Mal Duncan

Mal Duncan
Mal Duncan as Vox in Teen Titans vol. 3 #36 (July 2006) Art by Tony Daniel
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Teen Titans #26 (March–April 1970)
Created by	Robert Kanigher (writer) Nick Cardy (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Malcolm Arnold "Mal" Duncan
Team affiliations	Doom Patrol Teen Titans
Notable aliases	Guardian, Hornblower, The Herald, Vox
Abilities	Skilled hand to hand combatant and kickboxer Exceptional physical condition Artificial lungs and voice box grant: Hypersound control and manipulation Hypersonic blasts, bursts and waves Formerly: Use of horn that creates inter-dimensional rifts, portals, vortexes and wormholes in between space and time, and project hypersonic blasts

Malcolm "Mal" Arnold Duncan, currently known as Vox (also known as the Guardian, Hornblower, and the Herald), is a fictional character, existing in the DC Universe. He is one of DC's first black superheroes.

Mal Duncan made his first appearance in Teen Titans #26 and was created by Robert Kanigher and Nick Cardy.

Malcolm "Mal" Duncan saves the Teen Titans from a street gang called the Hell Hawks by beating their leader in a boxing match. Recruited by the Teen Titans, Mal feels unworthy due to his lack of abilities, and stows away on a rocket flight, which nearly costs him his life. After a time, Mal discovers a strength-enhancing exoskeleton and the costume of the Guardian. Using these, he becomes the second Guardian.

After assuming the Guardian mantle, Mal fights Azrael, the Angel of Death. Believing it to be a hallucination, Mal is surprised to awaken with the mystical Gabriel's Horn. Having defeated Azrael, Mal is permitted to live, provided he never loses another fight. The horn grants Mal unspecified powers, whenever the odds are against him in battle. Armed with the horn, Mal assumes the name Hornblower.

Mal soon returns to his Guardian identity, claiming that too many people knew he was

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Mal's uncostumed adventures are unchanged. However, in post-Crisis canon, he never took the identity of Guardian, and the Gabriel's Horn is given a very different origin. While the other Titans are on a mission, Mal inadvertently releases an old villain, the Gargoyle (formerly Mr. Twister), from Limbo. He recaptures the villain, but finds the plans for a high-tech horn that would create spatial warps. With the help of Karen, he builds the horn and takes the identity of Herald. However, the Gargoyle implanted a computer virus into the horn that weakens the boundaries between the mortal world and Limbo, so he and his master, the Antithesis, will eventually escape. When Mal discovers this, he destroys the horn. He and Karen retire from super heroics, and move to California.