3-D who? Marvel Comics’ 3-D Man is 40 years old!

A former sportsman, Delroy was bonded with the stolen powers of 3-D man and became Triathlon.

Some characters are destined for greatness. Others... not so much, and the 3-D Man certainly fits this bill!

3-D WHO? That was the same reaction I got from my editor when I suggested we “celebrate” his... 40th anniversary this year!

For the sake of comparison, Squirrel Girl has only been around for 25 years only (!) and she has already defeated Dr Doom and Thanos! The 3-D Man though ... well, unless you have read Marvel Premiere #35-37, Incredible Hulk (vol.1) #251 and #252 or Avengers (vol.3) #50 and #55, you would probably never have heard of him.

For a 40-year-old character with a shelf presence of less than 10 comic book appearances, the 3-D Man has either got to be the saddest or lamest character ever. He also happened to be one of my favourite characters when I was in primary school, and I even planned to submit a script to Marvel aimed at lifting him to A-grade status (which I believe would have ended up in the shredder in record time).

Hey 3-D Man, you dont look very 3D on this page, do you?

Anyway, in light of how supportive today’s cinematic universe is to B- and C-grade characters (think Guardians of the Galaxy!), I am rooting for a 3-D Man revival ...which is a perfect excuse to have a 3D cinema experience. They could even make customised 3D glasses for a true 3D 3-D Man silver screen experience ... come on, Marvel, can’t you hear the “KACHING!” at the box office already?

3-D Homage

Created by Roy Thomas in 1977 in the pages of Marvel Premiere #35, the 3-D Man was a homage to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Captain 3-D. However, unlike Simon and Kirby’s labour of love, which was solely dedicated towards milking the (then waning) 3D fad, Thomas’ creation wasn’t entirely true to label.

Set in the late 50s, the 3-D Man was the merger of two brothers – Chuck and Hal Chandler, after a confrontation with a group of Skrulls. Chuck was a NASA test pilot in charge of piloting the experimental XF-13 rocket plane. During a test-flight, both Chuck and the plane were hijacked and brought on board a Skrull saucer. Though Chuck managed to escape, destroying the saucer in the process, the incident exposed him to a certain amount of radiation. Upon crash landing in the Mojave Desert, where his younger, physically-disabled brother Hal awaited, Chuck disappeared in a flash of light... only for it to be revealed that his “image-essence” had been “captured” as two separate imprints – one red and the other green – onto Hal’s spectacles!

Thus, Chuck was transformed into a two-dimensional being and can only be “released” whenever Hal wore the spectacles and triggers a dimensional shift that causes Chuck to reappear as the ... (drum-roll please)... 3-D Man!

On the other hand, Hal would be left in a comatose state for three hours, or until Chuck returns to his spectacles. If you find this “body-swapping” exercise lame, hey, Captain Marvel and Rick Jones pulled something like that in the 70s as well!

Power of three

So, what powers does he have? For one, he has three times the strength, the speed and stamina of a normal man, but can only stay outside Hal’s glasses for three hours. This makes him a liability for long missions, which (surprisingly) never happened throughout his four decades worth of adventures.

Those glasses will come in useful when youre watching Avengers: Infinity War in 3D, 3-D Man.

Aided by the Chandler brothers, Triathlon acted as a Skrull sniffer during Secret Invasion.

Secret Invasion

If there is one notable achievement by the 3-D Man, it’ll have to be his connections to the Skrulls. Way before the mega Secret Invasion event (2008), and even before the Fantastic Four first fought the Skrulls in 1961, the 3-D Man was the first mainstream hero to have faced and thwarted the shape-shifting aliens, in 1958! His origins also allow him to see Skrulls in their true form no matter what form they take (which came in handy during Secret Invasion).

Avengers in 3-D

Apart from fighting Skrulls, the 3-D Man actually got into the main Avengers team, albeit in a What If (Vol.1 #9) and Avengers Forever (#4 and #5) stories. Together with Gorilla-Man, Human Robot, Marvel Boy and Venus, they were the “original pre-Kirby/Lee’s” Earth Mightiest Heroes. If you were to compare it to the regular Avengers roll-call, 3-D Man’s role was actually akin to that of Captain America, and was even acknowledged by Cap himself!

Believe it or not, 3-D Man was actually part of the Avengers once.

3-D Man takes on the Hulk. Not a very fair fight, is it?

Hulk out!

After the Skrulls and the off-beat Avengers tale, the 3-D Man took a two decade-long sabbatical with Hal settling down with Chuck’s girlfriend, Peggy. With Chuck presumably in 2-D limbo, Hal has got the “perfect” family life sorted ... that is, until the 1980 story Whatever Happened To The 3-D Man (Incredible Hulk (vol.1) #251 and #252), in which a dishevelled Bruce Banner turns up on his lawn.

Recognising Bruce’s alter-ego, Hal still welcomes him into his home, but with the ulterior motive of turning him over to the Feds. When his plans turn awry, Hal has to call back the cavalry – his brother Chuck and the 3-D Man!

3-D Man is the result of a merger of two brothers, Chuck and Hal Chandler.

Obviously the combined might of just three men is useless against the Green Goliath, and the 3-D Man is swatted aside and Hal’s long-kept secret about his and his brother’s secret identity is exposed! Fortunately, this was the 80s, where stories were wrapped up swiftly. Long story short, everything turned out dandy for everyone ... except for 3-D Man, who went on another decade-long hiatus, before reappearing in the Avengers.

The new 3-D Man, Delroy Garrett, Jr, formerly known as Triathlon.

Avenger Re-Assembled

The 3-D Man did officially join the “real” Avengers, albeit in a different guise as Triathlon (Avengers, Vol. 3 #8, 1998) – a disgrace former Olympian named Delroy Garrett who also belong to the Triune Understanding foundation/cult.

It took more than three years (Avengers, Vol. 3 #50) for the Powers-That-Be to reveal Triathlon’s links to the 3-D Man, and reveal that the latter’s powers originated from three pyramid-shaped “fragments of light”, which were created by the universe itself to counterbalance the emergence of an other-dimensional fragment of pure evil into Earth’s dimension (!).

While this revelation added depth and dimension to the 3-D Man’s back-story, the excitement was short-lived, as we found out that the lead antagonist – Jonathan Tremont (founder of the Triune) – was merely a B-grade villain who was siphoning the original 3-D Man’s powers for his own schemes!

Apparently, Tremont kidnapped Hal and transferred his 3-D Man powers to pump up Triathlon, who was then planted in the Avengers. Eventually, Tremont’s ruse is exposed and the Triathlon (and Avengers) defeats him – restoring Hal and Chuck to their physical forms in the process!

This incident also meant the end of the Hal-Chuck merger as the 3-D Man, with Triathlon taking over after the brothers gifted him with their old costume. He even played an instrumental role during Secret Invasion as a Skrull-sniffer, courtesy of his ability to identify Skrulls.

It has been almost 10 years since Secret Invasion, and sadly, there have been no signs of a 3-D Man revival anytime soon. I wonder if the Guardians of the Galaxy are looking to recruit a Skrull-sniffing, moderately strong superhero anytime soon ...