After 30+ Years, Savage Dragon Just Killed Off One of Its Last OG Heroes

In Savage Dragon #275, Image Comics fans just said goodbye to one of the last remaining characters who has been around since the beginning of the series. Debuting in 1992, this hero is beloved by fans, so it's a milestone that their story is finally over. The issue comes from Erik Larsen, Joe Keatinge, Ryan Alexander-Tanner, Simon Mallette St-Pierre, Scott James, Jack Morelli, Mike Toris and Nikos Koutsis.

Savage Dragon Just Killed Off SuperPatriot

The Celebrated Hero Was Getting Too Old to Stay Believable

The character in question is SuperPatriot, who was killed during a rescue mission in Ukraine, marking the end of an era both for the comic and for the world of the series, in which SuperPatriot has been around for decades. Aside from Dragon and his son Malcolm, SuperPatriot is arguably the most popular character Larsen has created for the series. The character, who started as a pastiche of Captain America, got cybernetic upgrades before his first appearance in the original Savage Dragon miniseries.

Due to his World War II origins, SuperPatriot was canonically almost 100 years old when he died. He had joined Paul and Malcolm Dragon in a mission to rescue a young American soldier, being held hostage by Russians in Ukraine. His cybernetic parts won't go to waste: they crawled off his dead body and merged with the soldier, who had been injured during the rescue. Speaking to me via Comic Book Club, Larsen said:

Even since SuperPatriot started closing in on 100 years old I thought - he's overdue. I mean, I guess he could have gotten a jab and become immortal or slowed his aging to a crawl, but it strained credibility to have him out there kicking ass at that age. It just seemed too hard to swallow. So, I started making plans.

The World of Savage Dragon Can be Deadly

There Are Very Few Original Characters Remaining in the Comic

If you haven't been reading Savage Dragon in recent years, you might not realize exactly how deadly its world can be. The comic takes place in real time, reflecting changes in the real world, and its original lead character - the titular Dragon - actually died in Savage Dragon #225. The current series lead, Malcolm Dragon, is the son of the original Dragon - a character readers saw born back in Savage Dragon#33. Because of the brutality in the series, as well as the real-time aspect, most of the original characters from the 1992 miniseries have already died or retired. SuperPatriot's slowed aging kept him active longer than most.

Since Malcolm took over as the full-time series lead almost 100 issues ago, he has had kids of his own, and many of his dad's villains have aged out or died. That means Malcolm has his own rogues gallery for the most part, although many of them are obviously legacy villains with ties to his dad's foes. Just last issue, Mister Glum - a brilliant-but-demented alien who once briefly took over Earth - died...although before he did so, he swapped bodies with one of the book's supporting characters, creating complications that will cascade through the rest of the series.

SuperPatriot's Death Was Not the Only Big Change This Issue

Dragon Returns... Kind Of

The Ukraine mission was bloody and chaotic, but Angel Murphy was ready: she had brought some vials of Dragon's blood, which allowed her to grant his healing abilities and other powers to anyone on the journey - although if they didn't get an antidote quickly, most of them would die from exposure to the blood. SuperPatriot was fatally injured, and both Theo Strange - the soldier they were trying to save - and Paul Dragon were also badly hurt. Theo, a young Black man, now gives the Savage Dragon world a younger version of its Captain America, just as Sam Wilson is taking over for Steve Rogers in the MCU. However, this comparison wasn't Larsen's intent, with the creator claiming:

I wanted it to be visually apparent that these two were not the same guy and this was an easy way of showing that, but it’s not like I had any agenda here. It’s not a political statement of any kind. In retrospect, doing this at the same time as the Falcon assuming the Captain America mantle in the MCU is unfortunate timing. But what can I do?

Paul, a version of Dragon from another dimension, did not have his healing powers, and had a fin that looked much different from the original hero's. While SuperPatriot's robot parts saved Theo, Angel saved Paul with a shot of Dragon's blood. When he recovered, he had Dragon's fin. The blood transfusion also greatly increased Paul's powers, bringing him to Dragon's level. After the disastrous Ukraine mission, the whole team is still stuck overseas for the time being - and while both Paul and Theo now have significant power upgrades, that doesn't guarantee they will be able to use them right away.

It's a huge month to be a Savage Dragon fan, as readers lose a longterm hero in SuperPatriot, meet a new crime-fighter thanks to Theo gaining his own powers, and see Paul transformed in a way that echoes the icon from whom the series takes its name.

Source: Comic Book Club