Ten years ago, the world changed forever, when mankind was introduced to the Superman.
Making his presence known to mankind in response to a world-threatening crisis, the Kryptonian who had lived in secret among humanity emerged from shadows and by his actions declared himself their protector. While the cataclysmic circumstances that forced his debut cast him in controversy, over time Superman became not just a champion of the defenseless, but an exemplar for others who wielded incredible power such as his.
Less than a year after the Black Zero event, researchers in a branch of STAR Labs in Central City accidentally unleashed a cascade wave of extradimensional energy that swept across the world, causing unexpected mutations in an unknown percentage of the population. These people, dubbed Metahumans by the scientific community, gave birth to a new and extremely powerful generation of protectors such as the Flash, and dangerous criminals and terrorists like the Rogues.
Years before the events that thrust Kal-El of Krypton and the Metahuman Race onto the world stage, there were stories of garish vigilantes who tackled the forces of evil, half-believed folk tales of 'mystery men' who worked in the shadows. A mythical 'Wonder Woman' who fought for freedom and justice when Europe descended into madness and war. The powerful but elusive 'Justice Society of America' who kept the peace back home when the United States went to war again. The 'Bat-Man' who was the stuff of nightmares for the criminal underworld of Gotham City and beyond.
The legacy of these vigilantes and 'mystery men,' brought into the light of day by the arrival of Superman and the Metahumans, were the foundation of a new idea, something that would guide the course of events in the years to come: the Superhero. Not merely a crimefighter or a monster-hunter, a Superhero was a bringer of hope in a world fraught with danger and uncertainty, a light in the dark for all to see.
With the eyes of the world upon them at all times, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest would slowly but surely define what being a Superhero was.....and their opposites-- Lex Luthor, the Joker, the Cheetah, and countless more--would provide the response in the form of the Supervillain. Conflict between the two ideals was inevitable, and over the years the clashes have been too numerous to count.
It has been ten years since Superman's arrival and the Battle of Metropolis.
Nine since the advent of the Metahumans.
Eight since the creation of the Justice League.
Seven since the First Crisis.
Six since Superman's death at the hands of the monster Doomsday.
Five since the forming of the Titans and the War of the Light.
Four since the reign of the Justice Lords and the resurrection of Superman.
Three since the schism that split the Outsiders away from the Titans.
Two since the Flashpoint Crisis.
One year since the Earthquake that rendered Gotham City a No Man's Land.
The world has indeed changed.....and it is far from done changing.......
Ultimate DC: REBIRTH
Screenname of the Proposed RPG’s Game Master: Andy C.
How will the overall layout of the RPG be?: An ongoing story-driven RPG set in a player-created interpretation of the DC Universe, drawing from the comics, the DCAU, the TV-verse, the cinematic universe, and our own imaginations. While the overall timeline proposed above is not set in stone, I do plan on going with a "Year Ten" setting to open up the entirety of the DCU so we don't have to worry about getting bogged down in origin stories.
Knowing how these things usually turn out, I'm expecting a relatively short lifespan, but **** it, I'm feeling the itch again something fierce, and I know for a fact I'm not the only one. For the time being, I'm planning on this being a one-and-done single-season game, so any and all who are interested can scratch that itch without worrying about a long-term commitment.
What will this RPG bring to the RPG forums? (please write two complete sentences): Well, most importantly, it'll bring some life into a corner of of the boards that's been gathering dust for over a year, and maybe return a spark of creativity into those of us who have settled for sitting around whining on Facebook instead of telling the stories we want to tell. It'll give a creative outlet for those of us who want to celebrate the characters and series that we love, or to vent our frustrations with the parts of it we're not crazy about. And maybe, if we're really really lucky, we'll be able to recapture some of the magic of the old days. And if not, hey, at least we can say we tried.
Example Of Characters Application:
Ultimate DC: REBIRTH
Character Application
Screen Name:
Character you would like to play (please include the color and font you plan on using to portray the character):
Alignment (Hero, Villain, Walking the Line):
Character's Origin and Biography (please provide at least two paragraphs explaining your character's history to the present day):
Allegiances/Affiliations:
Powers and Abilities:
Write two complete sentences using proper English grammar. One to explain what you plan to do with the character you've chosen. The other to explain why you've chosen this character. (i.e. What are your goals? Will you be doing anything different with the character than is usually seen?):
If you know how to post pictures, please provide a picture of your character:
Please provide a small sample post with original content in the style that you plan to write your character in (must be at least 3 paragraphs long and contain at least one line of dialogue):
Existing Factions within the Ultimate DC Universe:
Heroes
The Justice League:
Formed during the events that led to the First Crisis, the League brought together humans, Metahumans, aliens, Amazons, and Atlanteans to stave off an invasion from the tyrannical overlord Darkseid. Now consisting of a dozen members in addition to the founding seven with several more in reserve, the League maintains a tenuous relationship with the United Nations when it comes to representing 'Superhero' activities on an international scale.
Active Members:
Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
The Flash II
Green Lantern(s)
Martian Manhunter
Aquaman
Red Tornado
The Atom
Green Arrow
Zatanna (liaison with Shadowpact)
Reserve Members:
Firestorm
Plastic Man
Vixen
Steel
Oracle
Mister Miracle
Big Barda
Former Members:
The Question (expelled)
Huntress (expelled)
Blue Beetle I (deceased)
The Titans:
Formed as a sort of 'junior' program to the Justice League in order to train younger heroes in team exercises, the Titans quickly became a force of their own, operating often without the League's consent to perform covert operations and subvert threats when their mentors' resources are spread thin. Though a core faction within the original group has split away, many first-generation Titans have remained to train a new generation.
Active Members:
Kid Flash
Cyborg
Donna Troy
Robin III
Aqualad
Superboy
Wonder Girl
Blue Beetle II
Miss Martian
Impulse
Artemis
Former Members:
The Outsiders (split)
Terra (traitor)
Jericho (deceased)
Beast Boy (missing)
The Outsiders:
When scandalous information regarding the Justice League's past activities was discovered by the original Robin, the first generation of Titans splintered into factions, fracturing between those who wished to disassociate from the League and those who wanted to remain and restore its tarnished reputation. Now operating through clandestine means, distrusted by the Superhero community at large and wanted dead by virtually everyone else, the Outsiders often find themselves walking very thin lines that few of their peers would risk crossing.
Active Members:
Nightwing
Red Arrow
Tempest
Raven (liaison with Shadowpact)
Starfire
Static
Katana
The Justice Society:
Claiming their lineage back to the original JSA of the 1940s, this new Society is privately funded and operated by the idealistic billionaire Michael Holt. Considered by many to be the "alternative" to the Justice League, the Justice Society consider themselves to be 'professional' Superheroes, their identities made public and their actions dictated by contracts paid by high-risk locations and institutions. Though many question the morality of for-profit heroism, the results have thus far been stellar.
Active Members:
Mister Terrific
Power Girl
Huntress
Stargirl
S.T.R.I.P.E.
Black Canary
Hawkman
Hawkgirl
Doctor Mid-Nite II
Hourman II
Former Members/Original JSA:
The Flash I
The Green Lantern I
Hourman I
Doctor Mid-Nite I
Wildcat
Atom Smasher
Sandman
The Spectre
Shadowpact:
Originally a secret order of occultists gathered to maintain world order, the current incarnation of Shadowpact operates in the open alongside the various groups of Superheroes, protecting the waking world from supernatural threats. While their order is mysterious and often mistrusted, every member of the Pact has sworn an oath to preserve order amidst chaos.
Active Members:
Doctor Fate
Zatanna (liaison with the Justice League)
Captain Marvel
Dead Man
Zauriel
Shining Knight
Detective Chimp
Blue Devil
Reserve Members:
John Constantine
Swamp Thing
Raven (liaison with the Outsiders)
Etrigan the Demon
Minor Hero Groups
The Great Ten
The Doom Patrol
The Metal Men
The Blackhawks
The Sea Devlis
The Challengers of the Unknown
Walking the Line
The Suicide Squad:
Initially created by the CIA, 'Task Force X' was meant to utilize Metahuman criminals to serve the interests of the United States government. Eventually the task force was absorbed by a multinational covert organization known as Checkmate, using the UN peacekeeping force ARGUS as a cover to continue Task Force X's black-operations throughout the globe. Members of the squad are considered expendable and no organization claims them upon capture, hence their ominous nickname. While many within both the Superhero and Supervillain communities have encountered the Suicide Squad in the past, officially no institution acknowledges their existence.
Active Members:
Director Amanda Waller
Field Commander Rick Flagg
Deadshot
Captain Boomerang
Killer Frost
Cheshire
Bronze Tiger
King Shark
Count Vertigo
Before absorbing the Suicide Squad from the CIA, Checkmate intended to create a loyal strike-team of Metahumans of their own to impose their will upon the world. Taking young men and women from around the world out of their homes and subjecting them to grotesque experiments, the goal was to erase their individuality and create loyal super-soldiers to counter the Justice League and their peers. However, the experiment ended in failure, as an extremely powerful telepath named Manchester Black resisted their attempts at brainwashing and broke his compatriots free. Now operating as radical anarchists, the Elite aspire to tear down the institutions of power they see as corrupt and tyrannical, and the charismatic Black has led several former heroes and villains to his cause.
Active Members:
Manchester Black
Coldcast
Menagerie
The Hat
Chemo
Reserve/Affiliated Members:
Anarky
The Red Hood
The Question
Villains
The Legion of Doom:
Acting as an international Metahuman terrorist organization as an ideological opposite of the Justice League, the initial intent of the Legion of Doom was originally to be a distraction to lead the League's attention away from the collection of power-brokers calling themselves The Light. Leadership of the group has changed hands on multiple occasions as the power-mad brutes and masterminds vie for domination, but their message of might making right has resounded with many disaffected Metahumans, and their acts of savagery and mayhem has struck fear into the world at large.
