Dial H for Hero
Encyclopedia
Dial H for Hero is a comic book
feature published by DC Comics
about a mysterious dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero
for a short time, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the dial causes its possessor to become a superhero with a different name, costume, and powers. These superheroes are usually new, but on one occasion the dial caused its user to become a duplicate of an existing superhero, Plastic Man
. Some versions of the dial contain additional letters, allowing other kinds of transformations.
The original series debuted in House of Mystery
#156 (January 1966), and continued until issue #173 (March–April 1968). The art was by Jim Mooney
(though he did not finish the run), with scripts by Dave Wood. The original owner of the dial is Robert "Robby" Reed, a smart teenager from Littleville, Colorado
who lived with his grandfather, "Gramps" Reed, and their housekeeper Miss Millie. Having a penchant for exclaiming, "Sockamagee!", Robby discovered the dial in a cavern. Resembling an old telephone dial, this device is hand-held and covered in unknown symbols (that Robby was able to decipher into modern letters). In issue #9 of the current volume of The Brave and the Bold
, Robby reveals to Tin of the Metal Men
that the symbols are Interlac
, suggesting at least some relevance between the later 31st Century of the Legion of Super-Heroes
and the Dial's construction.
How the dial got there or who created it is never revealed. Each time he dials the letters H-E-R-O, Robby finds he turns into a different super-powered being; dialing O-R-E-H makes him revert to his normal form. Under the guises of numerous superheroes, Robby soon uses the dial to protect Littleville.
Robby's H-Dial was once used by his foe, Daffy Dagan, who in House of Mystery #158 (April 1966) briefly becomes a supervillain known as Daffy the Great after dialing V-I-L-L-A-I-N. In House of Mystery #169 (September 1967), Robby's girlfriend Suzie uses the dial, dialing H-E-R-O-I-N-E to temporarily transform into Gem Girl in order to help defeat Toymaster. At the end of the story, Suzie receives a blow to the head that causes her to forget about the secret of the device.
After the series ceased its run in House of Mystery, Robby appeared in Plastic Man #13 (June–July 1976). Recovering from an attack of amnesia
, Robby retrieves his dial, which has become corroded with rust. The corrosion causes Robby to turn into an evil version of Plastic Man, and he attacks the real Plastic Man. After defeating Robby and returning him to normal, Plastic Man confiscates the dial from Robby for using it irresponsibly. It is never explained how Robby is seen with the dial in later stories.
During the Silver Age
cross-over event, Robby encountered his old House of Mystery co-star J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter
, in Silver Age: Dial H for Hero #1. Believing that he—and the rest of the Justice League
—had gone bad, Robby turns into a superhero to stop him. Actually, the Martian has been mind-swapped with Dr. Light
(the other JLAers have undergone similar mental transpositions, but those seen here are only Light's illusions). Subsequently, in Silver Age 80-Page Giant
#1 (July 2000), Robby lends the Dial to the now mind/body restored Justice League, allowing several of its members to transform themselves into new superheroes to defeat Agamemno
's Injustice League
at a time when they had learned how to defeat the Leaguers in their normal forms. Their respective new identities are:
The second Dial H for Hero series debuted in the 1980s, in a special insert
in Legion of Super-Heroes #272 (February 1981), then ran in Adventure Comics
#479-490 and continued in New Adventures of Superboy #28-49; the duo also appeared alongside Superman
in DC Comics Presents
#44. A new feature of this series was that the readers could submit new hero and villain characters, which were then used in the stories. The submitters were given credit for their creations (and a t-shirt with the series logo), but the characters became DC Comics' property. The original writer and artist in the series were Marv Wolfman
and Carmine Infantino
.
In this series, two other dials are discovered years later by teenagers Christopher "Chris" King and Victoria "Vicky" Grant of the New England
town of Fairfax in a 'haunted' house. These dials — disguised as a watch
and a necklace
— only have the letters H-E-R-O on them, and work only for an hour, after which they will not work for another hour. King and Grant begin protecting Fairfax from a number of menaces. Unknown to them, most of these villains are created by a mysterious villain
known only as The Master, who is obsessed with the H-dials for reasons unknown for most of the series.
While anyone could use Chris and Vicki's H-dials, they always turned the user into a hero, regardless of his or her personality; even The Master was temporarily made good by one. This fact has been ignored in later stories. On one occasion, a hero's persona overwhelmed the heroic Chris' own personality; as "Ragnarok, the Cosmic Viking", he possessed no awareness of Chris King's memories and acted with disregard for others' property and safety, going so far as to threaten police officers and swat away Vicki (as the miniature heroine "Pixie") when she attempted to talk him down, failing to recognize her as an ally. On a side note, it was a matter of contention with Chris when he first started using the dial that while Vicky changed into useful heroes with applicable powers, Chris's powers tended to be obscure and not particularly useful to defeat his opponent, such as when he changed into a super hero that could duplicate things and he outright began complaining about his useless ability. Indeed, it was that issue where Vicky showed Chris to think "outside the box" and use his temporary gifts creatively so they could be useful, at which point he helped defeat that issue's bad guy. Once this lesson was learned, Chris's super-hero changes became more relevant to the situation, but no explanation was given as to why this was.
Eventually Chris and Vicki discover that a fellow student named Nick Stevens has been drawing up superheroes as a hobby — and somehow, the dials turn them into those heroes. With Nick's help, they find out that their dials were created by a being called The Wizard (not to be confused with the DC Comics villain of the same name
), whom the Master thought he'd killed years before. In truth, The Wizard faked his death while he looked for the original Hero Dial. With it, he merges with The Master — and transforms into Robby Reed, who explains that years before, he had used the dial to split in two so that he could disarm a dead man's switch, while his other self, the Wizard, defeated the villain who set it. However, the Wizard carried all of Robby's inherent goodness, while the Robbie that remain possessed only evil impulses; the original Hero Dial was lost when this Robby, renaming himself The Master, dialed "hide yourself", causing the dial to vanish along with The Master's and The Wizard's memories of their former life as Robby Reed. While The Master learned genetic techniques that allowed him to create his army of super-villains, the Wizard was driven to create the new H-dials, unconsciously designing limitations into them to prevent what happened to Robby from recurring (only heroic identities, a time limit, and the exclusion of letters other than H-E-R-O; the latter, however, did not prevent Chris from experimenting on one occasion and dialing H-O-R-R-O-R, with disastrous results). With Nick developing the ability to actively influence the dials' results (rather than subconsciously as before), Robby passes his dial to Nick, and retires as a hero.
In New Teen Titans #45 (June 1988) Victoria and Chris' history after the end of their series is revealed. After the two teens graduated from high school, they found they had gained the ability to transform without the dials — apparently because of their extensive use — but as a side-effect Vicky began experiencing mental problems. Vicky later joins a cult called the Children of the Sun, where she is physically and mentally abused, deranging her even more. She seeks out her former partner Chris in order to kill him. With help from the Teen Titans, Chris rescues her (in New Teen Titans #46). Chris now finds that he changes into a new superhero every hour, without the dial, and remains that way until he expends an unspecified amount of energy. He decides to continue his superhero career, using a suit provided by S.T.A.R. Labs
to monitor his changes.
