Line #15 ComicBook/DamageControl


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3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marvel_damage_control_4163.jpg]]
4	''Damage Control'' is a comic (in both senses) series published in intermittent bursts by Creator/MarvelComics. Created by Creator/{{Dwayne McDuffie}}, it offers a lighthearted look at the Franchise/MarvelUniverse through the lens of a company specializing in rebuilding areas devastated by superhero-supervillain throw-downs. When abandoned bits of AppliedPhlebotinum are picked up, superweapons are accidentally activated, and super-villains won't pay their bills, it is all PlayedForLaughs.
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6	The core characters are:
7	* Ann-Marie Hoag: Founder, first director, and current owner.
8	* Robin Chapel: Former Traffic Manager, current CEO. Her highly competent and businesslike exterior hides a friendly interior. Romantically linked to John Porter.
9	* John Porter: Account Executive. Has the knack for finding creative and practical solutions to complicated problems. Had a rivalry with Robin at first, and is friends with the Wrecking Crew villain Thunderball.
10	* Albert Cleary: Comptroller. Albert appears perpetually cool and unflappable, no matter how intimidating the situation. Possesses the ability to never wrinkle his suit.
11	* Eugene "Gene" Strausser: Chief Technician and supervisor of Damage Control's salvaged super-gadgets. Briefly became an armored villain when he was fired by the new board of directors.
12	* Lenny Balinger: Chief Foreman and head of the Search-and-Rescue division. Has a gruff, no-nonsense attitude, and stands by his crew through thick and thin.
13	* Henry Ackerdson: Head of Marketing. His ideas tend toward the outlandish and gimmicky, barely tolerated by the rest of the staff.
14	* Bart Rozum: Robin's personal assistant, a very casual teen who's never seen without his baseball cap.
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16	Given the unusual situations they face, the regulars at Damage Control often need to be a bit... ''creative'' in how they resolve problems.
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18	In October 2015, it was announced that a television series based on the comic book was in development at Creator/{{ABC}} by Ben Karlin (''Series/ModernFamily''), as a part of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. While it was initially intended to release in 2016 or 2017, the project was placed in DevelopmentHell due to the network re-evaluating its commitment to creating Marvel television shows. Damage Control ultimately made their first official MCU appearance in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' as a [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction federal agency]] funded in part by Tony Stark, led by Hoag (portrayed by Tyne Daly).
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20	If you're looking for the trope of the same name, please go [[DamageControl here]].
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22	!!This series provides examples, straight or parodied, of:
23	* AccidentalMisnaming: After the new Black Goliath joins the company, he's called the wrong name by everyone he meets. "Black Buck", "Big Brother", "Big Black"... He curtails this by changing it to simply "Goliath".
24	* AdaptationDecay: One story arc involved a Hollywood producer who wanted to make a [[TheMovie movie]] about Damage Control. The results were less than faithful.
25	* BadassNormal: Most of the staff are regular Joes and Janes struggling with cleaning up toppled buildings and retrieving villains' destroyed giant mecha.
26	** Lampshaded in the character profiles, which solemnly reported that the characters' strength level was that of a normal human of their age, height, and build who engaged in moderate regular exercise.
27	* BlackAndNerdy: Albert Cleary is cut from the "Highly competent professional who happens to be black" mold.
28	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Happens to Albert in the (in-story) movie. Played by [[Series/GoodTimes Jimmy "J.J." Walker]]. Albert was not thrilled either way.
29	* BrokenTreasure: One issue features a group of Doctor Doom's minions destroying their laboratory while researching new weapons, and hiring Damage Control to rebuild it exactly the same as it was before Doom finds out. It might have worked out if they hadn't then tried to stiff Damage Control on the bill, because surely they wouldn't dare try to collect from Doom in person...
30	%%* BunnyEarsLawyer: John Porter, more than any of the other employees.
31	%%* ButtMonkey: Henry Ackerdson.
32	* TheCameo: Every major Marvel character - hero and villain - shows up at some point. It's because they either need a service or to pick up their weapons from "Lost And Found".
33	* CelebrityEndorsement: One of Henry's proposed advertising campaigns was to center around [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Joe Fixit]], with the tag line "We Clean Up The Hulk's Messes, We Can Clean Up Yours". Needless to say, he wasn't pleased...
