Amalgamated Knock-Offs

[Nucleon]

I'm starting off a new campaign and, althought I (and some others) made a very intricate universe since 1979 (pre-HERO...), I decided to create a new setting, lighter in tone (a bit DCesque modern art deco), that will feature parodies and amalgams of existing heros everybody know and love.

So Nucleon is fishing for Ideas. Here are some exemples of those He had so far.

Patriot; Steve Jordan is a freelance illustrator whose ascetism, leadership and ideals made him the latest bearer of the famed Bands of Power from an enigmatic, universal Corps. He founded the famous Avenging League of America.

Dark Knight; Bruce Stark lost both his family and usage of his legs in a terrorist act some years ago. From that day on, this thecnological billionaire secretly dons a modern armor (that grants him back freedom of movement) and use it to do a grim war on criminals. To this purpose, he recently co-founded the ALA.

Poseidon; While doing researches in the Mediteranean, American Scientist Arthur Blake uncovered a trident that appeared to be a direct channel to a Divinity no one beleived existed. Physically powerful behond measure, he can now control storms and marine wildlife as the mighty Poseidon, Lord of the Seas. As time goes on, Blake soon gives more and more to a Immortal mindset, detaching him further and further from is land-based root, including the ALA in which he was a founding member.

Hey, enough of me yet.

Fire Away!

[dbsousa]

Captain Arachnid: When Peter Batson got lost on a field trip to the Museum of Natural History, an old African shaman working as a janitor showed him an ancient spider totem hidden in storage. On it was engraved the word ANANSI The old wizard implored Peter to speak the world aloud. Peter complied and felt a strange spirit overtake him. Before his own eyes he transformed into an adult with the powers of Anansi, the Spider-trickster of African legend. Donning a Red and Blue costume, he swings through the urban jungle as Captain Arachnid...

[Hermit]

Scarlet Oracle -Wanda Gordon was the daughter of a police commisioner, and grew up in a city with quite a lot of super action, never knowing who her mother was. More than once, her endangered father was 'luckily' rescued by a super hero who just happened to show up at the right time. Especially when Wanda was filled with worry. As she continued to grow up, more good things happened to her, and bad things to those who threatened her loved ones. Wanda eventually realized she had some sort of subconcious psychic power that affected probability. Eager to get into the action of super heroing, she was instead directed away from it by other heroes who didn't want her hurt. Frustrated, she decieded to help them in a different way. Hacking into the computers of police and other forces, she began to annoymously help crimefighters not only in her own city, but the country. When it comes to computers, she's among the best... she always seems to 'guess' the right password on the first try. How long she'll be content staying in the background remains to be seen.

Additional Note: Wanda has discovered that her long lost mother maybe none other than the notorious villainess Magna Star.

[Nucleon]

Magna Star?

Nucleon is somehow curious about this one. If you consent to elaborate, He shall be Pleased indeed.

[Supreme]

The Green Marvel
Anita Jordan (sorry, can't remember Photon's secret ID) was one of the little-known Mercury 13 (an actualy cadre of female pilots who were part of the early space-flight tests of the Mercury Program of the 50s) pilots. A near miss with a UFO over Roswell, NM lead to Anita's only crash. Anita bailed out in time. Investigating the UFO on foot, Anita met up with the dying alien. Anita tried to save the creature, but lacked the equipment and knowledge of the alien's physiology. Still, inspired by the attempt to save someone who she not only knew, but engandered her life, the Alien (Abin-Vell) used his technology to endow Anita with the ability to assume a green light-form body possess of several marvelous powers (energy projector stuff with a conditional desolid-based defense).

[Lord Liaden]

Devil and Angel. Matthew Wayne was the son of a highly successful defense attorney. Curious and mischevious, his widower father often teased Matt with having "the devil" in him. When Matt was a young boy, his father accepted a client accusing a large company of dumping toxic waste into a residential water supply. One night his father got a tip that clandestine dumping would occur and slipped out of the house to obtain the proof that would clinch his case. Curious Matt hid in his father's car to tag along. The elder Wayne was discovered and murdered by thugs in the company's employ, who dumped the body in a tank of waste to dispose of it. Matt attempted to pull his father's body out of the tank, but exposure to the mix of chemicals blinded the boy. With no other living relatives, his father's client Alfred Nelson adopted Matt. The courts eventually ruled in favor of the company, and Matt's testimony about his father's murder was discounted since he could no longer identify the killers.

Matt discovered that although they had robbed him of his sight, the chemicals had vastly enhanced his other senses. He began to obsessively train himself in crime-fighting techniques, and later pursued a career as an attorney like his father. He adopted a frightening costumed identity based on his father's nickname for him: "Devil".

