(Ghost Rider II#22 (fb) - BTS/OHotMUDE#17) - The young Delazny contacted agents of a foreign power who hired him to wreak destruction at the San Diego Navy yards. Using the money he was advanced, the young Delazny hired an elderly scientist named Ignatz Goldman to create a bullet-proof costume. Wearing this outfit, the young Delazny became known as the Enforcer.

(Ghost Rider II#21 (fb) -BTS) - The Enforcer wanted to obtain a disintegrator ray generator for his own purposes, but it had already been stolen by Leopold Stryke, the original Eel. The Enforcer then hired the costumed criminal known as the Gladiator to steal the device from Leopold Stryke and told him that Stryke had left the device on a certain soundstage at Delazny Studios.

(Ghost Rider II#21- BTS/Ghost Rider II#22 (fb) - BTS) - The Enforcer encountered the Eel in the alley [where the Eel had just knocked out Ghost Rider] and "appropriated" the device from him. Leaving the Eel in that alley [where he was soon found and killed by the Gladiator], the Enforcer brought the device to his secret underground base and turned it over to Professor Goldman to be miniaturized.

(Ghost Rider II#22) - Later, the Enforcer returned to his underground base and Goldman gave him a medallion that was a miniaturization of the disintegration device and which could be used as a weapon. Several hours later, the Enforcer arrived at the Belaire mansion which was the home of "the boss" of a local criminal organization which had gained control of Delazny Studios. After declaring that he was there to take over the operation, the Enforcer was threatened by "the boss" but used the medallion to disintegrate him. The gangsters immediately accepted the Enforcer as their new "boss."

(Ghost Rider II#24 (fb) - BTS) - As the new "boss" of that local criminal organization, the Enforcer met with (or contacted) Delazny and they agreed that the Enforcer would stay away from Delazny once Delazny "paid his price."

(Ghost Rider II#22 (fb) - BTS) - The Enforcer received the third version of the disintegration device from Goldman who had further miniaturized it until it was small enough to be set in a ring.

(Ghost Rider II#22) - The next day, the Enforcer and four members of his newly-acquired gang left the Delazny mansion and drove south to the San Diego Naval Yards, unaware that they were being followed by Ghost Rider. After arriving at the Navy Yards, the Enforcer paused to brag about his disintegrator ring and the foreign power who had financed his operation. When the shore patrol showed up and opened fire, the Enforcer left his men to deal with them while he proceeded with his mission. He disintegrated a destroyer before Ghost Rider (who had already taken care of the goons) knocked him off his feet. After a brief running battle that ended with them both falling into the harbor, the Enforcer escaped from Ghost Rider but lost his ring in the water while doing so.

(Ghost Rider II#23) - The Enforcer showed up at the warehouse where the Water Wizard was celebrating the success of his first bank robbery and offered him one million dollars to kill Ghost Rider. The Water Wizard accepted the contract and the next day he tried to kill Johnny Blaze while the motorcyclist was performing a stunt at Delazny Studios, but Blaze survived by briefly changing into Ghost Rider.

(Ghost Rider II#24 (fb) - BTS/Ghost Rider II#23 - BTS) - At the Enforcer's request, the Water Wizard used his power over water to create a thousand liquid creatures who combed the bottom of San Diego harbor to find and recover the lost disintegrator ring. Guessing that Blaze might have learned of Delazny's involvement with him, the Enforcer arranged for the Water Wizard to ambush Ghost Rider at Delazny's estate that night. The ambush ended with Ghost Rider being knocked out and transformed back into Blaze.

(Ghost Rider II#24) - As Charles L. Delazny stood above Johnny Blaze's unconscious body, the Enforcer appeared and revealed that he had arranged the ambush. When Delazny angrily questioned him, the Enforcer threatened Delazny's family (including his son) and cowed Delazny by demonstrating his disintegrator ring's power. After taking Delazny's son's motorcycle and ordering Delazny to report it as stolen, the Enforcer tried to kill Blaze by having him tied to the motorcycle which was then sent off a cliff. Although he saw Blaze transform into Ghost Rider on the way down, the Enforcer was sure that no man could have lived through the crash.
   Returning to his underground base with the Water Wizard, the Enforcer revealed that he planned to use Delazny's business to launder the money he was going to make from the crime-empire that he was building. The Enforcer then stated that he had decided to eliminate the person he saw as the only remaining threat, the man who created his ring, and was about to disintegrate Goldman when Ghost Rider showed up. After a brief battle, both the Water Wizard and the Enforcer were knocked out by Ghost Rider who then removed the Enforcer's mask but didn't recognize him. Johnny Blaze later called the police and told them where to find the criminals.

(OHotMUDE#17) - Before the police arrived, the Enforcer revived, and, under circumstances that have yet to be revealed, managed to mislead the authorities into believing that Carson Collier, Jr. was the Enforcer. Hence, it was the young Collier who was imprisoned for the Enforcer’s crimes. The elder Delazny, however, learned that his son was the real Enforcer.

(Ghost Rider II#26 (BTS)) - While seeking information about the Ghost Rider, Doctor Anthony Druid confronted Charles L. Delazny, Sr. and used his powers to probe Delazny's mind. While doing so, Druid learned that Delazny was upset because "(his) son was secretly a criminal known as the Enforcer, who was captured and imprisoned recently!"

(OHotMUDE#17) - Subsequently, the Enforcer was hired by the Committee, a group of corrupt Los Angeles businessmen, who outfitted him with a set of specially modified automatic pistols to take the place of his disintegrator ring (which he no longer possessed due to circumstance that have yet to be revealed). His first assignment was to silence writer Buck Cowan, who was about to expose Committee activity to the police.

(Werewolf By Night I#42-43 - BTS / Spider-Woman#19 (fb) - BTS) - The Enforcer shot Buck Cowan's former employer with his tingler weapon.