Active Members:
Gorilla Grodd
Star Sapphire
Doctor Light
Cheetah
Solomon Grundy
Scarecrow
Zoom
Giganta
Malefa'ac
Black Manta
The Atomic Skull
Reserve/Affiliated Members:
Bizarro
Sinestro
The Rogues
The Light
Former Members:
The Joker (double-crossed the Legion and tried to kill them)
Ultra-Humanite (deceased)
Bane (left to claim leadership of the League of Shadows)
The Light:
The shadow organization that funds the Legion of Doom, this collection of business moguls, cult leaders, assassins, and despots joined together in the wake of the First Crisis to exacerbate a war between the human and Metahuman worlds, and to reshape the world in the aftermath. With nearly limitless resources and powerful allies in very dark places, the Light believe they must destroy the world in order to save it for themselves.
Active Members:
Lex Luthor
Talia al Ghul
Black Adam
Queen Bee
Ocean Master
Kobra
The Brain
Affiliates:
Brainiac
The Brotherhood of Evil
The HIVE
The Legion of Doom
Chosen of Apokolips
Former Members:
Vandal Savage (supplanted by Lex Luthor and imprisoned)
Felix Faust (deceased)
Ra's al Ghul (currently deceased)
The Chosen of Apokolips:
Entities from beyond time and space now inhabiting a host of human forms, the Chosen are ten servants of the mad god Darkseid. Operating in various stations of power around the world, their goal is to prepare the Earth for their master's arrival, and the supplication of all life in the coming second and Final Crisis....
Character you would like to play (please include the color and font you plan on using to portray the character):Superman
Alignment (Hero, Villain, Walking the Line): Hero
Character's Origin and Biography (please provide at least two paragraphs explaining your character's history to the present day):
Acts of Faith
Sometimes, the universe works in mysterious ways. Sometimes things that seem impossible one day are commonplace the next, and things that seem inevitable end up never happening. Sometimes the most motivated people and the most powerful institutions throw everything they have at the problems facing them and come up with nothing. And sometimes a simple act of faith or hope can change the course of history.
Jonathan Kent was never a man of faith; the praying and spritiuality, he left up to his wife, Martha. He believed that if men and women were put on this Earth for a reason, then it was up to themselves to determine what that reason was, and if there was any cosmic design at work, then it wasn't apparent to him. Martha often told him that the universe worked in 'mysterious ways'......which was a small comfort during their difficult early years of marriage, when the harvest went fallow, when Jonathan had to take out a second mortgage to keep the farm, and most devastatingly of all, when the doctor told them they would never be able to conceive children of their own.
Jor-El of the House of El, millions of light-years away on the world of Krypton, was not a man of faith either; his wife Lara was often the foundation of their union, balancing his brilliant but often coldly practical mind with the fiery idealism of the Jirrod. While no one on their world seriously believed in the old sun-god Rao, the Eleven Virtues of the Jirrod handed down by the ancients were comfort and guidance to many in the turbulent times that had shaken their world. After the cataclysmic disappearance of the shining city of Kandor, the remaining city-states had broken down into chaos and civil war, which in turn spiraled into a nightmarish coup led by the tyrannical General Zod. While the mad General was defeated and sentenced to the Phantom Zone, the time and resources it had taken to end the war had meant there was now no longer any way for Jor-El to solve the far greater crisis: the destabilization of the planet's core and its inevitable implosion. Lara, though, had unwavering faith that their son would not share their fate.
So it was that in the final days before Krypton's destruction, Jor-El set out to build a small pod, based on old scout-ship models from the ancient colonial days but fitted with technology of his own design, to send the infant Kal-El to an inhabitable world. As their world fell apart, they entered coordinates into the ship's Star Drive of a potential world, a fabled lost paradise where their kind would become powerful beyond measure, and placed their trust and hope in the belief that Kal would be safe when he arrived.
Jor-El and Lara would never know if their act of faith bore fruit. But in a wheat field in the dead of night on the outskirts of Smallville, Kansas, Jonathan and Martha Kent took an act of faith of their own when they took a frightened baby boy out of smoldering wreckage and claimed him as their own, naming him Clark Joseph Kent.
Clark's years in Smallville were some of his happiest, and some of his most painful. For every moment where his mother and father beamed with pride and awe as he lifted the farm's tractor with one hand, there was another when he had to run and hide from his classmates because he could see through their skin. For every time Pete Ross stood up for him against the class bullies, there was another when his friend wasn't there and he had to ball up his frustrations and anger inside as they called him a freak and a loser. For every time Lana Lang looked at him and melted his heart with a smile, there was another when she would look at him with hurt and anger when he couldn't tell her all the secrets she knew he was keeping. Clark grew up loved by his family and supported by friends, but even then he felt alone. For all of the things he was learning he could do, he had no idea why he could do them, or what he should do with them.
An answer came at age seventeen, when a powerful tornado ripped through Smallville. Now able to move several tons and leap nearly a quarter of a mile, Clark believed he was powerful enough to keep people from getting hurt in the destruction. Pulling trapped motorists off the highway to safety, holding up collapsing structures to let people out, catching flying debris before it could hit someone, Clark challenged a very force of nature and felt like he had become one himself, but even with his immense power, he couldn't be in every place at once. On the other side of town, his father had been driving people to the safety of the nearby National Guard armory, when on his way back into town to search for Clark, a powerful blast of wind flipped his truck over. When Clark arrived to free him from the wreckage, Jonathan instead asked his son to save the Sutton family before their house blew in. By the time Clark returned to the crash site, his father had already passed, but his belief was clear: if Clark was going to use his gifts, he should use them to help, and help selflessly.
A Man of Two Worlds
For the next seven years, Clark traveled the world alone, meeting people of all different faiths and with wildly disparate beliefs, always receptive but never himself fitting in. He tried to use his abilities as covertly as possible, as he learned quickly that people reacted with mistrust and fear when they saw what he could do. As he traveled, he picked up the trade of journalism (an old habit from his days working the school newspaper), and used his new identity of a reporter as an excuse to be wherever he may be needed. Incidentally, he learned he was a very good reporter, though he always found himself just shy of a rival colleague, the journalistic firebrand Lois Lane. The few times they met in their travels, Clark gained a tremendous admiration for Lois, to say nothing of his attraction to her, but she rarely seemed to give him a second thought. Even in this new life, he felt aimless and alone, until a series of strange visions prompted him to travel north, seeking out a signal just on the edge of his perception, leading him to the North Pole.
Here, in the frigid Arctic, Clark found something astounding: his old pod, recovered by the US government after the Kents had taken him in, had not only repaired itself from the crash, but reactivated and escaped government custody, flown unseen to the Arctic, and unfolded itself into a vast and sprawling Fortress. Inside, Clark found architecture and technology that was completely alien to anything on this world, yet still vaguely familiar to him. It was only when he was confronted by the floating security drones and identified that he was introduced to Kelex, the artificial intelligence that had served the House of El. For months, Clark (now knowing his birth name Kal-El) pored over the history of his lost world, tried to learn the tenets of the Jirrod religion, learn the significance of the House sigils, and slowly but surely discover his purpose. Returning home to Smallville at the age of twenty-five, Clark told his mother about everything he had seen in the Fortress, and made his decision to try and bring the best elements of the lost world of Krypton to life on Earth.
Within a week, Clark had moved to Metropolis, rented out a small studio apartment in Hobb's Bay, and gotten a job as a junior reporter for the Daily Planet, much to the chagrin of the now-entrenched reporter Lois Lane. It wasn't long before he showed his new identity to the world, stopping a massive plane crash and saving hundreds of lives, while wearing the blue and red garb of Krypton's legendary Sapphire Guard and the sigil of the House of El on his chest. Seeing the sigil as a big red letter "S," the press scrambled to put a name on this extraordinary newcomer, and it was none other than his journalistic rival Lois who coined the name 'Superman.'
Unfortunately, Clark Kent was not the only one planning on bringing Krypton to Earth. Following the same signal that led Kal to the Fortress, from across the fathomless gulfs of space General Zod, having escaped the Phantom Zone after his world's destruction, led his band of fanatic warriors to this small backwater world, aboard the flagship Black Zero. Upon seeing the planet's resources, analyzing the paltry defenses of the primitive indigenous life forms, and learning from the twisted geneticist Jax-Ur that the natives could potentially be used for breeding stock, Zod made the decision to use the last of the Black Zero's dwindling resources to terraform Earth and transform it into a new Krypton. While Superman was at first ecstatic to find others of his own kind, he soon realized what Zod and his compatriots were planning, and chose to oppose them.
The resulting conflict, now referred to as the 'Black Zero Incident' or the 'Battle of Metropolis,' was devastating. While Superman was eventually able to destroy Zod's terraforming World Engine machine, it was not before several city blocks were ripped apart by the alien gravity weapons, and the final brawl between Superman and Zod left further carnage in their wake. In the end, the Black Zero and its occupants were sent back into the Phantom Zone thanks to the combined efforts of Superman and the scientists at STAR Labs, but over ten thousand innocent people were killed before it was over.
Conflicts and Crisis
While the world was saved, Superman was haunted by the loss of life brought on by the fighting, and he doubled down on his efforts to better control his powers while helping people in need. Still, for the first years of his tenure, controversy followed Superman wherever he went, some praising him for stopping disasters and toppling dictators, others questioning his allegiances and condemning him for destabilizing global power structures.
This coincided with the rise of a powerful international terrorist group calling themselves 'The Toymen,' radical nihilists who proclaimed human beings were little more than toys to powerful inhuman creatures like Superman. Responsible for bombings, mass shootings, and assassinations in over a dozen countries, the Toymen used remote-control drones, cyberattacks, and even human-like androids to carry out their campaign of destruction. While Superman eventually rooted out their leader, a disgraced former tech mogul named Winslow Schott, Lois Lane traced much of the Toymen's technology and funding to a different source: the multi-billion-dollar tech giant LexCorp and its CEO, the blindingly brilliant and deeply disturbed Lex Luthor. While Lex was eventually cleared of all charges, the scandal put a severe black mark on his reputation, and put both the alien and Lois Lane squarely in Luthor's crosshairs.
