Sinister Van Dalus as he appears in Simpsons Super Spectacular #6.
Van Dalus—often called Sinister Van Dalus—is a fictional character, an antagonist of Radioactive Man and the Superior Squad based on Vandal Savage.
Van Dalus has power on such a level that even Gordon Farr—his creator in the world of The Simpsons—considers him a real-world threat and visibly fears him. Farr got the idea for Sinister Van Dalus in a dream. Van Dalus started life in prehistory as a monkey. He acquired his powers when a comet flew near him, granting him immortality and a body that would evolve apace with evolution.
As an evolved, immortal human, Van Dalus feels entitled to rule the world. In his perpetual quest, he perennially confronts the Superior Squad, invariably escaping their every attempt to confine him. At one point, Plasmo tries to contain Van Dalus by sending him to an alternate dimension. In so doing, Plasmo unwittingly sends Van Dalus through the fourth wall into the Simpsons universe.
Plasmo lands in the midst of a comics convention in Springfield. There, he enlists Willis Cameron Wendall, Joe Jeffs, and Brant Garrison (three comics writers based on Brian Michael Bendis, Geoff Johns, and Grant Morrison, respectively) to accompany him back into the Radioactive Man universe to aid in his machinations. These writers wrote scenarios that undercut the effectiveness and self-belief of the Superior Squad.
With the heroes incapacitated, Van Dalus met with fellow supervillains Dr. Crab, Larceny Lass, Hypno Head, and Madame Eczema to discuss divvying up the territory of the world.
Plasmo escaped this scheme in time to return to the Simpsons universe to warn Farr and the denizens of Springfield. Plasmo then imbued the people of Springfield with superpowers. Together, they formed an ad hoc superhero group known as the Springfield Super-Squadron. The group traveled to Radioactive Man's world, defeating Van Dalus and trapping him after Homer Simpson—at the time possessed of superhuman edacity—unwittingly destroyed Van Dalus' means of egress. At Bart Simpson's behest, Plasmo then trapped Van Dalus in a slabbed comic book.[1]
Powers[]
Sinister Van Dalus makes use of killer robots.
Farr describes Sinister Van Dalus as possessing an "advanced intellect and immortality." Events in the story also imply that Van Dalus has at least peak human physicality and an advanced knowledge of anthropology, escapology, and robotics. In a demonstration of the latter, Van Dalus employs an army of killer robots to serve as henchmen.[1]