34	%%* CigarChomper: Lenny Balinger.
35	* CleanupCrew: Averted throughout. Despite being (at various times) co-owned by The Kingpin and a CorruptCorporateExecutive, Damage Control has never willingly dealt in criminal activities. They do provide some ''legitimate'' services to villains, as long as the villains can pay their bills.
36	* ComesGreatResponsibility: During one of Ackerdson's hair-brained schemes to brand the company, he gets the staff to dress up in spandex uniforms complete with capes. When one part of the scheme creates an underground flood, Porter and Gene are stuck when the elevator gets packed with regular crewmen. When Porter asks why he and Gene have to endure the flooding, the foreman exclaims "''Who's'' wearing the cape?"
37	-->'''John Porter:''' Actually, that's a pretty good point.
38	* CoolOldLady: Mrs. Anne-Marie Hoag, who hobnobs with [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], stands up to ComicBook/TheKingpin, beats the living hell out of muggers, has survived multiple hostile takeovers and is best friends (and perhaps more) with ComicBook/NickFury and ComicBook/LukeCage.
39	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: After Walter Declun took over Damage Control, he decided to generate more business by giving mutant growth hormone to supervillains to increase their powers and cause more damage as a result. This indirectly led to the Stamford incident, which in turn led to the infamous ''Comicbook/CivilWar2006'' story arc.
40	** Interestingly, only Wolverine saw this thread amidst the massive ConflictBall rolling around the superhero community, and so he was the one to give Declun his comeuppance.
41	* CosmicEntity: An accident gives cosmic powers to an employee, turning him into Edifice Rex, who wants to ''clean the whole world...'' a little too thoroughly. The Damage Control guys manage to distract him by getting him to clean the Asteroid Belt. We assume he's still out there doing it.
42	* CurbStompBattle: The super-heroes of Damage Control[[note]]a dozen heroes, including Daredevil, Luke Cage, Danny Rand, Sentry, Monstro, Goliath, Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel[[/note]] versus the Chrysler Building.
43	-->'''Lenny:''' Fight's over.\
44	'''John:''' Already?\
45	'''Lenny:''' Yeah, he had [[UnderStatement a little bit of a size advantage]].
46	* CuttingTheKnot: Porter's expertise. When confronted with an intractable problem, he figures out the simplest solution... which usually involves letting the damaged building collapse anyway so that a quickly-built building - using the advanced tech strewn about and scavenged - can go up to replace it.
47	* DamageControl: The series is centered around a group of people tasked with cleaning up after the destructive fights between superheroes and villains in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse.
48	* {{Deconstruction}}: The central conceit of the series is that ''somebody'' has to clean up all those messes.
49	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Done when Edifice Rex, an employee who acquired cosmic powers, decides to use his abilities to clean up the universe, reverse the Big Bang, force everything back into the cosmic egg, and then maybe put the egg on a tasteful pedestal. While the other cosmic beings consider how to stop him, Robin Chapel [[spoiler:realizes he's just doing his job... and fires him.]]
50	* FantasticalSocialServices: The point of Damage Control is to handle the cleanup and reconstruction efforts following the [[DestructiveSavior inevitably destructive battles between superheroes and supervillains]].
51	* FriendlyEnemy: In the first issue, John Porter helps the villain Thunderball cut through Damage Control's Lost & Found department. Later, when several employees are trapped with the Wrecking Crew, Thunderball recognizes John among them; he tells the Wrecking Crew to leave them alone [[EngineeredHeroics because John has superpowers]].
52	-->'''John:''' LIGHTS OUT!\
53	''(lights go out, Thunderball hits the Wrecking Crew in the heads)'' ''(Bonk!) (Bang!) (Blam!)''
54	* FunWithAcronyms: "Damage Control" [[Creator/DCComics abbreviates to...]]
55	* GeniusLoci: The Chrysler Building, which became sentient and mobile after ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' and wants to see the world. John Porter negotiates a deal where it can go on vacations in August, since no one visits Manhattan then.
56	* HeadTiltinglyKinky: The sex scene between "Robin" and "John" in the Damage Control movie.
57	* HeroInsurance: Explored rather than simply implied.
58	* HilaritySues: A regular occurrence in the series, whether it's from civilians suing supers for wrecking stuff, supers suing organizations for property loss, or Damage Control suing Doombots for unpaid bills.
