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Wesley Dodds was an American vigilante known as the Sandman during World War II.
History
Origins
As a boy, Wesley Dodds was traumatized by his father's stories of the Great War, particularly the stories of enemy gas attacks on the trenches. When he grew up, Wesley became a chemist, seeking to create a weapon that could stop the enemy without hurting them. After many failures, Wesley created a powerful sleep gas, but when he presented it to the armed forces, he was ridiculed by the top brass, who preferred to simply kill enemy troops rather than spend money to keep them prisoner. Determined to prove his creation was useful, Wesley created the costumed persona of the Sandman and set out to fight crime, leaving Gotham's various criminal leaders sleeping among the evidence of their crimes.
Justice Society of America
Dodds was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, the superhero team he had seen in dreams. On November 22nd, 1940, he was present for their inaugural meeting[1] and encounter with the time-traveling future JSA member the Huntress,[2] and on April 2nd of the following year, was featured with the JSA in a news broadcast on their wartime activities at home in the United States of America.[3] Dodds and the Justice Society were drawn forward in time themselves to fight alongside the team's future incarnations and put down a plot against them by Nazi time-traveler Per Degaton, before returning to their own era.[4]
Justice/Doom War
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By 1943, Dodds and his fellow superheroes had entered the war, fighting alongside conventional forces on the front lines.[5] In Austria, he and the JSA fought to prevent their foes the Injustice Society from establishing a new base of operations, with the Sandman pairing off against the Gambler and, between his gas and fists, putting him to sleep.[6]
Dodds' new costume
He later took on a young sidekick, Sandy the Golden Boy, and adopted a colorful yellow-and-purple costume. With Sandy, he joined the Losers, Bazooka Boys, and Blue Beetle on a mission to liberate Nanda Parbat, Tibet from General Electric on behalf of the United States Government. They were joined en route by the time-traveling Forager and a group of Abominable Snowmen, and while the rest of the group assaulted Nanda Parbat's main entrance, Dodds had Sandy keep an eye on Forager as he sought an alternate path inside. The Sandman and his allies fought their way through the general's robot forces, only to have their memories of Nanda Parbat erased by its guardian Rama Kushna, who then teleported both occupiers and liberators away from her village.[7]
Death, legacy, and undeath
After his death, Dodds was entombed with other heroes in an underground crypt of Valhalla Cemetery.[8] His one-time sidekick would eventually become a member of the JSA in his own right, taking on his mentor's mantle.[9] Although Dodds and the Justice Society were at one point erased from the timeline,[3] their place in history was ultimately restored.[9] Dodds was among those deceased heroes revived via Black Lantern Ring to fight the forces of the One Who Laughs by Batman,[10] who would later employ the Sandman's gas himself.[11]
The Sandman wakes
Dodds was resurrected once again by Deadman, via Lazarus Resin collected by Batman, to oppose the dream-controlling entity Insomnia and keep him from obtaining the Nightmare Stone.[12]
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Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Oneiromancy: Wesley had prophetic dreams of the future.[13]
Abilities
Other Characteristics
- PTSD: Wesley developed posttraumatic stress from his veteran father's stories of World War I.[13]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- WWI Gas Mask
Weapons
Notes
- Wesley Dodds/The Sandman was created by Gardner Fox and Bert Christman, first appearing in Adventure Comics #40. However, Wesley Dodds/The Sandman first appeared as part of Prime Earth continuity in Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 by Lee Allred and Michael Allred.
Related
- 59 Appearances of Wesley Dodds (Prime Earth)
- 40 Images featuring Wesley Dodds (Prime Earth)
- 6 Quotations by or about Wesley Dodds (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Wesley Dodds (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
- ↑ The New Golden Age #1
- ↑ Justice Society of America (Volume 4) #2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Doomsday Clock #8
- ↑ Justice Society of America (Volume 4) #5
- ↑ Dark Nights: Death Metal #7
- ↑ Hawkman (Volume 5) #27
- ↑ Bug! The Adventures of Forager #2
- ↑ Dark Nights: Death Metal #2
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Doomsday Clock #12
- ↑ Dark Nights: Death Metal #5
- ↑ Superman: Kal-El Returns Special #1
- ↑ Knight Terrors #1
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #1
  Justice Society of America member |
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