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Multiplex is a Firestorm villain who can create multiple copies of himself.

Origin

Doctor Danton Black was Professor Martin Stein's assistant during the development of the experimental Hudson Nuclear Power Plant. Shortly before the plant opened, Stein caught Danton stealing plant designs and fired him, but did not turn him in. To cover his tracks, Danton went to the authorities and concocted a story that Stein had stolen the plans for the plant from him.

Firestorm

The Nuclear Regulations Council decided to postpone the plant's opening while they investigated Danton's accusations. Stein, fearing that the delay would cause enough public concern to prevent the plant from ever opening, decided to turn the plant on to demonstrate that his theories were sound. His test, however, was sabotaged by ecoterrorists who placed a bomb in the facility. The resulting explosion caused the merger of Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond into Firestorm. Ronnie and Stein weren't the only ones present at the plant, though. Danton Black sneaked into the plant in hopes of finding more evidence to use to frame Stein and was caught in the explosion.

Multiplex 001

Multiplex's original costume.

Multiplex was Firestorm's first super-powered enemy. He was primarily motivated by money, power and revenge. Multiplex was involved in the plot to kidnap Lorraine Reilly and perform experiments on her, which led to her becoming Firehawk. He also engineered an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate Firestorm by recruiting a handful of villains for the task.

Multiplex later joined the Suicide Squad, performing dangerous missions for the government in exchange for pardons for his crimes. The Squad was called upon to stop Firestorm, who threatened to dismantle the world's nuclear arms. During the confrontation, Parasite was mistakenly released. Parasite went on a rampage and appeared to have killed Multiplex by draining him first of his powers and then of his life.

As it turns out, though, stories of Danton's death were greatly exaggerated.

Years later, when Killer Frost discovered that Ronnie Raymond was inside of the new Firestorm, she contacted Firestorm's old foe, Cliff Carmichael, who quickly assembled a small team of villains to get their revenge on Firestorm. Multiplex was all too happy to join this team.

Suicide Squad

He was seen as a member of the most recent Secret Society of Super Villains team when Black Adam threatened to kill him if he didn't.

Multiplex was mentioned as being deceased by Felix Faust, then was seen posing as Deadman in order to get the Red Tornado to claim the body of a brain-dead duplicate. Given Faust's ulterior motives, the claim of Multiplex's death is suspect.

Amanda Waller confirms that the Multiplex on the Squad is Danton Black. His duplicates serve her as office employees until she gets staffed.

Powers

  • Nuclear Physiology: His powers are a mix of nuclear fission and mass duplication. Early in his career, he was forced to find an energy source to boost his powers. Later, he discovered his own energy source so he could, in theory, create unlimited duploids.
    • Bio-Fission: While Ronnie and Stein gained the power to fuse together, Danton gained the power to fission apart into multiple copies of himself, which he called his duploids. The duploids, which shared his thoughts and identity, were sometimes carbon copies of himself but he could also create smaller duploids.
    • Enhanced Strength
    • Enhanced Durability
    • Flight


  • Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.

Related

Footnotes


Deathstorm (New Earth)
Firestorm Villain(s)
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This character, team or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of Firestorm and any of his supporting cast or members of the Firestorm Matrix. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Firestorm Villains category."

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Suicide Squad member
This character is or was a member of the Suicide Squad, a team of imprisoned super-villains who perform high-risk missions for the U.S. Government in exchange for commuted sentences, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Suicide Squad members" category.

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Secret Society of Super-Villains member
This character is or was a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, a cadre of super-villains who band together to accomplish feats no one super-villain can do alone, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Secret Society of Super-Villains members" category.

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