(Werewolf By Night I#42-43 - BTS / Spider-Woman#19 (fb) - BTS) - Cowan's former employer tried to ask Cowan for help, only to mysteriously burst into flames.

(Spider-Woman I#19 (fb) - BTS) - A Los Angeles newspaper reported that the Enforcer (Collier?) was “recently sprung from the joint." (see comments)

(Spider-Woman I#30 (fb) - BTS) - The Enforcer bought some psycho-chemical metabolic incendiary darts from their inventor, Dr. Karl Malus.

(Spider-Woman I#19 (fb) - BTS) - The Enforcer's bosses gave him a briefing about what he might expect to encounter when dealing with Cowan, including the fact that Cowan's close friend Jack Russell was a werewolf.

(Marvel Team-Up I#93 (fb)/Spider-Woman I#19 (fb) - BTS) - As soon as Cowan entered Russell's apartment, the Enforcer broke through the door and pulled a gun, prompting Russell to change into his Werewolf form. Prepared for this, the Enforcer blew him out the window with silver nitrate pellets and then shot Cowan with "the tingler" to keep Cowan from telling anyone what he had learned.

(Spider-Woman I#19) - Finished with Cowan, the Enforcer leaned out the window to deal with the Werewolf, but was pulled out the window by Spider-Woman. After a brief battle, he managed to shoot both her and the Werewolf with tranquilizer darts and then shot them with "the tingler" as well, commanding them to burst into flame if they ever opposed him or mentioned his existence. Spider-Woman proved to be immune to the tingler's effects and she recovered almost immediately, taking the Enforcer by surprise and knocking him unconscious with her venom blast. The police then arrived and took the Enforcer into custody.

(OHotMUDE#17) - To confuse the authorities, the Enforcer claimed to be Carson Collier, Jr., and his deception was not exposed, at least not until after the Enforcer made his escape.

(Spider-Woman I#27) - While "Carson Collier" was serving time in California State Prison he received a private visit from newspaper tycoon Rupert M. Dockery. When the meeting ended badly, "Collier" found the cane that Dockery had “forgotten” to take with him. Discovering the cane’s hidden blade, "Collier" and four other inmates used it to overpower a guard and escape. After coercing his fellow escapees into being his gang, the Enforcer decided to seek revenge on Spider-Woman and make some money by stealing the only known bronze representation of Anasi the Spider from the Los Angeles Museum of Anthropology and Folk Art. As the Enforcer had hoped, Spider-Woman showed up to stop them, but was defeated when she was blinded by one of the Enforcer’s new blackout darts. The Enforcer brought Spider-Woman back to his hideout and put her in a cage, where she soon regained her eyesight, freed herself, and was about to take them by surprise when her partner, criminologist Scotty McDowell, showed up to rescue her, but was promptly shot by the Enforcer.

(Spider-Woman#28) - The Enforcer and his gang were quickly overcome by the enraged Spider-Woman, but the Enforcer forced her to stop by revealing that he had shot McDowell with one of his psycho-chemical incendiary darts and that McDowell would have to be kept isolated in a cold environment or he would burst into flames. The Enforcer then offered to give Spider-Woman the antidote for the dart but only if she helped him steal 10 million dollars. Forced to agree, Spider-Woman helped the Enforcer when he stole a jewel-encrusted statue of a Hindu god from the Hollywood Bowl. The following evening, the Enforcer robbed tycoon J.R. Van De Kalb of his priceless stamp collection at Christie’s Auction House but was trapped by the police in a steel-mesh net and needed Spider-Woman's help to escape.

(Spider-Woman#29) - The Enforcer and his gang forced Spider-Woman to participate in their mid-air robbery of a 747 flying from New York to Los Angeles. The Enforcer blinded a gem courier with one of his darts and stole a briefcase full of gems, but was taken by surprise when Spider-Man appeared and decked him. Spider-Woman delayed Spidey long enough for the Enforcer, and she to reach their aircraft and escape. When Spider-Man found the hideout and knocked out the gang, the Enforcer was about to shoot him with some nitro-darts but Spider-Woman blasted him with a venom-blast first. When the police arrived and arrested him and his gang, the Enforcer revealed that he had never had any antidotes to his darts.

(Spider-Woman#30 - BTS) - Spider-Woman dressed up in the Enforcer's costume in order to confront Rupert Dockery about his recent activities. The terrified Dockery quickly admitted that he had let the Enforcer steal his walking stick with the tiny radio transmitter hidden inside it so that he could listen in on the Enforcer’s crime plans and that he knew that Spider-Woman wasn’t really the Enforcer’s accomplice. LAPD Captain Walsh then showed himself and used Dockery’s tape-recorded admissions to force him to appear in court to clear Spider-Woman of all outstanding charges for the crimes she was forced to help the Enforcer commit.

(OHotMUDE#17) - The Enforcer was again imprisoned but was soon at large again. Whether or not the police had yet been able to establish that the Enforcer was not Carson Collier, Jr. is as yet unknown, nor is it yet known what had become of the real Carson Collier, Jr. during this time.

(Ghost Rider II#58) - The Enforcer was hired by some gamblers who wanted him to fix the rematch between Johnny Blaze and Flagg Fargo. The Enforcer met Fargo and threatened to kill him if he didn’t take a dive and let Blaze win, but Fargo refused. The Enforcer later used his modified car to fire some (warning) shots at Fargo, but Blaze was there and gave chase on his motorcycle. The Enforcer let Blaze see him, then shot him with tranquilizer darts. Later, at the stunt-championship contest, the Enforcer shot Fargo as he was performing the auto jump, causing Fargo to crash onto the cars. With everyone distracted by the crash in the arena, the Enforcer went to the stadium box office and robbed it of the $300,000 in ticket receipts. The Enforcer shot two guards with tranquilizers and escaped in his souped-up car but was pursued by the Ghost Rider. The Enforcer fired a missile from his car’s bomb bay to destroy a bridge to cut off pursuit, but Ghost Rider took the longer way around. Finding himself racing head-on at the Ghost Rider on a narrow road high above a lake, the desperate Enforcer drove his car off the precipice and into the lake. By the time that he pulled himself from the lake the Ghost Rider had left.

