Lengthening Man

In part, the idea of ​​creating the Lengthening Man belongs to DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, who needed a minor character to publish Flash stories. Despite the statement by contourist Murphy Andersen ^[2] and artist Carmine Infantino ^[3] that Schwartz never recognizes any connection with the history of Plastic Exchange, most readers believe that if he knew that DC owns the rights to Plastic Exchange (data rights were acquired in 1956 along with other Quality Comics rights), then he would never have chosen the name “Extending Person” as the name for his own character. ^[4] Subsequently, appearing in Flash stories, the character earns a fortune in show business, marries Sue Dirbon and reveals his identity.

Due to the character’s increased popularity, The Lengthening Man gets his own series of additional stories for the Detective Comics editions, where he is a detective who, with his wife, travels around the United States in a gig in search of secrets and mysteries that he loves. At times, they traveled around the world, meeting other DC superheroes such as Batman , Green Lantern , Atom, and Zatanna . This story began to come out from case to case at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s. However, from 1973 to 1990, he was mainly seen as a member of the Justice League of America .

When Ralph Dibney was still a teenager, he was fascinated by acrobats or people with increased flexibility and plasticity of the body. He learned that all such people with whom he spoke drank a soda called Gingold. Then Ralph got down to business, learned to be a chemist and brought out a highly concentrated extract of jingo, a rare fruit from Yucatan, and this extract gave him plasticity. ^[1] His first appearance was marked by the fact that Flash suspects the Lengthening man of several robberies, but the Lengthening man helps to catch real criminals who confirmed that they used a helicopter to set him up.

Ralph Dibney was the very first DC comic book Silver Age superhero to reveal his identity to the public, and also one of the first to marry his love interest. After teaming up with superheroes like Batman, Green Lantern, Atom, and Zatanna from the Justice League, he became part of the team. In the end, his wife also followed him. The couple became known for their very happy, and most importantly, relatively safe marriage - an anomaly in the melodramatic history of comics. Character fans often referred to Ralph and Sue Dibney as “Nick and Nora Charles the Superheroes World” (a reference to the Thin Man film). The very novelty of The Lengthening Man's story was that, unlike superheroes, including Batman from the Detective Comics editions, he solved puzzles, giving the reader a chance to find a clue as well. He only used his superhuman capabilities and various equipment to chase and catch criminals, but he followed the laws of a genre more ancient than stories about superheroes: stories about secrets and solving crimes.

Identity Crisis

Ralph Dibney played a central role in the Identity Crisis storyline, in an arch whose events revolved around the effects in the DC Universe due to the death of Sue Dibney. The healthy, stable relationship between Ralph and Sue, as well as the events that led to Sue's death and the consequences of her murder, were used as key points throughout the storyline to uncover the relationship between the rest of the LSA and the OCA (and, to a lesser extent , associations of supervillains).

The effect that Sue died in Ralph’s arms (complemented by the fact that Sue was pregnant at the time of death) could have a significant effect on the character even after the completion of Identity Crisis events, and this influence reached its climax in the events of the finale of the weekly 52 series.

As members of the Super Buddies Friends Team, a breakaway Justice League, Ralph and Sue meet in the Formerly Known as the Justice League mini-series and the sequel, I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League ( Eng. “I Can't Believe It's Not a Justice League ” ), published in issues of JLA: Classified # 4-9. Both arches were published later than the Identity Crisis storyline, but their events take place before the events of this storyline. A recurring joke in the I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League arch is the possibility of Sue becoming pregnant.

52

In the 2006 weekly series, 52 , of grief-stricken Ralph, the Dibney was haunted by thoughts of suicide, but afterwards they informed him that Sue’s grave had been desecrated ^[5] and that the vandal had left an inverted symbol of Superman - the Kryptonian rebirth sign. He fights with Cassandra Sandsmark, ^[6] who tells him that he is a member of a cult that believes that the rebirth of Superboy can be carried out. She steals Ralph's engagement ring after cult members attempt to drown him. ^[7]

During the events of the 11th episode of the series, scaring and driving away cult members, Ralph receives a report that someone broke into a locker in Opal City and stole Sue's clothes. ^[8] During the events of issue 12, Ralph meets the Wonder Girl and she reveals to him that the stolen ring and clothes are needed to make the Sue doll. She invites him to the ceremony. ^[9]

At week 13 of series 52, Ralph goes to the ceremony. Metamorpho, Green Arrow, Zoriel and Hal Jordan go with him. Despite the original plan, Ralph’s friends interrupt the ceremony, but the sight of Sue crawling towards him and calling him causes Ralph a nervous breakdown. ^[10]

