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Gangbuster

Gangbuster

9 appearances · Copper/Modern Age · 1988–2026
Who is Gangbuster?

José Delgado is a Metropolis high-school teacher and former boxer who takes to the streets as the vigilante Gangbuster, using his athletic skills and homemade armor to battle the gangs plaguing his city when Superman isn't around.

Street-level and scrappy, Gangbuster crashed onto the DC scene in 1988 courtesy of Jerry Ordway, emerging in the Copper Age alongside the very best of Metropolis — Superman, Lois Lane, Clark Kent, Perry White, and Lex Luthor himself. That's rarified company, and it speaks to just how deeply embedded this character is in the fabric of the Superman corner of the DC Universe. With appearances stretching across nearly four decades and into 2026, Gangbuster has proven a quietly enduring presence, the kind of gritty, ground-floor figure who reminds readers that not every hero in Metropolis wears a cape.

Teams & affiliations
Thanagarians
★ First appearance
Adventures of Superman #446
Nov 1988

Top series

Appearances

Adventures of Superman (1987)
Superman (1987)
Michel Fiffe Portfolio (2016)
#2