(Spider-Woman I#50 (fb) - BTS) - The Enforcer was one of a number of “deviants” from the Los Angles area who were kidnapped and imprisoned in Locksmith’s private prison. The Enforcer’s guns were taken away from him and he was fitted with a body lock that allowed only the barest mobility.

(Spider-Woman I#50) - The Enforcer was still in his personal cell when Locksmith brought Spider-Woman to his prison. The Enforcer had come to see the shadows as so thick that they were almost alive and staring at him. After Spider-Woman freed herself and defeated Locksmith and Ticktock, she summoned the police who (presumably) arrested the Enforcer and the other criminals among Locksmith’s captives. Later that night, the Enforcer was among those affected by a spell cast by the sorcerer Magnus which caused everybody to forget that Spider-Woman had ever existed.

(Iron Man I#194) - The Enforcer was contacted by Madame Masque (acting on behalf of Obadiah Stane) and offered fifty grand to eliminate one of Stane’s agents, the Termite, who was in police custody. The Enforcer accepted the contract and decided to take care of this “ten minutes work” right away. Outside his hotel room, the Enforcer encountered a bag lady who asked him for spare change. When the Enforcer told her to buzz off because he didn’t have anything for her, the bag lady replied, “But I have something for you!” and shot him through the chest with a shotgun she had concealed under her coat. After the mortally-wounded Enforcer fell to the ground, the bag lady proclaimed, “Justice is served!” and left. Thus the Enforcer became the first known victim of the Scourge of the Underworld, a vigilante who targeted people with criminal records.

(Iron Man I#195 - BTS) - Madam Masque reported to Obadiah Stane that the man she had contracted to terminate the Termite had been gunned down before he could complete his assignment.

(Captain America I#320 - BTS) - After being captured by Captain America, Scourge claimed to be the younger brother of the Enforcer and that he had killed him in retaliation for the shame that the Enforcer had brought upon their family, and for the heartbreak their father had felt on learning the Enforcer’s true identity.

Comments: Created by Gerry Conway, Don Heck and Keith Pollard.

Donald's Enforcer identity argument
With Snood's rebuttals in italics

There's a BIG problem with the Enforcer's real identity. The character appeared in six stories/storylines but only two of them revealed who he was behind the mask and those stories contradict each other. According to Ghost Rider II#26, the Enforcer was the (unnamed) son of Charles L. Delazny but Spider-Woman I#27-29 has the Enforcer doing time in prison as "Carson Collier" and later referring to himself as "Carson Collier." Since it's obvious that these contradictory stories can't both be correct, it follows that one of them must be wrong...but which one?

