I like the very first
image we see of him (at right); it evokes the Night Thrasher costume
and potentially what he might have looked like in his home dimension.
DWAYNE TAYLOR
of Earth-90214
Real Name: Dwayne Taylor
Identity/Class: Extradimensional
(Earth-90214/Marvel Noir)
normal human
Occupation: Retiree;
formerly adventurer/vigilante(?) (see comments)
Group Membership: Manor Crossing tenants;
formerly New York Warriors
(Earth-90214)
Affiliations: Tina Cooke (Earth-1218),
Crimzor, The End Woman, Goldon, Pug-Smasher (Earth-8311), Shatterstar
Enemies: Death Sponsors (Cancellator,
Deadair,
Lead-In,
Sweepzweak, Timeslot),
Gringrave
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Night Thrasher (possibly - see
comments)
Base of Operations: College Point, Queens, New
York, USA;
formerly New York,
Earth-90214
First Appearance: Shatterstar I#1 (2018)
Powers/Abilities: Despite his advanced age,
Dwayne Taylor still had very good hand-to-hand fighting skills and
sufficient strength to wield small weapons. He had a
grumpy demeanor and enjoyed watching boxing bouts on television. He was
coping with the neurodegenerative disorder called Parkinson's disease
and received medication that alleviated the symptoms, although he
often gruffly discarded them. He needed a walking stick for balance and
spectacles to help with his vision.
Height: 6'
Weight: 170 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: White (balding)
History:
(Shatterstar I#1 (fb) - BTS) - On his home reality of
Earth-90214, fighting-tough Dwayne Taylor banded with the New York
Warriors. Eventually Parkinson's disease was detected in him and his
colleague Ms. Slip was able to shunt him across dimensions to Earth-616
where there would be treatments available for him. Taylor moved into
Manor Crossing, a halfway house owned by
Shatterstar (as Ben Gaveedra) offering leases to provide legitimate
shelter to interdimensional castaways. Shatterstar wondered why Ms.
Slip hadn't dropped Taylor to a point when a cure had been developed
instead of only medications to alleviate symptoms. Shatterstar obtained
medications for Taylor free of charge, but this made Taylor feel like
he was being baby-sat and the ill angry man would occasionally
flush the meds down the toilet.
(Shatterstar I#1) - Doing his regular rounds checking
on his tenants, Shatterstar stopped by apartment #3N to gift new
medications to the grumpy Taylor, who had been watching boxing matches
on his TV as usual.
(Shatterstar I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Shatterstar's long-estranged gladiatorial partner Gringrave, along with other mercenaries from Mojoworld, left to work for Grandmaster of Reality-616, supplying gladiatorial entertainment to the Horusians of Horus IV. Gringrave set in motion an elaborate plot to lure Shatterstar to Horus IV for the Grandmaster's amusement.
(Shatterstar I#1) - Using Timeslot's time portal, Gringrave led the Death Sponsors to violently kidnap Manor Crossing's tenants as bait for Shatterstar while he was out.
(Shatterstar I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Gringrave stealthily murdered Timeslot as part of the plot to ensnare Shatterstar. Gringrave let Taylor believe he had killed Timeslot before she sliced open Taylor to slowly die and pass a message to Shatterstar.
When Shatterstar returned home, he was shocked at the devastation and stayed with Taylor as he passed away. Shatterstar watched the security camera footage of the attack, which had been cleverly coordinated to hide any real evidence. Shatterstar buried Taylor's body in the grounds next to the manor and left to battle Gringrave (and later won).
(Shatterstar I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Taylor's body was
moved to a formal graveyard with a humble tombstone: "Dwayne Taylor -
Thrasher of the Night".
(Shatterstar I#5) - At the graveyard, Pug-Smasher
placed a small TV screening a boxing match and faced it toward Taylor's
tombstone so he wouldn't miss a fight.
Comments: Dwayne Taylor originally created by Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz. Earth-90214 version adapted by Tim Seeley, Carlos Villa, Juan Vlasco.
I like the very first
image we see of him (at right); it evokes the Night Thrasher costume
and potentially what he might have looked like in his home dimension.
