Robert Dickering (New Earth)

History

Bob Dickering was an army doctor during the American Civil War. However, when he saved the life of a blinded enemy soldier, he was captured, accused of being a spy, and hanged.

Before death, he was approached by a figure who identified itself as the Devil and offered him a job: return to the living world and track down evil men, killing those who would not repent. The Devil had his reasons. Bob Dickering agreed and returned to the world. From then on, he was the Hangman during the hours of night, and Dr. Bob Dickering during the day.

The Hangman once teamed up with the Sandman, and on another occasion, Green Lantern. Dickering was based in San Francisco, fighting the forces of the criminal underworld.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Hangman Transformation: During the night, Robert Dickering's human body is infused with dark energy and becomes the Hangman, a masked avenger.
  • Hangman's Noose: He has the ability to summon ropes out of his arms to hang criminals with. Those who are hanged and survive receive scarring around the neck by which he can find them again.
  • Fear Projection: He has the power to make frightening images appear around him.
  • Darkness Projection: He can summon darkness to kill people or preform other tasks.
  • Immortality: Robert Dickering has not aged a day since 1864. Neither has he had any illness for longer than a day, or needed to wash - at the beginning of every day, Dickering is returned to his normal self.
  • Teleportation

Abilities

• Medical Training: Robert Dickering has been a doctor for over 150 years. During that time he has kept abreast with emergency room methods.

Weaknesses

• Vulnerability to Sunlight: Robert Dickering feels intense pain at sunrise and sunset, when he gains and loses his powers. If he is fighting a foe at those times, he must teleport away, or he will most likely be killed.
  

Notes

• The Hangman is based on the MLJ Comics character of the same name. He first appeared in Pep Comics #17, created by Cliff Campbell and George Storm. However, in this version of the story, the Hangman was a normal human vigilante, driven to fight the criminals who had killed his brother John (the Comet). No connection has been made with the Red Circle character Comet. The Hangman's reworked origin is similar to that of another MLJ hero, Madame Satan.

Related

• 20 Appearances of Robert Dickering (New Earth)
• 6 Images featuring Robert Dickering (New Earth)
• 1 Quotations by or about Robert Dickering (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Robert Dickering (New Earth)

Footnotes

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