DRAGOON DRAGOON
Real Name: Dragoon
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Dragon-Men of Ligra) semi-humanoid reptilian (see comments)
Occupation: Warrior
Group Membership: Ducky Dozen (Battlestar/Lemar Hoskin, Blazing Skull/Mark Todd, Kurt "Breeze" Barton, Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan, Dynaman/Lagaro, Eternal Brain (see comments), Flexo, Gur of the Lion-People of Ligra, Howard the Duck (who may have gathered the rest), Red Raven, Taxi Taylor)
Affiliations: A.R.M.O.R. (Alternate Reality Monitoring and Operational Response), Suffragists of Earth-12591 (Columbia, Libertas, Miss America/Madeline Joyce, Riveter/Roz/Rosalind), Zephyr Zog of Earth-12591
Enemies: Zombies of Earth-12591, including the zombie Asgardians (especially Skurge the Executioner and presumably the Valkyrior), Invaders
(Bucky/James Barnes, Destroyer/Roger Aubrey, Golden Girl/Betty Ross,
Human Torch/Jim Hammond, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Spitfire/Jacqueline
Falsworth, Vision/Aarkus, Whizzer/Bob Frank)., and the Waffen-ZZ
(Dum-Dum Dugan, possibly other members of the Howling Commandos)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
active on mission to Earth-12591;
formerly Ligra, Reality-616
First Appearance: Marvel Zombies Destroy! #1 (July, 2012)
Powers/Abilities: As one of the Dragon-Men of
Ligra, Dragoon was presumably superhumanly strong (enhanced human).
Underneath her uniform, she was presumably covered in scutes,
chitinous external plates that presumably granted her an unspecified
degree of superhuman durability.
While the 1940's era Dragon-Men seen have a pair of sharp, fanged
teeth originating from their maxilla (upper jaw) and protruding from
the edges/sides of their mouth, Dragoon's mouth was consistently covered, so no comment can be made on her teeth.
While the 1940's era Dragon-Men have fingers and
toes end in sharp, keratinaceous claws/talons, in the few images where
we could see Dragoon's fingers, they have a typical human finger shape,
rather than having talons. Dragoon wore boots, and his/her/its feet
where never seen.
While the 1940's era Dragon-Men
had powerful, semi-prehensile tails reaching lengths of up to 4 feet,
Dragoon had no tail, unless it was concealed within his/her/its uniform.
As reptilian, Dragoon may or may not be poikilothermic ("cold-blooded," meaning the metabolism changes directly with the ambient temperature, becoming sluggish or dormant in colder weather and more active in warmer weather).
Dragoon was presumably a female (see comments),
which would indicate that Dragon-Men, like most reptiles, lack
secondary sex characteristics; there was nothing grossly visible to
distinguishable Dragoon as male or female, at least when clothed.
Because of whatever it was that covered Dragoon's mouth, we don't know
whether Dragoon had the prominent maxillary canines/fangs.
Dragoon spoke English, but sometimes used incorrect words, frequently malapropisms.
Dragoon wielded a shoulder cannon sort of weapon-blaster, buts its abilities and limitations were not noted.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6')
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 190 lbs.)
Eyes: Solid red (no visible pupil or
sclera; the 1940's era Dragon-Men seen had a solid red color around
their eyes, they had colored irides and visible pupils, but there
sclera was not visible)
Hair: None
History:
(Marvel Zombies Destroy! #1
(fb) - BTS) - Learning that the Nazi zombies of Earth-12591 had neared
completion of a cross-dimensional battleship (Valhalla's hammer) with
which they planned to invade and infest/infect/conquer Earth-616, ARMOR
gathered a number of agents to destroy the battleship and thwart the
Nazi zombies' plot: Battlestar and/or Howard the Duck apparently
gathered Blazing Skull, Breeze Barton, "Dum Dum" Dugan, Dynaman,
Eternal Brain, Flexo, Red Raven, Taxi Taylor, Dragoon of the Dragon-Men of Ligra, and Gur of the Lion-People of Ligra (see comments).
(Marvel Zombies Destroy! #1) - When Howard introduced Dugan to the group, Dragoon noted, "Restitutions." Blazing Skull suggested he meant "Salutations."
After Red Raven commented that women and war zones didn't mix, Dragoon replied, "I am XX chromosome. Hear me roar?" (see comments).
Dragoon and the rest of the Ducky
Dozen then entered a ship, which Taxi Taylor transmitted to
Earth-12591. They were almost instantly attacked by zombies, and Gur
and Barton were both lost in the ensuing struggle that resulted in
their crashing. Dragoon awkwardly asked Raven "Repose?" after the crash.
They were then confronted by Zombie Invaders (Bucky, Destroyer, Golden
Girl, Human Torch, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Spitfire, Vision/Aarkus,
Whizzer).
(Marvel Zombies Destroy! #2) - Dragoon wielded some sort of shoulder cannon in the battle. With the aid of the arriving Suffragists (Columbia, Libertas, Miss America, Riveter), the Invaders were destroyed, although Dynaman and Red Raven perished in the fight. Dragoon and the remaining members of the Ducky Dozen joined the Suffragists in their headquarters, where they were introduced to Zephyr Zog, a Nazi scientist aiding their efforts against the zombies. Seeing a dramatic horseback image of Baron Strucker, Baron Zemo, Red Skull, and Arnim Zola, Dragoon noted, "Proto-fascistic propaganda iconography."