In Superboy
and the Ravers #5 (January 1997), Hero Cruz
finds Vicki's H-dial in the lair of Scavenger, and uses it to gain superpowers. A still deranged Vicky returns in Superboy and the Ravers #13 (September 1997) to get her dial back from Hero, but she regains her sanity once she uses the device. She is last seen in the care of the Forces, a family of metahumans.
. The new series, written by Will Pfeifer
with art by Kano
, focused on the effect the H-Dial has on a series of average people, whose lives are usually ruined by the pressures of superherodom. Robby Reed, now grown old and bitter, is searching for the missing dial, determined to retrieve it and keep a serial killer from getting his hands on it. The series lasted 22 issues with it ending with the H-Dial's powers internalized into Robby Reed and some other people who have come across it after the serial killer that was using it was stopped. The H-Dial ends up being sent back in time to 50,000 BC. Superman
is featured in one of the stories.
of the Legion of Super-Heroes
' time period by a thief named Nylor Truggs, who flees with the dial to the ambiguous late 1960s/early 1970s era-Smallville of the original (Earth-One) Superboy
by altering the dial's functions in some unexplained manner, allowing him to travel in time. Truggs further alters the H-dial to break the restriction that users can only transform into heroic identities, changing the "H" in the center of the dial to "V" for "villain". Truggs also makes the dial capable of changing individuals other than himself into villains if he desires; those transformed would then be under Truggs' control. Truggs transforms several of Clark Kent
's high school friends, and forms a temporary alliance with a teenaged Lex Luthor
, in a scheme to plant seismic devices in their time period so that Truggs can use those devices against the people of his own future time upon his return. Truggs' plan is foiled by Superboy, several members of the Legion, and Krypto
the Superdog, the latter of which destroys the stolen H-Dial by crushing it in his jaws. Vicki Grant's H-Dial is also shown to have survived to the Legion's time—it is slated to replace King's dial in the museum display. As this story was published before the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths
(which erased the Earth-One Superboy from continuity) and the subsequent rebootings of the Legion of Super-Heroes' history, it is unlikely that any elements of this story exist in current continuity.
In Legionnaires #69, Lori Morning
uses an H-dial that was given to her by the Time Trapper
to gain superpowers, and becomes a member of Workforce
. Lori gives the H-dial to Brainiac 5.1
to use against the Rift; the device is destroyed in the process. This timeline was also erased in the Legion reboot.
In a One Year Later
storyline the H-Dial comes into the possession of Father Time
, who hopes to clone the device and create an entire army
of "one man Justice Leagues". However the device is stolen, and Johnny Mimic (the reformed Green Lantern
villain called to act as a profiler) dupes Alan Scott into killing him while holding the device, destroying it for good.
Later, in The Brave and the Bold
#9, February 2008, Robby Reed teamed up with the Metal Men, even lending the dial to Tin to allow him to transform into a more resilient superhero to defeat the monster conjured by the deranged alchemist Megistus. The dial, due to its transformative abilities, bore an optional part in Megistus' plans to draw the storm that brought about the genesis of Red Kryptonite upon Earth, warping it as to protect it from the events of the Final Crisis
.
Dial H appeared again in issue 27 of the same series, this time in a team-up with Batman
. While staying at a hotel in Gotham City
, Robby's Dial is stolen by a down on his luck young man named Travers Milton. After using the Dial to transform into a Superman
-esque flying hero named the Star, Travers assists Batman in defending Gotham after the Joker
arranges a series of violent crimes to be committed throughout the city in order to break Batman. After discovering that the final challenge for Batman is a remote-controlled bomb placed over a group of bound and gagged men and women, Travers heroically sacrifices his life by flying out into the night sky while clutching the bomb, saving Batman and the hostages seconds before it detonates. Afterwards, Batman returns the H-Dial to Robby and tells him that it gave Travers what he had always wanted; the chance to be a hero. There is no indication given as to where either of the Brave & the Bold stories fit into Robby Reed's personal timeline, however.
In JLA: Another Nail
, the H-Dial made a brief appearance when all time periods meld together. A hand can be seen barely clutching it.
Jerry Feldon (in H.E.R.O.
Captain Chaos (in H.E.R.O.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
feature published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
about a mysterious dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
for a short time, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the dial causes its possessor to become a superhero with a different name, costume, and powers. These superheroes are usually new, but on one occasion the dial caused its user to become a duplicate of an existing superhero, Plastic Man
Plastic Man
Plastic Man is a fictional comic-book superhero originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Jack Cole, he first appeared in Police Comics #1 ....
. Some versions of the dial contain additional letters, allowing other kinds of transformations.
Original series
House of Mystery
The House of Mystery is the name of several horror-mystery-suspense anthology comic book series. It had a companion series, House of Secrets.-Genesis:...
#156 (January 1966), and continued until issue #173 (March–April 1968). The art was by Jim Mooney
Jim Mooney
James Noel "Jim" Mooney was an American comic book artist best known as a Marvel Comics inker and Spider-Man artist, and as the signature artist of DC Comics' Supergirl, both during what comics historians and fans call the Silver Age of comic books...
(though he did not finish the run), with scripts by Dave Wood. The original owner of the dial is Robert "Robby" Reed, a smart teenager from Littleville, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
who lived with his grandfather, "Gramps" Reed, and their housekeeper Miss Millie. Having a penchant for exclaiming, "Sockamagee!", Robby discovered the dial in a cavern. Resembling an old telephone dial, this device is hand-held and covered in unknown symbols (that Robby was able to decipher into modern letters). In issue #9 of the current volume of The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
, Robby reveals to Tin of the Metal Men
Metal Men
The Metal Men are fictional characters that appear in comic books published by DC Comics. The characters first appeared in Showcase #37 and were created by writer Robert Kanigher and penciller Ross Andru...
that the symbols are Interlac
Interlac
In the DC Comics fictional universe, Interlac is the designated communication language of the 30th century United Planets.In its basic form it is a simple one-to-one substitution cipher. The Interlac alphabet corresponds perfectly to the twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet and the numbering...
, suggesting at least some relevance between the later 31st Century of the Legion of Super-Heroes
Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
and the Dial's construction.
How the dial got there or who created it is never revealed. Each time he dials the letters H-E-R-O, Robby finds he turns into a different super-powered being; dialing O-R-E-H makes him revert to his normal form. Under the guises of numerous superheroes, Robby soon uses the dial to protect Littleville.
Robby's H-Dial was once used by his foe, Daffy Dagan, who in House of Mystery #158 (April 1966) briefly becomes a supervillain known as Daffy the Great after dialing V-I-L-L-A-I-N. In House of Mystery #169 (September 1967), Robby's girlfriend Suzie uses the dial, dialing H-E-R-O-I-N-E to temporarily transform into Gem Girl in order to help defeat Toymaster. At the end of the story, Suzie receives a blow to the head that causes her to forget about the secret of the device.