In one early case, Devil attempted to rescue an ambassador and her teen-aged daughter from political assassins. He succeeded in saving the girl, Selina Natchios, but her mother was killed. Falling in love with her, Matt Wayne helped Selina bring her mother's killers to justice, later training her to be his partner in crime-fighting, under the identity of "Angel".

(BTW although I didn't use the amalgamated names, I did run Devil and Angel as NPCs in a Dark Champions campaign.)

[SuperPheemy]

<b>Thunder God</b>: Called by many names throughout the ages, this deity has returned to Earth upon witnessing the emergence of super-powered beings. However, the Omniscient has charged Thunder God with a twofold purpose. On one hand, he is to resume his role as a divine power to inspire and lead the mortals of earth, yet he is to live among them as a mortal to better understand their condition. Thus, the Thunder God has two bodies, his divine warrior form, and his mortal seeming, David Batson a documentarian who produces programms on Mythology for the History Channel.

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Nucleon
Magna Star?

Nucleon is somehow curious about this one. If you consent to elaborate, He shall be Pleased indeed.



Magna Star- Carol Gordon was a happily married woman and mother of a beautiful baby daughter. None of this really slowed her down much from her obligations of running the city's airport. When rumors of a metorite landing near it reached her ears, she went out to investigate. What she found wasn't a rock of the normal sort, but a strange glowing sapphire, already cut, and unharmed by the heat of re-entry. Not knowing what drew her to do so, she reached forward and plucked the gem up.

Instantly she was filled with knowledge and power both. The gem was a device constructed by the ancient alien race of Suparons. This stone contained their society's ideals of leadership, ethics, and morality. As Carol placed it upon her brow, she was overwhelmed by the conflict between the utopian ideals and visions of this race, and the ugly reality on her own planet. Some say it drove her mad, but she would claim it made it see things all too clearly. Terrans always warred, always fought among themselves, they hated each other with disgusting passion. They understood only force. She would have to take over and MAKE this world the paradise it should be.

Using her new electro magnetic powers to assemble a costume reminicent of the leaders of Supar; she went forth to conquer. She dubbed herself Magna Star and never went home again.

[Redmenace]

Appologies in advance


Norseman- Knowing that the prophesied day of Ragnarok approached, Father of the Gods Jodin sent his infant son Thor to Midgard. There his Godly parentage would make him like a giant before the skraelings of Earth.

Faster than a speeding bullet train.
Stronger than a thousand trolls.
Able to leap vast Fjords in a single bound.



Midknight- Mercenary Wayne Spector, Detective Bruce Franco, Cab driver Mark "Matches" Malone, and the mysteryman known only as the Midknight, four personalities all residing in the troubled mind of one man. After seeing his parents gunned down before him, Wayne Spector's mind fractured into four personas. Each distinctly different yet obsessed by the same goal, to wage war on the underworld. (Batman-Moonknight)


The Unknown Four- Dr. Charles Challenger had once again talked his best friend, fiancé' and her bratty brother into trying one of his experiments, but this time the Crazy thing actually worked.

After beating the commies to be the first explores to reach the Earth's core, the four returned each horribly disfigured but possessed of new and unheard of powers.

Now as Dr Challenge, Slab, the Invincible Girl and the Flaming Youth, (mea Culpa, I'm sorry), they explore new dimensions, defend the earth from strange menaces and desperately try to reverse the process that transformed them.


Cyber Man Promising young athlete Victor Stark came back from Viet Nam without his legs and with a jagged piece of shrapnel inoperably close to his heart. Bitterness and self pity drove him to the bottle. Something within him, however, would not die. Throwing himself into College studies he drove himself to become the greatest engineer of the age. With the aid of his self designed, prosthetic power armour he fights for those who cannot defend themselves.


Penny Arcade- Originally a spoiled Beverly Hills princess, Quinn Harlin murdered her parents after being told they were cutting off her trust fund. Free to explore her twin passions of homicide and prop comedy by combining them in the creation of her Murderdrome amusement park, the bloodiest place on Earth.(Harly Quinn and Arcade


Toysmith Originally a cybernetic engineer, the man who would become the toysmith was killed by a scheming rival who wished to steal his designs. Somehow his mind become one with the companies super computer. He found he could control any machine connected to it thus granting him access to both the Toy factory and Army advanced weapons development project.

At his whim, the toysmith unleashes his lethal playthings, green plastic, life sized and lethal army men, radio controlled armoured cars and worse. (Toyman-Machinesmith)


Thanoseid- He is the embodiment of the shadow in all men's hearts existing for one purpose, to extinguish the flame of life in the universe. From his lunar base Necropolypse, in orbit around Saturn, he sends out his Paragod minions to attack Earth while he works to complete his panthanatic equation.


Gammazon- Bathed in purple radiation during a Gamma Ray Laser test at while investigating sexual discrimination at the Citadel military academy, judge advocate general linda Banner became a high energy heroine.

