Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

[prodigyduck]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Curses! TheRavenIs took what would have been my suggestion for this name... Now I need to come up with something completely different.

 

 

Alex Vance was a soldier. He loved his country and the honor of his place in it. When the opportunity came up for Alex to participate in a special project for creating a new breed of soldier, he signed up, hoping for a chance to show what he could offer.

 

After many physical and psychological evaluations, Alex was chosen as the test candidate. He was placed in and out of surgery for many years, as his body was augmented and replaced with cybernetic enhancements. After all was finished, Alex Vance was a new man. He was strong... faster...

 

Given a suit of additional body armor for added protection and a new form of configurable energy weapon, Alex was dubbed the "Iron Man".

[bwdemon]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Got to love the runner's high, right? Run until your body screams so much it snaps and gives up those glorious endorphins that can keep you going for hours.

 

Days?

 

Months?!

 

The first few days worried Ken Mugombe. The former Ugandan immigrant had gotten used to the euphoric feeling, but he hadn't slept or even gotten tired in that entire time. After a week, he thought about seeing a doctor about insomnia, but had none of the detrimental symptoms and his work at the insurance company wasn't suffering. In fact, he felt great.

 

His mind was clear, he felt stronger than ever before, and he'd even gotten a bit faster. The 46 year old had the body he'd only wished for when he was in his early twenties . The one thing that never changed was that, no matter what he did or how hard he pushed himself, he did not get the least bit fatigued.

 

After about the third month, Ken witnessed a mugging in an alley. He ran in to stop the crime and found himself embroiled in a fight with two street toughs. He hardly felt their punches and kicks when they landed and managed to keep his feet under him. He'd only been in a few scuffles when he was younger and was not a fighter by any stretch of the imagination, but his new physique more than made up the difference. The fight was over in less than a minute with one opponent unconscious and the other running as fast as his feet could carry him. The victim had long since run away, but Ken didn't care. He felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: euphoria.

 

Ken took this as a sign that he and his special abilities were needed elsewhere. He quit his job at the insurance company and took up a part-time job as a bicycle messenger. He'd always lived meagerly and saved well, so he knew he could get by while embracing the identity of "Iron Man" - protector of innocents and enemy to the predators of the concrete jungle.

[Werehawk]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Major Adam Trask had seen it all, done it all, and God knows what else in between in his twenty plus years with the U.S.Army. A no-holds-barred soldier who got the job done regardless of the political consequences involved. His heavily scared face is a roadmap of what war is all about. His men respected the so-called "Invincible Iron Man" because they knew that they would accomplish the impossible and live to tell the tale. It was this stubborn refusal to die despite all odds against him and his brilliant tactical prowess that he was tapped to lead a highly advanced P.M.C. of soldiers like himself to take on missions governments wouldn't dare attempt but must be done. With the most advanced weapon systems that not even the government has in its arsenal, Major Trask and his "X-Force" take the fights to where they should be fought. Now, every despot and psychopathic leader and terrorist has more reason to fear the "Invincible Iron Man" and his "X-Force".

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Ah. A nice selection. I'll pick a winner on Monday night just in case anyone wants to make a last-minute entry.

[Gallus]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Jack Elley, somewhat effeminate, but beneath his Mr.Rogersly appearance was a cruel fighting animal just waiting to be let out. But this wasn’t known to many, if any people. Jack when through school bullied and “ruffed up” by any number of his “schoolyard chums” as his teacher would so caringly call them.

 

After finishing trade school training as a lumberjack looking for a job somewhere in Canada, Jack found that his true calling was the silver screen. A talent agent noticed him acting like his boss to the very apparent amusement of the other waiters working at the restaurant that he was temporarily working at to scrape up the money for his trip to Canada.

 

Needless to say, after a short discussion with the agent Jack was going of to Hollywood where he would audition for a brand new movie. Unfortunately, during the makeup application for his first scene he inhaled a near-lethal amount of iron-dust. He was rushed to the nearest doctor. This doctor wasn’t your average doctor though.

 

This doctor practiced the ancient voodoo arts. These weren’t your Hollywood, make-belive voodoo ceremonies, they were the real things. After a long bout of chanting and waving of petrified animal carcasses, the doctor declared that Jack was possessed by a dangerous jaguar-spirit.

 

To remedy this problem the doctor placed Jack into a cage of pure cast-iron, the greatest weakness of the animal-spirits. Unfortunately, because Jack’s body already had iron inside of it, instead of weakening the spirit, the cage strengthened it. While the doctor went home for the night Jack used his new found strength to dismantle, and then eat, his former prison.

