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Freedom Beast

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Freedom Beast
Freedom Beast by Chas Truog
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceAnimal Man #13 (July 1989)
Created byGrant Morrison
In-story information
Full nameDominic Mndawe
SpeciesMetahuman
Team affiliationsGlobal Guardians
Justice League
Abilities
  • Super strength
  • Healing factor
  • Animal control and fusion

Freedom Beast (Dominic Mndawe) is a fictional comic book character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.[1]

The character made his live-action debut in the fourth season of the HBO Max series Titans, portrayed by Nyambi Nyambi.

Fictional character biography

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Freedom Beast was born Dominic Mndawe in South Africa. His first appearance was in Animal Man #13 which occurs during the rule of apartheid in South Africa. Dominic was under arrest for taking pictures of racially motivated acts of violence being committed by white Afrikaner policemen. In a cell, Dominic was about to be killed by his captors when he is rescued by Animal Man and B'wana Beast (Mike Maxwell), Mndawe's predecessor and future mentor.[1] After the rescue, Maxwell gives Mndawe the elixir and helmet that confer powers on their owner. The two briefly had a disagreement as Mndawe was adamant to continue his political resistance to the South African government and its policy of apartheid with while Maxwell was insistent that the calling is apolitical. However, they eventually reconciled on this point. Mndawe continued pursuing his political objectives which he justified with the personal maxim, "Today's politics is tomorrow's mythology". Animal Man and Freedom Beast then prevent the massacre of a group of peaceful demonstrators by Afrikaner police. Animal Man returns to the US, while Maxwell and Freedom Beast remain in South Africa.[2]

Mike Maxwell returns where he was being controlled by an evil force called the Antagon and transformed into the Shining Man. He perishes in the ensuing battle.[3]

Animal Man and Dominic team up once again during the Day of Judgement incident, protecting African wildlife from the murderous intentions of demon invaders.

Freedom Beast appears in the Day of Vengeance Infinite Crisis Special, in which he was possessed by Rage, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.[4] He is also seen at the gathering of mystics at Stonehenge.[5]

Freedom Beast reappeared as South Africa's representative in the reformed Global Guardians.[6] He and his teammates were brainwashed by the Faceless Hunter and used as weapons against Green Lantern (Hal Jordan). The Global Guardians were eventually freed, and Freedom Beast returned with them.[7]

During the "Final Crisis" crisis, Freedom Beast was seen fighting off Gorilla Grodd (who was turned into a Justifier) on Watchtower 4 in Gorilla City.[8]

Freedom Beast is killed by minions of Prometheus. Dominic's partner Congorilla discovers his dying friend and vows to find justice for his murder.[9] Prometheus is subsequently killed by Green Arrow who avenges his death.[10]

Congorilla mentions that he still has Dominic's helmet and elixir in his possession. Seeking to honor the memory of his old friend, Congorilla ultimately resigns from the Justice League and goes to find a worthy candidate to become the new Freedom Beast.[11] In Justice League International #1, a character alongside Congorilla appears wearing the mask, referencing Congorilla had found a successor. The identity of this character is unknown.[12]

The New 52

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In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. Freedom Beast is alive, making his debut when he comes to America to take down a hunting club that has created a synthetic version of his elixir. He teams with Midnighter to free the captured animals and bring down the hunters.[13]

DC Rebirth

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In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth" which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". Freedom Beast is visited by Killer Frost and the Atom when they came to Africa to ask him to help cure Killer Frost's condition.[14]

Powers and abilities

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Freedom Beast possesses super-strength, a healing factor, and mind-control. Like B'wana Beast, he can merge some animals into Chimeras.

In other media

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Freedom Beast appears in the Titans episode "Dude, Where's My Gar", portrayed by Nyambi Nyambi. This version lost his sister and her children to a disease made by scientists that were associates of Chief. Freedom Beast pulled Beast Boy out of the Red and served as his guide about it while wanting him to embrace his destiny into aiding the Red. While introducing Beast Boy to a Chimera that he made from a lion and a bat, he tells Beast Boy about his powers when B'wana Beast gave him his helmet. He then takes Beast Boy into his flashback where he raided the facility where Freedom Beast's gorilla friend Djuba was held. When he confronted the scientist Dr. Myers, Freedom Beast put his dying Djuba out of his misery by fusing Dr. Myers with it. After the flashback, Beast Boy traverses the Red to get back to the Titans and sees Freedom Beast, who nods back at him.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Beatty, Scott (2008), "Freedom Beast", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 130, ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1, OCLC 213309017
  2. ^ Animal Man #13. DC Comics.
  3. ^ Animal Man #47. DC Comics.
  4. ^ Greenberger, Robert (2008), "Global Guardians", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 138, ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1, OCLC 213309017
  5. ^ Infinite Crisis #6. DC Comics.
  6. ^ Green Lantern vol. 4 #11 and 14–17. DC Comics.
  7. ^ Checkmate v2 #24 and #29–31. DC Comics.
  8. ^ Final Crisis #4. DC Comics.
  9. ^ Justice League: Cry for Justice #1. DC Comics.
  10. ^ Justice League: Cry for Justice #7. DC Comics.
  11. ^ Justice League of America #60. DC Comics.
  12. ^ Justice League International #1. DC Comics.
  13. ^ Midnighter #8. DC Comics.
  14. ^ Justice League of America Vol. 5 #11. DC Comics.
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