Enforcer

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Context

The Enforcer (C.L. Delazny, Jr.) is an obscure Marvel character. He first appeared in 1977 and primarily clashed with Ghost Rider and Spider-Woman.

He had interesting visuals, which often makes or breaks a character. And the concept held potential. But, alas…

Background

Powers & Abilities

In 1977, the Enforcer was :

He was familiar with the movie industry, and the history of American cinema.

He also had lots and lots of money, with about $1M in discretionary funds. That’s in 1977 USD, so about $4.2M in 2019 USD.

Other assets

He also seemed to have acting training. He could project an aura of dominating confidence, like a he-man hero movie character of the 1960s. This was especially effective when masked, so people could imagine he looked like John Wayne.

However, early on, he couldn’t fully walk the walk. He was overwhelmed by superhuman combat, and unnerved by the Ghost Rider. He wasn’t incompetent, but he wasn’t strong enough.

His disintegrator beam could sink a WWII destroyer. My guess is that the disintegration effect was a chain reaction that fed off the target’s mass.

His mask was armoured.

The Enforcer returns

By 1979, the Enforcer was a cinematicallyThe level of power and (un)realism found in a spectacular action movie. skilled athlete, acrobat, fighter and marksman.

He was also quickly accruing experience as a professional hitman, and learned to pilot small jets.

However, he seemed less knowledgeable about cinema and charisma.

He also had new gear. Though less E.E. “Doc” Smith than the disintegrator ring, it still was advanced :

The tranq darts are his default ammunition, rather than standard bullets. Presumably it’s to avoid pointlessly adding to his rap sheet  .

More gear

In 1980, the Enforcer and his gang flew a private jet modified to clamp onto, then board, a jumbo jet. One suspects that it was a remnant of an aborted plan by another super-villain. Perhaps Doctor Faustus ?

In 1981 he had a tricked-out car – see the game stats for details. I suspect this too was second-hand.

In his last appearance, his gun was drawn more like a machine pistol (but never used).

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 adds a curious amount of info about him. Perhaps an Enforcer story was planned but never published. It mentions two additional bits of equipment :

Tingler injection.

Tales to tingle

“Tingler” rounds are loaded in the Enforcer’s .45s. But the pistol is then used just like an injector gun, rather than a firearm.

Apparently, a tingler consists of :

The usual suggestion is “if you oppose me, or tell anybody about me, you will spontaneously combust”.

This setup seems to work fine against ordinary humans. However, there are too many failure points against superhumans, supernaturals and (presumably) people trained to resist hypnosis. It’s still worth trying, but something will likely peter out.

Tingling tales

One variant over the “tingler” round only consists in a toxic injection. This chemical remains inert until the victim comes close to another person. At this point, they “spontaneously” combust.

There is no antidote to this. It is possible to slow down the toxin’s diffusion (say, by refrigerating the victim), and to prevent the trigger (by keeping the victim unconscious). But that’s about it.

This attack likely uses supernatural components. If so, we can assume that it was a Committee weapon. The Enforcer thus would have but a few of those, and no means to replace the spent ones.

Dr. Malus claims to have invented one or both “tingler” variants. This is likely true, since he knew how to counter them.

At this point, Malus is also seen trying to weaponize Spider-Woman’s bioelectricity. So it’s not unreasonable to imagine that the tingler was the weaponized version of some superhuman or supernatural’s blood. Perhaps the Son of Satan ?

Other assets

The Enforcer has occasionally worked with a small cadre of thugs equipped with submachineguns. These will be a .45 ACP model so they can use his tranq rounds, if the plan requires it.

Soundtrack

Something to evoke 1977, let’s see… Something fitting the Enforcer would be Barracuda, which I’d argue was Heart’s peak. It’s really good – if you like vintage hard rock.

It barely grazed the top 10 so I’m not sure it’s a solid cultural marker. But it sounds very much like the late 1970s, and the video looks very much like the 1970s, so that’s what we need.

History (part 1)

Mr. Delazny, senior, is the owner of an once-prestigious movie production facility in Los Angeles.

However, the 1970s weren’t kind to him :

“Just Say No”, they say

Within a few years, Charles Delazny, Jr. was an underworld multimillionaire. Part of it was his acting knowledge, allowing him to project a formidably confident persona.

He also acquired special connections, including :

He began calling himself the Enforcer and wearing an ominous costume.

(One suspects that the Enforcer lucked out and rose to wealth when the Pride had just begun taking out the competition. On sliding time  it is hard to be sure, but it seems chronologically possible.)

(One mobster noted that the “Enforcer” name had also been used by real-world mobster Frank Nitti. Delazny Junior likely was familiar with this from the movies  .)

Earliest, 1977 costume.

Fear and loathing in Los Angeles

The Enforcer stole a disintegrator beam prototype from the Eel (Leopold Stryke). The Gladiator (Melvin Potter), who had been hired by the Enforcer, slew the Eel shortly after.

Mr. Goldman miniaturised the prototype. First as a medallion, then as a ring. It was just what the Enforcer hoped – powerful and terrifying.

With his newfound firepower, Delazny, Jr. took foreign money to sink an old US Navy destroyer. Though he was nearly caught by the Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) and lost his disintegrator ring, the Enforcer did destroy the ship.

Delazny had also taken over the mob that owned his father’s company. But his goal was simply to use the familial business to launder money.

The ol’ switcheroo

The Enforcer hired the Water Wizard (Peter van Zante). The first job was to recover the disintegrator ring from the bottom of the San Diego Bay.

The second was to help against the Ghost Rider. But both were terrified, overwhelmed and defeated by the morbid maniacal motorcyclist.

