Charlie Campion (Earth-78103; The Stand character)

campion-charlie-78103-upper campion-charlie-78103-face CHARLIE CAMPION

Real Name: Charles D. "Charlie" Campion

Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Earth-78103) human

Occupation: Soldier, watchman

Group Membership: U.S. Army

Affiliations: Norm Bruett, Bill "Hap" Hapscomb, Vic Palfrey, Stuart Redman and Tommy Wannamaker all tried to help Charlie and his family

Enemies: Whoever created the virus and whoever inadvertently released it);
he wrecked into Bill Hapscomb's gas station and transmitted the virus to Hap, as well as Norm Bruett, Vic Palfrey, Stuart Redman, Tommy Wannamaker

Known Relatives: Sally Campion (wife, deceased), LaVon Campion (daughter, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
died in an ambulance 20 miles from Braintree after leaving Arnette;
formerly an unspecified desert region of California

First Appearance: The Stand (1978);
(Marvel) The Stand: Captain Trips#1 (2008)

Powers/Abilities: Charlie Campion had military training and experience in guarding a laboratory facility.

He was presumably trained in both armed and unarmed combat, at least.

Height: Unrevealed (not clearly shown, but not particularly short nor tall, so approximately 5'8" to 6'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 160 - 220 lbs.)
Eyes: Light brown or possibly green
Hair: Brown

History:
(The Stand: Captain Trips#1 (fb) - BTS) - Charlie and Sally Campion lived in their bungalow in the California desert by the military base in which he worked for three years, presumably during which time they had their child, LaVon.

(The Stand: Captain Trips#1 (fb) - BTS) - Playing solitaire while on guard duty at the military base, Charlie looked up to see that the clock had gone from green to red, and he turned on the monitor to find everyone dead.

Charlie somehow narrowly escaped the tower before it could be locked down.

(The Stand: Captain Trips#1) - Charlie woke up his wife Sally in the middle of the night, urging her to get baby LaVon and get into the car and get out of there immediately and telling her that there was not time for questions; Sally appreciated that Charlie was going AWOL (absent without leave) and taking her and the baby with him.

As Sally headed outside with LaVon, she asked if they wouldn't send soldiers after them. Charlie assured her that they would not do so that night, and he thanked God that the wind was blowing from east to west.

campion-charlie-78103-face-prof After Charlie started coughing, Sally asked him if there had been an accident, and when he failed to reply, she realized that there had indeed been one. He related what had happened, spelling out the word dead so LaVon wouldn't understand.

In the car, as they departed, Charlie shared that he didn't know what had killed (which he also spelled out) everyone and that he didn't want to know, but that it had done so quickly. He considered that if he had looked up even thirty seconds later, he would be shut up in the tower control right now, like a bug in a bottle.

As they left their life behind, Charlie told Sally that if they closed the gate, he was going to crash through, but that it was going to be alright, as the wind was blowing west but that they were going east. campion-charlie-78103-crash

(The Stand: Captain Trips#1 (fb) - BTS) - By dawn, as they rode across Nevada, Charlie was coughing steadily.

(The Stand: Captain Trips#1 (fb) - BTS) - As they continued, both Sally and LaVon were infected and started showing signs around Salt Lake City, Utah. They eventually succumbed to the disease, dying.

(The Stand: Captain Trips#1) - Somehow still surviving but delirious from the disease, Charlie drove his car into the gas tanks at Bill Hapscomb's Texaco station in Arnette, Texas, where Hap and his friends were drinking beer and talking idly.

However, having seen him coming, Stuart Redman turned off all eight gas switches before Charlie's car hit the pumps, severing them off. After things settled down and it was clear that the pumps would not explode, Hap and his friends opened the car to rescue its occupants.

campion-charlie-78103-face-dying

    As Hap asked someone to help get Charlie's legs, the smell of blood, fecal matter, vomit and human decay made Norm Bruett vomit.

    While Hap and Tommy carried Charlie away from the car, Stu opened the passenger side door, only to find the long dead forms of Sally and LaVon, with flies buzzing around them.


