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Fictional company appearing in Marvel Comics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United States Department of Damage Control is a fictional construction company appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The company specializes in repairing the property damage caused by conflicts between superheroes and supervillains.[1] Three Damage Control limited series have been published.
| Damage Control | |
|---|---|
Damage Control #1 (May 1989). Art by Ernie Colón. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Marvel Age Annual #4 (June 1988) |
| Created by | Dwayne McDuffie (Writer) Ernie Colón (Artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Type of business | Construction |
| Base(s) | The Flatiron Building, New York City |
| Owner(s) | Anne Marie Hoag |
| Employee(s) | Lenny Ballinger Robin Chapel Albert Cleary John Porter Bart Rozum Eugene Strasser Ant-Man Robbie Baldwin Hercules Walter Declun Monstro Tom Foster |
Damage Control employees have been in the middle of a breakout at the Vault, confronted Doctor Doom, have been threatened with death by the Punisher, and have met vastly powerful cosmic entities such as the Silver Surfer and Galactus. They have "fought" side by side with the X-Men, socialized with the New Warriors, and were even almost menaced by the Hulk.
Damage Control has appeared in various media adaptations, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and the Disney+ television series Ms. Marvel (2022), She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) and Secret Invasion (2023).
Dwayne McDuffie, who co-created the concept with artist Ernie Colón and wrote Damage Control's initial stories, pitched Damage Control to Marvel as "a sitcom within the Marvel Universe".[2]
Damage Control employees first appear in a five-page story, "The Sales Pitch", in 1988's Marvel Age Annual, and reappeared in 1989 in a serialized seven-page story published in the anthology comic Marvel Comics Presents #19.[3] Subsequently, the employees of Damage Control have been the subject of three four-issue comic book limited series published between 1989 and 1991: Damage Control (May–August 1989) and Damage Control vol. 2 (December 1989 – February 1990, with two issues in December), both by writer McDuffie and penciler Colón, and vol. 3 (June–September 1991) by writer McDuffie and penciler and inker Kyle Baker.[4][5]
Damage Control was featured in an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #2.
Among its later appearances were those in the 2006 storyline "Civil War"; the series Irredeemable Ant-Man; and the first issue of World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control, a three-issue limited series tying into the 2008 "World War Hulk" storyline.
Damage Control was founded by Anne Marie Hoag and was originally owned by Tony Stark and Wilson Fisk, each owning half the stock of the company, though Stark felt uneasy cooperating with Fisk, a notorious criminal. The company was headquartered in New York's Flatiron Building.[6]
When Ms. Hoag was offered a job in government, she nominated Robin Chapel as her replacement. Stark and Fisk sold their stock in Damage Control: Stark because he did not want to be associated with Fisk and Fisk because he had no confidence in Robin's ability to lead the company. Another company, Carlton Co, took control of Damage Control and tried to make Damage Control more profitable, but in the process angered a lot of employees and nearly ruined Damage Control. Ms. Hoag convinced S.H.I.E.L.D. to invest in Damage Control and they loaned her the money to buy back the company. S.H.I.E.L.D. also found out that the sale of Damage Control had been a plot by Fisk to buy back the company for cheap. During the events of Acts of Vengeance (an event Fisk helped organize), massive damage was done to the city and Fisk made a large profit when Damage Control was hired to repair the damages.
The confrontation with the Kingpin causes unexpected results. The Damage Control staff find that a movie has been put out, a fictionalized version of their confrontation with the Kingpin. At the wrap party for the premiere, the Damage Control staff is summoned by the Silver Surfer to help deal with Edifice Rex, a former employee. He had gained cosmic powers and this, combined with an anal-retentive personality,[citation needed] threatens the cosmos. Several of the employees meet and discuss the problem with other cosmic entities, such as Galactus and Lord Chaos. Robin Chapel eventually solves this problem by firing Rex.
After a super-fight destroys the Washington Monument[7] Damage Control is contracted and fixes the damage off-panel. Their bill is seen in a pile of paperwork.[8]
Hercules is seen working with Damage Control, on one occasion serving a community service sentence levied as punishment for a drunken rampage. Hercules becomes a full-fledged employee, forced to earn a living after the Constrictor successfully sues the demigod for injuries incurred in his apprehension.
Damage Control is seen during the Civil War.[9] The super-villain Nitro, who blew up the town of Stamford, killing hundreds and starting the Civil War, reveals that a "Walter Declun" has provided him with Mutant Growth Hormone. Via Namor, Wolverine learns Walter is the CEO of Damage Control, Inc.[10] A brief scene shows that Walter and one other employee of the firm are complicit in using Nitro to boost the firm's profits.