59	%%* InnocentBystanderSeries
60	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: One story had the company hired to repair damage to [[Comicbook/XMen Xavier's School For Gifted Children]] from a super-battle. After the repairs were completed and the crew paid, Professor Xavier used his telepathic powers to erase their memories of the school's location and students.
61	* LovableNerd: "Gene" Strausser, who's essentially a big kid playing with Damage Control's collection of super-powered toys.
62	* MediumAwareness: Played with when ComicBook/SheHulk was a featured guest-star; the comic made fun of her [[FourthWallObserver fourth-wall savvyness]] at the time by repeatedly [[{{Lampshade}} Lampshading]] it... culminating when She-Hulk has a building collapse around her:
63	-->'''Lenny:''' I always tell them -- when you [[BreakingTheFourthWall break the fourth wall]], the whole structure collapses.
64	* MundaneUtility:
65	** Damage Control regularly uses super-powered people and super-powered gadgets to do cleanup and construction.
66	** Eugene invented an Adamantium razor from the scraps left over after ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk''.
67	--->"The shave is magnificent and the blade never gets dull."
68	* NervesOfSteel: Albert Cleary, who serves overdue bills to '''''Doctor Doom''''' without showing any outward signs of distress. ("Outward signs" being the important bit here. On the inside, he's imagining himself in the morgue and praying for divine intervention.)
69	* NotSoStoic: Albert's normally-unflappable demeanor drops after he's been turned into an UncleTomfoolery caricature in the movie.
70	* OfficeRomance: John Porter and Robin Chapel eventually end up as a couple. It's an open secret at the office, which makes it easier for Mrs. Hoag to contact both of them when there's work to be done.
71	%%* OffscreenRebuilding
72	* OnlySaneEmployee: Robin Chapel.
73	* PersonalHorror: Penance of the Thunderbolts forces the team to leave Damage Control alone to avoid revealing his embarrassing secret. [[spoiler:That Bart knows his secret identity, and earlier suggested Penance seek professional help for his DarkerAndEdgier personality change and SelfHarm tendencies.]]
74	-->'''Bart:''' I need you to get the Thunderbolts to back off for a couple of days.\
75	'''Penance:''' And why would I do that?\
76	'''Bart:''' We both know why. Does everyone else need to?
77	* PunchClockHero: Done literally with the superheroes who work for Damage Control; these include Speedball (as an intern in his civilian identity), Hercules (community service), [[strike:Black]] Goliath, Monstro, and Visioneer.
78	* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: A company trademark, as featured in [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/Doop/marvelyearinreview/marvel_1989_the_year_in_review_p01.jpg this advertisement]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that Damage Control often uses the super-powered gadgets, battle robots, and AppliedPhlebotinum they scavenge during their cleanups to expedite repairs.
79	-->The City of New York tried to fix the George Washington bridge for 7 months. Then they called us.\
80	We fixed it in one day. Before lunch.
81	%%* RuleOfFunny
82	* SecondLawMyAss: In the cleanup after ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', the crew finds the head of the robot pilot for the Hulk's spaceship. It spends its entire time belittling and insulting everyone nearby.
83	-->'''Arch-E 5912:''' Did a shaved monkey just refer to me as a "toy"?\
84	'''Robin:''' Did a talking Dustbuster just call me as a "shaved monkey"?!
85	* SecretIdentityChangeTrick: Parodied in an issue where Speedball tries to find some satisfactory way to go change into costume when supervillains attack... then tells everyone he's going to go get a frozen yogurt.
86	* SexySecretary: Anne the receptionist.
87	* {{Sitcom}}: Dwayne [=McDuffie=], who co-created the concept with artist Ernie Colón and wrote Damage Control's initial non-adventures, pitched ''Damage Control'' to Marvel as "a sitcom within the Franchise/MarvelUniverse".
88	* TitleTheAdaptation: ''Damage Control: The Movie''
89	* UncleTomfoolery:
90	** Happens to prim-and-proper Comptroller Albert in the movie adaptation. He files a lawsuit while the film is still screening.
91	** In conversation, Black Goliath mentions that he was teased as a kid for being named "Tom", but he grew out of it.
92	* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: From the Damage Control scrap pile, run by Eugene "Gene" Strausser.

Context ComicBook / DamageControl