Paul Westfield is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Superman (vol. 2) #58 (August 1991) and was created by Dan Jurgens.
| Paul Westfield | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Superman (vol. 2) #58 (August 1991) |
| Created by | Dan Jurgens |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Paul Westfield |
| Team affiliations | Project Cadmus |
Publication history
editThe executive director of Project Cadmus, the post-Crisis version of Jack Kirby's DNA Project, Westfield was revealed to be in charge of the project in Superman (vol. 2) #58. An unscrupulous director ironically hired for his ethics, he appeared in issues of Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, The Adventures of Superman and Superboy (vol. 4). A noteworthy story was his plan on creating a clone to take Superman's place during multiple issues of the Funeral for a Friend storyline after The Death of Superman event. This led to the debut of Superboy (Kon-El) in the following Reign of the Supermen! crossover event.
Fictional character biography
editProject: Bloodhound
editPaul Westfield is a Vietnam War veteran and the executive director of Project Cadmus, a secret government agency in Metropolis. After Superman suffers amnesia, assumes the Gangbuster mantle, and battles Guardian, Westfield begins seeing him as a threat.[1][2] He captures Superman and has Dubbilex probe his mind for information, which is transferred to a computer.[3] Guardian destroys the computer, but Westfield retains the information and intends to file a congressional report against Superman. Guardian and Dubbilex stop him by threatening to publicly reveal that he killed his mentally unstable commander during the Vietnam War.[4]
Death and return of Superman
editFollowing The Death of Superman, Westfield and Cadmus create "Experiment 13", a human with Kryptonian-like powers, to replace him. 13 brokers a deal with Cadmus to become known as Superboy and goes on a world tour to establish his new name, with Dubbilex chaperoning him.[5]
Death and legacy
editIn the "Battle of Metropolis" story arc, Dabney Donovan kills Westfield, who is revealed to be Superboy's genetic template.[6][7][8] In retalitation, Westfield's daughter Amanda Spence kills Superboy's love Tana Moon.[9]
Additionally, an alternate universe variant of Westfield appears in the "Hypertension" story arc.[10]
Superboy is later retconned to be a clone of Superman and Lex Luthor who is unrelated to Westfield.[11][12]
In other media
editPaul Westfield appears in the BBC radio drama adaptation of The Death of Superman.
References
edit- ^ Superman (vol. 2) #22 (October 1988)
- ^ The Adventures of Superman #450 (January 1989)
- ^ Superman (vol. 2) #27 (January 1989)
- ^ Superman (vol. 2) #58 (August 1991)
- ^
- The Adventures of Superman #499 (February 1993)
- The Legacy of Superman one-shot (February 1993)
- The Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993)
- The Adventures of Superman #506 (November 1993)
- Superboy (vol. 4) #0 (October 1994)
- ^
- Superman (vol. 2) #90 (June 1994)
- The Adventures of Superman #513 (June 1994)
- Superboy (vol. 4) Annual #2 (November 1995)
- ^ Burlingame, Russ (January 4, 2019). "Titans: Comparing Superboy's First Appearance To The Comics". ComicBook.com. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
- ^ Cronin, Brian (April 30, 2017). "Where Did Superboy's Human DNA REALLY Come From?". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
- ^ Superboy (vol. 4) #70-75 (January - June 2000)
- ^ Superboy (vol. 4) #63 (June 1999)
- ^ Teen Titans (vol. 3) #1 (August 2003)
- ^ Burlingame, Russ (September 23, 2022). "Titans Star Ryan Potter Reveals New Photos After Season 4 Wrap". ComicBook.com. Retrieved December 8, 2024.