After the series ceased its run in House of Mystery, Robby appeared in Plastic Man #13 (June–July 1976). Recovering from an attack of amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, Robby retrieves his dial, which has become corroded with rust. The corrosion causes Robby to turn into an evil version of Plastic Man, and he attacks the real Plastic Man. After defeating Robby and returning him to normal, Plastic Man confiscates the dial from Robby for using it irresponsibly. It is never explained how Robby is seen with the dial in later stories.
During the Silver Age
Silver Age (DC Comics Title)
"Silver Age" was a twelve part storyline that ran through a series of one shot comic books published by DC Comics in 2000.Each of the 12 issues were a one-shot , however they formed a larger story-arc in which The Justice League of America fights the Injustice League formed by villain Agamemno.The...
cross-over event, Robby encountered his old House of Mystery co-star J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter
Martian Manhunter
The Martian Manhunter is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in publications published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in Detective Comics #225...
, in Silver Age: Dial H for Hero #1. Believing that he—and the rest of the Justice League
Justice League
The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics....
—had gone bad, Robby turns into a superhero to stop him. Actually, the Martian has been mind-swapped with Dr. Light
Doctor Light (Arthur Light)
Doctor Arthur Light is a fictional supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the third individual to have adopted the persona of Doctor Light, after a Golden Age foe of Doctor Mid-Nite and Arthur's associate Jacob Finlay...
(the other JLAers have undergone similar mental transpositions, but those seen here are only Light's illusions). Subsequently, in Silver Age 80-Page Giant
80-Page Giant
80-Page Giant was the name used for a series of comic books published by DC Comics beginning in 1964. The series was named for its unusually high page count. . The cover price was typically 25 cents, while other comics of the day were rarely above 12 cents...
#1 (July 2000), Robby lends the Dial to the now mind/body restored Justice League, allowing several of its members to transform themselves into new superheroes to defeat Agamemno
Agamemno
Agamemno is a fictional character, a supervillain in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Silver Age #1 during the Silver Age event . He was created by Mark Waid.-Fictional character biography:Agamemno is the son of the first sentient being to be created after the Big Bang...
's Injustice League
Injustice League
The Injustice League is the name of two fictional teams of supervillains in the .-Original League :The original Injustice League was the brainchild of the interplanetary conqueror Agamemno. Bored of his dominion, he set out to conquer Earth and their champions, the Justice League...
at a time when they had learned how to defeat the Leaguers in their normal forms. Their respective new identities are:
- SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
becomes Doc Fission - BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
becomes Minuteman - FlashWally WestThe Flash is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first Kid Flash and the third Flash....
becomes Marionette - Atom becomes Mod-Man
- Black CanaryBlack CanaryBlack Canary is the name of two fictional characters, DC Comics superheroines created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino. The first Black Canary debuted appeared in Flash Comics #86 . The first Black Canary was the alter-ego of Dinah Drake, who took part in Golden Age adventures...
becomes Miss Fortune - AquamanAquamanAquaman is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 . Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles, Aquaman later starred in several volumes of a solo title...
becomes Terra-Firma - Green ArrowGreen ArrowGreen Arrow is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 in November 1941. His secret identity is Oliver Queen, billionaire and former mayor of fictional Star City...
becomes Poltergeist - Martian ManhunterMartian ManhunterThe Martian Manhunter is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in publications published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in Detective Comics #225...
becomes Go-Go
1980s series
DC Comics insert previews
DC Comics insert previews were 16-page comic book stories inserted into issues of existing DC Comics series to promote new series usually debuting the next month. Running from 1980 to 1985, they consisted of a front cover, 14 pages of story, and a back cover that depicted the cover of the actual...
in Legion of Super-Heroes #272 (February 1981), then ran in Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics was a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1935 to 1983 and then revamped from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues , making it the fifth-longest-running DC series, behind Detective Comics, Action Comics, Superman, and Batman...
#479-490 and continued in New Adventures of Superboy #28-49; the duo also appeared alongside Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
in DC Comics Presents
DC Comics Presents
DC Comics Presents was a comic book published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 featuring team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters of the DC Universe...
#44. A new feature of this series was that the readers could submit new hero and villain characters, which were then used in the stories. The submitters were given credit for their creations (and a t-shirt with the series logo), but the characters became DC Comics' property. The original writer and artist in the series were Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
and Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
.
In this series, two other dials are discovered years later by teenagers Christopher "Chris" King and Victoria "Vicky" Grant of the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
town of Fairfax in a 'haunted' house. These dials — disguised as a watch
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
and a necklace
Necklace
A necklace is an article of jewellery which is worn around the neck. Necklaces are frequently formed from a metal jewellery chain. Others are woven or manufactured from cloth using string or twine....
— only have the letters H-E-R-O on them, and work only for an hour, after which they will not work for another hour. King and Grant begin protecting Fairfax from a number of menaces. Unknown to them, most of these villains are created by a mysterious villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
known only as The Master, who is obsessed with the H-dials for reasons unknown for most of the series.
While anyone could use Chris and Vicki's H-dials, they always turned the user into a hero, regardless of his or her personality; even The Master was temporarily made good by one. This fact has been ignored in later stories. On one occasion, a hero's persona overwhelmed the heroic Chris' own personality; as "Ragnarok, the Cosmic Viking", he possessed no awareness of Chris King's memories and acted with disregard for others' property and safety, going so far as to threaten police officers and swat away Vicki (as the miniature heroine "Pixie") when she attempted to talk him down, failing to recognize her as an ally. On a side note, it was a matter of contention with Chris when he first started using the dial that while Vicky changed into useful heroes with applicable powers, Chris's powers tended to be obscure and not particularly useful to defeat his opponent, such as when he changed into a super hero that could duplicate things and he outright began complaining about his useless ability. Indeed, it was that issue where Vicky showed Chris to think "outside the box" and use his temporary gifts creatively so they could be useful, at which point he helped defeat that issue's bad guy. Once this lesson was learned, Chris's super-hero changes became more relevant to the situation, but no explanation was given as to why this was.
Eventually Chris and Vicki discover that a fellow student named Nick Stevens has been drawing up superheroes as a hobby — and somehow, the dials turn them into those heroes. With Nick's help, they find out that their dials were created by a being called The Wizard (not to be confused with the DC Comics villain of the same name
Wizard (DC Comics)
The Wizard is a fictional DC Comics Golden Age supervillain.-Fictional character biography:Born approximately 1913, William I. Zard grew up living a life of crime. As a gun man for various crime bosses, he ultimately ended up in jail. With the passage of time, he formulated a strategy to become a...
), whom the Master thought he'd killed years before. In truth, The Wizard faked his death while he looked for the original Hero Dial. With it, he merges with The Master — and transforms into Robby Reed, who explains that years before, he had used the dial to split in two so that he could disarm a dead man's switch, while his other self, the Wizard, defeated the villain who set it. However, the Wizard carried all of Robby's inherent goodness, while the Robbie that remain possessed only evil impulses; the original Hero Dial was lost when this Robby, renaming himself The Master, dialed "hide yourself", causing the dial to vanish along with The Master's and The Wizard's memories of their former life as Robby Reed. While The Master learned genetic techniques that allowed him to create his army of super-villains, the Wizard was driven to create the new H-dials, unconsciously designing limitations into them to prevent what happened to Robby from recurring (only heroic identities, a time limit, and the exclusion of letters other than H-E-R-O; the latter, however, did not prevent Chris from experimenting on one occasion and dialing H-O-R-R-O-R, with disastrous results). With Nick developing the ability to actively influence the dials' results (rather than subconsciously as before), Robby passes his dial to Nick, and retires as a hero.