In Metropolis, the threat of the Toymen was often drowned out by more clear and present dangers, violent Metahuman criminals who caused mayhem and destruction to draw Superman into a fight. The anarchic Livewire, who could transform her body into pure electrical energy. The nightmarish Atomic Skull, whose sheer brute physical force was matched by the devastating blasts of radiation he could emit. The vampiric Parasite, whose touch could drain Superman of his powers or kill a normal person instantly. These and nearly a dozen more wrought havoc in the City of Tomorrow, pushing Superman to and beyond his limits time and time again as he tried to keep Metropolis safe, and many began to question if his presence really did make people safer if this was the cost of his protection.
After nearly three years of fighting his never-ending battle alone, Superman found allies in the face of another world-ending threat: the ancient rogue artificial intelligence known as Brainiac. Teaming up with the vigilante Batman and the mythical warrior Wonder Woman, the three were able to stop Brainiac's attempt at capturing Metropolis for experimentation, after which he would have destroyed the Earth itself. In addition to saving the planet, Superman recovered Brainiac's collection of alien cities, including the Kryptonian city of Kandor, and placed them in the Fortress with the intention of finding a way to set them free. In the aftermath of the battle, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman eventually came to agree that it would be in everyone's best interests if they pooled their resources, as well as sought out others like them, and so began the confederation that would eventually become solidified as the Justice League.
Meanwhile, at this point Clark had finally worked up the confidence to follow his long-standing crush on Lois, and the two began dating. While he was genuinely happier than he had ever been, he struggled with whether he should tell her his secrets, knowing what kind of extra dangers that could bring into her life. Eventually, after some soul-searching and long talks with Martha back home, Clark decided he would tell her everything....except for when he tried, she turned into a horse. And the rest of the people in the restaurant had also turned into livestock. And the sky outside had turned neon green with purple polka dots.
As Superman tried to come to grips with what he was seeing, a voice in his head announced that he was now the plaything of Mxyzptlk, a powerful entity from a higher plane of reality. While the interdimensional imp warped time and space and matter around him, Superman struggled with a way to get rid of the creature, ultimately challenging it to a game of wits, with the rule being it would leave if Clark could get it to say its name backwards. Through a series of events too convoluted and absurd to be effectively summarized, Superman won the challenge and Mxyzptlk admitted defeat, but before parting, it left a 'gift' for the Man of Steel: a warped and twisted duplicate of himself, who eventually became known as Bizarro. With a mind of pure chaos and wielding the same near-infinite physical power of Superman, Bizarro threatened to be a menace to the entire world, but Superman was able to figure out the monster's backwards thinking, and tricked it into believing that if Superman could do anything, Bizarro should do nothing. The warped monster accepted this line of thinking, and flew to the South Pole, where it remained dormant for years.
Even when things returned to normal, they did not stay normal for long. Fighting to retrieve powerful extraterrestrial devices known as Mother Boxes, Superman fought on the front lines with the Justice League against another invasion from the stars, this one far more powerful and malevolent than anything they had seen before. While their leader, the brutal general Steppenwolf, was eventually defeated and repelled, it was revealed that he was merely the underling of a far greater threat, and that this was merely the prelude to a greater war. The Justice League were not the only ones who heard this threat, and while they worked to repair the damage from the First Crisis, deep beneath the bowels of the LexCorp Tower, Lex Luthor refined the salvaged Kryptonian technology from the Black Zero Event, in order to wage a war of his own.
That war would come on the third Monday in May, the anniversary of Superman's debut, when a savage, unstoppable monster codenamed Doomsday ravaged the plains of Kansas. Superman was first on the scene to respond as the abomination laid waste to his home town, and a titanic battle between the two ensued. Allies from the Justice League, as well as outside groups like the pseudo-rival group the Justice Society, joined in the fight to stop the monster, but ultimately Doomsday was too much for any of them, absorbing the energy of every attack and releasing it in destructive shockwaves. As the world watched in horror, Lex Luthor capitalized on the fear by revealing Doomsday was in fact an ancient Kryptonian, what Superman would eventually become in this environment. As such, the only way to destroy it was with a radioactive xeno-mineral called Kryptonite, which LexCorp had salvaged from the wreckage of General Zod's World Engine and weaponized.
The fight between Superman and Doomsday raged from continent to continent, from the bottom of the sea to high orbit, before the monster brought Clark down in the heart of Metropolis, near the foot of the Daily Planet. A LexCorp security force was sent out with the Kryptonite spear to slay the beast, but were killed in short order, as the only person who could get close enough to use it without dying was Superman himself. Realizing this was the only way to save everyone from the unstoppable monster, Clark took up the spear and plunged it into Doomsday's heart, the radiation weakening him enough for Doomsday to impale him in retaliation. In the middle of the City of Tomorrow, with the whole world watching, the Last Son of Krypton died.....
....exactly as Lex Luthor had orchestrated.
It took less than a day for Lois Lane to piece everything from the Doomsday incident to Luthor, discovering that the monster was a hybrid made from recovered blood samples of Superman, Zod, and twenty other Metahumans; that the "ancient Kryptonian" line was a fabrication. Luthor was indicted and imprisoned, his reputation ruined and his madness revealed to the world, but at that point, he no longer cared. He had gotten what he wanted: a world without Superman.
Nearly three years passed. Batman took the lead of the Justice League. A new team, the Titans, began under the League's guidance. The shadowy think-tank known as Cadmus created a human-Kryptonian hybrid clone, codenamed 'Superboy.' Lois won three Pulitzer Prizes and survived twelve assassination attempts. Martha Kent sold the farm and moved into town next to the Lang family.
And another ship from Krypton fell to Earth, this one carrying a confused and frightened teenage girl named Kara Zor-El.
Kal-El of Krypton, Clark Kent of Smallville, Superman of the Justice League, lingered somewhere in the cosmic wash, the alien's consciousness scattered from his body and slowly fading into the higher and lower dimensions of reality. However, his rest was not an eternal one, as another crisis would emerge to threaten humanity: The Justice Lords, a heartless and tyrannical version of the League from another universe, who sought to impose their brand of justice upon the entire multiverse.
As their leader, the fascist Ultraman, pounded at the doors to the Fortress of Solitude, Kara Zor-El and Lois Lane (with the help of the AI Kelex) placed Clark's body in a revitalizing Kryptonian neutrino-bath device and called for him to hear them. As Ultraman finally tore the doors down and prepared to incinerate the two, Superman's eyes opened, and the Man of Tomorrow tackled his opposite number, battling across the Arctic and through the Earth's core. While Superman fought with all of his heart, his body simply had not recuperated enough, and Ultraman threatened to defeat him and send him right back into the ethereal afterlife, Superman's other duplicate, the warped Bizarro, grabbed Ultraman and flew with him out through the bridge between their universes.
Current Events
While Superman steadily regained his powers, he found much of the world had changed without him. He had a cousin now, developing powers of her own and still trying to adjust to life on a new world. New groups had formed, including a violent antithesis to the Justice League called the Legion of Doom. There were other heroes, including the high-tech Steel and the roughneck Guardian, protecting the streets of Metropolis, and a Superboy on the lam from military custody. And Lois, while she was happy beyond words to see Clark again, was unsure of whether they could ever be close again, and asked that he giver her space.
Settling back into things, Clark moved back into his small apartment in Hobb's Bay, getting a dog he named Krypto for company. A cover story was concocted by the Planet (most of whom had known Clark's true identity for a long while) as to where Mr. Kent had been all this time, claiming he had been under witness protection to avoid reprisals from the now-jailed Bruno Mannheim. While the Justice League's reputation had been tarnished during his absence, Superman threw himself back into his mission, to restore the ideal of the superhero as an exemplar of hope and good will.
With the exception of a reappearance of Mxyzptlk that gave Clark's dog Krypto superpowers of his own and a limited ability to speak, the two years since Superman's return have been more focused on rebuilding and reshaping things rather than dramatically upending them. Under his guidance, Kara has begun operating as a solo heroine using the name Supergirl, and the wandering clone Superboy has been adopted into Kal's new surrogate family, given the name Conner Kent and choosing to train with the new Titans. After the earthquake that decimated Gotham City, Superman has tried to help with the reconstruction there, though his now strained relationship with Batman has made coordinating efforts difficult. And as his relationship with Lois seems to be on the rocks, he has more frequently turned to Wonder Woman for solace and companionship.
Even as the world seems more uncertain and dangerous than ever, even as he seems unsure of his own place in it, Superman will meet whatever challenges face him with determination and hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Allegiances/Affiliations:
The Justice League, Daily Planet (staff)
Powers and Abilities:
Kal-El's Kryptonian physiology absorbs sunlight and uses it as fuel for extremely powerful chemical reactions, turning every cell in his body into a miniature fusion generator. This energy output, impossibly greater than the energy input, is due to hundreds of generations of genetic engineering for the people of Krypton to better survive on the harsh climate of their home world. Under the conditions of Earth, however, it has resulted in incredible powers.
Flight/Gravity Manipulation: Superman can reflexively alter his own gravitational field, allowing him to become weightless and levitate or shoot through the air at hypersonic speeds. Since mastering this ability, he has learned to create a breathable 'bubble' around him during flight, allowing him to carry people at speed without harming them. He can also extend his gravitational field around objects that he touches, augmenting his already incredible strength to allow him to lift objects that would normally collapse if moved.
Strength/Durability: The extreme amounts of energy put out by Superman's cells necessitates an equally extreme amount of structural strength in order to keep them from falling apart, and as a result Superman's muscular and skeletal systems have become among the most durable substances in the known universe. When operating at peak power, Superman can move tectonic plates with his bare hands, and survive direct impacts from nuclear warheads. Given the seemingly constant increase in his power over time, it is highly unlikely he has seen the upper limit of his strength, if such a limit exists at all.
