Dian Marie Belmont
Residence: New York City
Occupation: Debutante and socialite
First Appearance (Golden Age): Adventure Comics #47 (February 1940)
History
Dian Belmont was born in 1916 in Chicago on Earth-Two, the daughter of prosecutor Larry Belmont. As an infant, she was caught in the cross-fire when the Elder Gang targeted her father, killing her mother and supposedly herself. In reality, the gang's safe cracker - Slick Deacon - had taken pity on the infant, raising her as his daughter Diana Ware and teaching her his criminal trade. Belmont leave Chicago for New York City to start a new life.
The youthful years of Dian's life are poorly documented. In 1940, she was working under coercion from Black Bill Trent under the nom du crime "Lady in Evening Clothes". By means unknown, she somehow deduced that Wesley Dodds and the Sandman were one in the same. Breaking into Dodds home, she is caught and interrogated by Dodds. Infatuated with his attractive intruder, Dodds invited her to open a safe while he watched and she does, revealing his Sandman gear and sharing her knowledge of his secret. She reveals her lost childhood and agrees to help Sandman capture Black Bill in exchange for his help in finding her family.
Bill has recently hired Trigger Hunt to murder Anson Post, a friend of Dodds, With Dian's help, they recover the ballistic report from the D.A.s safe but are ambushed by the Trent's henchmen and the Sandman is wounded. As they flee, they crash the car in a rural area and spend a week on farm recovering. Returning to the city, Sandman invades Trent's hideaway, recovering evidence and to his surprise, Slick Deacon's diary that Trent was saving to blackmail Dian about her true origins.
Dian and the Sandman free Trigger Hunt from jail under the ruse of rescuing him but instead, take to him the D.A.s home. There he presents the D.A. with evidence of Post's murder and incriminating material taken from Trent. As the Sandman shares his information, policemen surround them. Dian threatens to shoot the D.A. but Sandman asks for a private audience. When granted, he shared Deacon's diary and reunites Dian with her father. Bursting with gratitude, the D.A. allows the Sandman to leave and offers to include him more seriously in the future while Dian moves in to her new home (Adventure Comics #47)
As Belmont's daughter, Dian is quickly included in the highest social circles in New York City. Her relationship with the Sandman deepened, providing her father a considerable degree of protection when targeted by criminals (Adventure Comics #48 and #51). Dian also served as an accomplice, driving the escape car and even dressing as Sandman herself (Adventure Comics #56). In 1941, more exotic criminals began to emerge, pushing Sandman's abilities to their limit. Dian was frequently involved including being the first to encounter the Unseen Man (Adventure Comics #64), being kidnapped by the Society of Six (World's Finest #4) and shrunk to miniature size by Dr. Doombie (Adventure Comics #67).
In the winter of 1941, Dian crafted a new yellow and dark uniform for Sandman, one more in line with the modern vigilante aesthetics and less like the noir characters of Sandman's early days. One evening while the Sandman was on patrol in his new uniform, Dian hears an APB on suspected saboteurs and decides to once more don the gas mask herself. Rushing to scene in her roadster, she is seen by Axis agents who fire at the tires, bursting and them sending her into a deadly crash. The Sandman and the Tarantula - who had also been inspired by Dian's designs - arrive at the scene and find Dian's broken body. Sandman reports her death to the all-Star Squadron some months later (All-Star Squadron #18). Whether this account if factual or part of some ruse is unclear. Sandman's girlfriend - wisely believed to be Dian Belmont - was recruited by Wonder Woman in an effort to rescue their heroic boyfriends from Brain Wave in 1943, suggesting that either Dian was actually alive or that a new woman yet to be identified had entered Sandman's life (All-Star Comics #15). Sandman later recruited Sandy Hawkins, Dian's orphaned nephew, as a side kick but who Sandy's parentage was and how Dian was related has not been defined. Her ultimate fate on Earth-Two remains to be determined.
Earth-0
The history of Dian Belmont in the Earth-0 timeline has several divergences form her Earth-Two counterpart. First, there is no evidence that Dian was every kidnapped as an infant or possessed skills such as safe cracking. Her mother appears likewise deceased in this timeline though how this occurred is not clear, She has a long history as a New York Socialite with a deep network of connections through sororities and other social clubs (Sandman Mystery Theatre #1)
Secondly, she falls first for Wesley Dodds and discovers he is the Sandman after Dodd's behavior arouses her suspicions (Sandman Mystery Theatre #24). Like her counterpart, she becomes the Sandman's accomplice and designs the costume he wore during teh 1940's. A case involving her seeming death does not appear in the published record and seems unlikely to have occured at all.
Lastly, she is known to have lived a full life and became a famous author of whom Starman's son Jack Knight is a fan (Starman #20). Very late in life, she and Dodds travel the war as the face the diseases that will ultimately steal their lives, including a trip to Afghanistan where she is kidnapped (Sandman: The Sleep of Reason). She dies right before the turn of the century with Dodds following soon after (revealed in JSA vol. 1 #1).
Appearances
Adventure Comics #47-48, #50-52, #54, #56, #58-68
All-Star Comics #3, #5, #7-8 and #15
All-Star Squadron #18
World's Finest #3-5