In New Teen Titans #45 (June 1988) Victoria and Chris' history after the end of their series is revealed. After the two teens graduated from high school, they found they had gained the ability to transform without the dials — apparently because of their extensive use — but as a side-effect Vicky began experiencing mental problems. Vicky later joins a cult called the Children of the Sun, where she is physically and mentally abused, deranging her even more. She seeks out her former partner Chris in order to kill him. With help from the Teen Titans, Chris rescues her (in New Teen Titans #46). Chris now finds that he changes into a new superhero every hour, without the dial, and remains that way until he expends an unspecified amount of energy. He decides to continue his superhero career, using a suit provided by S.T.A.R. Labs
S.T.A.R. Labs
S.T.A.R. Labs, is a fictional research facility, and comic book organization appearing in titles published by DC Comics. They first appeared in Superman vol. 1 #246 , and was created by Cary Bates and Rich Buckler.-Publication history:...
to monitor his changes.
In Superboy
Superboy
Superboy is the name of several fictional characters that have been published by DC Comics, most of them youthful incarnations of Superman. These characters have also been the main characters of four ongoing Superboy comic book series published by DC....
and the Ravers #5 (January 1997), Hero Cruz
Hero Cruz
Hero Cruz is a fictional character in comic books published by DC Comics. Within the narrative of the fictional DC Universe, Hero is a portrayal of a Latino gay superhero of African descent...
finds Vicki's H-dial in the lair of Scavenger, and uses it to gain superpowers. A still deranged Vicky returns in Superboy and the Ravers #13 (September 1997) to get her dial back from Hero, but she regains her sanity once she uses the device. She is last seen in the care of the Forces, a family of metahumans.
2003 series
DC relaunched the series again in 2003, this time simply titled H.E.R.O.H.E.R.O. (comics)
H.E.R.O. is an American comic book series published by DC Comics that started in 2003 and ran for 22 issues. The series was written by Will Pfeifer. Artists included Kano, Leonard Kirk and Dale Eaglesham....
. The new series, written by Will Pfeifer
Will Pfeifer
-Personal life:Will Pfeifer was born in 1967 in the town of Niles, Ohio. He attended Kent State University and graduated in 1989. He has resided in Rockford, Illinois since 1990, with his wife, Amy....
with art by Kano
Kano (comics)
Kano is the pseudonym of a Spanish comic book artist, whose real name is Jose Angel Cano Lopez.-Biography:After breaking into the comic book industry in 1998 as the artist for Virtex, published by Oktomica Comics, Kano moved on to work for DC Comics, with long runs on Action Comics.He has since...
, focused on the effect the H-Dial has on a series of average people, whose lives are usually ruined by the pressures of superherodom. Robby Reed, now grown old and bitter, is searching for the missing dial, determined to retrieve it and keep a serial killer from getting his hands on it. The series lasted 22 issues with it ending with the H-Dial's powers internalized into Robby Reed and some other people who have come across it after the serial killer that was using it was stopped. The H-Dial ends up being sent back in time to 50,000 BC. Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
is featured in one of the stories.
Other appearances
As an epilogue to the Chris King/Vicki Grant Dial H series, The New Adventures of Superboy #50 features a story in which Chris King's watch is stolen from the Space MuseumSpace Museum (comics)
Space Museum was a science fiction comics series published by National Comics in their flagship science fiction title Strange Adventures between 1959 and 1964...
of the Legion of Super-Heroes
Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
' time period by a thief named Nylor Truggs, who flees with the dial to the ambiguous late 1960s/early 1970s era-Smallville of the original (Earth-One) Superboy
Superboy
Superboy is the name of several fictional characters that have been published by DC Comics, most of them youthful incarnations of Superman. These characters have also been the main characters of four ongoing Superboy comic book series published by DC....
by altering the dial's functions in some unexplained manner, allowing him to travel in time. Truggs further alters the H-dial to break the restriction that users can only transform into heroic identities, changing the "H" in the center of the dial to "V" for "villain". Truggs also makes the dial capable of changing individuals other than himself into villains if he desires; those transformed would then be under Truggs' control. Truggs transforms several of Clark Kent
Clark Kent
Clark Kent is a fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, he debuted in Action Comics #1 and serves as the civilian and secret identity of the superhero Superman....
's high school friends, and forms a temporary alliance with a teenaged Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
, in a scheme to plant seismic devices in their time period so that Truggs can use those devices against the people of his own future time upon his return. Truggs' plan is foiled by Superboy, several members of the Legion, and Krypto
Krypto
Krypto, also known as Krypto the Superdog, is a fictional character. He is Superman's pet dog in the various Superman comic books published by DC Comics. Krypto's first appearance was in a Superboy story in Adventure Comics #210 in March 1955...
the Superdog, the latter of which destroys the stolen H-Dial by crushing it in his jaws. Vicki Grant's H-Dial is also shown to have survived to the Legion's time—it is slated to replace King's dial in the museum display. As this story was published before the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
(which erased the Earth-One Superboy from continuity) and the subsequent rebootings of the Legion of Super-Heroes' history, it is unlikely that any elements of this story exist in current continuity.
In Legionnaires #69, Lori Morning
Lori Morning
Lori Morning is a fictional character in DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes.-Early appearances:She first appeared as part of the Underworld Unleashed crossover, as the ten-year-old daughter of one of Chronos's henchmen; her father Ron first appeared in a 1989 issue of The Atom, also written by Tom...
uses an H-dial that was given to her by the Time Trapper
Time Trapper
The Time Trapper is a fictional character, a supervillain in stories published by DC Comics. The Time Trapper's main enemies are the Legion of Super-Heroes...
to gain superpowers, and becomes a member of Workforce
Workforce (comics)
The Workforce is a semi-heroic super-team in DC Comics' post-Zero Hour Legion of Super-Heroes continuity. It was introduced in Legion of Super-Heroes #64 .-Fictional history:...
. Lori gives the H-dial to Brainiac 5.1
Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5 is a fictional character who exists in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Universe. He is a long standing member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Brainiac 5 is from the planet Colu...
to use against the Rift; the device is destroyed in the process. This timeline was also erased in the Legion reboot.
In a One Year Later
One Year Later
"One Year Later" was a 2006 storyline event running through the DC Universe. As the title suggests, it involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Comics Universe following the events of the Infinite Crisis event, to explore major changes within the continuities of the many...
storyline the H-Dial comes into the possession of Father Time
Father Time (DC Comics)
Father Time is a fictional character, a supervillain in publications from DC Comics. The character first appeared in Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein #3 , and was created by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke.-Fictional character biography:...