However, the Enforcer had a contingency plan. Somehow, the person whom the police found was apparently fellow student Carson Collier, Jr..

The lad was the son of “Coot” Collier, a has-been actor and longtime associate of Delazny, Sr..

Though the deception was a success, it apparently required the Enforcer to leave his costume and disintegrator ring on the unconscious Collier.

Who was that masked man ?

Whether the Enforcer is Charles Delazny, Jr. or Carson Collier, Jr. is an obscure, but headache-inducing, issue.

The more you try to figure it out, the less sense it makes.

I suppose that this is a byproduct of the book switching from Gerry Conway to Jim Shooter. During the late 1970s there were writer changes at Marvel where the new guys apparently didn’t get any info about the planned storylines.

My favoured approach is that Carson Collier, Jr. and Charles Delazny, Jr. both were the Enforcer. In this scenario they were drugs-dealing associates and had some unrevealed plan that was lost in the writer transition.

This scheme likely involved taking advantage of both their fathers.

Secondary sources, schmegonbarry schmourfes

However, the official version is that the Enforcer was Charles Delazny, Jr..

And that law enforcement held him for years, several times, while being certain that this man was Carson Collier, Jr..

I went with the official take, since :

So both History sections are written using the assumption that the Enforcer always was Charles Delazny, Jr., and only him, and that’s it.

Fnord  .

(The cleanest implementation of this is to just ignore the references to the Enforcer being Collier in Spider-Woman. To consider them a continuity screwup.)

History (part 2)

The Enforcer stuck around the L.A. underworld scene. But he now made most of his money as an elite hitman. One capable of dealing with supernatural and superhuman targets.

By 1979 he was working for the Committee (Baron Thunder’s). This odd conspiracy helped him redevelop his arsenal. The Committee specialised in researching strange sources of power, such as werewolves.

(It certainly seems possible that Delazny specialised in capturing and/or sanctioning supernaturals during the late 1970s. Presumably as Committee jobs. This is never quite stated, but it’s implied on multiple occasions.)

Eliminating a witness resulted in a clash with Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and Committee foe the Werewolf by Night (Jack Russell). Stunned by a venom blast, the Enforcer (identified as Carson Collier, Jr.) was arrested.

The killer elite

In 1980, corrupt L.A. press publisher Rupert Dockery was making a bunch of money from exclusive Spider-Woman news. This was done by arranging for criminals to clash with her.

Dockery engineered the Enforcer’s escape. Several prisoners came along, and Delazny forced them to become his gang.

As planned, Drew came after them.

Spider-Woman ally Scotty McDowell was poisoned by the Enforcer. Delazny, Jr. gleefully forced Spider-Woman to help him steal enough to retire. In return, he promised her an antidote to save McDowell.

This led to a fight against Spider-Man (Peter Parker) aboard a jetliner. Drew eventually had no choice but to help arrest the Enforcer. Delazny happily admitted that no antidote existed as he went to jail.

On yer bikes, lads

In 1981, the Enforcer was hired to sabotage a stunt cycling face-off between Johnny Blaze and Flagg Fargo. His client was a gambler.

The Enforcer couldn’t intimidate Fargo into throwing the match, so he shot him during the exhibition. He also robbed the income from the tickets.

The Enforcer then drove away. But the Ghost Rider caught up with him, and forced a game of chicken the Enforcer couldn’t win. He was forced off a cliffside road, but survived the crash.

Locksmith

In 1983, the Enforcer was seen among the many incarcerated by Locksmith. To keep him under control, he was dosed with paranoia-inducing drugs.

Spider-Woman and Tigra later led a jailbreak. The Enforcer was presumably picked from his cell by the police.

Twilight of the Enforcer

Over the years, Delazny had grown close to a younger man named Mike Nero. He was apparently his only friend.

Nero called his mentor “uncle Charlie”, though Delazny couldn’t have been his literal uncle.

Knowing that he would get killed sooner or later, Delazny passed on his knowledge to Nero. That included where to find caches of Enforcer equipment.

Apparently, Nero was particularly interested in the supernatural. He thus paid extra attention to what his “uncle” had learned from the Committee some years before.

Death of the Enforcer

In 1985, the Enforcer was hired by Obadiah Stane (via Madame Masque) to murder Termite (Neil Donaldson).

However, Delazny was assassinated by a Scourge of the Underworld before he could reach his target.

Mike Nero would eventually succeed his “uncle”, though he wasn’t seen until 2009.

Description

A first version of the costume was only seen in 1977.

Personality

In 1977, the Enforcer was a ruthless and cinema-obsessed college kid.

He was willing to do anything and hurt anyone to gain wealth and power, which remains the best predictor of success.

He understood the importance of theatrics and intimidation.

Murder, Incorporated

By 1979 he had become a professional assassin. The previous characterisation has vanished into the ineffable aether.

One gets the impression that the Enforcer had been humiliated by his own fear while fighting the Ghost Rider. He thus may have taken the decision to specialise in supernatural and abnormal situations to conquer his fear and affirm his strength.

Vagaries

Characterisation after that was erratic.

Sometimes he was a tough, cruel hitman with a tendency to gloat.

Sometimes he was a goofball-ish, but still cruel, thief making dad jokes and puns. This later behaviour was even lampshaded as drawing from Batman ’66 episodes.

The one consistent trait is that he’s a pig. And a bully, a user and a bigot. OK, the four consistent traits are…

DC Universe Adaptation

(This section proposes ways of using this character in DC Universe stories).

I love the DC Implosion  era, so a DC Universe Enforcer would have fought, hmmm, Deadman then Vixen ?

His earliest look was also reminiscent of DC’s Manhunters. So there might be ties with Paul Kirk or Mark Shaw.

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