Imagine being able to push some buttons on an alien device and then transforming into
one of several characters with extraordinary abilities.
That probably sounds like I’m reciting the premise to the hit show, Ben 10, but in fact
this is also the plot of a DC comic book that predates it by nearly FOUR DECADES.
Today, we’re going to be looking at the H-Dials, some of the most powerful objects
in the entire DC universe that like nobody talks about.
But before we jump too far into things, I should probably mention that although they
are insanely powerful, the H-Dials are some of the most inconsistent things in all of
comics books with the rules and continuities being ALL over the place and with a brand
new series for Dial H having just come out, they’re probably going to get change…
again.
Anyway, the H-Dial first appeared in House of Mystery #156 in 1966, but other dials have
appeared over time as well.
Some of them have buttons that are written in a language called Interlac, some of them
only have four buttons that are written in English, and most modern ones literally look
like rotary phone dials, but one thing is consistent between all of them.
By dialing the code H-E-R-O into an H-Dial, its user can turn into a random superhero
complete with name, costume, and those sweet sweet powers.
Now remember that these are RANDOM superheroes so it’s absolutely possible to become a
hero that doesn’t match your sex and although it’s rare, repeats do happen from time to
time.
Regardless, this random element opens up a LOT of creative possibility and is a comic
creator’s dream.
Almost every single time, the heroes that users turn into are all new creations with
basically no limits as to what their powers can be.
If it’s a dumb or silly concept then it’s no big deal since it’s just a one off!
That’s how you get characters like Afterburner, Bumper Carla, and Monster Truck.
However, while most of these creations are all new characters, someone using the H-Dial
CAN turn into established superheroes such as Plastic Man and even The Flash!
Although an H-Dial is supposed to simply copy the powers of a hero, a broken dial can occasionally
straight up steal powers and some REALLY broken ones straight up steal them every single time.
In the case of The Flash, we actually got to see this power theft happen in real time
as his powers were dialed right in the middle of a storyline in the Flash series!
Barry Allen was left absolutely powerless until the dialer relinquished the abilities
which meant that he had to rely on his villains’ technology that he “borrowed” from evidence
storage.
So how DOES a dialer return back to normal?
Well it depends on the continuity and the dial itself.
In most instances, you need to reverse dial O-R-E-H which is hero spelled backwards in
order to become normal again.
Other times, it’s a time limit and reverse dialing simply speeds up the timer.
Regardless, reverting to human form undoes any damage that’s sustained as a hero and
successfully reverse dialing can only be achieved if the transformed hero themselves does it.
Which means that if an enemy gets their hands on a dial, they can’t power their opponent
down.
Now if the enemy was able to sever the hand of the user and then use THAT to reverse dial?
It totally works.
Now I’m not sure if breaking a dial while transformed would revert the user back as
to my knowledge, that hasn’t happened in the comics.
I find it pretty unlikely that we’ll find out though since the dials are strong enough
to survive a fall from space and are also strong enough to withstand a thermite blast.
In earlier continuities, the recharge time before transforming again was random.
It could be days, hours, or even seconds!
These days, they ABSOLUTELY need time to recharge which I personally like as it sort of balances
how overpowered these things can be.
That way, you can’t just keep dialing over and over again until you get someone as powerful
as Superman which by the way IS totally possible!
Other limitations include how two people can’t use the same dial at once and an H-Dial only
works if you believe yourself to be a hero.
Although, these are rules only apply in the modern era.
One of my favorite drawbacks comes from the Dial H series in 2012 where the memories of
a dialed hero take over the user’s mind and if they’re not careful, they can lose
all sense of self.
These memories can even linger after the user turns back to normal which takes a massive
psychological toll.
Now I’m sure some of you might be wondering “Does the dial do anything else if you type
in a different code?”
Well one time WAY back in the day, a dude typed in V-I-L-L-A-I-N into the H-Dial which
turned him into a random super villain.
That’s neat, but later comics introduced a proper villainous counterpart in the form
of the Q-Dial, Q standing for “qued” which is an old word that means bad.
But wait, there’s more!
The later comics introduced a whole slew of other dials!
There’s the S-Dial where if someone types in the code S-I-D-E, they turn into a random
sidekick.
This comes with the added caveat that when an H-Dial is in use, an S-Dial user HAS to
do whatever the hero says.
The J-Dial allows the user to jump between worlds and although it’s not revealed what
the special code is, I’m willing to wager that it’s J-U-M-P.
The G-Dial summons random gadgets and artifacts, the Dial-Tapper copies any H-Dial in range,
and the D-Dial also known as the Doom Dial creates a random apocalypse level event.
Back to the H-Dial though.
There’s a few extra bits of details that makes them somehow even MORE powerful.
One dialer, Chris King, managed to internalize some of his dial’s power and even without
it, he involuntarily changes into a new hero every single hour.
Thankfully, S.T.A.R.
Labs built him a suit to contain these changes though.
But let me just one up that for a second.
We’ve seen another dialer, a guy literally named Hero Cruz, be able to dial specific
superpowers by concentrating hard enough.
But let’s one up that.
The 2012 series showed dialer, Nelson Jent, be able to cross the wires of his dial and
fuse heros together.
BUT LET’S ONE UP THAT!
The 2003 series showed that if someone uses the device for long enough, the powers of
their previously dialed heroes come back and become PERMANENT in normal human form.
These things are overpowered, inconsistent, and with the new series teasing the idea of
the Heroverse, I think that there’s a chance that these could be even more OP, but I guess
we’re just going to have to wait and see.
This was a nightmare to research, but I actually had a lot of fun because those old Silver
Age stories ended up being surprisingly enjoyable, but one thing that I really did like was the
2003 run that I mentioned earlier on in the video.
It was kind of like a monkey’s paw story where the H-Dials would come into the possession
of characters, the would get insanely powerful, and then their lives would be destroyed in
just interesting ways before the dial then gets moved over to somebody else for the entire
process to repeat again.
So if that sounds interesting then definitely give that a read.
I honestly enjoyed it.
But before we go, I want to give a quick shoutout to @xeno_odysseyjae for retweeting my last
video it means a whole lot and if you want a shout-out, this might be a recurring thing.
Maybe retweet this video.
Twitter, @TrailerDrake.
But if you liked this video then why not consider subscribing or even watching another one?
And if you liked this then you probably like obscure DC Comics trivia so why not watch
the video that I did with my friend, Billiam, on the DC Comics Bionicle books.
It's weird so I don’t know, give that a click or something.
But anyway, I hope you learned at least a little something new and hopefully, I’ll
see you next time!