, who hopes to clone the device and create an entire army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
of "one man Justice Leagues". However the device is stolen, and Johnny Mimic (the reformed Green Lantern
Alan Scott
Alan Scott is a fictional character, a superhero in the and the first superhero to bear the name Green Lantern.-Publication history:The original Green Lantern was created by young struggling artist Martin Nodell, who was inspired by the sight of a New York Subway employee waving a red lantern to...
villain called to act as a profiler) dupes Alan Scott into killing him while holding the device, destroying it for good.
Later, in The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
#9, February 2008, Robby Reed teamed up with the Metal Men, even lending the dial to Tin to allow him to transform into a more resilient superhero to defeat the monster conjured by the deranged alchemist Megistus. The dial, due to its transformative abilities, bore an optional part in Megistus' plans to draw the storm that brought about the genesis of Red Kryptonite upon Earth, warping it as to protect it from the events of the Final Crisis
Final Crisis
Final Crisis is a crossover storyline that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics in 2008, primarily the seven-issue miniseries of the same name written by Grant Morrison. Originally DC announced the project as being illustrated solely by J. G. Jones; artists Carlos Pacheco, Marco Rudy and...
.
Dial H appeared again in issue 27 of the same series, this time in a team-up with Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
. While staying at a hotel in Gotham City
Gotham City
Gotham City is a fictional U.S. city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 . Gotham City is strongly inspired by Trenton, Ontario's history, location, atmosphere, and various architectural styles...
, Robby's Dial is stolen by a down on his luck young man named Travers Milton. After using the Dial to transform into a Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
-esque flying hero named the Star, Travers assists Batman in defending Gotham after the Joker
Joker (comics)
The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
arranges a series of violent crimes to be committed throughout the city in order to break Batman. After discovering that the final challenge for Batman is a remote-controlled bomb placed over a group of bound and gagged men and women, Travers heroically sacrifices his life by flying out into the night sky while clutching the bomb, saving Batman and the hostages seconds before it detonates. Afterwards, Batman returns the H-Dial to Robby and tells him that it gave Travers what he had always wanted; the chance to be a hero. There is no indication given as to where either of the Brave & the Bold stories fit into Robby Reed's personal timeline, however.
In JLA: Another Nail
JLA: Another Nail
JLA: Another Nail is a comic book mini-series published in the United States by DC Comics, a continuation of events seen in the original three-part mini-series JLA: The Nail. As with its predecessor, Another Nail occurs outside of the official DC Universe continuity, belonging to the Elseworlds...
, the H-Dial made a brief appearance when all time periods meld together. A hand can be seen barely clutching it.
Robby Reed
- Cometeer - A superhero that is a "Human Comet."
- Giantboy - A giant hero with super-strength.
- Mole - A superhero that could dig underground at super speeds.
- Human Bullet - A superhero with flight and super endurance
- Super Charge - A superhero of living energy.
- Radar-Sonar Man - A superhero that can fly and emit a radar and sonar to guide himself as he was blindBlindnessBlindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
. - Quakemaster - A superhero that releases energy that cause objects to "shake"
- Squid - A superhero that has a helmet that release liquids. He can also fly.
- Human Starfish -
- Hypno Man - A superhero that had mind control ability.
- Mighty Moppet -
- King Kandy - A superhero that has candy-themed weapons.
- Plastic ManPlastic ManPlastic Man is a fictional comic-book superhero originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Jack Cole, he first appeared in Police Comics #1 ....
- Robby Reed one time became Plastic Man and had his super stretch abilities. - Magneto - A superhero that has magnetic manipulation.
- Hornet Man - A superhero that could fly.
- Shadow Man - A superhero that is a living shadow.
- Mr. Echo - A superhero that could absorb and deflect forces.
- Future Man - A superhero that has illusion casting abilities and telekinesis.
- Castor and Pollux - Twin superheros that have flight and super strength. Pollux was immortal.
- King Coil - A superhero that is made out of iron coils.
- Zip Tide - A superhero that is a living wave.
- Super Nova -
- Robby the Super Robot - A superhero that has flight, limited molecular control, and super strength.
- Whozit, Whatsit, and Howsit - Freak super heroes.
- Whozit - A superhero that bounces.
- Whatsit - A superhero that flies.
- Howzis - A roughly humanoid that is a living pinball machine with various super powers.
- Yankee Doodle Kid - A superhero that can fly and could create "fire works"
- Chief Mighty Arrow - A superhero that uses Native American-themed weapons.
- Balloon Boy - A superhero with the power of flight.
- Muscle Man - A superhero that can emit energy blasts.
- Hoopster - A superhero that can created "hoops."
- Mole-Cometeer - A hybrid of Mole and Cometeer.
- Velocity Kid -
- Astro: Man of Space - A superhero with a teleportation ability.
- Baron Buzz-Saw - A superhero that had buzz-saws coming out his body. He can also fly.
- Don Juan - A superhero with a magic sword.
- Sphinx Man - He could teleport. However, he got his riddle wrong to "never never land."
- King Viking - A superhero that can fly.
- Robby Go-Go -
- Whirl-I-Gig -
- Pendulum - A superhero that is a human pendulum.
- Human Solar Mirror - A superhero that can focus solar energy into a heat beam.
- Gillman (hero, then villain) - He breathes under water and swims super fast.
- Human Icicle (hero, then villain) - A superhero that can generate cold.
- Strata Man (hero, then villain) -
- "Tommy Tomorrow" -
- Twilight -
- Pyronic Man -
- "Giant" -
- "Quadruplets" -
- Circumference -
- Wizard - Robby Reed's hero half.
- Master - Robby Reed's villain half. He was responsible for creating most of the villains that Chris King and Vicki Grant fight.
- Great Jupiter - A heroic identity assumed by Robby Reed's Master form using Chris King's H-Dial. He has powers related to the planet of the same nameJupiterJupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
.
Chris King
- Moth - A superhero with flight ability.
- Mega Boy - A superhero with powerful blast beams.
- Color Commando - A superhero who used a variety of color-based weapons with different effects.
- Doomster: Master of the Cosmic Lightning - A superhero that controls lightning including riding it.
- Composite Man - A superhero who could split into smaller duplicates of himself.
- Captain Electron - A superhero with electric-based powers.
- Mister Mystical: Master of Magic - A superhero who possessed magical abilities.
- Star Flare - Described by Chris as "the Human Missile" and "the greatest hero since Superman." This identity allowed Chris to fly and wield a star sword.
- Solar Flare - A superhero with the ability to fly and a power punch (although Chris was only shown using the latter).
- Wrangler - A "cosmic cowboy" that Chris became to battle Battering Ram.
- Goldman - A flying superhero who created "gold" constructs.
- Sixth Sensor - A clairvoyant superhero.
- Volcano - A superhero with power over the earth, specifically lava.
- Mr. Thin - A "rubber-band" man.
- Anti-Man -
- Dragonfly - A winged superhero with multi-directional sight.
- Teleman - A teleporting superhero.
- Zeep The Living Sponge - He was created by future comic-book artist Stephen DeStefano, Zeep later appeared in DeStefano and Bob RozakisBob RozakisRobert "Bob" Rozakis is a comic book writer and editor known mainly for his work in the 1970s and 1980s at DC Comics, as the writer of Mazing Man and in his capacity as DC's "Answer Man".-Biography:...
