Poor Man's Mr Hyde

 

Blockbuster is not a very compelling character on his own. A lot of this character and his themes are better used on other characters. However, I did bring him up in my first post ever, and just never got around to writing about him. So, here it is, the Blockbuster post. 

Created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, Blockbuster's first appearance is in Detective Comics # 345, in 1965. One of many scientist Batman villains, Mark Desmond is a chemist who develops a serum to boost his physical attributes. Predictably, the experiment goes horribly wrong, and Mark Desmond turns himself into a giant, rage filled monster with limited intelligence. His Blockbuster persona is manipulated by his brother, Roland Desmond. The two brothers go on a crime spree, and are eventually stopped by Batman and Robin. 

After this initial appearance, Blockbuster returns a few times, butts heads with Solomon Grundy, is manipulated by the Outsider, and then turns anti-hero and rescues trapped miners in West Virginia.  Eventually is recruited for the Suicide Squad where he dies fighting a villain named Brimstone. 

Mark Desmond's brother Roland, also takes the serum, but retains his intelligence, and becomes an albino for some reason. He builds a criminal empire in Bludhaven. This Blockbuster goes on a personal crusade to ruin Nightwing, because stupid obsessions with heroes is what Batman villains are all about. Nightwing's partner Tarantula kills him. 

On the surface, Blockbuster is not very interesting nor very memorable. The physical enhancement by drugs theme is shared by numerous characters.  Science as a way to personify the monster within, and civility vs barbarism has been explored since Robert Louis Stevenson did it in 1886 in the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. DC Comics even had its own hero, Hourman, who developed an enhancement pill in 1940, without all the monster side effects. 

A lot of the themes that could be explored with this character have since been done several times. Man Bat's origin is very similar. Bane's use of Venom as a performance enhancer is also very similar. Killer Croc has similar themes. The creation of Two Face was influenced directly by Robert Louis Stevenson and embodies the theme of duality quite literally. 

To sum up, Blockbuster should probably be retired permanently. Characters has since been created that explore themes of duality, the Id, exploitation and manipulation, and drug abuse, all central to this character. There is no need to bring this character back, or reimagine him, or create a new character and reuse the name.