Enhanced Senses: Superman can perceive reality in a way that humans cannot, particularly in regards to his sight. Kryptonian eyes contain a complex series of focusing lenses that allow him to see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including the ethereal 'aura' of living creatures, and can focus this in order to look through solid objects. He can also detect the most subtle vibrations within a planet's atmosphere, allowing him to 'hear' things happening on the other side of the Earth long before the actual sound waves would reach him. These senses can result in an information overload even for Superman, so he generally filters them out to roughly the same levels of a human.
Heat Vision: As well as being able to perceive the entire electromagnetic spectrum, Superman's eyes can also emit light to varying wavelengths, typically in the form of extremely powerful lasers capable of cutting through solid titanium in microseconds. These can be focused to surgical precision, or amped up enough to wipe out a continent in a single blast. While it is the most powerful tool in his arsenal, it also drains his energy reserve quickly.
Vulnerabilities: While Superman is one of the most powerful beings on Earth, he is hardly indestructible. Most famously, he is weakened by radiation given off by the xenomineral Kryptonite, enough exposure of which could prove fatal. He is also weakened when exposed to certain different planetary conditions, such as a red sun or a poisonous atmosphere. Superman also has no special defenses against the supernatural, and can be targeted by psychic attacks or sensory overload.
Write two complete sentences using proper English grammar. One to explain what you plan to do with the character you've chosen. The other to explain why you've chosen this character. (i.e. What are your goals? Will you be doing anything different with the character than is usually seen?): I intend to play the character to the absolute best of my ability, and tell some engaging and entertaining stories with him. As for why I chose him, well, y'all already know my feelings about Big Blue.
If you know how to post pictures, please provide a picture of your character:
Please provide a small sample post with original content in the style that you plan to write your character in (must be at least 3 paragraphs long and contain at least one line of dialogue):
People look at me and they think that what I do comes easy. Of course it's easy, they say, he's Superman. He can do anything, nothing can hurt him, he's everything we wish we could be. Doing the right thing, saying the right words, coming up with perfect solutions to the world's problems, all of that comes naturally when you're the Man of Tomorrow.
That, of course, couldn't be further from the truth.
This morning I stopped a passenger train from derailing in Russia, saving about four hundred on board. Trains are always tricky; not enough force and you don't stop it in time, too much force and the cars jackknife into each other, to say nothing of how difficult it can be to pick sections of it off the rails without turning cars over in the process. No fatalities thankfully, but it was a bumpy stop, causing a few broken bones, at least one concussion, and bumps and bruises for everyone on board.
Most people will take that as a win, but the Russian government has been extremely vocal about their displeasure with the Justice League for 'imposing on national sovereignty' lately, which means I'll be expected to make an appearance before their president and show that I'm not secretly working for the CIA, and that the League isn't using disaster-relief as an excuse to perform reconaissance for an upcoming invasion. Between people like G. Godron Godfrey spreading fear in the news and the bad memories the world has of the Justice Lords, not to mention my own reckless handling of things in my early days, gaining the world's trust and keeping it is harder than ever.
That's not to say I'm complaining-- all things considered I think it's going quite well-- but it's never easy to--
"Kent! Are you still alive over there?"
Perry snaps me out of my contemplation, back to the newsroom of the Planet and the half-finished article on my laptop.
"You've got my piece on the Queensland Boardwalk re-opening?"
"....I, erm, yes sir, it's.....it's almost done, Perry."
The Boardwalk was a long-standing tourist attraction, Metropolis's answer to New York's Coney Island and Gotham's Amusement Mile. For over 80 years, people would take their families to the carnival attractions, teenagers would bring their first dates to the Ferris wheel, and swimmers and sunbathers would spend the day away at the beach. Six months ago, a "prank" from the interdimensional imp Mxyzptlk brought a monster from the vintage movie theater to life--namely the 100-foot-tall gorilla 'Titano'-- and resulted in most of the boardwalk being trampled or crushed before myself, Kara, and Krypto could subdue it.
Perry's never openly stated that he knows who I am, but I don't think it's a coincidence that so many of the "look at what a mess Superman made" stories come across my desk.
"You've got til I'm back from lunch, Kent, or it's your ass," he says, clapping me on the shoulder as he passes.
"Mister White," I say, getting up from my chair. "My story on Schott...."
Perry stops and turns back to me, an impatient look on his face.
"...isn't front-page material, Kent. How am I supposed to sell a feel-good story about a former terrorist?"
"It's not just a feel-good story," I say, "it's showing that people can still be brought back even after going over the edge. Winslow Schott did terrible things as part of the Toymen, yes, but if he's really turning a new page..."
Perry waves his hands dismissively.
"Get me your piece on the Boardwalk," he says. "Then we'll talk about bad guys going good."
Perry walks away, and I can't help but feel a sting of frustration. If people could see that even someone as damaged and disturbed as Winslow Schott can turn their lives around and become a force for good, who knows? Maybe I could make a breakthrough with Rudy Jones. Or John Corben. Hell, I might even finally get through to Lex Luthor.
And maybe after that miracle, I'd part the Red Sea and turn water into wine.
There's a buzzing in my pocket, and I pull out my phone to see I've got a text from Lois.
-Perry got you on a leash? Not letting you see the news feed?
I quickly tap out a response.
-I'm up against a hard deadline. What's up?
There isn't a long wait before I get my answer.
-Take a bathroom break. I'm in DC, and there's a big flying skull over the White House.
A cold chill runs down my spine. A flying skull.....that sounds like Brainiac. If he's returned, everyone on Earth could be in danger.
-I'll be there soon, Lo, I type. Stay safe.
Nobody seems to respond when I loudly cough and grunt as I stand up and excuse myself. Not even Lombard cracks a joke as I head in the direction of the janitor's closet instead of the restroom. I guess at this point it's all a bit of a charade, like your parents telling you your Christmas presents are from Santa, but everyone still plays along. In a way, it's the most earnest way they could accept both aspects of who and what I am, by simply not acknowledging it and going about with their day.
After all, even when it isn't easy, when you've been at the Daily Planet for long enough, this sort of thing is all in a day's work.
Character you would like to play (please include the color and font you plan on using to portray the character):Detective Chimp
Powers and Brief Origin (Provide at least two sentences. If you copy/paste this information from another website, link back to it, or it is considered plagiarism and is not allowed):
TL;DR, "Homeboy is a talking chimp."
Originally a chimp from equatorial Africa, Detective Chimp was taken from his home by circus owner Fredrick Thorpe, who named him Bobo. Thrope taught Bobo sign language and a routine of rudimentary answers to pre-determined questions. Labeled "Bob the Detective Chimp," the act was a hit across the country. During a road trip through Florida, the circus convoy was involved in a freeway pileup that overturned cars and set animals free. Bobo was among those that fled into the woods in the confusion. After weeks in the wilderness, the chimp discovered a strange pool near the everglades. This pool was revealed to be the long sought after Fountain of Youth. Bobo drank from it and discovered its side effects immediately. His intelligence skyrocketed to genius human levels. With his new intellect, he found his way back to civilization and Thrope's circus. It was soon discovered that Bobo could, in fact, speak and no longer needed sign language.
Bobo's new abilities led to a boom in the act with people everywhere flocking to see the genius chimp. In San Francisco, Bobo found his calling. During a routine show, Bobo was able to deduce that an audience member had murdered his wife. The sensation of the story led to more headlines for Bobo and his eventual falling out with Thorpe. He left the circus and, after drifting through the country, became the world's first chimp private eye.
Today, Bobo lives in works in Opal City, a mid-sized metropolis in Pennsylvania, Opal City. As part of the Rust Belt, Opal is dealing with a lack of industrial jobs as more and more manufacturing goes abroad. High unemployment and suburban flight has led to urban decay throughout the city. On top of that, an apathetic police force has given way to more corruption and disconnect from the people they have sworn to protect.
Effie assists Bobo through his cases during the day while she attends law school at night
Jake Lonnegan - Short-con grifter operating in Opal City
Jake is a long-time pro in the Opal City area and acts as an informant and occasional helper for Bobo when the job calls for it.
Sgt. Florence Marlowe - Squad Sergeant, Opal City PD
Sgt. Marlowe is a squad supervisor in OCPD's Major Crimes Squad and works/competes with Bobo on cases.
Anthony Di Pasqua - Opal City Mob Boss
One of the last of the old school mob bosses in America, Di Pasqua acts as antagonist and sometimes uneasy ally to Bobo and Effie
David Fitzwaller - Criminal Lawyer and Ambulance Chaser
Fitzwaller is a partner in the legal firm of Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, and York. He sometimes employs Bobo and Effie as private investigators on his cases.
Group your character is aligned with (if applicable): Shadowpact
Write two complete sentences using proper English grammar. One to explain what you plan to do with the character you've chosen. The other to explain why you've chosen this character. (i.e. What are your goals? Will you be doing anything different with the character than is usually seen?):
I just want to do hood rat stuff with my friends...
If you know how to post pictures, please provide a picture of your character:
Please provide a small sample post with original content in the style that you plan to write your character in (must be at least 3 paragraphs long and contain at least one line of dialogue):
Law Offices of Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, & York
11:09 AM
Bobo T. Chimpanzee, better known to the world at large as Detective Chimp and DC to his friends, ignored the onlookers gawking at the chimp riding on the elevator. He wasn't ignoring them per say. He'd become used to the strange looks and uncomfortable questions after twenty plus years as a hyper-intelligence chimpanzee. That was why he had earbuds rooted firmly in his head and blasting Elvis Costello and holding a pair of index cards. One read "YES, I AM A TALKING CHIMPANZEE. DO NOT SPEAK TO ME UNLESS SPOKEN TO" while the other read "FUN FACT: CHIMP'S ARE 4X STRONGER THAN HUMANS, EVEN TALKING ONES."
His anti-social behavior was due to the fact that he was alone this morning. Normally, Effie acted as a perfect gatekeeper when it came to the obnoxious looks and questions that followed him everywhere. She was able to keep DC from actually having to talk to these people and explain himself, like in this world were people flew and bent steel beams with their minds the talking chimp was the real freak. DC was the first out the elevator when it opened up on the twelfth floor. He tucked the index cards into his jacket, along with the earbuds and his phone, and strolled past the receptionist before she could get the second Fitzwaller out of her mouth.
