Doorman (character)

DeMarr Davis is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer and artist John Byrne, the character first appeared in West Coast Avengers #46 (July 1989).^[1] Davis belongs to the subspecies of humans called mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities.^[2] He is known under the codename Doorman.^[3] Following his death, he was resurrected by Oblivion to serve as an Angel of Death, granting him new abilities. In addition to his portal-based powers, he gained flight, teleportation, and the ability to create objects using Darkforce energy.^[4] The character has also been a member of the Great Lakes Avengers at various points in his history.^[5][6][7][8]

DeMarr Davis Doorman
Art for West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #49.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #46 (July 1989)
Created by	John Byrne
In-story information
Alter ego	DeMarr Davis
Species	Human mutant/Angel of Death hybrid
Team affiliations	Great Lakes Avengers
Notable aliases	The Living Portal Man of Doors Deathurge Doorman
Abilities	As a mutant: Teleportation Intangibility As the Angel of Death: Darkforce manipulation Superhuman durability Costume summoning Death sense Immortality Flight

Publication history

DeMarr Davis debuted in West Coast Avengers #46 (July 1989), created by John Byrne.^[9] He appeared in the 2005 G.L.A. series,^[10] and the 2016 Great Lakes Avengers series.^[11]

Fictional character biography

Little is known of Doorman's life before he responded to Mr. Immortal's advertisement for the hero team that would eventually become the Great Lakes Avengers. It has been revealed, however, that he is a mutant and is African-American.^[12]

Before joining the Great Lakes Avengers, DeMarr Davis was an average American. Sometime during his years in college, DeMarr's mother died. After completing four years of college and three years of graduate school, DeMarr decided to answer Mr. Immortal's newspaper ad asking "costumed adventurers" to work together and form a team. DeMarr, being a mutant with a unique teleporting ability, is able to allow his teammates entrance into almost any structure. He was a founding member of the Great Lakes Avengers.^[12]

He was first seen in public with the team by Hawkeye and Mockingbird, who later agreed to become their mentors.^[13] With the team, he helped Hawkeye and the West Coast Avengers against "That Which Endures".^[14] They also assisted Mockingbird in a holding action against Terminus.^[15] After aiding the Thunderbolts against the villain Graviton,^[16][17] the team clashed with the mercenary Deadpool.^[18][19]

Doorman is the most cynical of the Great Lakes Avengers, constantly comparing the team to the real Avengers, usually at inappropriate times, and sometimes feeling embarrassed by his friends. Nonetheless, DeMarr cares for them deeply, and values each and every member of the team.

During the G.L.A. mini-series, the team took on Maelstrom, who was trying to destroy the universe. After Dinah Soar's death,^[20] Mr. Immortal suffers a nervous breakdown, leading Flatman and Doorman to search for new members. They went to New York City, where they failed to recruit a number of heroes. While in Central Park, they are saved by Squirrel Girl and her sidekick Monkey Joe from muggers. They offer to recruit her in the team and she accepts. Later, they hear an alarm on a nearby factory and encounter the Grasshopper, who was battling Batroc the Leaper and his minions. During the battle, Flatman offers to recruit him and Grasshopper quickly accepts, only to be instantly killed by Zaran, one of Batroc's minions.^[21] DeMarr blames himself for Grasshopper's death.^[22]

During the final battle, Doorman sacrifices himself so that Mr. Immortal could stop Maelstrom. In the afterlife, he met the other deceased GLA members, including Grasshopper, who forgave him. Doorman was intrigued by the absence of Hawkeye, until Mockingbird tells him that he became the new Swordsman. Shortly afterwards, the cosmic entity Oblivion summoned him declaring that he could prove useful to him because of his connection to the Darkforce Dimension, akin to Deathurge, who had been recently captured by Immortal. Doorman therefore replaced Deathurge and became Oblivion's new angel of death. Taking Deathurge's place, Doorman took Maelstrom to the afterlife, after he was tricked into killing himself by Immortal, and was able to return to the GLA. As a servant of Oblivion, he is able to summon skis to fly and is intangible. Doorman continues to be a member of the GLA. After he helped his friends save the universe from Maelstrom, he understands the team's importance and has a newfound respect for them. After receiving a subpoena from the real Avengers and discovering that they were all mutants, the team decided to change their name to the Great Lakes X-Men, complete with new costumes.^[12]

During the GLX-Mas Special, the team confronted Dr. Tannenbaum, who had released an army of living Christmas trees on the citizens of Wisconsin. Later, Doorman informed the team that he had to go and visit his father. Upon reaching his father's house, his father quickly complained that DeMarr was throwing his life away and needed to join the real world. He told his son that he had "stupid powers" and "all the other heroes have better powers than you". Realizing that his own happiness was more important than his father's respect, DeMarr finally admitted the truth to his father: that he had died and came back as an angel of death. He had not come back to visit his father but rather to collect his soul, as he had fallen off the roof while setting up Christmas lights and died. The revelation of DeMarr's new role in the universe greatly pleased his father, who could not wait to brag to all his friends in heaven about how his son was the new angel of death.^[23]

The team participated in a charity superhero poker tournament hosted by the Thing, where Flatman beat their host in the final round. Flatman's status as champion inspired the team to rename themselves the Great Lakes Champions, after being discouraged from affiliation with both the X-Men and the Defenders by members of those teams present at the tournament, ignoring the protests of former Champions of Los Angeles member Hercules.^[24]

In Avengers: The Initiative, Doorman is among the 142 members of the eponymous initiative.^[25][26] The Great Lakes Initiative attempt to rescue Dionysus from A.I.M., during which Squirrel Girl kicks Deadpool out of the group.^[27]

During the Secret Invasion storyline, the team confronts a Skrull disguised as Grasshopper, with help from Gravity and Catwalk.^[28] Gravity later becomes the leader of the team after transferring to Wisconsin.^[29]

During the Fear Itself storyline, the team confronts Asbestos Man, but are unwilling to fight him due to the toxicity of his suit. Mr. Immortal talks him into giving up in return for being remembered by the others.^[30]

In the ongoing series The Great Lakes Avengers, the group disbands, but eventually reunites.^[31] However, Deadpool appears and informs them that they can no longer use the Avengers name.^[32]

Powers and abilities

Doorman has the ability to teleport people or objects through solid matter with his own body that serves as a portal of sorts. His mutant powers operate by tapping into the Darkforce dimension.^[6][33][34] As the Angel of Death, he possesses mediumship, Darkforce constructs, light-speed flight, and supernatural durability.^[35][36]

Other versions

An alternate version of Doorman appears in the "World War Hulk" storyline. He was one of the heroes who tried to stop the Hulk during his rampage across Earth, but he witnessed as his teammates were beheaded by the Hulk.^[37]

In other media

• DeMarr Davis / Doorman is referenced in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. He is listed as one of the unregistered superhumans that S.H.I.E.L.D. was aware of at the onset of the Civil War.^[38]
• In 2011, HeroClix released a DeMarr Davis / Doorman figure.^{[citation needed]}