Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Just How Bad is Andrew Nolan's Face?

Andrew Nolan and his brother were behind the masks because their faces were sooooo hideous to look at. How hideous? Doctor Doom level? Two-Face? Each with one half? Deadpool level? I mean, Brin had facial reconstructive surgery for Ayla and they didn't have technology to fix their faces?

And Andrew as originally supposed to be black. Was that to hide a black man's face? Man in the Iron Mask style? Or was that to still repress the status of a black person?

I think it's pretty bad - Legionnaires 58 describes it as basically being so bad that the reconstructive surgery would be dangerous to Nolan. Of course, in a prior issue, a bunch of other doctors say it would be unethical to do so. So I'd say something combining all the characters you described and more.

I can't speak to the skin color issue there. I understand he was supposed to be black as well (which he obviously is not in the Reboot), but I don't have the history on that one.

The original idea was that he would at some point causally remove his mask, and his black skin would be a surprise to the reader, but the rest of the Legion wouldn't consider it noteworthy. It's not clear whether any explanation for him wearing a mask would be given in this scenario.

Not bad, just different.

Douglas from the framing sequences in Legion 300

Thanks, thoth - I had forgotten this one. It's somewhere in my boxes! (I also realized I accidentally packed up some of the books I wanted to read while clearing my house out to prepare for sale, and this was one of them).

This image sure doesn't show anything too horrible, unless there was something nasty in the Brainy panels. It definitely doesn't match up with the reboot description.

Thanks Thoth. I have seen other DC characters with worse and you would think that the population would be more tolerant by this timeline. The red eyes are a bit problematic for me since Ferro Lad was always shown to have normal humanoid eyes through the mask slits. With all the alien species that populate the UP, looks like this should not affect people so much that a mask is needed. So people with disabilities still struggle in the far future. I would have preferred that Brainiac 5 had someone with empathy there with him to show Douglas there is nothing wrong with him and help with the stigma and trauma he has carried throughout his and his brother's lives. His brother was a hero and proved there is something beyond the physical. If they said the mask for medical reasons, like to prevent infection or radiation exposure tthat would result in further damage, that would have been a better story line than his appearance bothered people.

Brainy says "the twisted, mutated body he was born into... and now even his mind is warped."


The red eyes are likely to be because Douglas is scanning the multiverse to find a timeline he can find peace in. I agree about the tolerance. I can't imagine there not being more tolerance in the Legion's 30th century, and put his mask more down to the creators trying to get past the perceived prejudices of the distorbution network at the time it was published.

I wonder if its a bit like the "uncanny valley" effect. Aliens are, well, alien. You don't expect them to look human (except of course that so many do but they look exactly human). However a human face that is distorted and just looks off, all the time - maybe that could be difficult to get used to.

Two examples I can think of: Hex with his burned face I am sure I would find really hard to get used to in real life. The other is from the movie "The Elephant Man". As shown in these examples friends and frequent acquaintances can get used to it because they see the person inside and that is what they first think of, but anyone who only occasionally encounters them would struggle I imagine.

I am pretty sure from my own limited experience that I would find it difficult not to react negatively to someone I didn't see all the time, while being occasionally surprised by the face of a close friend when its difference breaks through my friendship filter. I would smile and talk to them but I doubt I could hide all my automatic reaction. Even a slightly wonky eye can be off-putting at first. Not something I would be proud of but still something I would have to work at.

Especially in the Nolans case if they are encountering new people all the time on missions, not having to deal with an automatic emotional rejection would be helpful I think. Maybe if Andrew had been around longer he might have developed some close friends such as Val and Jeckie with whom he was able to relax and take off the mask in their private quarters.

Good thinking Thoth.

I've toyed with the idea of adding some sort of Medusa-type effect to him, where looking at his face would turn others to (non-mobile) iron or something like that.

Sorry I should have been more clear - the way the panel is set up has the four quadrants where Brainy and his dialog are in two. I was thinking maybe the "horrible" aspects of his face were hidden behind those images.

But its just his face that is "mutilated" right? Most depictions are of a healthy looking young man wearing a helmet. What we see of his face here shows more alien than anything else.



Although one would hope in a cosmopolitan future with many different species, a negative reaction that would be common in today's society would be more rare.

This was one of my favorite stories up till the ending. It almost had every member there ever was in it except for Ferro Lad himself! If only the Legion had made Douglas a legionnaire all that pain could have been avoided and he wouldn?t have had to will himself to another continuity. With all the aliens running around they wouldn?t look out of place at all. A later Secret Origon showed their mom being a retired holo star and I took it that they grew being taught that they were hideous looking. Not intentionally but the mom f-ed up raising them.

Interesting topic. I love the idea that Andrew and Douglas were not truly hideous, just alien-looking.

I think so much of this relies on our context of the characters. I grew up long after Ferro Lad had died and was used to the idea that his face was "non-human" (whatever that meant). I think the creators of LSH 300 were challenged to figure out what that meant, so they went with a stereotypically monstrous appearance. Some things are better left to the imagination, such as Dr. Doom's face. However, I did like the ending of the story, in which Douglas finds an alternate reality in which he is better suited. From a meta-perspective. it ties all the various versions of the Legion into a coherent narrative. But it also shows that Douglas can find happiness by creating his own reality. I think that's symbolically true for all of us.

I agree, in these cases it's much better to leave everything to the reader's imagination.

Did we ever get a suggestion that any Legionnaire actually had a look at Ferro Lad's true face? It's likely that they wouldn't have considered him a monster, considering all the much weirder aliens around.
Although it really had to be something significant if 30th century medical science couldn't do anything about him.

I really liked the scene we got with reboot Ferro where the aliens couldn't figure out why he thought there was something wrong with him.