[Nucleon]

(My first post was quite lacking in the femina departement...)

Sprite; Dinah Van Dyne may seem a jetsetting socialite but in fact, she is the leather-clad mutant Sprite. Closely related to birds, she can shrink to an incredible tiny size, making her able to fly and to cast devastating sonic "stings". She too is a founding member of the ALA .

Scarlet Priestess; Paradisiac Island of Symkaria' envoy to the outside world to teach values of art and beauty, Diana Maximoff is perpetually surrounded by the "hex" energies that keep her Island concealed, making this Sword and Shield warrior maiden a very potent threat for evil -and machist wrongdoers. (Yeah, granted, this is second to Hermit's Scarlet Oracle...)

[Nucleon]

Say, Redmenace, those were good. I especially liked Gammazon. Mind if I burrow it? Thanks.

:D

[Killer Shrike]

Grindstone: Solomon Cain-Nelson, step brother to Professor M the famed mystic master, was with his step father Ryan 'Arkansas' Nelson and his weakling step brother Charles when they found an ancient crypt in the Sudan, containing fascinating artifacts including a very strange apparatus that looked like a stone exoskeleton. Solomon stepped into the exoskeleton causing 4things to happen; 1st the trapped crypt collapsed upon him, killing him instantly, 2nd the collapse also crushed his step father to death, 3rd the exoskeleton conformed magically to his body, permanantly bonding itself with him and 4th crushed another artifact which released a powerful extraplanar entity called Dabu from a trap it had been caught in for several Millenia. Solomon was stuck below the rubble for a decade and believed dead. However, somehow the magic of the strange armor animated the corpse or arrested the release of Solomons soul.

The armor grants the Undead Solomon great strength and seemingly complete invulnerability, and the ability to curl into a wheel-like posture so as to inexorably roll forward head over heel. No force on Earth has yet proved strong enough to keep the menace called the Grindstone from rolling forward. Grindstone's immunity extends to Mental attacks, but being a mystical entity, he is vulnerable to magical effects. He is quite possibly unkillable; concerted effort of many heros and expensive containment equipment has been able to capture and imprison him for short periods of time, but he always escapes in the end. He believes that his step brother caused the collapse of the crypt all those years ago and pursues a vendetta against him in between making money as a super criminal for hire. (Solomon Grundy + Juggernaught)


Professor M:
Charles Nelson was the son of famed archeologist and adventurer Ryan 'Arkansas' Nelson. Charles was always frail and sickly, taking after his mother a noted researcher and cataloger, who died when he was only 5. Ryan dragged his dissapointing son from dig to dig, and eventually remarried when Charles was 16. His new wife, Shannon Cain, had the seeming of an angel but in reality was a cold manipulator who was only after Ryan's estate. As luck would have it she was killed by a booby trap on a dig in the lower Nile basin, leaving Ryan straddled with 2 kids he didnt know how to take care of. Though Shannon's son Solomon was not his own, Ryan tended to favor the fearless, impetuous, and physically-oriented Solomon over the bookish, often ill Charles.

A year later Ryan got a tip about a lost tomb or crypt somewhere in the Sudan rumored to have great treasure, so off they went to find it. They found the crypt, but the impetuous Solomon set off a trap which collapsed the structure and struck Ryan dead. Charles had remained outside the crypt due to his allergies (and general cowardice). When the crypt collapsed, a mystical entity known as Dabu, a Lord of Order, was released from a dimensional trap it had been caught in for 3 millenia. Weakened by its long imprisonment, Dabu entered the weak body of the only human within 50 miles, that of Charles, and partially possessed him. Dabu used some of his magical powers to enhance the weak form of the boy sufficiently to escape the hinterlands for more civilized locales. Charles inherited his father's considerable estate, and under Dabu's urgings retired to an extended mansion located near Syracuse NY that Ryan had won in a high stakes poker game many years before.

There Dabu harbored its energies and practiced its arts through its mortal host until after a decade it had accumulated sufficient strength to return to the other planes. However, blessed with a scholarly intellect and an Edetic Memory, and altered forever by his association with such a powerful entity, Charles possessed mystic knowledge far surpassing that of most other Earthly magi, and the power to weild it. Fortunately, the kind hearted Charles decided to use his power for good, and in fact soon set up a private school on the grounds of his Syracuse estate and began finding children with mystic capability or talent and arranging for them to be sent to his school where he also teaches them the use of thier arcane abilities. Later he formed some of his older students and outsiders with more developed mystic powers into the Unearthly M-Men to counter the threat posed to the world by Magnifico the Master of Mysticism and his Fraternity of (Evil) Magi.

Professor M is perhaps the most powerful magic user on Earth overall, though other individuals exceed his capabilities in specific fashions. For example, Magnifico is less poweral over all than Professor M, but his control over offensive magical force exceeds that shown by the largely pacifistic Professor M. (Professor X + Dr Fate)

[Killer Shrike]

Bump

[ShinDangaioh]

I was going to throw in the Mighty Crusaders, but they have such simplistic names.