• Donald's first theory:
  Twenty years ago, when I first noticed the discrepancy, I went with Carson Collier being his real identity. My theory was that Carson, when he was knocked out and unmasked by Ghost Rider in GR#24, was actually wearing another mask that made him look like someone else (i.e. Delazny's son). This theory explained why Ghost Rider (who had met Carson) didn't recognize the unmasked Enforcer and, if Carson's disguise somehow went undetected by the LAPD for a few days, would explain why Charles Delazny believed his son was the Enforcer when Doctor Druid probed his mind in GR#26. And once his disguise was (inevitably) exposed, everybody would have learned that the Enforcer was really Carson Collier so there would be no point in continuing to try to conceal his true identity. In retrospect, this is not such a great theory. Aside from the fact that Carson's disguise would have had to have been VERY realistic (and durable enough that it wasn't damaged when Ghost Rider punched the Enforcer HARD in the face), I overlooked the fact that GR#22 clearly shows that Carson was with his father at the same time that the Enforcer was taking over the local mob. So my theory was wrong and Carson couldn't have been the Enforcer who appeared in GR#22-24.
• Marvel's Explanation:
  The remaining "obvious" explanation is that the Enforcer, despite what he claimed in Spider-Woman#27-29, was always really Charles Delazny's son. This is the theory that the Marvel Handbook has adopted (as seen above) but it also has its flaws.
  • While I have no trouble with the idea that young Delazny might have framed Carson Collier in order to avoid being imprisoned for the Enforcer's original crimes, I can't see any reason why, after he was caught red-handed as the Enforcer in S-W#19, he would claim to be Carson. The Handbook says that he did so "to confuse the authorities" but how did that benefit him? Wouldn't claiming to be someone who had previously been arrested and convicted simply make "Carson" look more like a dangerous repeat offender, someone who should be sentenced more harshly than a novice? Furthermore, the Enforcer continued to claim to be Carson Collier, son of Coot Collier, even after he'd broken out of prison. Why would he bother to do so...unless it was the truth?
    --Just because the information is unclear does not make it wrong. Perhaps he was trying to prevent the Enforcer's enemies from going after his father. Maybe he had a professional degree or interests which would have been jeopardized by his arrest/imprisonment. Maybe he really had it in for Carson and was setting him up somehow. Maybe he was crazy and really came to believe himself to be Collier. Maybe he had an inside ally in the police department who falsified evidence to make it easier for him to pose as Collier. Five easy explanations off the top of my head. There is likely more to the story than we currently know, but we can't discount official information just because we don't like it.
  • Apart from having no good (in-story) motivation for why Delazny would try to pretend to be Carson, it seems unlikely that he could get away with it for any length of time. After all, according to the Handbook, the real Collier had spent time in prison (after being framed by Delazny) so it's very unlikely that Delazny's deception could have gone unnoticed. Didn't the police even bother to check that "Collier" looked like "his" (the real Collier's) mug shot? Besides, SPIDER-WOMAN#20-26 supposedly takes place over a period of "a few months" (or "a few weeks" - there are contradicting time references). The idea that the police somehow didn't realize that the "Carson Collier" they were holding was not the same person as the (real) Carson Collier who had previously been imprisoned is just too silly to be believed.
    Really? So the disintegrator ring, the tinglers, and for that matter the Hulk, Spider-Man, and Ghost Rider, are all within the realm of belief, yet the idea that there could be some technological or other means for Delazny to fool the authorities is just too crazy to believe? Again, we have to assume that the existing information is true, even if it doesn't explain anything. The current explanation does connect all existing information into a coherent whole, which is the goal. Your arguments against it have some merit, as the current explanation doesn't make everything perfectly believable, but I see NO reason to discard the existing story.
• Donald's explanation:
  So where does that leave us? In Donald's opinion, it doesn't look like either the young Delazny or Carson Collier could have been the Enforcer throughout all of his appearances. Occam's Razor states that the most likely explanation is probably the simplest one. In this situation, we are presented with appearances by a distinctively-costumed criminal who calls himself the Enforcer. Out of the six storylines in which this character appeared, only two revealed who he was behind the mask and those stories contradict each other. I submit that the simplest explanation is that the Enforcer was actually TWO DIFFERENT MEN. The son of Charles Delazny created the identity and used it until Ghost Rider defeated him and left him unconscious for the police, who arrested and imprisoned him. While serving his time in prison, Delazny was "sprung from the joint" by the Committee (note: it was never clear whether he was broken out or freed by some official who was working for the Committee) who wanted him to either a) work for them or b) give them his disintegrator ring. When Delazny refused to work for them or to give them his ring weapon, possibly breaking an earlier promise to do so, the Committee had him eliminated but kept his death a secret. Looking for a suitable replacement, they found Carson Collier, one of the sons of movie director Coot Collier and someone with a history of criminal behavior going back to when he shook down school kids for their lunch money (or maybe Carson was already working for them?). They outfitted him with specially-modified automatic pistols and ammunition and gave him Delazny's distinctive Enforcer costume. Aside from protecting him, wearing that costume would conceal his identity because witnesses and the police would assume that it was the "sprung" Delazny who was wearing his old costume. However, after a few missions for the Committee, Collier's deception was exposed after Spider-Woman stunned him and left him for the police to arrest and unmask, thereby revealing that he was not the younger Delazny. It was sometime later that Carson, while on his way to commit a murder as the Enforcer, was gunned down by a bag lady who was actually his younger brother in disguise.
  This story would be fine by me if written in a Marvel Comic, but discarding existing information and making up your own is not acceptable for the Appendix. You get a job at Marvel, write the story, and I'll back it.
  •     If you consider this possibility, things make a lot more sense. Not only does it explain why two stories identified "the" Enforcer as different men, it also accounts for the differences between the Enforcer in his first storyline and in "his" subsequent stories. The original Enforcer (Delazny) was an agent of a foreign power and a would-be mob boss who used a disintegration weapon and a secret high-tech headquarters in his attempt to control the local criminal underworld. However, the second Enforcer (Collier) was just a hired gun and thief who wore a protective body-suit and used machine pistols that fired various specialized ammunition. Also, the dialogue and thought balloons of the SW Enforcer show him to have a cruder, more-slangy vocabulary than the GR Enforcer was shown to have. And finally, the man who claimed to be Collier had an extreme desire to get revenge on Spider-Woman because she was responsible for him being sent to prison. However, when the Enforcer later encountered Ghost Rider, who had ruined "his" first and most ambitious criminal operation, he recognized him (who wouldn't) but otherwise showed no personal resentment for GR. This seems out of character for "Collier"...unless he wasn't the Enforcer whose grandiose plans were thwarted by GR.
    Different writers, artistic license. That's an easy one. How many characters are very different in the hands of different writers?
  •     There's one other reason why I like the idea that there were two different Enforcers. When Mark Gruenwald wrote the climax to his Scourge storyline, he chose to reveal the origin and identity of the Scourge of the Underworld. According to that story, Scourge was the younger brother of his first victim, the Enforcer, whom he had killed to make him stop disgracing their family. Scourge also claimed that their father had been a movie director but, as the Marvel Handbook pointed out, Charles Delazny is not known to have ever directed any films. It seems that Gruenwald wrote that story based on the mistaken belief that the Enforcer was really Carson Collier. So, if Delazny was the one-and-only Enforcer, then MG's origin for Scourge is reduced to a lie that Scourge told to Captain America for no obvious reason. However, if Delazny was just the first Enforcer and Carson later assumed his costumed identity, then Scourge's account of who he was and how and why he became a vigilante could still be valid and MG's story wouldn't be compromised.
    Yep, and Bloodstain claimed to be USAgent's brother; another Scourge claimed to be the brother of one of the victims of Karl Malus' Power Broker treatment. This seems to be part of the Scourge m.o.: If captured, claim to be out for vengeance, perhaps to dissuade others from discovery the larger organization backing the Scourges. However, it doesn't mean that the Scourge story was definitely wrong or a lie.
  • For what it's worth, the Marvel Chronology Project, which once listed all of the Enforcer's appearances in a single listing, now lists two different Enforcers - ENFORCER/DELAZNY and ENFORCER II/CARSON COLLIER. I guess that they found my theory to be persuasive. Also, Enda80 pointed out that one of George Olshevsky's Indexes makes a reference to the fact that Spider-Man (I think) once fought the second Enforcer.
    IF--if I say--I ever get the chance to write the Enforcer entry for a Handbook, I might be willing to mention the idea as an additional theory. However, if I--or one of my other writers--proposed an otherwise unsubstantiated theory and I backed it at the Appendix, that doesn't really lend it any actual credence does it. Yes, your story COULD be possible. It is just in direct conflict with established information. I don't know where you get the idea that you get to re-write Marvel stories if you don't like the explanation. Still, I'm happy to publish your information here. Maybe someone will read it and promote it in an actual Marvel story someday.
        The information about Olshevsky's Indexes carries more weight to me, but I find it extremely ironic that you point to an Index for support (because it agrees with you), but you look with scorn on the Handbook because you don't like its story.
    At any rate, the specific Olshevsky reference you were looking for is this:
    Official Index to MTU#5 on page 23 (entry for #93) states "The Committee....are known to be responsible for the attack by the second Enforcer on Buck Cowen (see the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#4). <info courtesy of John McDonagh.
        My only real story evidence-based fault with this idea is in the unmasked appearance of the Enforcer. Take a look at the pictures of Carson Collier, Jr. from GR22 and Charles Delazny, Jr from GR24. While they look very similar, GR didn't recognize the unmasked Delazny, while Blaze (whose mind controlled GR at the time) had just met Collier a short time ago. The unmasked Enforcer seen in Spider-Woman I#27 looks very much like the unmasked Enforcer from GR24. Maybe, to perpetuate your theory, while it was really Carson, he was disguising himself as Delazny, but still using his real name. Doesn't make sense to me, though...
• The first entry Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe for the Enforcer appeared in OHotMU#4 (April, 1983), published shortly before the character appeared in Spider-Woman#50. This half-page entry not only identified "Carson Collier" as being the Enforcer's real name, it also filled in some new details about his life. Among this information was that his father, "Coot" Collier, was actually also named "Carson Collier." The entry also stated that Carson was sent to prison after being apprehended by Ghost Rider but that he had soon been released due to the efforts of the Committee.
• The Enforcer's second entry appeared in OHotMUDE#17 (August, 1987) and was published after the character was murdered and after the story in which Scourge claimed to be his younger brother. This two-page entry corrected the earlier entry's mistake by identifying "Charles L. Delazny, Jr." as being the Enforcer and presenting an explanation for why one storyline had the Enforcer claiming he was "Carson Collier." However, as I've indicated above, I find that explanation to be rather implausible. What I find more disturbing is that the entry's writer attempts to support his "the Enforcer was always Delazny" idea to the extent of discrediting Scourge's claim of being the Enforcer's younger brother.
  --That last sentence is kind of amusing. Mark Gruenwald wrote that Scourge story, and he was the editor for the OHotMU where the information was cast in doubt. Clearly Gruenwald approved of the comment, so I find it hardly disturbing.
• A couple further notes:
  • First, while published stories have revealed that both Charles Delazny and Coot Collier had each had a son, it was never revealed that either of them had ONLY one son. The OHotMU reveals this latter information.
  • The given name of Charles L. Delazny's son as "Charles L. Delazny, Jr." comes from the Handbook.
  • The fact that "Coot" Collier's real full name was "Carson 'Coot' Collier, Sr." comes from the Handbook, as does the fact that his son Carson's full name was "Carson Collier, Jr."

