Black Marvel

In the 1941 comic origin, Man-to—presented as the last chief of a Blackfeet tribe and dying—sought a worthy successor. His medicine man, Running Elk, arranged a series of tests for Daniel Lyons (Dan). After passing trials of endurance, swimming, archery, and strength (including slaying a bear), Man-to bestowed upon Dan the "sacred costume of the Black Marvel" and a long bow. Man-to instructed Dan to notch the bow each time he performed a good deed and stated that only when the bow had one hundred notches would he be truly worthy of the name Black Marvel. This narrative functions as the comic's commissioning of Dan Lyons as a costumed avenger rather than as an ethnographic ritual.

The Black Marvel is depicted as a costumed human avenger who wears the named "sacred costume" given in his origin story and wields a long bow as signature equipment. Golden Age comics show the costumed figure performing athletic feats and using the bow; an original but distinct incarnation named Omar Mosely appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series as an African-American version of the Black Marvel.

As presented in the comics, Daniel Lyons is a peak-condition human and an excellent hand-to-hand combatant with exceptional athletic and martial skill. His origin tests narratively establish extraordinary feats of speed, swimming, archery (including multiple bullseyes while blindfolded and catching arrows), and strength (slaying a bear). In later continuity Lyons briefly obtains four superpowered costumes via a bargain with Mephisto to outfit a team (the Slingers); he is later freed from that demonic contract. The Black Marvel's behavior in stories is that of a proactive crimefighter and wartime ally: stopping raids, confronting criminal orders, thwarting Nazi agents, participating in parachute assaults and large wartime actions, investigating hoaxes, and seeking redemption after personal failure.