Fly, Fox, Comet, Jaguar, Shield, Web, Black Hood, Noman

I'll do the obvious one. Captain America and Shield
Captain Shield(talk about whitebread)

Let's combine the team names.

Avenging Crusaders of Justice

[Hermit]

Death Head's Grin- Ain't death just funny? come on, it must be, or why else would you be smiling once you removed the fleshy stuff? A nazi scientist didn't always think so. He was humorless, dispasionate. He bore the jews, Gypsies, and others he sliced open no particular hatred... he was a scientist, and, in his heart, a bringer of enlightenment. The secrets of life and death were unraveling every day. Let the war be won or lost; Science would be the victor. What were a few million lives when it meant progress could come forth, not only for weapons, but medicines?
An improvement had already been made on the old mustard gas. A way of stripping the very flesh from the bones. The Death Head's Grin gas was going to win the war.
No less important was the statis serum, a way of suspending cellular activitiy.
That is when those verdammit Allied heroes stormed in, seeking to stop his experiments.. in desperation, he realized the new gas upon them, only to have it blown back his direction... he was dying, his skin peeling from his face in seconds. Desperate, he enjected the Statis Serum straight into his heart.. and.. nothing.

The 'heroes' assumed he was dead, and left him for such as they destroyed his lab. Decades passed, and finally, the two warring chemicals seemed to settle on a truce. The corpse opened it's preserved eyes. He explored the new world, and saw only misery, felt only pain. Oh, some subtle, some extreme, but surely death was preferable to this. It was, he thought, very funny. For the first time, he laughed at the ludicrious nature of life and death.

Yes, it was time to make some smiling faces. Death Head's Grin was born.

[Twilight]

Just some ideas off the top of my head.

Blind Justice: Young Matthew Wayne was a happy child with loving parents. At least he was untill that fateful day when they crossed through an alley as a shortcut when coming home from the movies. They were accosted by thugs and his parents were shot and killed, and young Matthew left for dead. The last thing he ever saw was his parents falling to the ground and laying in a pool of thier own blood.

Raised by his family's butler, Matthew's soul cried out for revenge. Unwilling to see his blindness as a handicap, he travelled the world learning all the skills he would need in order to fight his war on crime and searching for ways to overcome his blindness. It wasn't untill he travelled to a monostary in Tibet that he found the answer. Training with the monks there, they taught him thier secrets and he learned techniques to use the full potential of his mind.

Returning home, he created the persona of Blind Justice, a mysterious figure that soon became the bane of criminals everywhere. Noted for his seeming ability to appear and disappear at will, his apparent ability to read minds and his chilling laugh.

[A mix of Batman and Daredevil, with the Shadow thrown in for extra coolness.]

[Killer Shrike]

Bump--
Lets keep this going; lots of interesting ideas herein

[Hermit]

Mary Lane: Known for her distinctive hair style (naturally raven, but she dyes a streak of it a fiery red) Mary Lane is a former model turned fashion reporter. The reason she draws attention is she's an expert on the fashion of super heroes and villains. It's Mary who helps determine who's hot, and who's not in the often spandex clad world. Naturally, a few villains have vowed terrible vengeance on her when they were reviewed unfavorably.

[Smoot]

Wyrd (from a Norse word, meaning both 'strange' and 'fate'): A rune-based sorceror working out of the Northeast. A former surgeon, he took a trip to Scandanavia, where he 'discovered' his powers. (Driving back a rather garish invasion by rock trolls).

Back in the US, he shuttles between Massachusetts and New York City -'tamping down' dangerous magical sites like Arkham or Miskatonic with rune stones while in MA, and keeping a townhouse full of artifacts (Like a stone he found near Agamotaway, MA) in the City.

Alloy: John Henry "Rhodey" Rhodes, military veteran and former pilot for S.T.A.R.K. Labs, whose life was saved by a flying superhero. Inspired by this, he wears his steel and iron, man-shaped war machine into battle. (The hammer may indicate he was saved by Thor, though accounts differ.)

[Nucleon]

Originally posted by Hermit
Mary Lane: ...

Arggh! This so so good it actually frustrate Nucleon with Envy!

Sentient: It has been found out that the Android called "sentient" is a construct from behond our planet. At first perverted by the ALA's arch-ennemy Ultriac 5, who implanted in him all the personalities of this famed outfit. But the synthezoid acted bravely at the last minute, saving the day. Now itself a memeber of the ALA, Sentient is ever the lonesone, brooding figure who can alter mass and appearance, while having almost mental relationship with machines.