 

Writhing in pain and spasming in agony Jack fought for control of his body, though he won the fight, it seemed that jack was a lot hairier then he was before but, instead of hair, his body now sprouted thin, iron wires. His teeth and nails, likewise, were now made out of iron, and razor-sharp at that. Using his new-found strength, agility and hardy, metal skeleton, Jack Elley, now known as The Iron Man, battles corporate corruption and crime in the most marvelous of cities, Hollywood, California!

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Odd. I picked a winner and posted it. Whyfore does it not appear? BWdemon, you are the winner. Please pick another name.

[bwdemon]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Yay winner! Yay me!!

 

The next hero for reimagination is... Shadowcat

[mikesama]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Oneko Tsujimoto was your average college exchange student on her way to a costume party. Dressed as a cat (a joke on her name) she walked down the street twoards the house where the party was being held.

 

Then an out of control car jumped the curb and barreled down on an old lady walking down the sidewalk. She started running but knew she couldn't make it in time, she wished she was closer, she had to save her but there wasn't enough time.

 

Then a hard edged shadow appeared directly in front of her and she dove through it. She re-appeared right next to te old lady and tackled her out of the way of the oncomming car. After quickly checking the old lady was alright she quickly took off.

 

As she moved she found these shadows appeared on some instinctual level and she made it back to her appartment in no time at all. A short time later with a revamped costume and some practice in both the martial arts and her powers Sgadowcat was born.

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

In the future, Earth was abandoned by an ascended humanity who left behind the genetically altered descendants of their pets. Dogs are now the dominant species and have created a civilisation in imitation of their forebears. Cats are regarded by the society as lazy, uneducable, and criminal. C'arfel, one such cat dwelt on the fringes of society, but made quite a good living for himself digging up Human relics for sale to avid dog collectors and scientists who were prepared to pay him well for his unusually good finds. He had a kind of psychic sense for the good stuff.

 

However, eventually he came to the attention of Over-Dog, an organised crime boss who decided to take C'arfel over. From now on everything C'arfel found would have to be turned over to O-D, who would sell it on his behalf and take half or more of the proceeds. When C'arfel attempted to sell behind O-D's back, the boss sent his guys out to teach the scav a lesson. Things got out of hand and the scav died...or so O-D thought. But C'arfel escaped the crash, although someone he cared about didn't. From that point onward, C'arfel dedicated himself to bringing down O-D's organisation (and eventually criminals in general) using bits and pieces of the advanced human technology he'd found, his innate intuition and a spray which could conceal his true scent. Once legends of his deeds started to spread, they started calling him the Shadowcat.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Shadow Cat, the name came with a price to be given the name as well as the powers ment that the one who had them would live a life of danger and loss.

 

Harrison North, was a young man, he knew nothing of the Shadow Cat, he was just a simple person that wanted to finish collage and find a good job, marry and have kids. That was not to be.

 

Harrison was the chosen, he had a destiny that would alter all he was and would be. He was walking to class when out of nowhere a car came toward him as he crossed the street, the last thing he remembered was the pain of the impact. When he woke he was in a chamber and a man was standing before him, "Harrison North you are the chosen, you died when that car hit you, now you can become what you were born to be."

 

Harrison stood and noticed that he was now a humanoid feline, he felt better than ever. "What happened?"

 

The man smiled, "I was what you are now. I was chosen as you were chosen, to be the Shadow Cat. You will be the champion of the people, your powers will allow you to move with the shadows and the knowledge of the Martial Arts, you will live long and in that time suffer the loss of those you love, for as long as it takes for the universe to find he or she that will replace you, you will be the Shadow Cat.

 

After training and a great deal of anger and rage was spent, Harrison North no longer existed, all that was left was the Shadow Cat. From the 1930's till now the Shadow Cat has been a warrior of light in the shadows, he knew that soon he would be replaced, he knew that now he would be able to finish the life he started so long ago.

 

You awaken and find yourself a humanoid feline, you are the new Shadow Cat.

[JackValhalla]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

A flicker, a form, a figure in the alleyway..

 

It had not been there a moment before. But it did not care about that. It did not question this. Three bodies lay bleeding on the ground. Two of them were gaudily dressed, skintight clothing and one wore a cape. Those interested it. The air shimmered, something unnatural had happened here. One of the dead bodies had a cowl with two peaked ears, like those of some kind of animal. It sniffed at the bodies, and then moved away. Its feet did not track blood away, and it did not question this either. Questions were not part of its nature. Desire was. It raked its claws against the bricks as it stalked away, leaving long furrows in the stone fronting. It turned the corner, and never looked back.