    Inside the gas station, one of the men announced that the ambulance was on the way. Charlie asked about his wife and daughter, and Hap repeatedly him that they were fine.

    The Arnette volunteer ambulance soon arrived and picked up Charlie, but he died 20 minutes before it could reach the hospital in Braintree.

    Hap and his friends wondered what was wrong with them, and Norm speculated that they may have food poisoning, and Vic hoped it was, as otherwise, it could be something contagious.


campion-charlie-78103-full-dying

(The Stand: Captain Trips#1 (fb) - BTS) - Finnegan, the coroner, got Dr. James to take a look at Charlie, and they called other doctors in Houston.

    Then around 3pm, a trio of pathologists showed, further examined Charlie, and then called the plague center (presumably the Center for Disease Control) in Atlanta, Georgia, who planned to arrive the next day.

(The Stand: Captain Trips#1 - BTS) - State patrolman Joe Bob Brentwood, Hap's cousin, informed Hap, Stu and the other "regular" at Hap's station about the progression.

    They realized it was serious if federal agencies had been called in.

    Meanwhile, Hap and Norm, at least, began showing signs of the disease.

Comments: Created by Stephen King.
    Adapted to Marvel by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins.

    If Charlie hadn't fled with his family, the disease could have potentially been contained. Similarly, if Stuart hadn't shut off the gas tanks, and Charlie's crash

   Captain Trips is the first of six parts adapting Stephen King's "The Stand," and I only reviewed the first issue of Captain Trips to cover Charlie Campion. If further details are provided about him, his family members and/or their significance in subsequent stories, please provide the details and references, and I can add them.

Earth-78103 A man-made virus escaped and wiped out most of the population. In the post-apocalyptic world, the survivors' plight was worsened by the presence of the demonic entity Randall Flagg. The Stand (1978); (Marvel) The Stand: Captain Trips #1 (2008)

    According to ye olde interwebbe, LaVon is apparently a gender-neutral name of Hebrew roots (Lavan meaning "white") and/or of French origin ("la von" meaning "the good one"; or a combination of the prefix "La" and the name Yves) or the German "Ivon," Lavon apparently translates to "yew," referring to the evergreen tree recognized as one of the longest-living species in Europe. Though sometimes a symbol of doom, the yew tree also represents immortality and rebirth, so it could encourage your Lavon to look at every side of a story, a place, or a person they connect with..

Sally and LaVon probably deserve sub-profiles, at least, but time was tight for me while writing this profile. Someone else can add them, or I may come back and do sub-profiles or full profiles in the future.
Maybe once I get a few other projects done, we'll start celebrating Stephen King's birthday and cover more of these profiles.

This profile was completed 05/01/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Thanks to Loki for recommending Charlie Campion to represent the Stand for the event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Charlie Campion should be distinguished from:

CHARLIE CARCRASH (Charlie ) - mugger, assaulted Gertz, defeated by Thing, later assaulted the Beyonder--Marvel Fanfare I#20
ALBERT CAMPION - English detective, star of Margery Allingham's novels--The Crime At Black Dudley
other "Charlie" or "Campion" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

images: (without ads) starts on 4
The Stand: Captain Trips#1, pg. 1, panel 3 (full profile, shadowed);
       pg. 2, panel 1 (upper, with finger-extended, shadowed);
          panel 4 (face);
          panel 6 (face, extreme close-up);
       pg. 3, panel 4 (face, right profile);
       pg. 6, panel 2 (car crash);
       pg. 11, panel 3 (face, sick);
          panel 4 (full, sick)

Appearances:
The Stand (1978) - Stephen King (writer), Doubleday (publisher)
The Stand: Captain Trips#1 (December, 2008) - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (adaptation/script), Mike Perkins (artist), Lauren Sankovitch & Lauren Henry (assistant editors), Bill Rosemann (consulting editor), Ralph Macchio (senior editor)

First posted: 09/28/2026
Last updated: 05/01/2026

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!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

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

Back to Characters