DOUGHBOY

Real Name: Doughboy

Identity/Class: Artificial organic being

Occupation: Servant of Arnim Zola; former servant of Primus

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Captains of Zolandia, Primus, Quatrus, Skeleton Crew (Crossbones/Brock Rumlow, Machinesmith/Starr Saxon, Mother Night/Susan Scarbo, Red Skull/Johann Shmidt), Secondus, Tertius, Arnim Zola

Enemies: Ballard, Grayson Blair, Cable (Nathan Summers), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Frag, Kimbale, Milano, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Pogue, Donna Maria Puentes, Rehbein, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Phil Coulson, Gemma Simmons, others), Thunderbolts (Moonstone/Karla Sofen, Penance/Robert Baldwin, Radioactive Man/Chen Lu, Songbird/Melissa Gold, Swordsman/Andreas von Strucker, Venom/MacDonald Gargan), Thor (Eric Masterson), Wolverine (James Howlett)

Known Relatives: Arnim Zola (creator), Primus ("brother")

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile;
   formerly Zola's stronghold in Dimension Z;
   formerly Zola's different bases;
   formerly Castle Zola, Weisshorn Mountain, Switzerland

First Appearance: Captain America I#209 (May, 1977)

Powers/Abilities: Doughboy, a creation of Arnim Zola, is a sentient, pliable, dough-like substance with a myriad of powers and abilities. Doughboy can make himself into a sticky taffy-like structure that can spread over walls, pick up items like tentacles, and restrain others by sticking to them. Doughboy can also make himself into a hard structure with thick stone-like walls that are nearly impervious to damage. 

    Doughboy is capable of forming himself into a flying saucer form (though he can also alter his form to look like a Quinjet) and propelling through the air at subsonic speed, and he can also take on a more human form. He can alter the density of his structure, making it as thin as a window or as thick as a wall. 

    Arnim Zola can communicate with Doughboy through a number of means, including firing rays at his structure or relaying thoughts to his form. On command, Doughboy can grow a "tele-sight", capable of reading the thoughts of its user and establishing telecommunication across the globe. Though Doughboy is sentient, he is primarily subject to Zola's control. 

    Doughboy has either shared his form, or had his form divided into, other sentient beings, including Primus and other mutates that Zola uses; these entities, though made of the same material, have independent and free will. When portions of Doughboy were consumed by adolescents, they vomited up smaller Doughboys who later connected to make a larger one again. 

    Possessing superhuman strength (class 100), Doughboy tends to have a happy demeanor. Doughboy is impervious to most harm, though he can be shattered into pieces, as he once was by Mjolnir. Doughboy also seems to be vulnerable to Adamantium. 

    In one form, Doughboy was able to speak and he seemed obsessed with murder.

Height: Variable, usually 10'
Weight: Variable, usually several tons
Eyes: Black corneas, white irises, no visible pupils
Hair: None

History:
(Captain America I#210 (fb) - BTS) - Evil scientist Arnim Zola created a living organism, pliable and subject to follow his orders, and then later divided that single organism into two forms, Doughboy, who he primarily used as an airship, and Primus, who took on a more humanoid form and could be used to battle superheroes.

(Captain America I#209) - At Arnim Zola's command, Doughboy apprehended Captain America and Donna Maria Puentes drawing them within himself along with Zola. In the form of a flying saucer, Doughboy propelled the trio through the air with him at supersonic speed, and Zola fired a ray within Doughboy to make him create a window for the others to see through. When Zola relayed a thought to Doughboy, he formed seats for Captain America and Donna Maria. When Cap fought back, Zola unleashed Primus against him.

(Captain America I#210) - Doughboy restrained Captain America and Donna Maria in his pliable floor before landing at the base of Arnim Zola, where Doughboy opened his own form to free his captives. After Zola scolded Primus for not being more like Doughboy, Doughboy put the two captives in Chamber Four, then he watched quietly as Zola scolded Primus, soon forcing Primus to merge with Doughboy. Zola then forced Doughboy's form to create two new life forms, one to track enemies and the other to trap them. With another button, Zola had Doughboy sprout a "tele-sight", a device that could read his thoughts and remotely connect him with the Red Skull, Zola's secret benefactor.

(Captain America I#212 - BTS) - As Zola's castle burned, Doughboy cried out in pain. Later, Captain America and Donna Maria defeated the life forms that Zola had created from Doughboy's form.

(Captain America I#277 (fb) - BTS) - Primus took control over Doughboy's body and escaped the burning castle.

(Captain America I#275-279 - BTS) - Primus remained in control over Doughboy's body and allied himself with Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo) against Captain America.

(Captain America I#383/4) - When a group of mercenaries (Frag, Kimbale, Milano, Ballard, Pogue, Rehbein) attacked Zola and the Red Skull's castle, Doughboy was sent to apprehend the group. They fought back against Doughboy, but he easily gathered them within himself and returned them to Zola for questioning.