"'Fitzwaller and Associates,'," DC said as he walked into the corner office of David Fitzwaller. "That took two seconds to say, as opposed to the sixteen seconds it takes to get out 'Law Offices of Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, & York.'"
"Tell that to my brothers and sisters," Fitzwaller said as he stood up, reaching across the desk to shake DC's hand. "My sister wanted to take her husband's last name, which would have made it 'Fitzwaller, York & Associates' and the rest of us didn't want to be just associates and Peggy doesn't want to go back to Fitzwaller so here we are."
"Here we are," DC nodded. "Which is where?"
"Where's that pretty little sidekick of yours?" Fitzwaller asked with a raised eyebrow.
"She's got class, unlike you."
"I'm wounded, DC. I'm the classiest guy I know."
DC's eyes darted around the room filled with cheesy advertisements of Fitzwaller's personal injury business. "Fitzwaller $how$ You Dollar$!" was written in green underneath Fitzwaller's face. Dollar signs were placed in his eyes.
"Yeah... classy. What's this about, Dave?"
"This right here."
Fitzwaller passed DC a manilla folder. He flipped it open and saw the mugshot of a young black man. Beneath the photo was a series of legal documents and police reports. An arrest report identified him as Kenneth Boyd, twenty-five years old, from the eastside of Opal City. The back sheets of paper showed Boyd's criminal history. There were three total pages, mostly drug charges but a few assaults with a deadly weapon and one attempted murder... back when he was fourteen.
"Nice guy," DC said after closing the file. "You trying to set me up, Dave? This guy needs a little more hair before I even consider it."
"Didn't know you were a necrophiliac, DC. Young Mr. Boyd here died early this morning."
"What's your interest in it?"
"Fitzwaller, Fitzwaller, and... everyone else were representing Mr. Boyd. He was arrested recently for, what else, drug dealing, and he was out on bail awaiting trial. It's not good business for our clients to get murdered and--"
"Knowing the OCPD like I do, they're going to soft ball this one," said DC. "A drug dealer dies and nobody really gives a $&*# about it."
Fitzwaller shrugged before nodding. "That's the long and short of it. Interested? We'll pay you well, DC, you know we always do."
DC stared at the photo of Boyd. Was he a scumbag? No doubt about that at all. But did that mean he deserved to die? DC drummed his fingers on the desk and finally nodded.
Character you would like to play (please include the color and font you plan on using to portray the character):Bruce William Wayne, a.k.a The Batman
Alignment (Hero, Villain, Walking the Line): Hero
Character's Origin and Biography (please provide at least two paragraphs explaining your character's history to the present day):
Whenever he fell down a well leading into a dark cave as a child, Bruce Wayne felt fear for what seemed like the very first time. Caught in an explosion of wild bats, the youngest member of the prestigious Wayne family of Gotham was so traumatized that he was convinced he'd visited Hell. Little did he know that his worst fears had only begun. Just a few short weeks later, two gunshots rang out into the city's notorious Crime Alley just a few, leaving Thomas and Martha Wayne's lifeless bodies at their son's feet. Hardened by the life-altering experience, Bruce made a silent vow - with limitless resources and access to training at his disposal, he'd dedicate the rest of his life to never again allow fear to prevent him from acting against those that would spill blood on Gotham's streets.
A full decade following Batman's first appearance, The Dark Knight's rage following the death of Jason Todd has only barely subsided. With the United States Government quarantining Gotham off from the rest of the world, leaving No Man's Land a perpetual hell on Earth. Despite earlier attempts by Bruce Wayne to appeal to billionaires Lex Luthor and Oliver Queen to help aide in rebuilding Gotham, he was rejected after it became too politically complex. Left to try and pick up the pieces on his own, Batman has all but abandoned the identity of Bruce Wayne in an attempt to re-establish order day and night, patrolling the city at constant intervals with the help of Alfred and his new ally Oracle, the second identity taken up by Barbara Gordon after feeling as though Batgirl would be ineffectual in handling the crisis. With the city just barely on the road to recovery, Batman's closest allies have begun to worry whether he'll embrace his role as Bruce Wayne ever again - and whether a Batman left unchecked by his duality is truly what Gotham deserves. One teenage boy in Gotham doesn't think so, and he's been watching Batman closely, studying the vigilante's newfound aggression from afar. It's become clear to him that for the first time in ten years, The Caped Crusader is allowing fear masked as rage to dictate his actions. And he has to be stopped before there's no going back.
That boy's name is Timothy Drake.
And he may be the last hope of saving Bruce Wayne's soul.
Allegiances/Affiliations: As Bruce Wayne, he was the director of Arkham Asylum. As Batman, he was formerly a founding member of The Justice League, founder of The Outsiders, and beneficiary to The Titans. Currently he's of no affiliation, apart from the growing "Bat-Family" in Gotham.
Powers and Abilities: What he lacks in superhuman powers, he more than makes up for in willpower. But while Batman's true power lies in his determination to never give in, he also boasts a keen detective mind, an incredible arsenal of non-lethal weaponry and vehicles, techniques that make him a master of stealth and disguise, and all manner of combat training to rival a master of the highest military rank and covert-ops. His primary vehicle and weapon of choice, The Batmobile, is a retrofitted literal all-terrain military tank that is so technologically advanced that it can transform from a car into a fighter plane and a submarine, and even houses an ejector pod capable of performing the same feats as a high-speed motorcycle - all at the push of a button.
Write two complete sentences using proper English grammar. One to explain what you plan to do with the character you've chosen. The other to explain why you've chosen this character. (i.e. What are your goals? Will you be doing anything different with the character than is usually seen?): From minute one of this game being announced, I've had a story I want to do that can't really be done in any mainstream Batman continuity without completely killing the line, one which will take the character himself in some new and unexpected directions. Hopefully it's a story worth reading, because I want to be ballsy with it and really treat this season as the one and only season of a game, like Andy said it would be in his pitch.
Beyond that, the idea of revisiting an Ultimate Batman a full decade into his career was mighty intriguing, given I've only ever played him from the beginning or played a variation of the mainstream Batman. In both experiences, I've been limited to alot of continuity constraints. Here, that's not so much the case. Given that there's a whole history that guides my character's actions in the present, I hope to get to come up with new and interesting ways to interpret the villains, the sidekicks, the gadgets, and everything else that makes up Batman's world.
If you know how to post pictures, please provide a picture of your character:
Please provide a small sample post with original content in the style that you plan to write your character in (must be at least 3 paragraphs long and contain at least one line of dialogue):
Wounds never truly heal. They close, they subside for a time, but the pain eventually rises back up to hit you when you least expect it. I've lived a majority of my life having to deal with wounds that never heal. My mother and father were the first to rip through my heart. I thought, once, that I could bury the pain of those wounds under a mask and use it to strike fear into people who deserved to share it with me. But ten years of that has taught me only one lesson - to never trust what you think will fix what's always going to be broken. As I stare out into my own reflection in the glass and see the gray in my hair, the scars on my chin, the hollow void in my eyes, I see only the worst in me. I see doubt. I see anger. A need to be isolated and an excuse to push everyone away.
But I mostly just see the uniform of a boy I failed to save. A child I brought into a life he had no business ever entering. Despite Alfred's best efforts, I can even still see the dried blood seeped into the red of the tunic. Jason... Robin, my squire, my son is dead. And it's one year to the day since I lost him. His killer still walks the streets, somewhere, waiting to kill again. My eyes close as I rest a hand against the glass, pleading into empty lenses of an unworn mask to forgive me for such a transgression.
Wounds never truly heal. They just rot, until you're left with too many to handle anymore.
"Boss, we've got a lock on Freeze. He's holding GCPD tactical units hostage at City Hall."
I turn towards the monitor of the Batcomputer, where Barbara greets me with a waiting expression. For a moment, she wants to ask me if I'm doing okay. I take my hand off the glass and resume a gruff exterior, making my way for the costume chamber. Wounds or not, there's still a war for me to fight.
"Still killing cops. Victor's never going to change, is he?"
Barbara re-assumes command of The Batcomputer, giving me a half-hearted shrug.
"You always said there was hope for rehabilitation. I mean, I know he blames the police for the death of his wife, but surely..."
By the time she's done, I stepped out, fully dressed and prepped to go out.
"I always said alot of things."
She looks at me, surprised, as I slip the cowl over my face.
"Hh. City Hall's still abandoned following the Cataclysm. Demolition won't begin for another three weeks."
Barbara pulls up schematics for the building. She wants to tell me she can dust off the Batgirl uniform and join me, if I need it. But she also knows I'll just turn her down. This is something I need to do alone, now.
"And according to this, there's a gas main just underneath the building. Even with Freeze's cryogenics, he won't be able to prevent an explosion if he ruptures it in the middle of a fight."
"Right.", I respond, heading to The Batmobile. "So I need to be careful."
"Couldn't hurt, boss."
The canopy slides back, and I leap into the driver's seat. Taking one last glimpse at Jason's costume, I find myself staring off into space for a moment. Barbara looks back, confused, before I start the ignition.
"Keep monitoring Gotham. I'll handle Freeze, but I'm going radio silent. Don't wait up."
The Batmobile's engines roar to life. Atomic battery lights go to power, turbines go to speed.