's Hero HotlineHero HotlineHero Hotline is a fictional DC Comics corporate superteam introduced in Action Comics Weekly #637, January . They were created by Bob Rozakis and Stephen DeStefano.-History:...
series. - Lightmaster -
- Molecule Man -
- Music Master -
- Gladiator -
- White -
- Waspman - A flying superhero who fired "wasp stingers".
- Vibro the Quakemaster - A superhero with vibration power.
- Steadfast -
- Gravity Boy - A superhero that controls gravity.
- Blast Boy - A superhero with an explosive punch.
- Electrostatic - A superhero that is the master of all electromagnetic waves.
- Lumino - A superhero that is able to shape light.
- Enlarger Man - A superhero that is able to enlarge things.
- Brimstone - A superhero that can fly and control lava.
- Avatar - Master of the four elements. He rode Sahri the Spirit Tiger.
- Wind Rider - A superhero that is able to fly and control air.
- Psi-Fire - A superhero that could solidify or become intangible with his mental powers.
- Oxide -
- Ragnarok the Cosmic Viking - A mystical superhero with enhanced strength and a magical battle axe. Notable in that Ragnarok's self-identity completely suppressed Chris' own personality, including his knowledge that Vicki (as Pixie) was an ally.
- Captain Saturn - A superhero who could fire rings that bound enemies.
- Moonlight -
- Mental Man -
- Neon -
- Phase Master -
- Multi-Force -
- Gemstone -
- Hasty Pudding -
- Radar Man - A superhero that is able to locate things and teleport to location in question.
- Stuntmaster - A superhero that rode a hi-tech motorcycle and had a energy-firing sceptre.
- Shadow Master - A superhero that is able to create shadows.
- Centaurus: Master of Vibration - A superhero with the ability to absorb vibration and use it as an energy blast.
- Deflecto -
- Worm Man - Half human, half giant wormWormThe term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
. He could dig through earth at super-speed. - Spectro - His powers were never shown.
- Airmaster - His powers were never shown.
- Sting - His powers were never shown.
- Attacko - His powers were never shown.
- Galaxy - A superhero that is able to travel across space.
- Topsy-Turvy - A superhero that is able to leave people turned upside-down.
- Beast-Maniac - Chris King jokingly dialed in H-O-R-R-O-R and became this villain.
- Prism -
- Essence -
- Red Devil -
- Tar-Man -
- Mr. Opposite - A superhero that is able to make anything act in the opposite way to what it naturally does. Vicki dialed Chris into this identity and Chris wondered if the fact that Vicki was the 'opposite sex' may have influenced the transformation.
- Power Punch -
- Cold Wave -
- Earthman -
- Any-Body -
- Jimmy Gymnastic -
- Trail Blazer - A superhero able to fly and track villains, causing their trails to be outlined in flame.
- Roll - A speedster superhero.
- Kinectic Kid -
- Glassman -
- X-Rayder -
- Spheror -
- Fuzz-Ball -
- Trouble-Clef: Master of Magical Music -
- Serrator -
- Synapse the Energy Man -
- Martian Marshal -
- Rubberneck -
Vicky Grant
- Futura - A female superhero with flight, precognition, possibly other psionic powers.
- Sunspot - A female superhero with solar-energy powers.
- Ice - A female superhero with cold-based powers & flight.
- Grasshopper - A female superhero with super-leaping & agility.
- Twilight: Mistress of the Dark - A female superhero with shadow powers.
- Windsong - A female superhero with the ability to control winds.
- Molecule Maiden - A female superhero with the ability to control molecules.
- Hypno Girl - A female superhero with hypnotic abilities. This identity couldn't fly, much to Vicki's annoyance.
- Midnight Wisp - A female superhero who is the "Fastest girl in Fairfax."
- Strato-Girl: Mistress of the Wind - A female superhero that can control winds.
- Goldgirl - A female superero that has flight & generation of "gold" constructs.
- Alchemiss - Mistress of the Elements.
- Dimension Girl - A female superhero that is able to generate other-dimensional portals.
- Stellar -
- Ultra Girl - A female superhero with enhanced strength.
- Starlet - A glamorous female superhero with super-strength and the ability to "know a target's weakest point".
- Cardinal - A female telekinetic superhero.
- Ani-Woman - A female superhero that is able to bring inanimate objects to life.
- Thumbelina -
- Tiara Star -
- Matter Girl -
- Echo -
- Ariel -
- Black -
- Weather Witch - A female superhero who controls the weather.
- Emerald Tiger - A female superhero with enhanced speed & strength.
- Rainbeaux: Mistress of Color - A female superhero that projects different colored beams with a different power per beam.
- Hummingbird -
- Hydra: Goddess of the Sea - A female superhero that can control water.
- Hyptella - A female superhero who is the Mistress of Hypnotism. Unlike Vicki's previous hypnotism-based identity, Hyptella could fly.
- Sonik - A female superhero that can control sound.
- Puma the She-Cat - A female superhero with super-agility.
- Sulphur - A female superhero that can generate acid. She couldn't fly.
- Sparrowhawk - A female superhero that has wings.
- Kismet: Mistress of Mind Wave - A female superhero who possessed clairvoyance.
- Plant Mistress - A female superhero that is able to control anything that grows.
- Sea Mist - A female superhero that is able to create watery vapors.
- Harp - A female superhero that has winged flight & a magical harp that calmed targets.
- Pixie - A tiny female superhero with magical "fairy dust".
- Snowfall - A female superhero with ice powers.
- Glass Lass - A female crystalline superhero with "glass" armor and power to amplify light into laser beams.
- Unicorn - A female superhero whose horn healed upon touch.
- Queen of Hearts - An emotion-controlling female superhero.
- Blue Biker - A female superhero that drove a high-powered bicycle.
- Weaver - A female superhero who could weave webs & different shapes.
- Frosty - A female superhero who had white irises and blue sclera. Her icy gaze could shatter any substance at will. The original creation (which never made it to the printed page) also included telepathic powers and the ability to teleport short distances. Frosty was created by Ann-Marie Roy (née leslie) from Scotland.
- Tempest - The 'Hair' on her head transformed into various kinds of weather.
- Starburst - A female superhero with flight and energy blast powers.
- Spinning Jenny - A female superhero that could fly and spin at super-speed (was even able to travel through time using this power).
- Scylla - A female superhero that had mechanical serpent heads with laser eyes attached to her costume.
- Sphera - A female superhero who projected colorful spheres for a variety of effects.
- Blazerina -
- Thundera - A female superhero with sonic shout.
- Monarch -
- Miss Hourglass - A female superhero that has the ability to control time.
- Sirocco the Desert Wind -
- Infra-Violet -
- Gossamer - A flying superhero who could weave cocoons.
- Fan -
- Visionary -
- Spyglass -
- Psi-Clone - A female superhero that has psychic powers and the ability to create duplicates of people.
- Rock - A fun-loving female superhero with super-strength.
