Glorious Godfrey

Template:Infobox comics character Glorious Godfrey is a DC Comics supervillain who is part of The Fourth World series of comic books in the early 1970s.

Publication history

Glorious Godfrey first appeared in The Forever People #3 (June 1971) and was created by Jack Kirby.

In 1971, an article in The New York Times Magazine about "relevant comics" described "a handsome toothy character named Glorious Godfrey, a revivalist. Godfrey is drawn to look like an actor playing Billy Graham in a Hollywood film biography of Richard Nixon starring George Hamilton". The character was intended to embody the powerful, charismatic speaker who could talk people into justifying violence and evil.

Fictional character biography

Godfrey and his sister Amazing Grace are members of Darkseid's Elite who possess similar mind control powers.

In his first appearance he confronts the Forever People, who had stumbled upon a recruitment program for Earth-based warriors for Darkseid, and almost kills one of their members, Serifan. Despite the efforts of the Forever People's semi-sentient Super-Cycle, Godfrey's attack would have succeeded in killing Serafin; however, Highfather chose at that moment to recall all his people (and the cycle) home via teleportation.

File:GloriousGodfrey.png

Godfrey as depicted in Legends #4 (February 1987). Art by John Byrne.

In the Legends event, Darkseid attempts to deprive the world of its heroes, not only so that they would be ineffective against Darkseid, but also in the hopes that the people of Earth would more willingly surrender to his rule. The first phase of the plan consists of creating immense collateral damage by sending creatures to Earth to fight the superheroes. The public begins to resent the heroes in their midst, and therefore Darkseid starts the second phase of his plan by sending the master manipulator Glorious Godfrey to Earth. Assuming the identity of G. Gordon Godfrey (a reference to G. Gordon Liddy), he starts a hate campaign against the superheroes that proves to be very effective, riling the public and ultimately leading to a presidential decision to outlaw any super-heroic activity. The final phase of the plan consists of the Apokoliptian warhounds, cybernetic creatures that are bonded to human hosts, for which Godfrey is able to find an ample number of 'volunteers' among his hypnotized public. He leads his charges to Washington D.C., only to be confronted by a cadre of assembled heroes. He obtains Doctor Fate's helmet, but it wipes his mind and leaves him an empty shell.

Godfrey was seen as an inmate of Belle Reve. Darkseid dispatches the Female Furies to spring out Godfrey so that he can deal with him. Their mission is a success at the cost of Bernadeth betraying Lashina.

During the "Genesis" storyline, Godfrey is seen during a major battle on Apokolips.

In Final Crisis, Godfrey possesses human reverend Godfrey Good. Godfrey is present when Darkseid takes control over Turpin's body. However, Darkseid responds to his minion's impending death (presumably due to the fact that Godfrey's host body was not modified to successfully contain Godfrey's essence) by watching them die in front of him. A one-shot revealed that Godfrey had been chosen by Darkseid to be the secretive, personal assistant to the Earth-based villain Libra. The man is given generic technology to support him throughout the years because Darkseid believed the man had potential for greatness. Godfrey's assistance turns out to be invaluable, as Libra is the key to Darkseid's defeat of Earth.

In 2011, The New 52 rebooted the DC universe. Glorious Godfrey makes his first appearance by giving greetings to Batman and Ra's al Ghul from Apokolips. He has a new look, sporting a beard and an all-black uniform with red gloves and belt. Glorious Godfrey's reason for coming to Earth is to retrieve the Chaos Shard, a powerful crystal which once belonged to Darkseid which Ra's al Ghul revealed was hidden inside the sarcophagus he crafted for Damian. After detecting a trace signature of the shard coming from inside Damian's body, and despite the assistance of the Justice League, Glorious Godfrey escapes with the corpse back to Apokolips, with Batman vowing to get Damian Wayne's corpse back.

Powers and abilities

Glorious Godfrey retains several attributes of a native of Apokolips, such as a limited level of superhuman strength, endurance and invulnerability. In addition, Godfrey has extended lifespan which allows him to exist indefinitely and he has an advanced immune system. However, Glorious Godfrey is a sub-par athlete and hand-to-hand combatant, whose greatest gifts are his overwhelming speaking voice and his extraordinary powers of persuasion. Whether these are natural gifts or have been augmented by the power of Darkseid has yet to be determined. Godfrey employs a private army called the Justifiers, composed of humans who he has manipulated.

Inspiration

Jack Kirby biographer Mark Evanier states that Glorious Godfrey was based on evangelist Billy Graham: "A lesser villain who toiled in the service of Darkseid was inspired more directly by evangelist Billy Graham, who was then rather difficult to avoid on TV. Kirby was appalled at some of Graham's apocalyptic sermons which — to Jack — were more calculated to instill fear than faith, and to stampede people into service of Graham's causes. Jack called the foe Glorious Godfrey, the name being a Kirbyesque pun. The comic book evangelist was "god-free" and also had some of the traits of TV pitchman Arthur Godfrey, though the main reference and the visual came from Billy Graham. Not evident in on the pages he drew was Jack's belief — which he expressed on several occasions — that Graham and the president he counseled [Nixon] were both virulent anti-Semites".

In other media

Television

• G. Gordon Godfrey appears in the Justice League two-part episode "Eclipsed", voiced by Enrico Colantoni. This version is the host of a sensationalist talk show that he uses to attack the Justice League's credibility. After the Justice League defeat Eclipso, Godfrey's sponsors drop him and his show is moved to an undesirable time slot of 4 AM.
• Gordon Godfrey appears in the tenth season of Smallville, portrayed by Michael Daingerfield. This version is a human shock jock who attacks vigilantes, superheroes, and illegal aliens. After being possessed by Darkseid, he writes a best-selling book discrediting superheroes in the hopes of sowing mistrust and doubt and making Earth's population lose faith in their heroes. Lois Lane tries to expose Godfrey and Darkseid, but the latter fully takes over the former's body and tortures Lane to lure Clark Kent to him. Darkseid later meets with Granny Goodness and DeSaad in an attempt to use the brainwashed Oliver Queen to remove Kent's powers with Gold Kryptonite. However, Kent frees Queen who confronts and kills Godfrey, Goodness, and DeSaad.
• G. Gordon Godfrey appears in Young Justice, voiced by Tim Curry in the second season and by James Arnold Taylor in the third season. This version is a xenophobic news show host.
• Gordon Godfrey appears in the Superman & Lois episode "Sharp Dressed Man", portrayed by Tom Cavanagh. This version is the host of the GODFREY! talk show in Metropolis.

Film

G. Gordon Godfrey appears in Reign of the Supermen, voiced by Trevor Devall (albeit uncredited). This version is an editorialist who wrote an article on how Earth's people need to be their own heroes instead of relying on metahumans.

Video games

G. Gordon Godfrey appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.

External links

• Glorious Godfrey Template:Webarchive at the Guide to the DC Universe