Malcolm Duncan, or Mal to his friends aided the Teen Titans when they were attacked by a Street Gang of Youngsters calling themselves The HELL HAWKS. The Teen Titans at the time were NOT wearing their usual uniforms, as they were trying to fight crime without the trappings and use of their powers ( Strange story that came out of the Titans failing to save the Guy who Lilith had warned them about ...... See Lilith's story a few weeks back)
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| MAL DUNCAN the New Teen Titan |
Anyway, the Titans were amazed by Mal's courage taking on the Gang leader, and decided that their Team could use a man of his abilities. Mal became a Titan, but felt that as he was not a Super Hero, he really did not meet the Teen Titans measure. ( By this time the Titans had gone all Super Powers and Costumes again......... As the Grey unpowered Super Teens did not go down well with the readers, and the Falling sales did not go down too well with the guys at DC either ! )
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| ORANGE is Mal's Colour of choice |
However, when the Titans were all but defeated by Dr Light, ( who had tracked them down to their secret Head Quarters ) Mal used a combination of items that were held in the Titans Trophy room, ie The Uniform and Shield of the Guardian ( a hero from the 1940's) and a Strength enhancing Exoskeleton. The combination of the items gave Mal the ability to help defeat Dr Light.
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| MAL the New Guardian |
He took the name Guardian and enjoyed the identify for a short time. However, Mal still felt that his place on the Titans was only due to the costume he now wore, and the Power it Gave him.
Shortly after becoming The Guardian, Mal obtains an ancient mystic Horn belonging to the Angel Gabriel. This horn would give Mal power to defeat any foe in battle. BUT if Mal was to be defeated, it would cost him his life. ( Another Crazy plot line, that came and went VERY QUICKLY ! ) But for a while Mal shed his Guardian identify and uniform, and became HORNBLOWER.
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| Same old Mal, but now with added HORN ! |
However, The Hornblower was not a big hit with the Readers of The Teen Titans, and even after running a competition to give Mal a New Look as The Hornblower, shortly after Mal would give up this crazy identity and power.
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| The winning New Costume Design for Mal...... NOT A GOOD LOOK ! |
Soon Mal would return to the Guardian identify, after he explains that everyone knew who he was as Hornblower, and that the Guardian identity fitted his needs better. What Mal did not tell his Team Mates was the real reason for giving up the Hornblower identity........ that being He had lost the Horn !
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| Back to The Guardian Look Again |
The main problem with the character of Mal Duncan seems to be that too many writers wanted the character to become too many different things. Mal was originally introduced as DC "Wanted" to have a main stream Hero who was Black African - America..... , one who the readers could relate too. What they ended up doing with the character was to keep changing him until they got him right. One writer liked the fact that Mal was a un powered hero, another wanted him to have a power, another hated the retro Guardian identify. The Hornblower id and power was lame, and the costume introduced for the Character was also very lame. So when the Hornblower look and power was dropped, Mal became the Guardian again, in an updated costume that combined both the Original 40's Guardian look with the Exo Skeleton .
Mal would continue as The Guardian up until the Teen Titans disbanded a few years later.
HOWEVER, after the events of the DC Comics Crisis Re Boot in the 1980's Mal Duncan was subject to some more changes of identity.
BUT More about that at a later date.
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| Mal in full Guardian Uniform...... The Final Version before the 1980's CRISIS ! Next Time we meet a Titan from Another Time ! Until Nect Time......... ENJOY ! |
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