Malcolm "Mal" Duncan was an ally of the Teen Titans and later became a superhero himself. He started out as Guardian, then became Herald and Hornblower (using the Gabriel Horn). He became Vox of the Doom Patrol after the Horn exploded in his face.
History
Origin
Mal Duncan saves the Teen Titans from a street gang called the Hell Hawks by beating their leader in a boxing match.[1] Recruited by the Teen Titans, Mal feels unworthy due to his lack of abilities, and stows away on a rocket flight, which nearly costs him his life. After a time, Mal discovers a strength-enhancing exoskeleton, and the costume of the Guardian. Using these, he becomes the second Guardian.[2]
After assuming the Guardian mantle, Mal fights Azrael—The Angel of Death. Believing it to be a hallucination, Mal is surprised to awaken with the mystical Gabriel's Horn.[3] Having defeated Azrael, Mal is permitted to live, provided he never loses another fight. The horn grants Mal unspecified powers, whenever the odds are against him in battle. Armed with the horn, Mal assumes the name Hornblower.
Mal soon returns to his Guardian identity, claiming that too many people knew he was Hornblower. In truth, the Horn had been stolen. He marries Karen Beecher (Bumblebee), before moving to California. He is an accomplished jazz musician and owns a nightclub named "Gabriel's Horn".
Post-Crisis
Main article: Crisis on Infinite Earths
Mal's uncostumed adventures are unchanged. However, he never took the identity of Guardian, and the Gabriel's Horn is given a very different origin. While the other Titans are on a mission, Mal inadvertently releases an old villain, the Gargoyle (formerly Mr. Twister), from Limbo. He recaptures the villain, but finds the plans for a high-tech horn that would create spatial warps. With the help of Karen, he builds the horn and takes the identity of Herald. After Mal learns that the horn weakens the boundaries between the mortal world and Limbo, he destroys it. He and Karen retire from super heroics, and move to California.
Mal later acquired a new Gabriel's Horn, and briefly joined the short-lived Titans L.A..
When Doctor Light captures Green Arrow and demands to see the Titans, Mal rejoins the team for the last time. He then joins Troia to find out what is going on in space.
52
Main article: 52
Four weeks after disappearing in space, Mal is rescued from a Zeta Beam transport accident. His lungs and vocal cords were damaged after the Gabriel Horn blew up in his face. Mal's body rejected the cybernetic grafting of parts from the Red Tornado until Steel used his Pseudocyte technology to permanently graft the parts into Mal's body.
One Year Later
Main article: One Year Later
A year after, Mal has joined the Doom Patrol alongside his wife Bumblebee. Now going by the codename Vox, Mal speaks with a synthesized voice box which can create sonic blasts and open dimensional portals similar to the Gabriel Horn.
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
- Driving [citation needed]
- Music: Malcolm is an accomplished musician who owns his own nightclub.
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)
- Boxing: Trained from an early age and shows his skills when he beats the Hell Hawks leader in a boxing match.[1]
- Martial Arts: He is trained in various fighting styles. [citation needed]
Weaknesses
- Curse: Pre-Crisis, Mal Duncan was afflicted by a curse placed on him by the angel Azrael in exchange for the supernatural Gabriel's Horn that made it so that if he ever lost a fight, he would die.[3] Even when he stopped using the horn and continued being a hero under the Guardian identity, he still was afflicted by the curse.[4] Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Mal's meeting Azrael and gaining a supernatural horn was removed from history, thus removing the curse from Mal's history.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Gabriel Horn: Generates multi-dimensional portals, and sonic blasts.
Related
- 97 Appearances of Malcolm Duncan (New Earth)
- 20 Images featuring Malcolm Duncan (New Earth)
- 2 Quotations by or about Malcolm Duncan (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Malcolm Duncan (New Earth)
Footnotes
  This character is or was primarily a member of the younger superhero team known as the Teen Titans, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Teen Titans members" category. |
 Doom Patrol member |
 This character is or was a member of the Titans West in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Titans West members" category. |