- Genesis -
- Ms. Muscle -
- Lavendar Skywriter -
- Turnabout -
- Raggedy Doll -
- Venus the Flying Trap -
- "Fish-Girl" (villainess) -
- "Fire Girl" (villainess) -
- "Water Girl" (villainess) -
- "Diamond Girl" (villainess) -
- "Electrical Girl" (villainess) -
- "Machinery Girl" (villainess) -
- Harpy (villainess) -
- Volcano Girl (villainess) -
- Sister Scissor-Limbs - A female villain with sharp shears for arms that could cut through most materials.
- Cobress (villainess) - Reptilian villain with hypnotic gaze.
Lori Morning (in Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4)
- Fireball - A flying pyrokinetic who could animate & control "living fireballs".
- Slipsttream - A super-speedster heroine who flies.
- Dyna-Soar -
- Chiller - A female superhero with ice-controlling.
- Ink - A female superhero who fired sticky "ink" to ensnare enemies.
- Galaxy Girl - A female child superhero with high-end cosmic powers, including a "cosmic hammer".
- Blip - A teleporting superhero.
- Plasma - A female superhero with energy-based powers.
- Helios -
Jerry Feldon (in H.E.R.O.H.E.R.O. (comics)H.E.R.O. is an American comic book series published by DC Comics that started in 2003 and ran for 22 issues. The series was written by Will Pfeifer. Artists included Kano, Leonard Kirk and Dale Eaglesham....
)
- Afterburner - A superhero who could fly and had super-strength but not invulnerability.
- Jumper - A superhero who could jump very high.
- Winged Victory - A superhero who could fly.
- Demolisher -
- Powerhouse -
Captain Chaos (in H.E.R.O.H.E.R.O. (comics)H.E.R.O. is an American comic book series published by DC Comics that started in 2003 and ran for 22 issues. The series was written by Will Pfeifer. Artists included Kano, Leonard Kirk and Dale Eaglesham....
)
- Cloud - The superhero form of Mark.
- Howitzer - The superhero form of Mark.
- Fusion - The superhero form of Jay.
- Photon - The superhero form of Galen.
- Ingot - The superhero form of Galen.
- Tidal Wave - The superhero form of Galen.
- Captain Noir - The superhero form of Craig.
- Blink - The superhero form of Craig.
Robby Reed
- Thunderbolt Organization -
- Mr. Thunder - The head of the Thunderbolt Organization. He later becomes Moon Man upon a chemical accident that gave him lunar powers.
- Daffy the Great - Daffy Dagen once used the H-Dial to become Daffy the Great.
- The Clay-Creep Clan - A group of villains that can mold their pliable bodies into any shape.
- The Wizard of Light - Dr. Drago is a supervillain that uses light-based weapons.
- Mummy - Joe Beket is a mummified villain that wields ancient magic.
- Professor Nabor -
- Baron Bug - A supervillain who enlarges insects to do his bidding.
- Doctor Cyclops - A supervillain with strange vision powers.
- Super-Hood - A monstrous criminal android.
- Cougar Man - Justin Mudd is a gangster who steals Professor Morgan's device that makes legends come to life.
- Rainbow RaiderRainbow RaiderRainbow Raider is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics universe. His real name is a pun based on the acronym "ROYGBIV" , a mnemonic for the colors of a rainbow.He first appeared in The Flash vol...
- Dr. Quin is a supervillain who gains a different power for every color of the rainbow that he assumes. - Toymaster - A supervillain that uses toy-based or toy-themed devices and gimmicks in his crimes.
- Dr. Morhar -
- Jim - A villain that has turned into different monsters every time Robby Reed uses the H-Dial.
- The Speed Boys -
- Shirkon - A supervillain that Robby Reed fought. His battle with him resulted in Robby Reed splitting into Wizard and Master.
Chris King and Vicky Grant
- Gordanian Robots -
- Silver Fog - A supervillain that could take the form of a mist-like substance. This character was created by Harlan EllisonHarlan EllisonHarlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...
. - Red Death - A scientist cursed with a disintegrating touch.
- Thunder Axe - A criminal that once captured Vicki's parents.
- Sphinx - An energy-draining extraterrestrial who emerged in modern times after crash-landing in Ancient Egypt. He went home peacefully after Vicki and Chris used their powers to make him a spaceship.
- Battering Ram - Hogan is a former circus star that was fired from the circus and vowed revenge.
- Aquarians -
- Largo -
- Destructess - A mentally-ill woman endowed by Aquarians with energy blasts.
- Interchange - A supervillain with metamorphic powers that once threatened Washington DC.
- Silversmith - A supervillain with the power to encase his enemies in silver.
- Blade Master - A supervillain hired by the H.I.V.E.H.I.V.E.The H.I.V.E., which stands for the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination, is a DC Comics supervillain organization.-1st Incarnation:...
to kill Professor Oxford. - Gamesmaster -
- Wildebeest - A poacher who comes to America to hunt in a game preserve (Note: This Wildebeest has no known connection to the Wildebeest Society that menaced the Teen Titans and was responsible for the creation of PanthaPanthaPantha is a fictional character, a superhero published by DC Comics. She first appeared in New Titans #73 , and was created by Marv Wolfman and Tom Grummett.-Fictional character biography:...
). - Bounty Hunter - A costumed vigilante who targets a mobster.
- Master - Robby' Reed's supervillain form that was a recurring antagonist of Chris King and Vicki Grant. He was responsible for creating most of the villains that Chris King and Vicki Grant fight. The Master once used Chris King's dial and, due to the dial's restriction to create only heroic identities, briefly became the superhero Great Jupiter.
- The Evil Eight - The Master's team of supervillains.
- Chondak - An apeApeApes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
-like blue monster. - Ice King - A supervillain able to control ice.
- Piledriver - A supervillain with superstrength.
- Maniak - An acrobatic supervillain.
- Phantasm - A ghostGhostIn traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
-like supervillain. - K-9 - A supervillain with razor-sharp claws.
- Arsenal - A supervillain armed with various weapons.
- Familiar - A female supervillain able to become any substance she touched.
- Chondak - An ape
- Grockk the Devil's Son - A villain that apparently comes from the pit of Hades.
- Firegirl - A villainess that Grock created. She wasn't really evil and sacrificed herself to stop Grocck.
- Sky Raider - A flying thief who had stole a rembrandt from Vicki's father.
- Crimson Star -
- Radiator -
- Snakeman - Professor Charles Ralston is a scientist who had been transformed into a giant serpent.
- Jinx - A supervillain who had the power of jinx.
- Cancero - An aquatic villain in a crabCrabTrue crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
-themed powered armor. - Jelly Woman - A weird female supervillain with a body composed of gelatinous substance.
- Belladonna - Angela Wainwright is a chemist turned criminal who carries poisonous substances in weaponized forms.
- Tsunami - A female supervillain who could create destructive tidal waves similar to her namesakeTsunamiA tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
. Partnered with Distortionex to create disaster situations while he robbed deserted businesses. - Distortionex - A male supervillan with the power to disintegrate matter. He was partnered with Tsunami.
- Controller - An artificial intelligence created by the Marionette to assist in operating his android body. The Controller became insane and directed the Marionette to commit criminal acts.
- Marionette - An alien who placed his mind in an android body controlled by the Controller's "marionette strings."
