Dan the Dyna-Mite

Dan the Dyna-Mite
Dan the Dyna-Mite from Young All-Stars #6 Artist Brian Murray
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	World's Finest Comics #5 (Spring 1942)
Created by	Mort Weisinger Hal Sharp
In-story information
Alter ego	Daniel Dunbar
Team affiliations	All-Star Squadron Young All-Stars Old Justice Seven Soldiers of Victory
Partnerships	TNT
Abilities	(After coming into contact with TNT): Enhanced strength, speed, and resistance to injury Energy generation (Currently): Control of both rings and powers after TNT's death

Dan the Dyna-Mite is a fictional character, a teen-aged superhero published by DC Comics. He was the young sidekick to the character TNT, and was created by Mort Weisinger and Hal Sharp in 1942. TNT and Dyna-Mite made their debut in World's Finest Comics #5, and starred in Star-Spangled Comics #7-23.

Danny Dunbar was the star pupil of Thomas N. Thomas, a high school chemistry and physical education teacher.

One evening while Thomas and Dunbar are working on an experiment, Thomas' hand accidentally touches Dunbar's and both teacher and student find themselves feeling more energized. Thomas realizes that each of them has somehow absorbed the chemicals with which they have been working. By touching each other, Thomas and Dunbar now become charged with an unknown form of energy and briefly possess superhuman powers.

They decide not to reveal their discovery publicly for fear that it would be misused. Instead, they use their new super-powers to fight crime as costumed heroes. Thomas becomes known as TNT and Dunbar as Dan the Dyna-Mite, and both join the wartime All-Star Squadron. Thomas and Dunbar each wears a "dyna-ring." By pressing the rings together, Thomas and Dunbar trigger a chemical reaction that temporarily charges the two heroes with energy.

In April 1942, TNT and Dyna-Mite battle Nazi saboteurs who are attempting to blow up a dam in Colorado. When the saboteurs flee in a car, the pair gives chase in their own auto. One of the bullets hits the tire of the heroes' car and it crashes and bursts into flames. The young hero Iron Munro pulls TNT and Dyna-Mite from the wreckage. TNT is already dead, and his spirit is carried off by the Valkyrie called Gudra (a member of Axis Amerika). Munro takes Dyna-Mite to a hospital, where he soon recovers.

Danny is grief-stricken but bucks up when President Roosevelt requests that he and other young members of the All-Star Squadron take a cross-country tour to encourage the buying of War Bonds. His depression is worsened by the assumption that without TNT, he can no longer use his own super-powers. Soon Danny learns he can activate them by wearing both dyna-rings and pressing them together.