3-D Man is the name of two fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
The first incarnation, a composite of two brothers, Charles Chandler and Hal Chandler, first appeared in Marvel Premiere #35 (April 1977). The second incarnation, Delroy Garrett, took on the name in Avengers: The Initiative #14, having debuted as Triathlon a decade before in Avengers (vol. 3) #8 (September 1998).
Creation
In a text piece in Marvel Premiere #36, writer Roy Thomas described the 3-D Man as a homage to the Joe Simon and Jack Kirby character Captain 3-D, and was intended by Thomas as a commentary on contemporary societal themes using 1950s analogues. Thomas was a noted user of retroactive continuity in his work for Marvel, notably on the World War II-set series The Invaders. Part of the inspiration was due to a relative dearth of Marvel Universe characters between the mid-1950s cancellation of most of Atlas Comics' superhero titles and the beginning of the company's Silver Age in Fantastic Four #1.
There are conflicting accounts as to how the character received his name; according to the character's artist co-creator Jim Craig, Thomas had initially told him 3-D Man was going to debut in his own magazine-format series in actual stereoscopic 3D, but after further researching the cost informed him that the budget would not cover it. However, other sources suggest the name was planned for a mooted back-up feature in a planned Spider-Man 3-D title in 1965 and that Thomas created a character based around the name. Thomas himself would recall "I wanted to do a comic set in the late 1950s, so I made up 3-D Man, even though 3-D was really a phenomenon of 1953 to 1955 or so at the latest. I gave him a costume based on the original Daredevil of Lev Gleason comics, only colored red and green instead of red and blue, and with a chest symbol. Young Canadian artist Jim Craig drew, which makes him co-creator. I named him Chuck Chandler, which was the real name of another Lev Gleason character, Crimebuster... and I borrowed and altered a couple of elements of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's one-issue CAPTAIN 3-D as well. I had hoped it could be a real 3-D comic, but that was not to be. Because 3-D Man's adventures took place in the 1950s, Craig had to spend extensive time at a library doing research for the story's setting.
Publication history
The character debuted in a three-issue run of the anthology series Marvel Premiere, issues #35–37 (1977). There are several graphic elements in these comics - the first issue in particular - that were intended for their originally planned 3-D presentation. Marvel Premiere was considered a 'try-out' book - successful features such as Doctor Strange and Iron Fist had previously been promoted to their own titles. However, the 3-D Man did not receive such an honour, and instead would not appear again until the following year. He returned in What If #9 as part of a forgotten team of 1950s Avengers, with the rest of the roster made up of Atlas characters. Whereas What If stories usually took place in a branched reality, the events of the issue were intentionally left open-ended at the time the issue was published. It was then another couple of years until the character appeared again, in The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #251–252 (1980), in a storyline which effectively wrote the character out of the present-day Marvel Universe. 3-D Man did make a brief cameo in Contest of Champions #1 in 1982, one of several remnants of the series actually being intended for publication in 1980.
The character then spend the next 15 years in limbo before resurfacing in Avengers Forever #4 (1999), which established the events of What If #9 as taking place in an alternate reality. However, Avengers Forever writer Kurt Busiek would later revisit the character in his run on the main Avengers title, leading to the 3-D Man featuring in The Avengers (vol.3) #50–55 (2002) in the closing stages of the "Kang Dynasty" storyline in a plot that tied his fate in with the newer character Triathlon. After another period out of the limelight, the character returned in the 2008 Secret Invasion: Skrulls one-shot, which would lead to Triathlon taking on the mantle of the 3-D Man in Avengers: The Initiative #14.