- Squid -
- Abyss - A living gateway between worlds.
- Blackjack -
- Serpent -
- Senses-Taker - A supervillain with the power to negate the sensesSenseSenses are physiological capacities of organisms that provide inputs for perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology , and philosophy of perception...
. - Disc Jockey - A supervillain that flies on a giant flying record player and can force any device that produces sound to play his transmissions.
- Whitefire - A supervillain who can transport anything to his dimension by exchanging something from another dimension with something from his own.
- Naiad - Diana Luon is a female supervillain who has water-based powers.
- Marauder - A supervillain that Master once used to spring Naiad from jail.
- Blade - One of the Master's minions. He is a supervillain who wielded an array of bladed weaponry.
- Kaleidoscope - One of the Master's minions. She is a female supervillain who could create hallucinations and illusions through a light display reminiscent of her namesakeKaleidoscopeA kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors...
. - Chain Master - One of the Master's minions. He is a supervillain who wielded a ball and chain.
- Silhouette - One of the Master's minions. He is a supervillain who could absorb victims into his "shadow box" while transforming their shadows into duplicates under his control. His duplicates could be detected by the fact that they cast no shadows of their own.
- Firecracker -
- Windrider -
- Istanbul Frankie Perkins - A small-time criminal that the Silhouette (using a duplicate of Detective Greg King) tried to frame for a robbery.
- Coil - A supervillain that once kidnapped Detective Greg King. He has the ability to extend and compress his body like a coil springCoil springA Coil spring, also known as a helical spring, is a mechanical device, which is typically used to store energy and subsequently release it, to absorb shock, or to maintain a force between contacting surfaces...
. - Firedevil - A demonic villain with fire-based powers.
- Pod - One of the Master's minions. He is a plant-like, tentacled creature.
- Golden Web - One of the Master's minions. He is a supervillain who could weave golden webbing.
- Swarm - One of the Master's minions. She is a an flying insectoidInsectoidInsectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth insects and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" . Compare "humanoid"....
woman who could split herself into many insect-sized, spear-wielding duplicates with a collective mind. - Power Pirate - One of Master's minions. He is a supervillain who could drain superhuman abilities. However, if targets concentrate on their weaknesses rather than their strengths, he would absorb those weaknesses instead.
- Master's Unnamed Supervillain Army
- Hitpin - A female supervillain who threw weighted objects similar to bowling pins.
- Decible - A supervillain who possesses a sonic scream.
- Electron - A supervillain who could generate electricity.
- Overseer - A female supervillain in a dominatrixDominatrixDominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
-styled costume wielding an energized chain. - Metalliferro - A supervillain who could coat targets in metallic substances of his choice.
- Darkstar - A supervillain with unspecified energy projection abilities.
- Spyderr - A supervillain with six super-strong arms.
- Titaness - A size-changing female supervillain.
- Solar Dynamo - A supervillain with unspecified (presumably solar-based) energy projection abilities.
- Trojan - A supervillain with unspecified energy projection abilities.
- Blue Damsel Fly - A female flying insectoidInsectoidInsectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth insects and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" . Compare "humanoid"....
supervillain who could fire energy beams from her hands. - Serpentina - A female supervillain with a petrifying gaze.
- Cableman - A supervillain who could release an entangling cable from his right hand.
Miscellaneous
- An alternate take on Robby Reed and Dial H For Hero was used in Teen Titans Go #52. This version of the character unknowingly drew his powers from other heroes who were close by. As a result of discovering his power source, Robby gave up his dial and signed up for Cyborg's new Teen Titan's Training program. His identities in the issue were ChangelingBeast BoyGarfield Mark "Gar" Logan, known as Beast Boy or Changeling, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics...
(the powers came from Beast Boy), Lagoon BoyLagoon BoyLagoon Boy is a fictional character a superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Aquaman vol. 5 #50 , and was created by Erik Larsen and Eric Battle.-Fictional character biography:...
(the powers came from AqualadGarth (comics)Garth is a fictional character, a superhero in publications from DC Comics, originally known as Aqualad, and later known by the codename Tempest. As Aqualad, he is the teen sidekick and protege to his guardian, the super-hero known as Aquaman, bearing the same super-abilities as his mentor that...
), Jesse Quick (the powers came from Kid FlashWally WestThe Flash is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first Kid Flash and the third Flash....
), Power BoyPower BoyPower Boy is the name of three fictional superheroes that appear in comic books published by DC Comics.-Zarl Vorne:The first Power Boy's origin paralleled Superboy's...
(the powers came from Wonder GirlWonder GirlWonder Girl is the name of three fictional characters featured as superheroes in comic books and other media produced by DC Comics. The original was a younger version of Wonder Woman...
), and The Protector (the powers came from RobinRobin (comics)Robin is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero Batman...
). In Teen Titans Go #55, Robby Reed returned in a nightmare sequence of Cyborg's (caused by the villainous PhobiaPhobia (comics)Phobia is a fictional DC Comics supervillain of the New Teen Titans.-Fictional character biography:Born a member of the British aristocracy with the power to make people experience their worst fears, Angela Hawkins III was a "bad seed" who rejected any help from her family.When the Brain came to...
). In the dream after having had his Hero Dial taken away, he joined the "New Teen Titans" program under the guise of The Protector.
In popular culture
- Dial B for Blog is an extensive, popular comics blog run by Kirk Kimball, who blogs under the name "Robby Reed."
- "Dial M for Monkey" was a segment on Dexter's LaboratoryDexter's LaboratoryDexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios . The show is about a boy named Dexter who has an enormous secret laboratory filled with an endless collection of his inventions...
in which Dexter's lab monkey would become the superhero Monkey whenever there was trouble. - In the Yu-Gi-Oh!Yu-Gi-Oh!is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi. It has produced a franchise that includes multiple anime shows, a trading card game and numerous video games...
Trading Card Game, there is a set of cards that pay homage to this comic: H-Heated Heart, E-Emergency Call, R-Righteous Justice, O-Oversoul. The card HERO Flash uses these four cards to summon an "Elemental Hero" monster from your deck. - In Simpsons Super Spectacular # 12, there's a story called "Dial M for Milhouse" that parodies Dial H for Hero. In the story, HouseboyMilhouse Van HoutenMilhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
gets a phone that allows him to transform into various superheroes, but he goes power mad. So BartmanBart SimpsonBartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
ends up trying to stop him.
See also
- Ben 10Ben 10The Omnitrix was originally created by a Galvan named Azmuth. The Omnitrix was intended to allow beings to experience life as other species in order to bring understanding and foster peace in the universe....
- This franchise features an alien watch that allows for one to become different heroes, similar to hero dials. - Kamen Rider DecadeKamen Rider Decadeis the title of the first of the 2009 editions of the long-running Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu dramas. Decade, as its title suggests, is the tenth of the Heisei Rider Series, having begun with Kamen Rider Kuuga in 2000...
- Features a protagonist who, by inserting cards into a rotating belt, can turn into other heroes from the franchise. - Kid Chameleon - Features a protagonist that transforms into different heroes by wearing different masks.