Trident is the name of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Publication history

The Trident Trio first appeared in '' New Teen Titans'' #33 and were created by

Marv Wolfman Marvin Arthur Wolfman (born May 13, 1946) is an American comic book and novelization writer. He worked on Marvel Comics's '' The Tomb of Dracula'', for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade, and DC Comics's ''The New Te ...

and

George Pérez George Pérez (; June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling ''Fantastic Four'' and '' The Avengers'' for Marvel Comics. In the 198 ...

. Marv Wolfman later acknowledged that he recycled the idea of different people posing as a single villain from his earlier characters the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

Fictional character biography

Trident Trio

In the story, the three alter-egos of Trident were operatives of the H.I.V.E. who later splintered from the group. "Prof" was a weapons design specialist. Sammy Jaye was an enforcer. The third one was an unidentified black man that used to fight in the

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

. Eventually, they decide to team up and strike out on their own. Each adopts the costume and code-name of Trident, and each is armed with a powerful trident. The trident's right tine shoots fire, the left tine shoots ice, and the center tine releases a blast of devastating force. Trident operates in New York City, each criminal taking turns at committing several large robberies, leading the public to believe them to be a single person. Eventually, the Sammy Jaye Trident tries to cheat his two partners out of their share of loot. The other two kill Sammy and his costumed body is discovered by the Teen Titans and the police. Starfire eventually figures out that there is more than one Trident. After tracking down the other two Tridents, the Teen Titans defeated the Tridents and they were handed over to the police. Some time after the two surviving Tridents are imprisoned, Wildebeest springs the unnamed Trident, Gizmo, Puppeteer, and Disruptor from jail. These villains are eventually recaptured by the Teen Titans. During the "

Infinite Crisis "Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, ...

" storyline, someone that might be the unnamed Trident was seen on the

Injustice Gang The following is a list of fictional criminal and terrorist organizations that have been published by DC Comics and their imprints. 0-9 100 Originally based in Metropolis, the 100 kept a firm grip on the city's criminal underworld for years, ind ...

's satellite as a member of Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains.

Karate Kid

The name Trident was also used by a Starro-infected Karate Kid who claimed to be a member of the Trident Guild. However, these beliefs were due to the effects of brainwashing by Starro.''Justice League of America'' (Vol. 2) #3. DC Comics.

Powers and abilities

Trident carries a trident that has three tines: the right shoots fire, the left shoots ice, and the middle releases a blast of devastating force. He can project holograms which make him appear several feet away from where he is actually standing while concealing his true position.

In other media

Trident appears in ''

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'', voiced by Clancy Brown. This version is an arrogant fish-man and an enemy of the Atlanteans. Introduced in the episode "Deep Six", he intends to overthrow Atlantis and take over the surface world by making an army of clones of himself using toxic chemicals. However, he runs afoul of the

and

Aqualad Aqualad is the name of two fictional comic book superheroes appearing in media published by DC Entertainment. The first Aqualad, Garth, debuted in February 1960 in ''Adventure Comics'' #269 and was created by writer Robert Bernstein and artist ...

, who trick him and his clones into arguing over who the original Trident is before trapping them in an undersea cave. In season five, Trident joins the

Brotherhood of Evil The Brotherhood of Evil is a group of DC Comics supervillains, archenemies of the original Doom Patrol and the Teen Titans and enemies of the Justice League. The Brotherhood of Evil appears in the third season of the HBO Max series ''Doom Patrol ...

to kill young heroes around the world, only to be defeated and flash-frozen alongside them by the Titans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trident (DC Comics) Characters created by Marv Wolfman Characters created by George Pérez Comics characters introduced in 1983 DC Comics supervillains DC Comics martial artists Fictional African-American people