Gray Man

This page is for the first Gray Man; for the second Gray Man see Grey Man.

Origin

The Gray Man's history is shrouded in secrecy but it is known that he began life as a sorcerer, seeking to pierce Earth's dimensional barrier. He proved successful at one time and left Earth for the realms of the Lords of Order. For this, the Lords rewarded him with the eternal assignment of collecting left over dream essence from people who die. The Gray Man, however, saw this as a form of punishment. Unable to leave his barren isle prison Gray Man learned he could duplicate himself and send these duplicates out to collect the essences.

Controlling an army of gray men who are identical to himself, the Gray Man spends his days and nights carrying out the task. Over the years, the job was performed quietly and efficiently. But Gray Man grew contempt for the Lord of Order and started to steal some essence for himself.

Major Story Arcs

Justice League

Gray Man has escaped his isle prison and begins to steal all the world's dream essence starting with the small town of Stone Ridge Vermont. This brings the attention of Doctor Fate but when he enters the Gray Man's stronghold, a small movie theater in Stone Ridge he become trapped. Doctor Fate is able to get a message out to the Justice League, but when Captain Marvel shows up Gray Man takes control of his mind and turns him against the Justice League.

This takes too much strain on Gray Man's part and Doctor Fate is able to escape his bonds. Gray Man and Doctor Fate battle but when the Justice League shows up Gray Man is forced to duplicate himself. He loses track of the League members and Creeper get the drop on him. Gray Man escapes Creeper and is able to knock out the rest of the League. This is when Doctor Fate shows his true power and teleports everyone to the Lords of Order's realm.

Justice League International

Gray Man finds himself teleported to the Place that's Not a Place by Doctor Fate. There he once again gazes upon the Lords of Order. He tries to explain why he did what he did and blame all his deeds on the punishment the Lords gave him. He then learns becoming the Gray Man was not a curse like he thought but a blessing, a gift from the Lords. He begs them to take it back and they oblige, by destroying this form of the Gray Man and turning him to black ooze.

Brave and the Bold: The Green and Gold

The death of the Gray Man is replayed for Doctor Fate. This action make Kent Nelson yearn to see what the future holds, so he sends a piece of himself into the future. The piece never returns and this may lead to Kent Nelson's death.

Powers

It was unknown and never explained how the Gray Man's theft of dream essence affected the "Dream Stream" - home of the second Sandman.

Later, the Gray Man assists Wesley Dodds in preparing for the return of Hector Hall as Doctor Fate, which leads to the reforming of the JSA.