[Klytus]

Originally posted by Smoot
Wyrd (from a Norse word, meaning both 'strange' and 'fate'): A rune-based sorceror working out of the Northeast. A former surgeon, he took a trip to Scandanavia, where he 'discovered' his powers. (Driving back a rather garish invasion by rock trolls).


Smoot... this name... this is Inspired. Pure Genious. I am in awe.

::bows deeply::

[Smoot]

Thanks!

Oh, and how about the campaign world's version of the movie Almost Famous being about an amalgam of Rick Jones and Snapper Carr?

"Hulk am a GOLDEN GOD!" ;)

[Hermit]

Captain Martian
Refusing to take any further part in the genocidal civil war between the greens and the blue skinned people of his home system, Captain Jo'n Mar of the M'ree race went looking for the most remote part of the galaxy he could. He was rather surprised to find a intelligent life on the third planet of the Sol system. Not wanting any trouble, he instead settled for making a habitable home on the fourth planet. There he would have stayed, as a recluse for the rest of his days, if not for the fleet his sensors picked up, and his own conscience.

The fleet was intent of invading the 'Earth", and Jo'n Mar realized the primitive planet would have no chance against such superior technology. Sickened by war, he nevertheless rushed to warn the greatest champions of the Earth. His Psychic bands (The most advanced technology his own race had ever devised) took some time to adust, and there were some misunderstandings. The Earthlings at first wondered if the invaders had come from Mars. When he explained that HIS out post was on Mars, they assumed he was a native, and, that with his obvious uniform, he was dubbed "Captain Martian". Since it prevented the still nascent (by his standards) Earthlings from finding his TRUE Homeworld, he let it slide.

The name has stuck ever since.

[Killer Shrike]

Good stuff Hermit. Sadly, I was never a big DC fan, so my amalgamated skillz are "suxzor" as I believe the kids are saying on the streets these days. Im really getting a kick out reading this stuff though.

[Supreme]

Plastic Spider (sorry, can't think of a better name..)
When Peter "The Eel" Parker, a teenaged street-theif, tagged along with a local gang on a heist, he didn't realize that he was only invited to be bait for the cops. When the police showed up, they shot Peter and left him to take the blame. Mortally wounded, Peter managed to escape, but not before being exposed through his wounds to an experimental "bio-fiber" plastic. Peter limped far enough away to elude the cops, only to faint from loss of blood.

When Peter awoke in a Buddhist monastery he discovered that the bio-fiber not only helped him recover miraculously, but gave him strange powers. Peter could use the bio-fiber now permeating his system to alter his clothes, create costumes, cling to walls with micro-hooks, enhance his strength, and even to project silk-like webbing. Peter vowed to use his newfound powers to fight crime. After all, with great power...

[Killer Shrike]

(Cross posted from http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=386119#post386119 )

Combine Bruce Wayne and Steve Rogers to get:


Roger S. Bruce (decendent of Robert I aka Robert the Bruce) aka Nightshield, the Crusading Patriot! From a wealthy (Scottish-) American family, he saw his parents killed by Nazi bombs as a small boy when visiting family in Kincardine, Scotland in 1939.

Returning to the family estates outside of Chicago in the care of Kenneth Kincade, a loyal family servant whose family has served the Bruces for over 700 years, Roger was instructed and trained by a succession of the best tutors from the world over at the direction of Kincade. Driven by a secret vow to bring justice to the evil organizations of the world (particularly anything Nazi related), the young Roger learned well and quickly, taking special delight in learning fighting arts. Roger also possessed a keen and perceptive mind, enhanced by the difficult regimine of cognitive skills Kincade made him do daily.

Finally reaching his majority in 1953, Roger took over as CEO of the family business, Star Spangled Steel Amalgamated (abbreviated S3A), which had been held in trust by Kincade previously. Much more significantly however, Kincade revealed to Roger that his more unusual militant training had been for a purpose. According to Kincade a line of the Bruce family had been entrusted with great responsibility since before the time of David I King of Scots; protectors of an ancient artifact and a matching ancient duty. Kincade presented Roger with the artifiact, a perfectly preserved shield bearing Sable a lion rampant Azure (a blue standing lion on black).

Kincade told Roger that the shield was magical. Not only was it indestructible, but it granted great strength and fortitude upon its rightful possessor, even when not carried. According to legend, the rightful inheritor of the shield was remade into the ultimate warrior, the epitome of human might. The Bruce family was intrusted with the shield and with the solemn duty to use it to protect the world from oppression, to be a bastion for freedom for the people against those who would conquer and subjugate. Kincade delivered a warning as well; should the inheritor of the shield become unworthy of it, the powers granted by it would no longer be granted upon them and the shield would become inert, awaiting the next worthy Bruce to take it up. Kincade told Roger that his parents weren't in Scotland to visit family, rather Roger's father Godfrey had planned to fight against the Nazi's but was slain before he could join the cause of freedom againt Hitler.