Snood's statement. There are a LOT of diehard fans who have a lot of trouble with the fact that OHotMUs have always been 98% resource and 2% source (meaning that they sometimes supply new information (like real names, or names of relatives) or explanations to connect two otherwise contradictory stories). These fans believe that if it doesn't come from a pre-existing story it is not "canon." These people can continue these beliefs and arguments in their own groups, but that is not and has never been Marvel's policy. Get over it.
    HOWEVER...I am not trying to disrespect Donald, who is an excellent researcher and information source. I strongly disagree with some of his opinions, especially his digs at the handbooks, but that's as far as it goes.
That Donald, he's ok.
:)

The Enforcer's name was first mentioned in Ghost Rider II#21 and it was later revealed that he was the person who had robbed the Eel in that issue but he wasn't actually seen until Ghost Rider II#22.

Chronology Note: Marvel Team-Up#93 (May, 1980) takes place two days after Spider-Woman#19 (October, 1979) and Spider-Woman#20 (November, 1979) takes place between those two stories (i.e. The events in SW#19, SW#20 and MTU#93 take place, in that order, over three consecutive days).

More Chronology: The Enforcer's first encounter with Spider-Woman occurred shortly before she became a bounty hunter. By the time of their second encounter, Spider-Woman had been acting as a bounty hunter for "a few weeks" to "several months". This means that the Enforcer must have been in jail for that length of time.

Even More Chronology: According to the OHotMUDE, the Enforcer's "first assignment" for the Committee was to silence writer Buck Cowan who was about to expose Committee activity to the police. Spider-Woman#19 (October, 1979) revealed that Cowan had been looking into the circumstances of the weird death of one of his former employers, a man who had burst into flame when he tried to ask Cowan for help. This death occurred behind-the-scenes in Werewolf By Night I#42-43 (January + March, 1977), issues which were on sale at about the same time as the Enforcer's first appearance in Ghost Rider II#22-24 (February-June, 1977). So, if the Enforcer was only "recently sprung from the joint" in S-W#19, then who used the "tingler" on Cowan's old employer sometime before WBN#42? Was the Enforcer already working for the Committee back then? Or was it someone else, possibly Carson Collier, who dealt with that man on behalf of the Committee?
Recently this week? Recently this month? Recently this year? It's subjective, but a valid point.
Anyway, yes, he could have been working for the Committee earlier, but as it was Collier who had been imprisoned in his stead (as confirmed in the OHotMUDE#17), Delazny, the Enforcer, was already on the loose. Delazny later perpetuated the deception in hopes of being able to use it another day.

Ignatz was the name of the mouse opponent of the 1920s comic strip Krazy Kat. We see the name pop up every now and then, such as in Heroes for Hire, where Ant-Man rode the small winged Deviant Ignatz.

Anyway, Donald put a lot of research and thought into this profile, and he also sent a pair of profiles which list the two Enforcers as being separate. You can see them here:
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/enforcerdelazny.htm
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/enforcercollier.htm

Snood's conclusions.