(Captain America I#393) - Doughboy disguised himself as a Quinjet and flew Arnim Zola, the Skeleton Crew (Machinesmith, Crossbones, Mother Night, Red Skull), and three bioplastoids named Secondus, Tertius, and Quatrus on a mission.

(Captain America I#395) - When Captain America and Thor (Eric Masterson) entered the Skullhouse, Doughboy dripped down from the ceiling and slowly contained the heroes, easily absorbing their attempts at force. Zola ordered Doughboy to dump the two heroes at the bottom of the lake.

(Captain America I#396) - Doughboy floated from the house to the lake, where he submerged himself in an attempt to drown the two heroes. Thor managed to break free by throwing his hammer through Doughboy and then retrieving it, after which he blasted Doughboy to pieces. The heroes escaped while Doughboy gathered himself.

(Wolverine II#139) - At Zola's command, Doughboy wrapped himself around Wolverine and Cable, but he retreated and cried out in pain when Wolverine slashed at him with his Adamantium claws. After the heroes battled Primus and other mutates, Zola dropped the heroes out of the ship to the ground below and flew away.

(Thunderbolts: International Incident#1) - When the Thunderbolts attacked Arnim Zola's base in China, Doughboy and other mutates fought back against them, with Doughboy taking on a more human form. Soon the mutates and Zola were defeated.

(Captain America VII#5 (fb) - BTS) - Arnim Zola established a stronghold in Dimension Z, or the realm of Zolandia, and Doughboy dwelled with him there. Doughboy developed the tendency to speak to himself in the third person.

(Captain America VII#5) - Zola ordered Doughboy to release the Captains of Zolandia (a group of mutates) to fight Captain America, and Doughboy enthusiastically stated he would "bring murder" to the hero.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#2 (fb) - BTS) - Grayson Blair acquired some of the biological matter that made up Doughboy (see comments) and took it to school, where it ended up in the hands of the cooks there. The dough was used to create pizza for the students.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#2) - When students began consuming the pizza, it reacted with their stomachs poorly, and they began vomiting up the dough. The individual dough creatures gathered together to form a larger dough creature, and it was then apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D. with the help of Ms. Marvel.

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia.

    Doughboy appeared, with Arnim Zola, on the list of Captain America's top ten villains in Captain America Annual I#11. Doughboy is connected to Primus, at least in their early appearances, as they seem to be made of the same substance. Some places list Doughboy as being in Captain America I#275-279, but Doughboy could only be considered behind the scenes at best because Primus was in complete control over their merged form at the time.

    Doughboy has a handbook profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition#32 (1993).

    There are a number of pizza restaurants named Doughboys throughout the USA and beyond. I suspect the SHIELD story was a play on that.
--Snood

    This profile was completed 04/23/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary's celebratory event.

Profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Doughboy has no known connections to:


images: (without ads)
Captain America I#210, p9, pan3 (main)
Captain America I#395, p16, pan5 (face)
Captain America I#209, p5, pan1 (carrying Arnim Zola and captives)
Captain America I#209, p8, pan2 (flying saucer)
Captain America I#210, p13, pan1 (merging with Primus)
Captain America I#210, p14, pan1 (hunting creations)
Captain America I#210, p15, pan1 (Tele-Sight)
Captain America I#393, p10, pan2-4 (changing from Quinjet)
Thunderbolts: International Incident#1, p18, pan1 (human form)
Captain America VII#5, p4, pan1 (new form, speaking)
S.H.I.E.L.D. III#2, p14, pan1 (Doughboys)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition#32 (Doughboy)


Appearances:
Captain America I#209 (May, 1977) - Jack Kirby (writer/penciler/editor), Frank Giacoia (inker)
Captain America I#210 (June, 1977) - Jack Kirby (writer/penciler/editor), Mike Royer (inker)
Captain America I#212 (August, 1977) - Jack Kirby (writer/penciler/editor), Mike Royer (inker)
Captain America I#275-279 (November, 1982 - March, 1983) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Mike Zeck (penciler), John Beatty (inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Captain America I#383/4 (March, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Ron Wilson (penciler), Fred Fredrickson (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#393 (October, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Larry Alexander (penciler), Bud LaRosa (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#395-396 (December, 1991-January, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Rik Levins (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Wolverine II#139 (June, 1999) - Erik Larsen (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (penciler), Dexter Vines (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
Thunderbolts: International Incident#1 (April, 2008) - Christos Gage (writer), Ben Oliver (artist), Molly Lazer (editor)
Captain America VII#5 (May, 2013) - Rick Remender (writer), John Romita Jr (penciler), Tom Palmer, Scott Hanna (inkes), Tom Brevoort (editor)
S.H.I.E.L.D. III#2 (March, 2015) - Mark Waid (writer), Humberto Ramos (penciler), Victor OOlazaba (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)


First Posted: 09/23/2021
Last updated: 09/22/2021

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