After Zog revealed the cause of the zombie plague, Battlestar noted that they needed to get Dugan into place so that they could not only had to destroy Valhalla's Hammer, they needed to find and destroy the death spore flower that started the zombie plague. As the Waffen-ZZ arrived, Dragoon and the others repelled out of the building.
(Marvel Zombies Destroy! #3) - Reuniting with the Dugan, Howard, and Libertas at the mountain's base, Dragoon noted, "You survived. Heartiest contrafibularities." (see comments)
The Ducky Dozen, the Suffragists,
and Zog then caught a train headed toward the Nazi HQ, which was then
assaulted by the zombie Brunnhilde the Valkyrie and the rest of the Valkyrior.
When Columbia noted that Zog was under attack, Dragoon wondered if
there was a chance Zog was still alive seconds before Brunnhilde hurled
Zog's disembodied head through the train. Although the Valkyrior were
destroyed, Columbia killed herself after being bitten by one of the
Valkyrior to avoid becoming a zombie.
The survivors were then joined by Loki-12591, who admitted to having caused the zombie plague.
Comments: Created by Frank Marraffino and Mirco Pierfederici.
Beyond Howard, Battlestar, and Dugan, the other nine members of
the Ducky Dozen either were from or based on characters who appeared
during the first year of Timely Comics. However, some of the characters
who were supposed to be the originals had significantly different
histories than had previously been documented (Eternal Brain, for
example), so some or all of them may have been alternate reality
counterparts. Given the involvement of A.R.M.O.R., that's a really easily explanation.
That being said, I don't think there is anything
contradicting Dragoon from being a member of Reality-616's Dragon-Men,
and any differences could relate to Dragoon potentially being a female
as compared to the male army seen in Marvel Mystery Comics#8-9.
Eternal Brain's origin is markedly different than the Eternal Brain of the Ducky Dozen. See that profile for discussion.
The Ducky Dozen's Flexo looked like a man wearing
armor as opposed to a robot, although he did seem more robotic in
nature, rebuilding himself from injuries. He didn't do any real
twisting or stretching, as was characteristic of classic Flexo.
The Ducky Dozen's Dynaman is really powerful, much more like Dynamic Man...
Red Raven was sexist and largely sub-heroic...per Kevin Garcia, "He acts like he never met a female warrior despite his experiences with the Liberty Legion and his own daughter."
Taxi Taylor was the daughter of Jim "Taxi" Taylor, so that's all good...
Earth-12591 Loki arranged for Hitler to consume the death spore flower (allegedly plucked from Hel) that transformed him into zombie, plague spread throughout Nazis, who won World War II and then to Asgardians collectively when an Odinsleep deprived Odin investigated and was bitten. Nazi Zombies sought to invade Earth-616, ultimately foiled/destroyed by Ducky Dozen. Marvel Zombies Destroy #1 (2012)
"So near and yet so much the opposite of near." That reminds me of the classic Lunatik line, "There are none so blind as those who cannot see."
Women are XX chromosome, while men are XY, and Dragoon's use of the former term in Marvel Zombies Destroy!#1 is a reference t*o the Helen Reddy song, "I am Woman," which starts out, "I am woman, hear me roar!" Does that mean that Dragoon is a woman? It would seem likely...but not 100% certain.
Contrafibularities isn't a "real"
word. It comes from a 1987 episode of the TV show Blackadder (Americans
probably know the actor Rowan Atkinson better as Mr. Bean).
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
after Dr. Samuel Johnson boasts about his newly completed dictionary containing every word in the English language. Blackadder wishes Dr. Johnson his "enthusiastic contrafibularities", upsetting Johnson, who quickly adds the alleged word to his manuscript.
contrafibularities pl (plural only)
Beyond its origin in a BBC comedy series, the word is not generally recognized.
Thanks to Wolfram Bane for
pointing out these additional appearances of a member of the Dragon-Men
of Ligra. I had forgotten about them.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Dragoon should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Marvel Zombies Destroy! #1, story pg. 10 (face and torso);
#2, pg. 1 (shoulder cannon);
#3, pg. 5, panel 2 (profile, distant);
pg. 6, panel 3 (profile, closeup);
#4, pg. 12, panel 1 (most full, distant);
pg. 14, panel 2 (slightly less full, but slightly closer)
pg. 15, panel 2 (bitten);
pg. 16, panel 2 (zombified);
panel 3 (decapitated)
Appearances:
Marvel Zombies Destroy! #1-2 (July, 2012) - Frank Marraffino (writer), Mirco Pierfederici (artist), Jake Thomas (editor), Mark Paniccia (senior editor)
Marvel Zombies Destroy! #3 (August, 2012) - Peter David (writer), Al Barrionuevo (penciler), Rick Magyar (inker), Jake Thomas (editor), Mark Paniccia (senior editor)
Marvel Zombies Destroy! #4 (August, 2012) - Peter David (writer), Mirco Pierfederici (artist), Jake Thomas (editor), Mark Paniccia (senior editor)
First posted: 03/26/2020
Last updated: 03/28/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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