The survivors called it a shadow-cat, a pitch-black figure with claws and peaked ears. There were not many survivors. Over the next couple of days, other gaudy figures would come looking for it, hunting it. It learned that it could be hurt. It learned to hate them. They locked it away, tried to make it harmless. But they would learn how hard it was to contain it. They would learn to fear it.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

OK WHO WINS!!!!!

[bwdemon]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

After much deliberation, I'm giving the win to...

 

Well, see, it's hard to pick the winner here. Two concepts are very close to each other, one stepped out of traditional setting boundaries (not a bad thing and unexpected), and another took the character down the dark side (not a bad thing and unexpected). Lots of interesting stuff going on here with the use of the name.

 

Now I have to pick one from that bunch? It's just mean, I tell you... mean!

 

Still, I chose the name, so I have to choose the winner. I'm giving the win to JackValhalla for his decidedly darker twist on the character, something I didn't see coming and would enjoy using in pretty much any setting.

[JackValhalla]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Thanks, bwdemon. I didn't think I'd get this one, the competition was pretty tough and there were some entries that really threw me for a loop. I give da respect to everyone in that round.

But, now I have to choose the next round's character to be re-imagined...

Eh, I'll go with my favorite third-string Spidey villain..

Tombstone

Can't wait to see what everyone does with this...

[Sundog]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Blood on the stone.

 

That's what it was all about, in the end.

 

1863 - The quarry was old, the crane rickety and weak, the man unlucky. The piece of rock fell from a height of fifty feet - and the tombstone he had just finished carving from the living earth was baptized with his own life's blood.

 

The stone was scrubbed, and cleaned, and sprayed with noxious chemicals - and soon it was white again, and Geoffrey Walters bought it for his family's burial plot.

 

Geoffrey was a good man. He provided for his family; he gave what he could to those less fortunate than himself; he tried to be the best he could. He laid three children beneath the stone, and their names were etched in the face of the rock. In time, his son, Edward, laid him to rest there also.

 

Edward fought for his nation, and for his family. In two wars, and with the deaths of three of his own children, he slowly grew old before his time, and was laid to rest beside his wife of thirty years, at the feet of his father.

 

His son, Martin, was the only survivng child, as Edward had been. He stood tall, fought when it was asked of him, and came home safe, determined to make a difference. He wore a badge, he walked a beat, and he fathered a fine son to come after him.

 

James followed after his father. An only child, he worshipped his father, and loved to hear the stories of his ancestors. And when he was a man, he married, and took up his father's cause as his own.

 

James did not walk a beat. He wore a fine suit, and his badge was gold. He put drug smugglers and gangsters in prison, and he went home to his wife and his three fine daughters.

 

But then came the day, Martin died, easy in his sleep. And James and his family took him to be buried in the family plot, for his name to be engraved in the stone placed there so long ago.

 

But James had made enemies, evil men who wanted him dead. And their bullets sprayed the blood of James upon the stone; and his wife, Samantha; and his three fine daughters, all the blood mixed together. The blood of good people, the blood of it's people, the blood of those the stone was made to guard, blood on the stone.

 

Some say, the earth has a soul, a spirit as alive and real as any of us.

 

Some say, even the smallest and least part partakes in it's own right of that soul.

 

Can a stone be offended? Can a simple piece of carved stone grieve?

 

The evil men did not long celebrate their success. Their house was smashed inwards, their bodies broken, their weapons less than useless.

 

And the tombstone of the Walters family was nowhere to be seen. Only deep, deep footprints walking away from the grave...

[Whitewings]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Tombstone, despite her ominous name, is not a particularly gloomy person; she doesn't even affect a dark and brooding persona. Tombstone Research is a small RD& compnay run by Carol Cunningham, a multiple doctorate holder despite being only 23. Her secret? She has a unique psychic gift, a combination of mediumship and psychometry: By touching someone's grave marker, she can absorb the skills and knowledge they had in life. In principle, she could probably get a "read" from a corpse or a skeleton, but that's a bit too icky for her liking. She hasn't dared try a funeral urn yet. By this point, she's made pilgrimages to the tombs and graves of every renowned person she can manage. Now if she could just get the certifications to go with the skills...

[bwdemon]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

At first, the power to change into a man-sized earth elemental was fun. Quickly, the fun took on another aspect - duty - as Jim McKenzie realized he could and should do a lot of good in the world with his newfound power. He adopted the identity of "Stone" and began his life as a superhero. No sooner had he set about helping than he found himself among other superhumans working to make the world a safer and better place. As a member of the Defenders of Detroit, Jim worked diligently to become a trusted and respected hero.

 

Then came July 23, 1992 - the Battle of Detroit.

