Vandal Savage

Lore & Background

Vandal Savage first appeared during the Golden Age of Comic Books in Green Lantern #10 (December 1943), created by writer Alfred Bester and artist Martin Nodell. In that story, he has pointed, demonic ears and claims to be a million-year-old Cro-Magnon man who gained immortality from a special meteor. The tale ends when Green Lantern (Alan Scott) topples Savage into a seemingly bottomless pit. Four years later, in All Star Comics #37 (1947), he joined the original Injustice Society, a team of villains that battled the Justice Society of America—and specifically targeted Hawkman, who would become one of his most frequent foes.

During the Silver Age, DC rebooted its universe, creating Earth-One (home of Barry Allen's Flash and his contemporaries) and retroactively placing the Golden Age heroes and villains on Earth-Two. This made Savage an Earth-Two native. Sixteen years after his second appearance, Savage returned in The Flash #137 (June 1963), which established he was closer to 50,000 years old than 1 million, and revealed his original name: Vandar Adg. After that, he became a recurring enemy on both Earths, often battling the Flashes and Superman.

In Action Comics #515–516 (1981), it was shown that Savage could heal from any physical injury, even near disintegration: a meteorite seemingly reduces him to ash, but Superman concludes he will return. Action Comics #542 (1983) proves this correct, as Savage reforms from total destruction, his body knitting itself back together from nothing.

Reader's Guide

In his debut story, Vandal Savage manipulates the Green Lantern and his secret identity Alan Scott into helping his schemes, later revealing he knows they are the same person. Savage explains that he is 'one million years old' and was once a Cro-Magnon man who was the chief of his tribe. After being exposed to gases from a meteor, Savage is rendered comatose for months and awakens to discover that he has gained eternal youth. Savage does not reveal his original name to the Green Lantern, but claims that over the years he has lived under many identities, including an ancient king of Sumer, Cheops, Julius Caesar, and Genghis Khan.

When he realized he could still die from injury, he decided to no longer act as a public man of power and instead would serve as an advisor to powerful leaders including Napoleon Bonaparte, Otto von Bismarck, and Adolf Hitler; gaining resources and political influence while others could be the target for assassination. Now in the modern-day, he wishes to become a powerful figure in the government and war industry. In the end, he is defeated when Green Lantern opens a seemingly bottomless pit beneath him, causing him to fall out of sight.

Savage survives and is recruited into the original incarnation of the Injustice Society, a group dedicated to defeating the Justice Society of America. During this adventure, he targets and captures JSA member Hawkman. The Justice Society proves victorious, however, and Vandal Savage is imprisoned. After 16 years of prison, Vandal Savage escapes and lures the Justice Society members out of retirement, capturing them.

He accidentally attracts the attention of Barry Allen, who aids the older heroes against the villain. As a result, the Justice Society decides to return to semi-active duty. Savage is now said to be 50,000 years old rather than one million, and his original name is revealed to be Vandar Adg. The meteor that mutated him did so through radiation rather than exotic gases, and that it did not actually explode but warped through space and time.

A later story reveals that a fragment of the same radioactive meteor is recovered by a caveman named Klarn, an enemy of Vandar Adg, who then makes it into an amulet. With this amulet, Klarn gains a unique reincarnation ability; every time he is killed or dies, he quickly reappears elsewhere on Earth in a new body, with his memories of all past lives intact. Savage alters the history of Earth-One so that he has been its ruler for centuries, with Superman serving as his trusted enforcer.

Realizing Savage is a cruel leader who censors news media so only good things are said about his rule, Superman joins the rebellion against the villain and then restores the original history. Traveling back in time to when he first gained his power, Savage is seemingly destroyed by the radiation of the meteor that made him immortal. Later, his body rebuilds itself from the ash, either due to his healing always being this powerful or because the meteor's radiation temporarily enhanced his immortal abilities.

Did You Know?

• The meteor that made Savage immortal also enhanced his intelligence and altered his body, explaining why he resembles modern Homo sapiens despite being Cro-Magnon.
• Savage has claimed to have lived as ancient king of Sumer and Genghis Khan, though the alias 'Cheops' is more commonly associated with Hawkman's reincarnations in DC canon.
• In the Young Justice animated series, Savage is the secret founder of the Light and is the father of the immortal warlord Vandal Savage Jr. (though this is non-canon to the comics).