The gritty "Noir" universe (Earth-90214) is set in
the 1930s and most characters lack their powers. "Ms. Slip" is very
likely the local version of Indian
mutant Timeslip (Rina Patel); on Earth-616, she has time-manipulating
abilities -- but how did the un(der)powered Noir version shunt Dwayne
across dimensions to Earth-616? I guess there are various ways, from
portals to Kangs to a crystal shard, etc. However, given the endpoint was at a set time,
it seems the portal was fixed to a certain timepoint on Earth-616.
Given his advanced age, did Dwayne cross to Earth-616 when older (most
likely), or did he cross over when he was younger and age on Earth-616?
In the Noir universe of the 1930s, most characters lack their powers and few have the codename (or same codename) as their Earth-616 counterpart, so I'm not convinced that Dwayne took on the name Night Thrasher -- it was a side comment from Shatterstar to place the old man in personal context. Co-creator DeFalco of the original Night Thrasher commented that he was inspired by skateboarding brands with "Thrash" in the name. Skateboarding apparently developed in the late 1940s, so if Taylor-90214 had the moniker Night Thrasher, then it wasn't from a skateboard, but much more likely from the original "thrash" meaning (i.e., beat soundly in punishment; defeat thoroughly).
So what role/occupation did Dwayne Taylor-90214 have
in his original universe? Purely speculation, but given he ran with a
group called the New York Warriors and kept such ingrained fighting
skills into his old age, there was clearly hand-to-hand combat skills
involved, so I'd slot him into a similar role of adventurer or
vigilante, probably more the latter.
In his prime in Earth-90214, I think Dwayne Taylor would have kept the trademark trenchcoat of his Earth-616 counterpart, maybe matching it with a flat cap. He'd probably keep a form of escrima sticks hidden along his forearms, perhaps replaced with simple metal rods to match the 1930s era. Maybe Dwayne's parents are still alive in the Noir universe with the powerful company surviving the Great Depression by diversifying in industries like construction and weapons. Witnessing the murderous strike-breakers called the Poison Memories alongside Robert Hunter (Nitro) steers Dwayne to pursue justice and he establishes the New York Warriors.
So who might be the candidates for the New York
Warriors of the underpowered Noir universe? Of course there's Ms. Slip.
Angel Jones (Firestar) might be skilled with fire devices and wear a
full/half emotionless facemask. Richard Rider (Nova) could have
skills with rockets and flares, and call himself the Human Rocket;
alternatively he could have a steampunked version of a suit like the Rocketeers-616,
or maybe he found an actual alien Nova helmet that was damaged, but
Rider never tested the capabilities beyond short rocket bursts. Robbie
Baldwin (Speedball) would easily fit as a young teenager with excellent
parkour skills.
Vance Astrovik might be a restless grifter escaping abusive Russian
aristocrat refugees who fled the Russian Revolution 18 years earlier.
Elvin Halliday (Rage) could be a teenager obsessed with muscling up. I
think Turbo should go back to
the original Torpedo moniker for the suit, maybe with metal covers over
the
fists and protected spinning blades around the wrist like a torpedo's
propulsion end for near-surface underwater activity with a unique
snorkel system for the helmet that would hark back to the -616 design
-- obviously too limiting in scope for a member, but rather a storyline
character. Maybe criminal
Meryet Karim (Sphinx) is a timepiece collector who manipulates local
surroundings to affect people's perceptions of time and place.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Dwayne Taylor of Earth-90214 has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
Shatterstar I#1, p7, pan4 (main image)
p13, pan7 (headshot)
p7, pan2 (offered meds)
Appearances:
Shatterstar I#1 (December, 2018) - Tim Seeley (writer), Carlos Villa
(penciler), Juan Vlasco (inker), Gerardo Sandoval (additional art),
Jordan D. White (editor)
Shatterstar I#5 (April, 2019) - Tim Seeley (writer), Carlos Villa
(penciler & inker), Juan Vlasco (inker), Gerardo Sandoval
(additional art), Jordan D. White (editor)
First posted: 10/13/2024
Last updated:
10/13/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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