Director James Gunn's upcoming film, The Suicide Squad, is already one of the most highly anticipated films in the DC Extended Universe, and it seems set to bring some of the strangest characters in the DC Universe to the big screen. While lesser-known DC characters like Peacemaker and Ratcatcher will finally get their time to shine in the movie, one anti-hero who didn't make the cut is Dogwelder.
As a member of an off-kilter, depraved team of superheroes, Dogwelder is one of DC's craziest characters, and it's not too hard to see why he's not quite ready for Hollywood.
Created by Steve Dillion, Dogwelder first appeared in Garth Ennis and John McCrea's Hitman #18. This team was full of abnormal and otherwise failed heroes like himself, such as the drunkard Six Pack and the lurching lecher Bueno Excellente. As off-putting as these characters' methods for crime-fighting are, Dogwelder's are affronts to both villainy and the animal kingdom. Trapping stray dogs in alleyways, his favored way of dealing with criminal scum is to take the dead bodies of these dogs and weld them to crooks' faces. It's unknown how exactly this would permanently disable an opponent, though the shock would certainly surprise even the toughest of enemies.
Dogwelder's face is never shown, and he's always seen in his signature welding gear Likewise, he simply goes by Dogwelder throughout the entire series, lacking both a civilian name and any civilian dialogue. This, along with the arguably inhumane lengths to which he goes to combat evildoers, make even his fellow teammates on Section 8 question his sanity. Fortunately for Gotham City's canine and criminal population, Dogwelder would meet his end in Ennis and McCrea's Hitman #52. There, Section 8 fought the Many Angled Ones, and one of the interdimensional creatures dissolved Dogwelder with its acidic bodily fluids. However, the spirit of the man with the blowtorch would return to the DC Universe years later.
Though Dogwelder and Section Eight would remain obscure oddities from a somewhat obscure satire series, they would finally return during the New 52 era. All-Star Section Eight, also by Ennis and McCrea, brought back the team and its members in all of their irreverent glory. Seemingly in continuity with the Pre-Flashpoint team, the current Section 8 had a new Dogwelder. This Dogwelder was a normal family man who was one day essentially possessed by the first Dogwelder's equipment. Compelled to continue his blowtorching fight for justice, this new Dogwelder even went so far as to weld the family dog onto his children's faces.
From there, the concept of Dogwelder's legacy was strengthened with an incredibly ludicrous backstory. For one, this new Dogwelder is taught by John Constantine to communicate using the bodies of dead dogs. Upon officially joining Section Eight and traveling to Egypt, Dogwelder is able to briefly enter a Dogwelder afterlife. There, he meets his predecessor and realizes that both are subject to a curse placed upon them by the Egyptian god Anubis. He uses this new information in his final and greatest act of heroism. Section Eight hijack a shuttle to travel to space and stop Sirius A and B from expanding and destroying the Earth. Summoning the power of all previous of his generations of predecessors, Dogwelder welds the two dog stars together to prevent their path of destruction. Though he dies in the process, he is relieved by the fact that this will end the curse for good.
Despite The Suicide Squad's apparently quirky sense of humor, Dogwelder is likely one character who is probably too quirky to leave comics just yet.
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