• I concede that this is speculation, but it seems to clean up the holes Donald points out in the OHotMUDE#17 explanation. I go with the "No-Prize" policy, in that wherever possible I try to fit all published information together, rather than contradicting anything. While there are certainly true errors, in most cases information can be squared with a little further explanation:
• Carson seemed to have criminal plots in mind, but this is otherwise unconfirmed. I'm afraid that based on the evidence and the subsequent info in OHotMUDE#17, the OHotMU I#4 entry has to be considered as invalid, based on a mistaken assumption. Nonetheless, it does seem as if he's a bad guy, and it may be that some of his background info in that profile IS true. He may even have been allied with the Delazny Enforcer.
• Charles Delazny Jr. was defeated, but framed Carson Collier, who was sent to trial and imprisoned. Again, he may have had allies in the police or legal department to assist in this.
• When Delazny wished to return to public activity as the Enforcer, he had Collier released from prison so that it would be continued to be believed that Collier was the Enforcer.
• When Delazny/Enforcer was sent back to prison (SpWm#19), he continued his act of being Collier (possibly by a variety of methods). It would appear that Delazny actually came to believe himself to be Collier, or that he just felt the need to continue the deception at all costs. It is ALSO possible that Collier took some measure of revenge by hypnotizing Delazny into believing he actually was Collier.
• Carson Collier Jr. may or may not have been the Scourge who eventually slew the Enforcer. One would think this would have been confirmed or refuted one way or another, but the information remains unrevealed.
  At any rate, the Scourge organization could have just gotten bad information. It's easy to see how one might be confused by the Enforcer's identity.
• Let me know if there are any further discrepancies to be dealt with.
• Until either Delazny or Collier turns up alive, there will always be doubt.

Profile by Donald Campbell and Snood (about 24 hours worth of editing, rebuttal, scanning...)

Clarifications:

The Enforcer has no known connections to

• ENFORCER CAPONE - (Captain Britain) Corps--Excalibur I#44
• ENFORCERS of the 19th Century (Montana Joe, Ox, Weasel) -- Rawhide Kid I#130
• ENFORCERS (Fancy Dan, Montana, Ox (Raymond), Ox (Ronald), Hammer Harrison, Snake Marston) - criminals for hire, former agents of Norman Osborn and the Big Man --Amazing Spider-Man I#10
• New Enforcers (Blitz, Controller, Dragon Man, Dreadnought, Eel [Edward Lavell], Fixer, Madame Menace, Mentallo, Mr. Fear [Alan Fagan], Plant-Man, Super-Adaptoid, Tangle, Thermite, Vanisher) - criminal organization which attempted to assume control of the Kingpin's former underworld empire @ Web of Spider-Man#98
• Any other "Enforcer" characters or groups

Ignatz Goldman (if that's really "the Professor's" name) has no known connections to

• Goldman - an agent of SHIELD II--Captain America/Fury: Blood Truce
• Goldman, William Walter - an obsessed fan of Mary Jane Parker who posed as a police officer and killed several people who crossed/threatened her--Amazing Spider-Man I#331

Enforcer's Disintegrator Ring

The Enforcer's original weapon was a ring with a disintegration ray generator set in it. Originally the generator was an "electronic gizmo" (see left) which the Eel (Leopold Stryke) had stolen from a never-revealed location. The Enforcer hired the Gladiator (Potter) to steal it from Stryke and told him that Stryke had left it on a certain soundstage at Delazny Studios (but it was actually in Stryke's rented room in a flop-house). The Eel took the gizmo with him to an appointment and knocked out Ghost Rider (who had been following him) but then the Enforcer "appropriated" the device from him, and Stryke was soon killed by the Gladiator (who was still looking for the gadget). The Enforcer took the device to Professor Goldman who miniaturized it into a medallion (see Goldman sub-profile) which the Enforcer used to kill the "boss" of a local gang of racketeers. Later, Goldman reduced the device to the size of a jewel and set it into a ring (see right). The Enforcer used the ring to disintegrate an entire destroyer before losing it in San Diego harbor. After the Water Wizard recovered the ring, the Enforcer tried to use it to kill Ghost Rider but he just couldn't manage to hit him. What happened to the ring after the Enforcer was defeated is unknown (but if Goldman and/or Ghost Rider had any sense at all they would have destroyed it before calling the police). Presumably the LAPD confiscated the ring when they arrested the Enforcer.

  - (electronic gizmo) Ghost Rider II#21

  - (medallion) Ghost Rider II#22

  - (ring) Ghost Rider II#22 (24)

Enforcer's "souped-up" car

    The Enforcer once drove a "souped-up" red two-door sports car which could attain greater speeds than most normal cars. The Enforcer's "fancy wheels" had been equipped with several weapons including a retractable machinegun (mounted on the driver's side below the side mirror) and a "bomb bay" in the rear from which at least one "tactical missile" (capable of blowing up a bridge) could be fired. Nothing was revealed about who designed and/or rebuilt the car, and it was lost in a lake when Ghost Rider forced the Enforcer off the road while he was making his getaway from an attempted murder and a robbery which he had committed.

 - Ghost Rider II#58

Enforcer's Getaway Plane

    The Enforcer once flew a small jet aircraft which had been modified so that it could attach itself to the top of a 747 jumbo jet. The Enforcer and his gang used this jet to perform a mid-air robbery of a gem courier who was traveling from New York to Los Angeles aboard Atlantic Airlines Flight 814.

 - Spider-Woman I#29

Carson Collier, Jr.

    Carson Collier Jr. is the only (confirmed) son of Carson "Coot" Collier, Sr. He was born in San Jose, California.

(Spider-Woman I#29 (fb)- BTS) - As a young boy, Carson watched his father perform stunts in his "shoot-'em-ups." Later, when he was older, Carson began to "shake down school kids for their lunch money."

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4) - Hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps, Carson enrolled in the University of Southern California film school, only to become heavily involved in dealing narcotics. Developing criminal contacts, Carson dropped out of school to pursue a career in crime.

