We may live in an age where forgettable backbenchers are regularly sacrificed on the altar of cheap pathos, but there are a rare few z-listers who’ve repeatedly managed to dodge such an editorially-mandated demise, no matter how deserved such a fate might be.

Paladin is one of those characters, maintaining a cockroach-like presence in the margins of the Marvel Universe despite the fact that no one gives a shit about him.

The character made his debut Daredevil #150 (January 1978) and though his name suggests a rigid devotion to Lawful Good alignment, he (like a previous man who bore the name on radio and television) was a gun for hire. Unlike the chess-playing man in black, however, this Paladin was a mercenary cad with a vague sense of personal honor and a poor sense of color coordination.

He also possessed a rather awkward-looking stun gun, the “strength of three men,” and a “realistic” suit of Kevlar body armor which appeared to have been fashioned from the pelt of a Red Lectroid and some renfaire leavings.

Paladin’s efforts to collect the bounty on the Purple Man’s head put him into conflict with the Man Without Fear, resulting in the usual tussles before the pair put aside their ideological differences to bring down their common enemy. As such, one could assume that Paladin was meant to function as a counterpoint made manifest as a two-dimensional caricature — a noble but limited role intended to define the series lead’s own morality via broad contrast.

Perhaps this would have been the case in another, prouder genre and medium, but we’re talking about superhero comics, where the Memory Hole has long since been replaced by a recycling bin.

Following those initial appearances, Paladin popped up in a Marvel Premiere solo adventure (relentlessly overwritten by Don McGregor), teamed up with Spider-Man and Dazzler, and sexed up the Wasp during her post-divorce rebound — all par for the course for an up-and-coming z-lister with delusions of a solo title.

That moment never arrived, though an ever-diminishing audience was treated to a downward spiral of guest appearances which paired Paladin with such beloved properties as Silver Sable and Generation X. Yet through it all, the character has survived while better known and loved properties have been sent to (and returned from) the cornfield, and a darker, more ruthless incarnation of Paladin has found a niche as a whipping boy in both Civil War and Dark Reign.

Too lame to be loved, too lucky to die, the man called Paladin is a Nobody’s Favorite of the most durable kind.

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