 

So much death and destruction due to one man's ego and power. The fighting seemed to go on forever. Nobody should have to see anything like that in their lifetime. Nobody should have to participate in anything like that in their lifetime. Jim was the only surviving member of the team. The horror of the battle and loss of his friends changed him deeply.

 

After the Battle of Detroit, Jim disappeared for over a year and many assumed him dead. During that year, he did a lot of soul searching and came to realize he had a new duty in the aftermath of the Battle. He had to take it upon himself to stop supervillains and madmen from harming innocents - permanently. Some people, those with the power and will to use it against innocents, just could not be allowed to live. Since few others had realized this, Jim found a new calling.

 

Since 1995, he has hunted supervillains under the name "Tombstone." Fearful that any kindness shown to a supervillain could result in loss of innocent life, Tombstone grants no mercy to those he faces. His actions have been judged harshly by his peers and the press, but he continues on, knowing that any loss of respect or understanding is worth it when balanced against the cost of a life saved.

[nexus]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

The vigilante knowns as Tombstone is known for his (or her) habit of engaging in a long term psychological warfare rather than the stunning bursts of violence that many such "crimefighters" such as Blue Moon Killer engage him. No one has actually lain eyes on the mysterious killer, just seen the marks her leaves behind. Tombstone's MO is always the same. He selects a target with his own unknown criteria. The target might be a marjor criminal figure, a crooked politician or a seemingly meaningless thug. And slowly, over the course of days, he begin to leave signs of that person impending death. Black clothing delivered to their relatives, an obituary in a local paper, frequent sightings of hearses, calls that with nothing but funereal dirges, etc.

 

Finally, the target receives a finally carved tombstone bearing his or her birthdate and date of death a week from the delivery point. They have that long to renouce their criminal life and begin anew, confessing their criminal activities and accepting just punishiment If they do not, the outcome is final and inescapable. The body is always found with a listing of the crimes commited in life, written in the form of a eulogy. The means of death is always some "offcial" means of execution: Electrocution, poisons, hanging, decaptation. The choice seems random, but again there may some method to the vigilante's madness; only he knows for sure.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

cen·o·taph [ sénnə tàf ] (plural cen·o·taphs)

 

noun

 

Definition:

 

monument to dead: a monument erected as a memorial to a dead person or dead people buried elsewhere, especially people killed fighting a war

 

[Early 17th century. < Greek kenotaphion "empty tomb" < kenos "empty" + taphos "tomb"]

 

The cenotaph was not that old, the empty tomb had a simple Tombstone, it only said that it was in memory of those that died in the Battle of Detroit, and a list of the names of the Fallen Heroes.

 

One night a glow appeared within the tomb and soon it grew and formed into a being that was like unto a statue of stone. The being started to move, as easy as any living creature, it breathed and turned and looked at the Tombstone. "I shall stand for you that fell, I shall be the Living Tombstone for those that killed you and ended your lives."

 

The being then glowed and altered it's form and a fallen hero was standing in it's place, but no it was the same being, it would fight the darkness in the different forms of those that fell. It would be the Living Thomstone of those that fell and it would be the one that would remind the world of those that fell so they might live.

[GamePhil]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Not all heroes have phenomenal power. Some have one simple knack. Thomas Stone's knack is an infallible memory for names. He has dedicated his life to finding the identities of all that fell in the tragedy of Detroit, Takafones' march from Oklahoma, and all similar events, that they will not be forgotten as long as he lives. This has earned him the nickname "Tombstone", a name he bears with pride.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

OK WHO WINS!!!!!

[JackValhalla]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Hmmm... Many many worthy ideas here.. lurrve lurrve 'em all. Hard decision. But, I'll have to take unusual and unexpected as my favorite, so I'll credit Nexus the win. Something about the "psychological warfare vigilante" really tickles me, not to denigrate the other entries.

[nexus]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Thanks Jackvahalla!

 

For the next one how about something iconic

 

 

Wonder Woman

[David Johnston]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

Wonder Woman

 

During the 70s, a new vigilante appeared in Los Angeles, an amazingly muscular person over six feet tall with long hair, big eyes, high cheekbones and a husky contralto voice who made her debut by thrashing gaybashers. They called her Wonder Woman because, y'know, everyone wondered.

[mikesama]

Re: Re-Imaged Hero(ines)

 

'Floating away on her glider cape as the police arrived, the young vigilante known as Wonder Woman left three members of the Giovanni crime syndicate standing in front of the local resturant they were sent to wreck when the owner refused to give into extortion.'

 

Wonder Woman's power involves a psychic attack that leaves the target increadibly dazed and confused often leading to the police walking up to them while they mutter questions like "I wonder what happened to the money from than bank heist I pulled last week." Every mook thats ever been questioned always begins with "I wonder".