(Ghost Rider II#22)- Carson went to his father's Benedict Canyon home and let himself in. When Coot returned and saw the lights on, he grabbed his carbine and confronted the intruder but was surprised and delighted when he realized that it was Carson. When Coot asked where he'd been, Carson replied that he'd been keeping real busy and thought to himself that while he couldn't reveal exactly what he'd been into lately, soon everybody would find out. Coot didn't notice Carson's peculiar smile or the sudden glint in his eyes.
   The next morning, Carson went to Delazny Studios to watch his father direct an episode of the "Stuntmaster" television show. Standing with Stuntmaster and Roxanne Simpson, Carson watched Johnny Blaze perform a motorcycle stunt with Karen Page. Once the stunt was completed, Stuntmaster introduced him to Blaze who got a strange feeling that "something about Carson (didn't) ring true."

(OHotMUDE#17) - After the Ghost Rider had defeated the Enforcer, but before the police arrived, the Enforcer revived, and, under circumstances that have yet to be revealed, managed to mislead the authorities into believing that Carson Collier, Jr. was the Enforcer. Hence, it was the young Collier who was imprisoned for the Enforcer’s crimes. The elder Delazny, however, learned that his son was the real Enforcer.

(Spider-Woman I#19 (fb) - BTS) - A Los Angeles newspaper reported that the Enforcer (Collier?) was “recently sprung from the joint." (see comments)

(Captain America I#320 - BTS?) - After being captured by Captain America, Scourge claimed to be the younger brother of the Enforcer and that he had killed him in retaliation for the shame that the Enforcer had brought upon their family, and for the heartbreak their father had felt on learning the Enforcer’s true identity. Scourge also claimed that it was how good he felt after dealing with his brother that had inspired him to devote his life to serving the cause of justice (by killing costumed criminals). Scourge was then killed by an unseen gunman (who was later revealed to be a second Scourge).
    Scourge's story seems to indicate the Collier was the Enforcer, and that Scourge was Collier's previous unknown brother.

    If the OHotMUDE's theory that Carson was falsely imprisoned for the Enforcer's crimes is accurate, then it was Carson who was “recently sprung from the joint” (as reported in a Los Angeles newspaper mentioned in Spider-Woman#19).
    The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#11: Scourge entry postulates the Collier may have been the Scourge that slew the Enforcer, but this remains unconfirmed.

 - Ghost Rider II#22 (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#17 / Spider-Woman I#19 (fb) - BTS

Charles L. Delazny, Sr.

Charles L. Delazny is the owner of Delazny Studios, an independently-owned back lot and soundstage where movies were once filmed but which has more recently been used primarily for television production. One of his longtime associates is “Coot” Collier, a former actor who once directed movie Westerns and later directed television programs at Delazny Studios. Delazny had a family which included a son who was secretly the criminal known as the Enforcer. During the worst of the recession, Delazny borrowed heavily from racketeers to keep his studio in business. This loan enabled a local criminal organization to gain control of Delazny Studios and use Delazny as their "front man."

(Ghost Rider II#22) - Delazny had stuntman Johnny Blaze summoned to his office. When Blaze arrived, Delazny revealed that it was Officer Flannigan of the LAPD who had asked for the meeting. Blaze fled the office when Flannigan tried to force him to go to police headquarters. Later, after learning that Leopold Stryke (the Eel) had been hired through Delazny's office, Blaze staked out the Delazny mansion until he saw the Enforcer and some goons leaving it.

(Ghost Rider II#24 (fb) - BTS) - After the Enforcer took over the local criminal organization that had gained control of Delazny Studios, Delazny agreed to pay the Enforcer "his price" if he'd stay away from Delazny.

(Ghost Rider II#23) - Suspecting that Delazny was tied to the Enforcer, Ghost Rider went to the Delazny estate planning to force Delazny to reveal whatever he knew about the Enforcer but was ambushed by the Water Wizard as soon as he arrived. Ghost Rider managed to defeat the Water Wizard but was knocked out by his foe's last attack and reverted to human form. Then Charles L. Delazny strode from the shadows and said, "You were a fool to come here, Blaze -- and it's going to cost you your life!"

(Ghost Rider II#24) - While standing over Blaze's helpless body, Delazny was joined by the Enforcer who revealed that he had arranged the ambush. When Delazny demanded answers, the Enforcer threatened his family (including his son who was in college) and cowed Delazny by disintegrating the door of the garage. When the Enforcer announced that he was going to take Delazny's son's motorcycle and ordered Delazny to wait an hour before reporting it stolen, Delazny shakily agreed.

(Ghost Rider II#26 (fb) -BTS) - Following the capture and imprisonment of the Enforcer, Charles L. Delazny learned his son had secretly been the criminal. This knowledge upset him.

(Ghost Rider II#26) - When Delazny arrived at his office and learned that his secretary had let someone in without an appointment, he angrily confronted the intruder, Doctor Anthony Druid, but quickly succumbed to Druid's occult powers and apologized for being rude because he'd recently been upset about his son. Druid probed his mind and learned that Delazny was upset because his son had secretly been the Enforcer and that Delazny didn't believe that the Ghost Rider was a supernatural being.

Delazny was depicted as balding in his first appearance but later issues showed him with a full head of hair. (toupee?)

Charles L. Delazny is presumably related to the Dorian Delazny who was (apparently) the head of Delazny Studios in Astonishing Tales I#21-24 but I've never read those issues and I'm not aware of any story in which their exact relationship is defined.

