Fingeroth (editor)
Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1 (August, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer),
Gianluca Gugliotta (pencils), Andy Lanning & Justice (inks), Stephen
Wacker (editor)
Web of Spider-Man II#9/2 (August, 2010) - Marc Guggenheim (writer), Sana
Takeda (pencils, inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Web of Spider-Man II#10/2 (September, 2010) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
Sana Takeda (pencils, inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Web of Spider-Man II#11/2 (October, 2010) - Marc Guggenheim (writer),
Sana Takeda (pencils, inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#2 (August, 2014) - Mike Benson (writer), Tan
Eng Huat (pencils), Craig Yeung (inks), Jake Thomas (editor)
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#3 (September, 2014) - Mike Benson (writer),
Tan Eng Huat (pencils)
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu II#4 (October, 2014) - Mike Benson (writer), Tan
Eng Huat (pencils)
First Posted: 02/14/2002
Last updated: 06/12/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let us know.
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