With a fervent zeal in his eyes, Roger slipped the shield onto his arm and was instantly transformed physically from his athletic but otherwise normal teenaged form into a powerfully muscled fully mature man with incredible reflexes and unflagging endurance. Wasting no time Roger donned a dark costume complete with helmet and cape and took to the streets of Chicago as a costumed crimefighter known as Nightshield, a "mystery man" as the press then called them.

Working from a secret base below Bruce Manor, Roger initially took the fight to organized crime in Chicago, Roger soon found himself following trails of crime connections to various cities in his war on the mafioso. As he grew in experience and confidence he expanded his battle against infamy to include powered criminals and organizations. Eventually he encountered his great nemesis JORMUNGAND, a secret society bent on world domination with Nazi roots, mystical overtones, and a snake motif . Nightsheild has continued to fight crime into the modern day, his aging apparantly retarded by the powers of the shield he bears.

Kenneth Kincade died of cancer in the 70's, but his son Kyle, took his place as Roger's major domo and aide. Kyle was also trained by his father in the same fashion as Roger, and though he lacked the mystical gifts of Roger he sometimes joined Nightshield in his battles as the costumed adventurer known as [b]Kestrel.

In 1978 Roger restructured Star Spangled Steel Amalgamated into Star Spangled Sciences (S3) after fighting off a attempted hostile takeover engineered by Nathan Numen's NumenCorp [Lex Luthor, King Pin amalgam]. S3 branched its existing Mettalurgy labs into numerous other sciences via companies aquired in the levereged reversal Roger used to counter the NumenCorps buyout. In the decades to come S3 would become one of the worlds most influential and succesful technology firms, with branches dedicated to telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, infotech, and general government contracting.

As Nightshield progressed to fighting world-spanning dangers (eventually joining the Freedom Society of America in the 80's as a provisional member), Kestrel tended to stay local to Chicago and battle more street-level crime whenever Nightshield left the city to pursue bigger threats. Nightshield and Kestrel were a famous duo through the late 70s and early 80's, but in 1984 Kestrel was slain by Loke, one of the leaders of JORMUNGAND, an evil genius gadgeteer and trickster [Joker parallel], at the direction of the leader of JORMUNGAND the Crimson Serpent [Red Skull parallel]. loke tortured Kyle terribly, seeking to learn Nightshields true identity, but Kyle would not betray the secret and took it with him to the grave.

Kyle's younger brother Kevin Kincade left college at this point and returned to the Bruce mansion outside of Chicago to don the mantle of Kestrel and take up the family duty to serve the Bruces'. However Roger, stricken by the death of Kyle, refused to allow him to take up the identity of Kestrel. Finally Kevin secretly took to the streets on his own wearing his brother's costume. Of a more inventive bent but not as skilled of a fighter as his brother, Kevin supplemented his repetoir with a number of clever devices he had designed and built in college.

One night Roger discovered this charade when he went looking for Kevin in the mansion and instead found the case that normally held the Kestrel outfit empty. Donning his costume and sheild Nightshield went into the city to find Kestrel, expecting the worst. However Nightshield found Kestrel fighting a gang of Fringer thugs and doing quite well. Following him for the duration of the night, he watched Kevin deal with several problems all quite handily. Beating him back to the mansion Nightshield "caught" Kevin sneaking in and confronted him about his forays. Nightshield delivered an ultimatum; Kevin could continue his crimefighting as Kestrel, but only in conjunction with Roger himself.

Nightsheild and Kestrel soon returned to fighting crime as a team, often referred to as the "Dynamic Duo" by the press. Additionally Kevin's inventiveness lead to Nightshield carrying a belt of increasingly clever crime fighting aids, and later a number of sophisticated vehicles were added to the arsenal of crime-fighting tools such as the well known "Nite-kite" delta-winged stealth jet, the "Night Steed" jet powered motorcycle with hover capability, and the "Nightmobile" armored (and gadget laced) car.

Kevin also made a number of technological improvements to the Kestrel suit, to the point that it was more properly a suit of powered armor, augmenting its wearer to be roughly comparable to Nightshield's physical capabilities as well as a capacity for sustained flight, which was slowly improved from a powered glide to full-fleged flight. These improvements allowed Kevin to fight crime on a larger scale alongside Nightshield in the final years of his career as Kestrel.


In the mid-90's Kevin passed on the Kestrel mantle to Kyle's son (and his nephew), Kenneth "Kenny" Kincade. Kevin took a more supporting role to Nightshield's operations, typically serving as a "mission control" in addition to maintaining Bruce Manor, covering for Roger's many absences, and keeping the underground base in top condition. Kevin has occasionally come out of retirement in dire extremity to assist Kenny and Roger, wearing a full-fledged battle suit he calls Sparhawk. The Sparhawk suit is piloted (rather than being a pure exo-skeleton) and is modular, but its basic focus is as a straightforward superstrong flying platform with some non-lethal crime fighting attachments [very loose Azrael parallel, with aspects of old-man-Bruce from Batman Beyond].