 - Ghost Rider II#22 (23,24,26)

"Coot" Collier

"Coot" Collier was the star of numerous 1940's cowboy films who later directed a number of movie Westerns and then went on to direct television programs (including "Stuntmaster") produced at Delazny Studios. Aside from his acting and directing skills, Coot did all his own trick-shooting in his films and retained this skill even after he gave up acting. Coot had definitely had at least one son, Carson. He was delighted when Carson paid him an unexpected visit but was later heartbroken

THEORY: According to a now-dead Scourge, he had a younger son whose given name has never been revealed (who became a Scourge). It was in response to his father's pain that Coot's younger son disguised himself as a bag lady and gunned down Carson while he was on his way to commit a murder-for-hire. Following his murder of his brother, Coot's younger son used the family's wealth to finance his ongoing self-appointed mission to "dispense justice" to costumed criminals.
    If Coot's younger son used his family's wealth to finance his operations, that could mean that Coot had died (of a broken heart?) before Carson was killed and that Scourge blamed Carson for their father's death.
Right, or that Scourge was just following orders to claim a connection to a previous super-villain or super-hero, like the rest of the Scourges.

 - Ghost Rider II#13 (14-15,18-19,21-23, Marvel Team-Up I#58, GR II#25-26)

"Big Jim" Galton

Galton was one of the Enforcer's henchmen. When the Enforcer wanted to kill Blaze and make it look like an accident, it was Galton who tied Blaze to the motorcycle, locked the throttle open and pushed the starter button, thus sending the bike and Blaze over a cliff. Later, at the Enforcer's underground base, Galton stayed out of the way when Ghost Rider showed up to battle both the Water Wizard and the Enforcer. It wasn't until both of them were unconscious that Galton tried to sneak up behind Ghost Rider with a metal pipe but was instead knocked out by Professor Goldman (who had his own metal pipe).

 - Ghost Rider II#24

Professor Ignatz Goldman

Ignatz Goldman (called only "Professor" in the stories) was "a rather nondescript scientific genius" employed by the Enforcer to miniaturize a disintegration ray generator into smaller, more practical forms which could be used as weapons. Goldman may have created the Enforcer's bullet-proof costume and may have helped design the Enforcer's secret underground base. At some point, Goldman realized that it wasn't prudent to anger his employer. Eventually, the Enforcer decided that Goldman was the only remaining threat to his plans (since, as the creator of the disintegator ring, he could likely find a way to nullify its power) and was about to eliminate him when Ghost Rider showed up. After the battle, Goldman repaid the favor by knocking out "Big Jim" Galton as he was about to strike Ghost Rider from behind. Despite this, Goldman was terrified of Ghost Rider and begged him to stay away. His fate since then is unknown.

 - Ghost Rider II#22 (24)

Enforcer's gang

    Four convicts who accompanied the Enforcer (who named himself "Collier") when he escaped from prison. Pete was the guy who was shot with a blackout dart and temporarily blinded when he questioned whether they should follow the Enforcer and he later took over the controls of the small jet airplane which the gang was using to commit a mid-air robbery. The one African-American member of the gang was named either Al or Joe, the third man was named either Joe or Al, and the fourth man's name was never mentioned.

 - Spider-Woman I#27 (28, 29)

Buck Cowan's former employer

A wild-eyed man who suddenly appeared in the kitchen of Cowan's house, causing Lissa Russell to faint and scaring a girl named Buttons who went for help. When Buck came to investigate he found the intruder and recognized him as an old employer. The man stated, "Your time has come, Cowan, to pay me back for helping you!" but before he could say another word he somehow burst into flame and died. Cowan began investigating the man's weird death and Jack Russell believed that that investigation had something to do with why the Enforcer attacked Cowan with (apparently) the same gizmo that caused Cowan's former employer to burn to death.

 - Werewolf By Night#42 (Spider-Woman I#19 (fb))

images:
OHotMU II#17, page 19, panel 1 (full body image)
Ghost Rider II#24, page 11, panel 5 (firing disintegrator beam)
Ghost Rider II#24, page 17, panel 2 (Enforcer unmasked)
Ghost Rider II#21, page 10, panel 5 (electronic gizmo)
Ghost Rider II#22, page 12, panel 6 (disintegrator ring)
Spider-Woman I#29, page 5, panel 3 (getaway jet)
Ghost Rider II#58, page 10, panel 3 ("souped-up" car)
OHotMU II#17, page 20, panel 3 (battling Spider-Woman and Werewolf)
Spider-Woman I#27, page 6, panel 5 ("Carson Collier" in prison)
Iron Man#194, page 17, panel 3 (Enforcer being shot)
Ghost Rider II#22, page 8, panel 3 (Carson Collier)
Ghost Rider II#26, page 6, panel 2 (Charles L. Delazny)
Ghost Rider II#24, page 3, panel 4 ("Big Jim" Galton)
Ghost Rider II#22, page 5, panel 6 ("Professor")
Spider-Woman I#27, page 9, panel 3 (Enforcer's gang)
Spider-Woman I#19, p30, panel 6 (Buck Cowan's former employer)
Ghost Rider II# (Coot Collier)

Appearances:
Ghost Rider II#22 (February, 1977) - Gerry Conway & Don Glut (writer), Don Heck (pencils), Keith Pollard (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Ghost Rider II#23 (April, 1977) - Gerry Conway & Jim Shooter (writer), Don Heck (pencils), Don Newton (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Ghost Rider II#24 (June, 1977) - Jim Shooter (writer), Don Heck (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Spider-Woman I#19 (October, 1979) - Mark Gruenwald & Steven Grant (writer), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Spider-Woman I#27-29 (June-August, 1980) - Michael Fleisher (writer), Jerry Bingham (#27), Steve Leialoha (#28) & Ernie Chan (#29) (pencils), Mike Esposito (#27-28), Steve Leialoha (#28) & Frank Springer (#29) (inks), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Ghost Rider II#58 (July, 1981) - Michael Fleisher (writer), Don Perlin (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), David Kraft (editor)
Spider-Woman I#50 (June, 1983) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Brian Postman (pencils), Sam De La Rosa (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Iron Man I#194 (May, 1985) - Denny O'Neil (writer), Luke McDonnell (pencils), Ian Akin & Brian Garvey (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)

Last updated: 04/24/05

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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