General Wade Eiling, sometimes known as The General, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
| General Wade Eiling | |
|---|---|
 General Wade Eiling as depicted in Who's Who Update '88 #4 (January 1995). Art by Pat Broderick. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Captain Atom #1 (March 1987) |
| Created by | Cary Bates Pat Broderick |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Wade Eiling |
| Team affiliations | Suicide Squad The Society Injustice Gang United States Army |
| Notable aliases | The General Shaggy Man |
| Abilities |
|
Publication history
editWade Eiling first appeared in Captain Atom #1 (March 1987) and was created by Cary Bates and Pat Broderick.[1]
Fictional character biography
editWade Eiling is a military tactician who blackmails the accused Nathaniel Adam into participating in the atomic experiment that turns Nathaniel into the nuclear being Captain Atom, and causes Adam to disappear for 18 years.[1]
During Adam's disappearance, Eiling marries Adam's wife and raises his two children.[1] Following Adam's return, Eiling manipulates him into serving the military.
Eiling is later diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, recovers the body of the first Shaggy Man, and transfers his brain into it to save himself. Eiling battles the Justice League before they transport him to the asteroid 433 Eros.[1][2][3][4]
Eiling is later rescued and joins Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang. He attempts to destroy the Earth before Orion and his dog Sturmer stop him.[5]
Having somehow escaped, he has since appeared in the JSA comics fighting Hal Jordan. In Infinite Crisis, General joins Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Secret Society of Super-Villains.[1][6][7]
Eiling later joins the Suicide Squad. After he betrays the team to their intended target, but Rick Flag detonates a bomb implanted in his head. His head regenerates, but he is rendered amnesiac.[8]
General continues to serve as a Squad member through the "Salvation Run" storyline. This is the name for a program that exiles supervillains to a distant, Earth-like planet without a trial.[9] Eiling is reintroduced in The New 52 continuity reboot, where he uses Captain Atom as a weapon.[10][11]
Powers and abilities
editGeneral Wade Eiling specializes in military warfare.[12] In a shaved body of Shaggy Man that he dubs the General, Eiling has enough raw strength to engage multiple Justice League members in close combat, including powerhouses such as Steel, Orion, Martian Manhunter, and Superman.
After becoming the General by transferring his mind into the body of the first Shaggy Man, he can rapidly regrow lost limbs.[13] He is also immune to extreme temperatures, high pressures, and the vacuum of space, is functionally immortal, and does not require food, water, or sleep to survive.[14]
Other versions
editThe General appears in JLA/Avengers #4 as a brainwashed minion of Krona.[15]
In other media
editTelevision
edit- General Wade Eiling appears in Justice League Unlimited, voiced by J. K. Simmons.[16][17] This version is an Air Force General and member of Project Cadmus who regards metahumans as a threat to humanity. Following Cadmus' disbandment, he is relegated to a "pencil pusher". Upon learning that his former superior Amanda Waller no longer considers the Justice League a threat, Eiling injects himself with Captain Nazi's super-soldier serum and transforms into a monster.[18] He battles the Justice League before being convinced to surrender, but vows to return if the League becomes a threat.
- General Wade Eiling appears in Young Justice, voiced by Jeff Bennett.[16]
- General Wade Eiling appears in The Flash, portrayed by Clancy Brown.[17][19] This version is a U.S. Army major general who worked with S.T.A.R. Labs five years prior to the series to develop a means of creating psychic interrogators until Harrison Wells learned he was abusing the program's test subject Grodd and broke ties with him.
Video games
editGeneral Wade Eiling as the General appears in the Nintendo DS version of Justice League Heroes.
Miscellaneous
edit- General Wade Eiling as the General appears in issue #5 of the Justice League Unlimited spin-off comic book.
- General Wade Eiling appears in the Young Justice tie-in comic.
Reception and analysis
editThe Slings & Arrows Comic Guide found that in the character of General Wade Eiling the comic had created "an appalling specimen of military pigheadedness who can justify every iniquitous piece of behaviour under the blanket of national security".[20] The Supervillain Book summed up Eiling's character as an "immoral soldier".[21]
According to George A. Gonzalez, the Justice League Unlimited incarnation of Eiling represents the negative side of "aggressive military policies of the 2000s" by the US government, like "wanton violence" and "fixation on 'power' (i.e. military force)". Through his deliberate transformation into "a huge, hideous, grayish monster with superpowers", Eiling "embodies the ugliness of militarism".[18] Eiling also serves as an example of the development of comics over the decades: While in the 1940s and 50s comic heroes were "unabashed patriots", in the figure of General Eiling from the 2000s they fight against a representative of a misunderstood patriotism that values the reputation of the nation-state higher than the lives of any number of civilians.[18]
Markus Engelns gives a different characterization of Eiling based on the World War III comic arcs, in a later stage in the character's development: Eiling no longer has his function as a general, and has lost any discernable motive beyond fighting, which emphasizes his dangerous nature even more.[22]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Jimenez, Phil (2008), "General, The", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 135, ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1, OCLC 213309017
- ^ JLA #24. DC Comics.
- ^ Lloyd, John (May 2020). Exploring the Dynamics of Relationships and Emotional Processes of Comic Book Characters for Potential Implications in Family Therapy: A Content Analysis Approach (PhD). p. 81. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
- ^ JLA #26. DC Comics.
- ^ JLA Vol. 6: World War III (collects JLA #34-41, 2000, ISBN 1-56389-618-4). DC Comics.
- ^ Infinite Crisis #3. DC Comics.
- ^ Infinite Crisis #7. DC Comics.
- ^ Suicide Squad (vol. 3) #8. DC Comics.
- ^ Salvation Run #1. DC Comics.
- ^ Captain Atom (vol. 2) #3. DC Comics.
- ^ Captain Atom (vol. 2) #4. DC Comics.
- ^ JLA #24 (December 1998). DC Comics.
- ^ JLA #39 (March 2000). DC Comics.
- ^ JLA #26 (February 1999). DC Comics.
- ^ JLA/Avengers #4. DC Comics/Marvel Comics.
- ^ a b "Wade Eiling Voices (DC Universe)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved May 19, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
- ^ a b Ng, Philiana (August 8, 2014). "Clancy Brown has joined The CW's "Arrow" spin-off as a powerful comic-book character". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
- ^ a b c Gonzalez, George A (2016). "Justice League Unlimited and the Politics of Globalization" (PDF). Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction. 45 (123): 5–13.
- ^ Egan, James (2016). "The Flash 2014". 1000 Facts About TV Shows Vol. 1. Lulu Publishing Services. ISBN 9781326660536.
- ^ Plowright, Frank, ed. (2003). The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide. Slings & Arrows. p. 108. ISBN 978-0954458904.
- ^ Misiroglu, Gina Renée; Eury, Michael, eds. (2006). The Supervillain Book: The Evil Side of Comics and Hollywood. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1578591787.
- ^ Engelns, Markus (2009-09-07). "Der Dritte Weltkrieg als Reifeprüfung" (PDF). Medien Observationen. Retrieved 2020-12-14.