Kenny lacked his uncles experience, but with the constantly improved Kestrel suit and his own youthful athleticism and enthusiasm, he quickly proved himself to Roger and the "Dynamic Duo" continued with little interuption. While his father Kyle's approach as Kestral was more martial arts and gumshoe detective work oriented, andh his uncle Kevin's approach was more gadgets, forensics, and computer aided analysis oriented, Kenny's approach to Kestrel has been more focused on learning the Kestrel suit's capabilities and pushing them to their limits, like a highly trained fighter pilot. While not as capable when it comes to investigative work, and not as clever as his uncle or Roger, Kenny has become much more adept at fighting powered crime than either of his predecessors due to using the technology at his disposal to it's fullest .

In the modern day, in addition to his exploits with Kestrel, Nightshield is also a respected member of the [b]Freedom League of America (previously known as the Freedom Society of America), though generally regarded as being somewhat aloof by many of the younger members of that organization due to his unwavering and "old fashioned" ideals. He is widely held to be the greatest example of the "mystery men" of the 50's, due largely to his longevity, and his combination of sluething skills and uncanny ability to both predict outcomes and see through villainous ploys garners much respect among less cerebrally gifted superheroes. And of course his shield-smashing two-fisted approach to crime fighting is not to be disrespected either. He frequently serves as the leader of FLA response teams, and along with Mr. Wonderful, Freedom Lady, Iron Ring, and Dr. Proportion (aka Doc Prop) is one of the founding members of the group, having been in the FSA previously.

Roger is starting to show signs of age as well. Though chronologically 70 years old he looks like he is in his late 30's. He has had to employ make up and later prostetics when appearing in public as himself for the last 20 years, and has limited his public appearances heavily to conceal his retarded aging. Kevin handles most of his interests publicly and was appointed as "Director of Operations" of S3 over a decade ago. Roger has had many romances over the years in both identities, but his burning need to fight crime has prevented him from settling down. Kevin frequently urges him to find a suitable wife and father an heir lest the family line be ended.

Nightshield is sometimes called "The Dark Knight" and "The Shield of Justice" in the press, referring to some of the alternate names used to describe him in the late 50's and early 60's before his true nom de guere was widely known.

[Killer Shrike]

Appologies in advance

Snip

Penny Arcade and Gammazon -- pure gold my friend, pure gold.

[Crackerjacker]

The Defender Society of America (well its Defenders/Avenger mix)

Mr.Terrific/Iron Man- "T. Terrific, the world's smartest man who died of cancer but not before programming his brain into a dozen perfect androids"
Power Girl/Vision- "Mirage, a mystical being with unbeleivable power and an unstoppable will"
Dr.Fate/Dr.Strange- "Dr.Karma, private investigator and Vishnu dreamwalker"
Catman/Namor- "Naman Grah'nt, Prince of the Jungle Realms"
Starspangled Kid/Black Panther-"Cosmic Star, president of America-Sattelite in Universe-3"
Wakeem Thunder/Rick Jones-"Rick Bolt, teenage sidekick with an omnipotent geenie"
The Atom/Hawkeye-"Atomic Eagle, cold war icon and master of precision fighting"

[mattingly]

My favorite joke Amalgam...

The Incredible Quark (Hulk/Atom) -- "The madder Quark gets, the smaller Quark gets! Quark is the smallest one there is!"

[Killer Shrike]

Geek ;)

[Sketchpad]

Hmm ...
Black Widow: Former Russian pop star, Dinah Romanov, was offered a job with O.R.A.C.L.E. by it's director Barbra Fury. While there, she has been equipped with sonic & web grenades, as well as a varient of Night-Spider's multi-shooter.
Night-Spider: Protege of the vigilante Dark Knight, Pete Grayson had his DNA altered when he decided to drop his sidekick identity of Ibis. Thanks to the altered DNA, Grayson now calls himself the Night-Spider, fighting crime in New Haven and occasionally working with the Teen Warriors.
Dark Knight: Billionaire archeaologist Marc Wayne discovered more than artifacts while on a dig in ancient Egypt. While in one of the pyramids, he found that he was the reincarnation of the Chiroptus, one of the ancient pharohs. Returning home to find his family murdered, he vowed revenge and donned a new identity as the Dark Knight. Fighting such villains as Hyde, Goblin Clown, Black Panther, The Yuckster and Rancor, the Dark Knight has proven himself as a protector of Gothica time and time again.
Powerhouse: Xenologist Clark Banner was investigating a strange, green rock that fell to Earth one night when an explosion in the lab merged the rock with Banner. Now, in times of high stress, Banner undergoes a transformation into a grey-skinned, shard-encrusted, rampaging monster called powerhouse. Framed for the death of the other labworkers, he now wanders the country, hoping to find a cure and battling other monstrosities on the way.
Raptor: Former FBI agent Helena Moorse was working undercover in the Gothic mob ring when Dark Knight had broken them up. Inspired by his courage, she went rogue and donned a dark costume to battle crime as Raptor.