Batman's history in the Ultimate DC Universe, Part 1
Year One
Twenty years later, a series of sightings began to emerge in the Gotham underworld of a supernatural creature that struck at evil from the shadows. The Bat-like silhouette had stalked the elite of Gotham's criminal factions for months, but only until the successful capture of Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone did Captain James Gordon and the GCPD begin to take reports of 'The Bat-Man' seriously. As a manhunt for the masked vigilante was called upon by the corrupt Commissioner Loeb, the adult billionaire Bruce Wayne emerged as a wealthy playboy, publically wining and dining the mischievous black sheep of the Falcone Crime Family, Selina Kyle, as he sought to reclaim ownership of the multinational conglomerate Wayne Enterprises. But Wayne's pursuits unintentionally brought forth a new enemy - Edward Nigma, the lowly head engineer of Wayne Enterprises' tech division who'd been pushed too far by the city's corruption. Taking up the persona of The Riddler, Nigma sought to improve Gotham's intellectual standing by holding it's citizens hostage in an event called 'The Zero Year', which nearly brought the city to ruin. Complicating matters even further was the emergence of The Scarecrow, a disturbed serial killer who sought to bring about his victims' worst fears on a grand scale with the aid of a shadowy organization. Only through the unlikely alliance of Captain Gordon's precinct and The Batman did Gotham survive The Riddler and Scarecrow's combined onslaught, giving rise to the vigilante's status as it's celebrated protector.
Year Two
Following his first year as Batman and the Zero Year's unforeseen ripple effects, Wayne spent the second year of his crusade largely battling a rising tide of imitators to the theatrics of The Dark Knight. Personally overseeing the re-opening of Arkham Asylum, Bruce left Wayne Enterprises under the care of former head of R&D Lucius Fox in order to act as the Asylum's new director. With the help of rising talent in the psychiatric world, including Professor Hugo Strange and his understudy Harleen Quinzell, Wayne was able to begin a series of treatments for such fearsome individuals as Nigma, the serial killer Victor Zsasz, and the cannibalistic Waylon "Killer Croc" Jones, among others. But Batman's enemies were far from few, as Gotham's criminal factions banded together under a new ringleader known as The Penguin. Inciting a gang war between Falcone's successor Roman Sionis and the Maroni Crime Family, Oswald Cobblepot successfully manipulated his way to the top. This only set off a lowly faction called The Red Hood Gang to stage a coup against the Ace Chemical plant, a business owned by Cobblepot, leading to a stand-off between them and the police that Batman intercepted. But the clash seemingly ended at the cost of at least one unintended casualty, fueling Loeb's campaign against him and causing a public outcry. This led to District Attorney Harvey Dent to pursue the vigilante's capture, funded by a surprising ally - Bruce Wayne himself, attempting to deflect Captain Gordon's growing suspicions of his dual identity.
Year Three
In the beginning, public perception of his heroics began to sway in his favor. Starting with his part in an alliance with Metropolis' Superman and the mysterious Wonder Woman, whom Batman joined in a combined effort to fend off an attack by the alien Brainiac, it seemed to some that The Caped Crusader was becoming less a fearsome vigilante and more of a full-fledged hero. As the trinity of The Man of Steel, The Dark Knight, and Amazonian Princess' began to become a more recurrent team-up, they recruited the additional help of costumed heroes such as The Flash, The Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Martian Manhunter, bringing about a new age of the superhero with the formation of The Justice League. And even in Gotham, a new type of hero was born with the murder of circus acrobats John and Mary Grayson, leaving their young son Richard into the care of Bruce Wayne. Under his mentorship, initially designed to temper Dick's rage, Batman found himself a partner in the form of Robin, The Boy Wonder. But for all of his heroism, there was a force for chaos that emerged that nearly brought everything Batman had built to ruin: the self-styled Clown Prince of Crime known only as The Joker. Wreaking an unprecedented amount of death and destruction in his wake, the maniacal enemy proved to be Batman's most challenging enemy yet, causing him to call the lengths of his own morality into question at every turn. But following his most heinous crime, the mutilation of Harvey Dent with an electric joybuzzer as a play on Dent's nickname of 'Harvey Two-Face', Batman eventually captured his enemy just as he attempted to prove Gotham's sense of morality was it's own twisted joke. With Dent left in a coma and irreparably damaged, Bruce Wayne's morale took a substantial hit under The Joker's lingering damage.
Year Four
By year's end, things were as bleak for Gotham as ever. Despite Batman and Robin's best efforts to protect Gotham, even inspiring a third costumed vigilante in the form of Gordon's daughter Barbara taking up the mantle of Batgirl, there was seemingly no end to the new class of criminal The Joker had inspired. From the human trafficking Mad Hatter to the vengeful Mr. Freeze, the seductive Poison Ivy, and even The Joker's own personal creation, Harley Quinn, Arkham was beginning to line it's walls with an endless parade of maniacs looking to challenge Batman and the GCPD for control of the city. As Batman found himself caught in the struggle against a worldwide invasion following the Justice League's investigation into a series of alien devices called The Motherboxes, an unseen master tactician looked to capitalize on Arkham's destructive potential by setting off a bomb that allowed the psychotic criminals to roam free. Revealing himself as the South American warmonger Bane, he challenged Batman to recapture the freed super-criminals. By the time he was successful, The Dark Knight's mental and physical exhaustion allowed Bane to infiltrate Wayne Manor and overpower it's occupant, leading to a devastating breaking of The Bat. Gotham now belonged to Bane, as a temporarily crippled Bruce Wayne found himself unable to claim it.
Year Five
But it was the unexpected death of Superman that inspired Bruce to push himself back to peak condition in order to take Bane on for a rematch. After six long months, Bruce's physical and mental therapy in the faraway mystical realm of Nanda Parbat brought him back to Gotham with a vengeance. Despite the interference of a brutal Batman copycat, Jean-Paul Valley, the true Dark Knight was able to both defeat him and stifle Bane's grip on Gotham long enough to cause the villain to flee to the East, where he sought the aid of Bruce Wayne's one-time mentor and the leader of The League of Shadows, Ra's Al Ghul. Using his band of ninja warriors, Ra's and Bane retaliated against a renewed Batman by infiltrating the Gotham's central government and wiping it out, killing off several politicians, the new District Attorney, and notably, Commissioner Loeb and Mayor Hamilton Hill. Intentionally setting off the re-emergence of an ancient organization known as The Court of Owls to begin a war for the streets, Ra's watched as Gotham plunged into chaos once again, bringing his blade directly to Batman's throat when he attempted to interfere. Only through perseverance did Batman overpower his former teacher, but Ra's would not accept defeat, choosing to plunge his sword through his own heart to force Batman's hand in accepting his place as The Demon's natural successor. When Batman refused, he made an enemy out of Ra's daughter, Talia al Ghul, who refitted The League of Shadows into the terrorist cell known as Leviathan. Following his lengthy trial after being broken, fighting to bring himself back to health, and defeating The Demon's Head once and for all, Batman's renewed sense of purpose allowed him to assume command of the fractured Justice League. With Superman gone, Bruce was determined to make sure the League would carry on his memory.
Batman's history in The Ultimate DC Universe, Part 2:
Year Six
Six years into his career, Batman began to experience a crisis of faith. In the void left by Kal-El's inspirational example, a morally gray outlook of justice began to take hold of nearly everyone he once trusted. Wonder Woman began to wield a deadly sword into every battle, spurned on by her outrage that Earth's greatest champion was lost, leading to long and bitter arguments in the halls of the Watchtower, signaling that the house that Superman built was to eventually become divided. Commissioner James Gordon, who had faithfully served beside The Caped Crusader in the war for Gotham's streets, cut ties with the vigilante and destroyed The Bat-Signal after discovering that his daughter had been Batgirl all along - a fact which drove Barbara to give up the cowl for a time out of grief. Even his protege, Robin, began to display signs of a dwindling moral compass whenever Tony Zucco was discovered half-dead in the Gotham Harbor, an R-shaped Batarang lodged into his body. When Bruce voiced his extreme disapproval, Dick moved out of Wayne Manor and joined the Titans to avoid a clash. But what truly drove Batman to question his purpose was the resurfacing of Harvey Dent, who had emerged from a nearly three year long coma with a vendetta against the Gotham underworld. Rechristening himself as Two-Face, Dent had become hopelessly insane; but unlike many of Batman's enemies, Two-Face would act as judge, jury, and executioner against the very denizens of Arkham that Batman fought tirelessly to contain. And what was worse is that Gotham was embracing this new brand of justice, hailing Dent as a hero and Batman as ineffectual. Only when Two-Face's personality began to completely overtake his psyche did Gotham see the true monster Dent had become when he attempted a live execution, staged as a public trial, of several of Gotham's worst criminals - including the one who had literally made him half a man, The Joker. Forced to contend with the fact that he had largely been responsible for Dent's madness by allowing The Joker to live, Batman nevertheless subdued Two-Face and saved the villains, but at the cost of his personal faith in his own sense of right and wrong. Soon after, The Dark Knight began to develop deeply paranoid delusions, leading to the creation of an artificial intelligence called HARDAC --- it's mission being to privately monitor and discover the weaknesses of all of his Justice League compatriots.
Year Seven
Batman's leadership of The Justice League had fallen under heavy scrutiny, as the man himself became more isolated in his mission. Operating without a Robin, a Batgirl or even the GCPD by his side, he began to show little interest in compassion towards the criminals he put in jail, going as far as to brand them with "The Mark of The Bat". During this time, Batman also began to romance The Catwoman, a longtime burglar-turned-vigilante who had been suspected of murder on more than one occasion, a fact of which had previously kept them at a distance for years. Even Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce's oldest friend and companion, began to wonder if Bruce's sanity was beginning to crack under the intense pressure brought about by his nightly activities. But it was the utilization of HARDAC that only confirmed the worst about Bruce's recent state of mind, as invaders from another reality - The Justice Lords, twisted mirror images of the League - used the prowess of their Batman to easily take control of HARDAC and systematically cripple The League. As the world descended into panic, primarily due to the emergence of the Lords' version of Superman and his tremendous power, Batman was left with no alternative but to don a suit of Kryptonite-powered armor and battle this version of his former friend... even if it meant breaking his vow of never taking a life. But just as The Dark Knight went to take the finishing blow, he hesitated. Using his weakness to overpower Batman, The Justice Lords nearly killed him - but the miraculous return of the true Man of Steel, resurrected and as powerful as ever, drove back the Lords' reign long enough for the League to save the planet once again. When all was said and done, Superman's return heralded a new beginning chapter for mankind; but not one forgiving of The Caped Crusader's actions. Discovering a series of extreme actions taken by select members of The League that had been perpetrated within the duration of Batman's leadership, and with his mental state brought into question for even creating HARDAC in the first place, the founding seven of the team considered whether he was worthy of their trust anymore. Superman remained entirely faithful, but the others had been around to see the change in Bruce Wayne; they weren't sure what he was capable of anymore. So they gave him an ultimatum: help fix the damage by allowing these atrocities to be swept under the rug through a partnership with Amanda Waller and ARGUS to maintain The League's reputation, or risk expulsion. Without hesitation, Batman resigned.
