Dr. DAVID ABLETON

Real Name: David Ableton

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Psychiatrist

Group Membership: Commission on Superhuman Activities

Affiliations: Norman Osborn, Penance (Robbie Baldwin), S.H.I.E.L.D. (Tony Stark, others)

Enemies: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed

First Appearance: Penance: Relentless#1 (November, 2007)

Powers/Abilities: Dr. Ableton was a trained psychiatrist with experience in treating superhuman patients.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'11")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 170 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Gray

History:
(Penance: Relentless#1 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. David Ableton performed a psychiatric evaluation of Robbie Baldwin, alias Penance, a member of the Thunderbolts.

(Penance: Relentless#1/recap) - Dr. David Ableton filed his first report about Robbie Baldwin with Tony Stark, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ableton made note of the post-traumatic stress disorder Baldwin had been suffering from since being present at Stamford, Connecticut, where the villain Nitro killed a massive number of civilians. Ableton said he was optimistic about Baldwin's progress.

(Penance: Relentless#1) - Dr. Ableton met with Thunderbolts director Norman Osborn about his psychiatric evaluation. Ableton declared Baldwin was mentally unbalanced, delusional, paranoid, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and developing obsessive-compulsive tendencies. When Osborn wondered which of those attributes were positive, Ableton opined that Baldwin was "working through the process" and his mind was creating new pathways to compensate for neural connections that his PTSD had burned out. Ableton noted that Baldwin's new quarters consisted of a bed and belongings, which suggested he was trying to find a way to accept what had happened in Stamford and forgive himself.

(Penance: Relentless#2/recap) - Dr. Ableton sent another report to Stark, noting Baldwin had recently gone AWOL from the Thunderbolts.

(Penance: Relentless#2) - Tony Stark conferred with Dr. Ableton, wondering why Baldwin had been obsessing about a series of numbers prior to going AWOL. Ableton theorized it was some sort of triggering sequence.

(Penance: Relentless#3/recap) - Ableton sent another report to Stark, noting Baldwin had stolen nuclear launch codes and recently confronted Mendel Stromm.

(Penance: Relentless#4/recap) - Ableton sent another report to Stark, urging him to retrieve Baldwin and return him to Thunderbolts Mountain.

(Penance: Relentless#5/recap) - Ableton sent another report to Stark, again urging him to retrieve Baldwin for fear of what would happen with Baldwin was faced again with Nitro.

Comments: Created by Paul Jenkins and Paul Gulacy.

    All of the recap pages in Penance: Relentless were presented as reports Ableton filed to Tony Stark on the Commission's letterhead. Recap pages are only sometimes written by the comic's scripter. They're more often written by assistant editors or other personnel in the book's editorial office.

    Despite being the "author" of the recap pages in the front of every issue of Penance: Relentless, Dr. Ableton only appeared in a few panels of issues #1-2 and he never shared a scene with Penance!

    This profile was completed 09/24/2025 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.

Profile by Prime Eternal.

CLARIFICATIONS:
David Ableton should not be confused with:

images: (without ads)
Penance: Relentless I#1, page 5, panel 8 (main)
Penance: Relentless I#1, page 6, panel 2 (face)

Appearances:
Penance: Relentless I#1-5 (November, 2007-August, 2008) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Paul Gulacy (artist), Molly Lazer (editor)

First posted: 09/30/2026
Last updated: 09/24/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
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