This leads Wolverine to Anne-Marie Hoag, Damage Control's President (and a brief confrontation with Ann, long-time D.C. receptionist). Anne-Marie reveals that Declun and his investors took a controlling share of the stock after the company went public to obtain more funds. D.C. has also obtained the Stamford reconstruction contract and the contract to train and evaluate registered super-beings. Anne-Marie has suspected Declun of illegal activities but did not have strong enough evidence to counter his ties with Washington, D.C., and the President.
In his battle against Declun and Damage Control, which includes destroying many D.C. assets such as company equipment to robbing overseas banks with D.C. Holdings to forcing major stockholders to liquidate their stock. Wolverine later engages in a fight with a team of D.C. Security personnel who are equipped with Mandroid Armor, S.H.I.E.L.D. weaponry, Stark Enterprises technology and other items salvaged from superhuman fights until the super-hero Sentry shows up and captures Wolverine, who is then delivered to SHIELD, which is under Maria Hill's leadership. But Wolverine later escapes. After making his way back to Damage Control offices, he confronts Declun, at which point the corrupt businessman takes a dose of Mutant Growth Hormone in response to Wolverine's threats; temporally giving him super-human powers. During the fight Wolverine appears to kill Declun by stabbing him through his eye sockets. However, Declun survives the fight.[11]
John Porter also becomes involved with the Civil War.[12] When FF members Susan and Reed Richards temporarily separate over ethical differences, their emotional split-up was punctuated by Susan using her force fields to punch a three-foot circular hole through every floor of the building. Porter then shows up and estimates the repairs will be $789,000. He also thanks Reed for the work as lately.
Damage Control creates a new division called, "Search and Rescue" that focuses on finding survivors in wreckage. They inadvertently hire Eric O'Grady, thinking he is a hero called "Slaying Mantis", but he was actually looting after a Mighty Avengers battle.[13]
The company helped clean up New York City after the events of World War Hulk.[14] Tom Foster, the nephew of Bill Foster and the new Goliath, joins the company, as do fellow superhumans Monstro and Visioneer. The undamaged Flatiron Building is once again used as their headquarters. As a company, Damage Control secures all relevant resources and a makeshift superhero rescue force, as many people were left behind when New York was evacuated for the events of 'World War Hulk'. Damage Control also collects various extraordinary resources left behind from the confrontation, such as the adamantium "bullets", an alien A.I. and alien metals.
During the reconstruction, a strange side-effect of one of the Hulk's destroyed machines causes the Chrysler Building to come to life. It wants to leave the city and see the world, but John Porter is able to negotiate a deal by which it is allowed to leave one month a year; as John notes, no one comes to Manhattan in August.[15]
The company again gets the bid to rebuild Avengers Mansion just as a new team, led by Luke Cage, is moving in. Ms. Hoag hints at a secret past with Cage.[16]
During the Spider-Island storyline, Damage Control is seen working with the superheroes to clean up the destruction and chaos caused by the madness of a giant spider monster in the middle of Manhattan. Along with passing out pants to formerly spider-shaped New Yorkers, Damage set to work carting away parts of the Spider Queen's giant arachnid body. At least one Damage Control team had been infiltrated and controlled by the Jackal, a self-admitted mad scientist who wanted DNA from the spider monster.[17]
During the Civil War II storyline, Monstro finds Trull the Unhuman vandalizing Damage Control equipment and busts him. Upon Monstro empathizing him, Trull the Unhuman was convinced to give up on his goals. Trull the Unhuman joined up with Damage Control and became their spokesperson.[18]
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Damage Control is also a construction and demolition company. The Ultimate version of the Wrecking Crew are employees of Damage Control as debuted in Ultimate Spider-Man #86.[23] They are then empowered and quit the business to become villains.[24]
The U.S. Department of Damage Control (D.O.D.C.) appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021),[28][29] and the Disney+ television series Ms. Marvel (2022),[30] and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022).[31][32] This version is a government agency that was created as a joint venture between Stark Industries and the United States government to clean up after the Battle of New York.[33] Notable employees include Anne Marie Hoag (Tyne Daly),[28] agent P. Cleary (Arian Moayed),[29][31] agent Foster (Gary Weeks), and agent Sadie Deever (Alysia Reiner).[34] Damage Control was first referenced in the third season of the Marvel Television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..[35]
| Title | Material collected | Published date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| World War Hulk - Damage Control | World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #1-3, World War Hulk: Aftersmash | June 2008 | 978-0785123880 |
| Damage Control: The Complete Collection | Damage Control (vol. 1) #1-4, Damage Control (vol. 2) #1-4, Damage Control (vol. 3) #1-4, World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #1-3, material from Marvel Age Annual #4, Marvel Comics Presents #19 | October 2015 | 978-0785197904 |
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