Captain America's Forgotten MCU Ally Became a Warrior Robot in the Comics
Few Marvel heroes survive their adventures unscathed. Whether it's personal injury, emotional trauma, or even the loss of friends and loved ones, being a comic-book hero comes with more than any one person's share of loss. But over the history of Marvel comics, one hero has fought longer and lost more than almost any other. That hero is Dum Dum Dugan - a hero whose life, death, and humanity were stolen by his resolve to fight the good fight.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963's Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1, Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan is a longtime ally of Nick Fury and Captain America, often occupying a high-level position within SHIELD or its offshoot organizations. Played by Neal McDonough in the MCU and famous for his prodigious mustache, Dugan was originally a WWII soldier who worked alongside Fury to topple the Third Reich, eventually receiving an injection of the Infinity Formula, which counteracted the aging process and allowed him to survive to the modern day of Marvel Comics. Or, at least, that's what Fury told him...
The truth came in Original Sins #5 and the short story "How the World Works" from writer Al Ewing and artist Butch Guice. In this tale, Dum Dum Dugan visits Nick Fury with a friendly offer. Nick had recently lost the benefits of the Infinity Formula, aging into an old man, and Dugan offered to share his own blood, from which Fury could extract and recreate the formula. Reeling from his recent assassination of the omniscient Watcher and feeling the weight of several lifetimes' worth of misdeeds, Fury told Dugan the truth - Dum Dum no longer has blood, because he's been a robot since 1966.
Fury had long depended on the use of LMD robots - Life Model Decoys - to elude his enemies and keep people guessing as to his actual location and motives. But as was revealed in the larger Original Sin event, Fury had also taken on the responsibilities of the Man on the Wall - a warrior who kept Earth safe from alien attack - and therefore had unprecedented access to futuristic technology decades before anyone else.
When Dum Dum was killed during a mission to stop Count Otto Vermis from developing a death ray in the early days of SHIELD, Fury used secret, highly advanced LMD technology to replicate his old friend. Since the mission had been top secret, no-one but Fury knew of Dugan's death, and so he was able to keep replacing successive LMDs whenever they were destroyed or became outdated, keeping around his most trusted friend.
On hearing the truth, Dugan is naturally outraged, accusing Fury of desecrating his memory and stealing his dignity. When Fury replies that Dugan has been his conscience, the latest LMD disagrees, arguing that he's never actually changed Fury's immoral behavior; just made him feel bad enough about it that he could still feel like a hero making hard calls. Realizing he physically can't shoot Fury thanks to the LMD programming - proof, at least to Dugan, that Fury has kept him around as a useful 'wind-up toy' - Dugan shoots himself in the head, telling Fury that if he respects the man Dugan once was, he won't resurrect him again.
Sadly, the choice was quickly taken out of Fury's hands. After being imprisoned by the Watchers for his crimes as the Man on the Wall, Fury lost control of the project, which passed into SHIELD ownership. SHIELD head Maria Hill was quick to resurrect Dugan, who now viewed himself as a monstrous copy of the original, and has become a darker hero ever since, albeit one who is prepared to use his skills, experiences, and enhanced strength and durability to keep the world safe. Dum Dum Dugan is living proof that a hero's work is truly never done, as well as a living example of the high cost of being Nick Fury's friend - or at least someone he finds useful.
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