In the 18th week, other members of the Croaton society: Detective Shimp, Terry Thirteen, Edogawa Sangaku - find the corpse of Tim Trench with the helmet of Dr. Faith, Naboo. Ralph is coming / to investigate this matter and enlist the help of Tenepact, another Detective Shimp team. The voice from the helmet of Dr. Faith, which is not heard by the rest of the team, speaks to Dibney and promises him to fulfill any desire for certain victims. The spirit of Naboo guides him through the underworlds of various cultures to show the price of misusing magic ^[11]

During the events of Week 27, Spectrum promises to revive Sue if Dibney takes revenge on Gene Loring, but Dibney is not ready to go. ^[12]

In week 32, Dibney confronts the Yeti in Nanda Parbat. A Perfect Experienced Physicist comes to his aid. Both he and Yeti are members of the Big Ten, the defenders of China. In Nanda Parbat, Rama Kushna tells Ralph: "The end is already written." ^[13]

In Week 42, Ralph is in Faith’s tower, preparing to revive Cm./ He puts on Dr. Faith’s helmet and shoots him unexpectedly, revealing that Felix Faust has been wearing the helmet all this time, posing as Naboo’s spirit and wanting to exchange Dibny’s soul with Nero on your own freedom. Ralph reveals that he had known about Faust for some time, so the special field surrounding the tower was designed in such a way as to keep Faust almost in prison, without the ability to withstand the side effects of the field. Nero appears and kills Dibney, but, quite late, realizes that the field responds only to Dibney's voice commands: by sacrificing himself, Dibney lured Nero and Faust into a trap, apparently forever, although how he did it remains unknown. ^[14] It was later shown that his spirit was reunited with the spirit of his wife. ^[15] However, Nero (after all, he is the Devil) breaks through the field almost instantly.

At the end of week 52, it was shown that Dibney’s magical wish-fulfilling weapon (a souvenir from The Anselmo Case, a reference to The Life Story of the Flash ) worked - Ralph’s only desire was to reunite with his wife, which happened even after death - and that Ralph and Sue became ghost detectives investigating the paranormal. ^[one]

One Year Later

In Blue Beetle # 16, Tracey 13 mentioned that she was taken by Ralph and Sue after her mother died.

The 2007-2008 mini-series Dark Ages, as part of the Black Adam tales, shows that Ralph’s remains are still in Dr. Faith’s Tower when Tat Adam asks Faust if his plan worked to deceive Dibney. Dr. Faith uses Ralph’s skeleton to create the illusion that Tat Adam’s attempt to revive Isis failed.

In Batman and the Outsiders # 5, it is shown (after it seemed possible in the previous two issues) that Ralph and Sue possess, or have found that they possess, to inhabit other people's bodies, like Boston Brand, also known as Deadman.

Reign in Hell

Ralph and Sue, being in the form of ghosts, appear to Doctor Occult to warn him of the war threatening Hell. They were sent by Giovanni Zatara, who is a member of the resistance of Hell and hopes to use this war to his advantage, asking him to help Zatar to carry out his plan. Then they dissolve in the air, leaving Doctor Occult to make a decision. ^[16]

Blackest Night

In Blackest Night # 0, Ralph and Sue’s graves are shown when they are scanned by the Black Hand. At the end of the issue (in the traditional Black Lantern style), his hand, easily recognizable, protrudes from the grave. The corpses of Ralph and Sue are shown resurrected as Black Lanterns when they attack the Hawkman and the Eagle; Ralph beats a hawk man with his own mace before ripping out his heart. ^[17] They can then be seen in Gotham City along with the Black Lanterns, the Martian Hunter, the Hawk Man, the Eagle and the Fire Storm, who are preparing to kill the Green Lantern and Flash. ^[18] He and Sue are both turned to ashes when the Indigo Tribe destroys their rings. ^[19] In the final battle, Flash looks around to find out if Ralph and Sue were resurrected by White Energy, but they learn from the Green Lantern that this did not happen. ^[twenty]

An elongated person gains his strength by drinking an advanced soft drink called Gingold, which contains an extract of (fictional) jingo fruit that interacts with Ralph's latent methuman physiology. More precisely, the extract interacts with the metagen that Ralph has, and gives him superpowers. Invasion # 3 proved that Ralph has this metagen because an ordinary person could not get the strength to stretch by consuming Gingold without the presence of metagen, which means that Ralph is a meta-person. Moreover, the average person is allergic to the highly concentrated Gingold drink. The only hero other than Ralph using the drink is Stretch, a member of the Hero Hotline , who has been using the composition since the 1940s.