Year Eight
This period of time proved to be largely transitional, as Batman took his opportunity away from The Justice League to redouble his efforts to restore order in Gotham City. Following a fallout between him and Dick Grayson in light of the Justice League's discoveries, it became clear that the days of the original Dynamic Duo were over. As Grayson moved away to become the vigilante Nightwing, Batman focused on matters close to home. After a series of public protests against the hastily reconstructed Arkham Asylum for becoming a 'revolving door' of lunatics without any true signs of progress in terms of rehabilitation, Bruce Wayne shot back at these criticisms by augmenting the Asylum from top to bottom with new highly advanced technological security measures supplied by Wayne Enterprises. Promoting Hugo Strange as co-director in the event that Wayne could not oversee the Asylum's day-to-day operations, he unwittingly gave Strange access to the entirety of the inmate roster, never suspecting that Hugo intended to conduct his own personal experiments with the members of Gotham's rogues gallery. It began with Bane, who had been sentenced to Blackgate Penitentiary following The League of Shadows' incursion on Gotham, who was secretly brought to Arkham under Strange's orders to begin testing of a potent new bio-chemical compound called Titan, eventually renamed 'Venom', which doubled his strength. Some of Batman's other worst enemies received upgrades courtesy of Strange's experiments aswell - Jonathan Crane received access to the laboratories, able to work in private on perfecting a devastating fear toxin that would tear Gotham apart with panic. Harley Quinn received weapons and a costume that even her beloved puddin' became envious of, expressing a desire to Strange to strike out on her own. The Riddler received access to a newer and deadly series of puzzle traps to tinker with, much to his delight. And Strange's own scientifically unorthodox experiments with metahuman DNA led to the transformation of Basil Karlo into the monstrous Clayface, aswell as Dr. Kirk Langstrom's involuntary subjection to a bat-mutagen that transformed him into the horrifying Man-Bat. The age of the Monster Men was here, and Strange sought to use this experiment to finally deduce Batman's true identity - which upon completion, was successful. But rather than publically expose Bruce Wayne as The Caped Crusader, he suspiciously kept quiet, disappearing before Batman could bring him to justice. As things seemed at their bleakest following Strange's actions, a chance encounter with a skilled orphan attempting to steal tires off of The Batmobile in Crime Alley gave Bruce a renewed sense of purpose. His name was Jason Todd, and though Dick Grayson had abandoned the Robin identity - Batman wondered if perhaps it could still be of some use.
Year Nine - One Year Ago
Following a lengthy training period, it seemed as though Batman and Robin were back in action and more succinct than ever. Jason had not only showed incredible promise as Bruce's new protege, but his street experience allowed him to excel in areas that Dick never could. With The Penguin released back onto the streets and looking to capitalize on Gotham's long abandoned criminal underworld, he was beginning to set up what looked to be the biggest gang war in the city's history, as Batman and Robin unwittingly discovered through a series of interrogations. But despite Batman and The Penguin's best laid plans, neither could have predicted the morning everything changed: the day that Gotham was hit by a devastating 7.8 cataclysmic Earthquake. With thousands immediately killed in the aftershock and major parts of city laid to waste - including Stately Wayne Manor, which was completely destroyed along with The Batcave underneath - Bruce Wayne helplessly watched as his city crumbled before his eyes. Left shaken by the massive event, his time was divided against aiding the public in rescuing the trapped survivors as Bruce Wayne and fighting off the criminals that looked to seize the opportunity to gain territorial control and Batman. This divided attention unfortunately led to the greatest failure in Batman's career, as Jason Todd, catching wind of a potential plot by The Joker to take a part of the city for himself, went after the maniac himself. On the third week of what had been declared by the state as No Man's Land, Batman was horrified to discover a message from The Joker directing him to a barely standing warehouse in The Narrows, where Robin was being kept barely alive after a severe beating. As he raced to save Jason's life, Batman was surprised to realize the inevitable --- he was too late. The Joker had rigged the place to blow, and following the massive explosion, Batman discovered Jason's lifeless body in the rubble. Clutching onto Robin's corpse in shock, Bruce realized that his war had taken it's toll on those that followed him. A death in the family had occurred, and the experience became the single most traumatic he had ever faced. For days after, he repeated the same phrase to himself: His partner. His soldier. His fault. With little time to bury Jason as the rogue's gallery went about seizing their own distinct territories in the destroyed Gotham, Batman vengefully scoured the city for The Joker with the intent to finally kill him. Despite being talked down by Alfred, then by Barbara, and even Nightwing, who had briefly put aside his grievances with Batman for the greater good of saving those affected by No Man's Land, it wasn't enough to sustain his need for revenge in Jason's murder. So when he finally cornered The Joker, Batman was left with a life-altering choice: kill him and go past the point of no return, or let him live to kill others. Eventually, he was talked out of the former by Commissioner Gordon, who had hoped to put aside his own grievances with The Dark Knight. Understandably shaken, Batman handed the heavily injured Joker over to Gordon and walked off into the night, taking Jason's tattered Robin costume with him. Never again, he promised himself, would he endanger another partner.
The Present Day
A full decade following Batman's first appearance, The Dark Knight's rage following the death of Jason Todd has only barely subsided. With the United States Government quarantining Gotham off from the rest of the world, leaving No Man's Land a perpetual hell on Earth. Despite earlier attempts by Bruce Wayne to appeal to billionaires Lex Luthor and Oliver Queen to help aide in rebuilding Gotham, he was rejected after it became too politically complex. Left to try and pick up the pieces on his own, Batman has all but abandoned the identity of Bruce Wayne in an attempt to re-establish order day and night, patrolling the city at constant intervals with the help of Alfred and his new ally Oracle, the second identity taken up by Barbara Gordon after feeling as though Batgirl would be ineffectual in handling the crisis. With the city just barely on the road to recovery, Batman's closest allies have begun to worry whether he'll embrace his role as Bruce Wayne ever again - and whether a Batman left unchecked by his duality is truly what Gotham deserves. One teenage boy in Gotham doesn't think so, and he's been watching Batman closely, studying the vigilante's newfound aggression from afar. It's become clear to him that for the first time in ten years, The Caped Crusader is allowing fear masked as rage to dictate his actions. And he has to be stopped before there's no going back.
That boy's name is Timothy Drake.
And he may be the last hope of saving Bruce Wayne's soul.
This isn't anywhere near done, but wanted to get something going.
Ultimate DC: REBIRTH Character Application
Screen Name: Carnage27
Character you would like to play (please include the color and font you plan on using to portray the character): Dick Grayson/Nightwing
Alignment (Hero, Villain, Walking the Line): Hero
Character's Origin and Biography (please provide at least two paragraphs explaining your character's history to the present day):
Dick Grayson was born to a family of traveling acrobats known as “The Flying Graysons”. Dick loved his life on the road, traveling and performing along with his family. It wasn’t an easy life, but it was theirs. His happiness was shattered one fateful night in Gotham City when his family was gunned down during a botched shakedown by gangster Tony Zucco.
Grayson was then taken in by billionaire Bruce Wayne. Most thought it was due to Wayne feeling sorry for the boy, but in reality Bruce saw a potential protege in the young acrobat. Wayne revealed to the boy that he was the Batman, and began training him to help in his fight to cleanse Gotham of its criminal disease. Dick jumped at the opportunity and proved to be a capable student. Before long he was patrolling the streets alongside the Dark Knight as Robin the Boy Wonder.
The Dynamic Duo were a force to be reckoned with, and began making real headway in Gotham. At least that’s how they felt. They were soon joined by another vigilante in Gotham, the Batgirl, who turned out to be James Gordon’s daughter Barbara. While Batman disapproved of the girl patrolling without proper training, Robin often fought alongside her, eventually leading to a relationship between the two.
As his adventuring progressed, Dick was chosen to lead the Teen Titans, an offshoot group of the legendary Justice League. The team was meant to prepare the next generation of heroes to join the Justice League. It was here Robin began to hone his leadership skills and befriended many of the other teen heroes.
But all good things end, and Gotham, as well as the Batman’s increasing paranoia, began to wear on Dick. He began showing signs of the Bat’s increasing violent tendencies, leading him and others to question the direction their pursuits were going. This culminated when Robin nearly murdered Tony Zucco, the man responsible for his parents’ death. Realizing that Gotham led nowhere but madness, Dick struck out on his own as the vigilante Nightwing, leaving behind Gotham, Barbabra, and his mentor.
Nightwing now leads a splinter team of former Titans known as “The Outsiders” in a crusade to detain and prevent supervillain activity. After fighting a mysterious cabal known as “The Light” Dick and his team now believe everything that has transpired in their lives is leading to a cataclysm, and they are racing against time to try and prevent it.
Allegiances/Affiliations: Current leader of The Outsiders, estranged member of the Bat Family, Former member of the Titans
Powers and Abilities: Dick has no metahuman powers to speak of. However, thanks to his upbringing as an acrobat and years of training with the Batman, Nightwing has honed his body into a living weapon. He is proficient in hand-to-hand combat, the use of thrown projectiles, acrobatics, stealth, strategy, and detective work.
While Grayson is not the equal of the Batman in many of these pursuits, Nightwing is still incredibly formidable in his own right.
Write two complete sentences using proper English grammar. One to explain what you plan to do with the character you've chosen. The other to explain why you've chosen this character. (i.e. What are your goals? Will you be doing anything different with the character than is usually seen?): Going off MB's app, I'm interested in a Dick Grayson that's struck out on his own, not only from Batman but from the Titans as well. This is a Nightwing fighting to keep hold of his own humanity in a seemingly ever escalating war while leading his best friends on black ops missions to take down villains before they have the chance to strike again.
If you know how to post pictures, please provide a picture of your character:
Please provide a small sample post with original content in the style that you plan to write your character in (must be at least 3 paragraphs long and contain at least one line of dialogue):
Gotham City 211 Hours
Dick Grayson stood on a rooftop overlooking the ruins of Gotham City. Rubble dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see. Behind him, across the river, were government checkpoints at the only bridge still standing. It was the only lifeline to the city, even if the government sent in only the bare minimum of supplies. They were hoping to starve the undesirables out. But the government didn't understand Gotham. They barely understood the world they found themselves in. There's no way they could understand Gotham. It bred insanity, and a simple strategies would never change that.
It had been too long since he had been back. Considering everything that had happened in Gotham in recent years, Dick felt a twinge of regret at not being here to help more. Gotham had been torn apart by an earthquake, and the criminals of the city were fighting over the scraps like rats on a sinking ship. Bruce and Barbara had been doing their best to continue the fight, but they weren't enough. The Gotham citizens that could afford to do so had fled the No Man's Land, while those that remained were nothing more than cannon fodder in a war they had no escape from. Gotham had always been a nightmare, but now it was hell on Earth, and Dick was running around with his own team trying to stop a cataclysm he felt was inevitable more and more every day. Was he wasting his time? Were they all wasting their time?
"You can't blame yourself, Dick," Starfire said from beside him.
"I know," he responded with steel in his voice. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't get to me."
The two of them had come to Gotham to find and interrogate Oswald Cobblepot. New, and dangerous, weapons had been appearing across the country. Even if Cobblepot wasn’t selling them, the Penguin would know something. Nothing happened in the arms dealing world without him getting a wiff through his pointy nose.
“You think we’ll see him?” Koriand’r asked.
Dick sighed, “I wouldn’t doubt it. The Batman always shows up. Even if you don’t want him to. Let’s go."
You know what... I'm going to throw what I have so far up as well. Subject to change (particularly in the character history, where I'll try and come up with an approximate dot-point history next to the ten years) and of course the sample.
So without further ado...
Character Application Screen Name:
Hound55 Character you would like to play (please include the color and font you plan on using to portray the character): George Digger Harkness. Otherwise known to you lot as Captain bloody Boomerang.
Get it up ya. Alignment (Hero, Villain, Walking the Line):
Arsole. Character's Origin and Biography (please provide at least two paragraphs explaining your character's history to the present day):
The bastard child of an Australian woman and an American soldier. George Harkness was raised in abject poverty in the small rural town of Kurrumburra as a right little s*** by his mother and a c**tish stepfather. Kicked out of the house after getting caught buggerizing around with his mate Mick Wentworth robbing nicking stuff from down the local shops.
Unable to convince his stepfather to keep him around, his mother did the next best thing, bought him a plane ticket to Central City, Yu-Ess-Ay and told him to get in touch with this bloke Wiggins; his father.
Anyhow, his father owned this toy company after the war and hed been looking for a spokesman to make their latest product, a line of toy boomerangs, take flight, as it were.
La-di-bloody-dah, oh happy coincidence, George Harkness was bloody proficient with the product, having been fiddling about with carving and throwing his own since cocky was an egg and he basically had the thing on a string when he auditioned for the job.
Little did dear old Dad know that Digger had his own plans for Captain Boomerang. You can take the bastard out of the-- no... You can take the boy out of the bastard-- No... Whatever. The boy was still a right bastard in multiple senses of the word. He had his own plans to use this new persona to make himself some tax-free earnings, and swiftly began a string of heists.
Drew the ire of the scarlet speedster, but came prepared he led him down the garden path with some actors he purported to be his family and used his small celebrity to claim he was being impersonated. With his guard sufficiently lowered, the next time he saw the Flash he knocked him out cold with a boomerang when the Flash came to he was strapped to a massive rocket boomerang that was to be launched into space.
Long story short, the Flash turned the tables on him and he got caught. He had a few more run-ins with the scarlet speedster all finishing in similar style, or at least with the same result before a visit from one Amanda Waller led to his becoming the next unwilling member of the CIA created Suicide Squad.
10 years ago George Harkness set foot on US soil.
9 Years ago The world was given The Flash! Digger Harkness began work planning early robberies.
8 years ago Large amount of time spent in lock-up after being caught by the Flash.
7 years ago Escaped from Iron Heights Penitentiary during the confusion of the First Crisis.
6 years ago A much darker Captain Boomerang, perhaps changed from the harsh sentence of imprisonment at the maximum security Iron Heights Penitentiary (perhaps due to an overly nefarious reputation earned due to being amongst those captured by The Flash) now has achieved uncanny mastery and precision with boomerangs from what was once merely a remarkable skill. Combined with a mean streak, borderline sociopathic tendencies and a willingness for brutality that evolved from being a non-metahuman prisoner in a Max-security hell-hole. The eagerness to make a fast buck but the patience to plan was replaced with a darkness to do whatever was necessary.
5 years ago The Golden Age of the Rogues. An almost twelve month crime spree where an assortment of highly specialized, self proclaimed super-criminals chased money and covered each other in Central City leading the Flash a merry dance. In reality, this period still saw more losses than wins by the knockabout criminals, but their use of teamwork and somewhat structured order to their activities (set on a foundation of internal rules) largely kept most members out of prison for any kind of extended period.
4 years ago The Fall of the Rogues. Due to external unseen brutal factors, the Rogues fell hard in the days of the Justice Lords. Many members willingly surrendered themselves, as the rules that saw the Golden Age did not seem to fit the tilted balance of power in this new world. Digger Harkness was less willing to bow out quietly and was viciously taken down spending a large amount of his early prison sentence in medical care. It was here that he was approached by Government Agent Amanda Waller with a package for a deal. George Harkness would be transferred to Belle Reve; under authority of Task Force X.
3 years until present George Digger Harkness has become one of the longest surviving serving members of the Suicide Squad. And in many ways, his self-serving, and oft-grating brashness combined with a whatever it takes attitude represents many of the basic traits that Task Force X originally hoped to exploit.
Allegiances/Affiliations:
To himself. Primarily.
Affiliations? I guess the Suicide Squad.
Formerly with them charming other Rogues youve heard so much about, that give Flash all manner of headaches. Powers and Abilities:
Well, hes pretty bloody good with a boomerang.
All sorts of boomerangs. Custom made for a variety of uses. Use your bloody noggin, mate.
Also, a certain unquantifiable rakish charm which the birds love, even if they dont always show it.
Also, has a large rocket powered boomerang. Suitable for launching one human sized projectile into space. Dont ask, it was a weird time. Needless to say it pre-dated the Rogues pre-drug rule. $5 grand or nearest offer. See if I cant recoup some of my losses on that one
What? Its not the classifieds? Bugger. Disregard then. Unless you know someone who could use it. Write two complete sentences using proper English grammar. One to explain what you plan to do with the character you've chosen. The other to explain why you've chosen this character. (i.e. What are your goals? Will you be doing anything different with the character than is usually seen?):
I rolled with Marvels Boomer in a previous game (who frankly, I prefer), but I have a different take with this than with the version I used there. Before I was trying to get this guy whod rattled around; second-chance man who was an incredible baseball player who wants a chance to shine again albeit at killing.
Here Ive got a guy who wants to extricate himself. He wants his own freedom. Not for remotely benevolent reasons, but he wants his own life back. If you know how to post pictures, please provide a picture of your character:
Please provide a small sample post with original content in the style that you plan to write your character in (must be at least 3 paragraphs long and contain at least one line of dialogue):
The briefing room was awkwardly large, for the small congregation of crooks, felons, nogoodniks and general nasty-pasties that occupied it along with whoever gave the briefing generally Waller herself.
There was an ominous seam in the roof, which a few of the regulars (namely Digger and Deadshot) came to colloquially call The Line in the Sand. The seam held the blastproof perspex drop-glass that would separate Waller from the Squad should Waller decide to separate someones head from their neck with The Button.
Deadshot and Bronze Tiger noticed that Flagg made it his business to always put himself on the Squads side of the glass. A tacit move to state these are my guys, even if he didnt have the wrap-sheet that counted as everybody elses qualifications.
Digger didnt care. That kind of psychological BS meant little to him.His reasons were different from everyone elses for being here, regardless the sentiment. George Harkness was here for himself, and assumed everybody else was as well. That mentality had faired him well up until now, and he wasnt going to stray from it in here and risk getting stabbed in the back.
Waller stood at the front of the room, and the projector beamed across the one shape that could send a chill through everyones bones even in this room.
Christ muttered Harkness.
So I trust I have your attention. Amanda Waller began. This is Kahndaq.
Wallers voice echoed through the briefing room. No one spoke. Nobody flinched, fiddled with anything or looked away, even for a second.
Kahndaqs ruler, a despot known as Black Adam has committed a wide array of human rights infringements
Digger could take no more.
Youre taking the piss, right?
Waller glared at him. Theyd cleaned pieces of brains and skull off the other side of the Perspex drop-glass for less than this; but given this particular assignment, outbursts and complaint whilst not welcome, were not surprising.
Waller turned her back and continued the presentation. Black Adam holds residence here. In his palace in Shiruta at the capital...
Bloody hell. Digger muttered, composing himself. What is this, some kind of Suicide Squaah. Bugger.
He took his seat and silently absorbed the rest of the mission briefing.
Difference between living and dying on this one, would be thinner than a razorangs edge.
After a bit of consideration, I've decided to rescind my Flash app and leave him open for whoever wants it. I think I'd rather concentrate all of my efforts on Batman for the moment and not take any chances.
After a bit of consideration, I've decided to rescind my Flash app and leave him open for whoever wants it. I think I'd rather concentrate all of my efforts on Batman for the moment and not take any chances.
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