[proditor]

Excessive: Jenni Creed is the granddaughter of two of the world's most famous heroes. The Blur was a hero with the ability to move at near relativistic velocities as she kept America safe during WW2 and the Cold War, and Savage was darn near that...A large feral man possessed of enhanced regenerative abilities, near superhuiman strength and claws. Nothing untoward occured in their children, but the genes were waiting, and when Jenni hit her 14th birthday, she suddenly became a whirling ball of fury. Combining the feral abilities of her grandfather with a slightly slower version of her grandmother's speed created a deadly combination. Content to merely live her life as normally as she could, Jenni just tried to fit in. All went well until just after graduating High School. An old nemesis of her grandmother, the nefarious ex-soviet General Winter, used his enhanced super soldier physique and Ice powers to finally kill of his old enemies, The Blur and Savage. Jenni was devatated and that very night, the good general was literally torn to pieces by the newest dark vigilante, Excessive. Since then she has dedicated her life to making sure no one else has to suffer the loss that she did. Her primary enemies are other supers, but she has been known to take out a gang or two when things are "slow". While the savagery of her attacks has greatly diminished since General Winter's demise, she is still known for using more force than needed. Upon hearing her attacks described as Excessive by the police, she now had a name to go with her mission. (XS and Sabretooth)

Galvanizer: When Luke Pierce walked down the corridor to Death row, he knew it was only the latest disappointment in a life of struggle and hardship. As an Olympic Gold Medal winner, Pierce was everything that symbolized success. A former Gang member, his athletic prowess was recognized early and fostered by the Deacon of his local church. Pierce managed to overcome the entanglements and peer pressure of his urban upbringing and had excelled, becoming a role model for all of those looking for something better. But fame has it's price, and once back in the old neighborhood, Pierce tried to use it for good. As a certified teacher, he took a job in the worst part of his old neighborhood and also started an after school athletics program in partnership with the Police Athletic League. This change did not go unnoticed by his former gang buddies who felt that Pierce had "Sold out". They were determined to bring the goody two-shoes down a notch or two and show him just how fragile his star position truly was. Set up for a murder he didn't commit, railroaded through the legal system that was tired of seeing the famous and powerful getting off scott free, Pierce was condemned to the Electric Chair. His last thoughts as they strapped him in were "why?" The switch was thrown...And Galvanizer was born. His will to overcome all fueled Pierce's latent psionic abilities and manifested in some startling ways. His skin now permanently radiated an electrical field that bonded with the outer layer, making him almost impervious to harm. He gained control over electricity in all of it's forms, and the power coursed through his muscles granting him superhuman speed and Strength. As the courts tried to figure out what to do with a guy who wouldn't die, new evidence came forward and Galvanizer was cleared of all charges. Now, the Living Battery tries to make a normal life for himself while also working to clean up the neighborhood that he has called home for so long. (Power Man and Black Lightning)

[proditor]

One more came to me in the shower:

SuperNova: Richard Kent seems just like the boy next door...but only if next door is half the universe away. Born as Kal-Rie on the planet Kreeton, he is the last surviving member of that race's struggle against planetary upheaval, and an insane Artifical Intelligence determined to save itself. Found as a baby in his little rocket ship, Richard grew up like any other kid in Kansas. Well, any other kid that could lift 10 tons, was functionally bulletproof, and who could run at Mach speeds that is...But through it all, Richard felt that the supers of his day were grandstanding. He went down the path of law enforcement, first as cop in the city of Chicago, and then as a crime reporter for the Daily Bugle. He would have probably continued just helping out quietly on the side, but the decision was taken from his hands by the appearance of Brainivac. The AI from his home world had come to earth, battling the legendary Star Guardian Decurions of Xanoa to slay the last living Kreetonian. As the battle raged, Richard had to use his powers to save normal folk and supers alike. The great AI was nigh invincible, and the leader of the Decurians fell to the ground at Richard's feet. Moving the dying alien from the battlesite, Richard was surprised when the man raised his hand to touch him and said "Now you shall be the star that guides us to victory..." There was a flash of energy, both men fell to the ground, and SuperNova arose. Combining the might of his Kreetonian physiology with the gravimetric powers of the Star Guardians, SuperNova routed the AI and took his place as the foremost hero of the day. While seen as "The boy scout with Attitude", SuperNova has become an inspiration to heroes and novice heroes across the world. (Superman and Nova)