As its name implies, an Elongating person can stretch his body to a size not subject to man. Elongation forces give the Lengthening person increased flexibility and coordination, reaching limits inaccessible to the human body. He can deform his body in a way that no one can do, for example, by becoming flat or lengthening his fingers to open locks on the other side. He can also use this ability to disguise by changing the shape of his face, but this is usually very painful for him and requires a lot of effort. However, Ralph’s physiology has more limitations than Plastic-Physiology’s physiology: it can only stretch within its mass and cannot create holes in itself, while Plastic-Man has no such restrictions.

The ability of an Elongating Man also increases his stamina. As a rule, he is able to withstand the corrosive properties of substances, stabbing wounds and strokes do not cause him significant harm. It has been demonstrated that it is resistant to high speeds or explosions of energy weapons that would kill an ordinary person. Nevertheless, the physiology of Ralph is more like human than the physiology of Plastic-man, therefore, he does not possess almost complete invulnerability of the latter.

In addition to the ability to deform Ralph’s body, he is an excellent detective who has undergone special training and is highly skilled in deduction. Ralph is often regarded as one of the best detectives in the DC Universe (his abilities are second only to Batman, differing in the actual direction of logical reasoning). He is also a talented amateur chemist. As a superhuman side effect of his abilities, in addition to his detective skills, he has an enhanced sense of smell, allowing him to smell when something is wrong or a clue or secret at hand. This led to the fact that Ralph in a special way moves his nose. Firehawk once said that the Green Arrow said that such a nose movement is ostentatious, something invented for the press, to which the Lengthening man replied that the Green Arrow hat hides a bald head.

• The lengthening man appears in the comic book-continuation of the animated series Justice League Without Borders.
• The lengthening man appears in the third edition of the JLA / Avengers crossover, replacing Plastic Men after the merger of the Marvel and DC universes.
• In the Frank Miller DC series outside the canon, The Dark Knight Strikes Again ( Rus. “ The Dark Knight Strikes Again ” ), Dibney is mentioned as a visitor to a bar where he recalls the Silver Age of comics, but when he sees Batman, he changes his face and opens his mouth from of surprise. Dibney was later spotted selling a “human improver,” a drink called Gingold, through TV commercials. He was then hired to help Batman attack the US government (led by Lex Luthor). He maintains competition with Plastic Man, as well as friendships with Barry Allen and Oliver Queen.
• In Kingdom Come, Ralph is stretched all the time and cannot control it.
• Ralph Dibney without superpowers appears as a detective in the uncanonical Flashpoint series. He was hired by J'on J'onzz to study the firm of Vandal Savage, whose people are looking for a Martian artifact. J'onz refers to Dibney as "the Earth hunter" ( Eng. The Earth manhunter ). ^[21]
• Recently, Ralph Dibney from Earth-51, where superheroes no longer need secret identities, was seen in the Countdown to Final Crisis storyline. ^[22] He was subsequently killed by the New Earth Monitor, Bob. ^[23]

Archie Comics

In July 1966, he appears on the cover of the 127th edition of the Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica comic book series. He dances with Veronica and she calls him "Toffee" ( English Stretchman ).

Television

• In the CW television series, The Flash appears in episode 4 of season 4. He gained strength from a surge of dark matter during the exit of Barry Allen from Speedforce. The series is a failed private detective. Thanks to Caitlin Snow's serum, Ralph Dibney’s cells stabilize and he begins to control his abilities. Role played - Hartley Sawyer.

Movies

• The wicked version of The Extending Man (called the Extruding Man) is featured as a member of the Crime Syndicate of America in the animated feature film Justice League: The Crisis of Two Worlds. In the story, he is one of the Oulman people (and before that he was a member of the team of the deceased evil Martian Hunter) who are facing the Justice League. He was caught by Wally West, the third Flash, who quickly ran around him and tied the Extruding Man on poles and columns. After that, Flash jokingly checks to see if it is tight.
• В полнометражном анимационном фильме «Лига Справедливости: Парадокс Источника конфликта» в изменённой временной линии сообщается, что он погиб и был известен как Удлиняющийся ребёнок.

• Index to Ralph's Earth-1 solo adventures
• Dibny Dirt — A site devoted to Elongated Man.
• Ralph Dibny, the World-Famous Elongated man — Another site devoted to Elongated Man.
• Elongated Man's secret origin on dccomics.com
• The Elongated man at The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe .