Origin

David Dauntless was a British space hero in the 1950s, and member of the British Space Group.

Creation

David Dauntless was created by Ian Edginton and Charlie Adlard as a protagonist in The Establishment. His name, appearance and status as a British space pilot, as well as several members of his crew and his involvement in an exploratory mission to Venus, mark him as analogous to Dan Dare, while his membership of British Space Group and infection with a space-born parasite are a homage to Quatermass' British Rocket Group and the fate of the astronauts in the first Quatermass serial.

Character Development

David Dauntless was a heroic British space pilot in the 1950s, a member of British Space Group, which was using technology from Sliding Albion to further development of interplanetary spaceships, such as Dauntless' Alexandra. When radio telescopes indicated the possibility of life on Venus, British Space Group put Dauntless in charge of an exploratory mission, but all contact was lost when, unknown to Earth, Dauntless and his crew were infected by microscopic aliens who took over the humans' forms. Fifty years later the aliens, still wearing the forms of their human victims, took the Alexandra back to Earth, intending to spread across that world, but though Dauntless and his people were initially given a heroes' welcome, members of the Establishment became suspicious, discovered the true fate of Dauntless and his crew, and prevented the invasion.