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French hero Spectrum has become one of the best. With an assortment of powers associated with the different colours of his aura, Spectrum has captured the hearts of people across the world….Those who don’t know him personally at least. Those people would tell you that he is a petulant, narcissistic, grouch with serious authority issues.
Regardless, Spectrum is a true force for good and can be counted on to help anyone in need…Eventually.
Continuing our journey around the world of superhumans, we return to Mexico, where we meet the wolfman, Lupas.
Lupas sold his services as a mercenary and general goon for hire for years to anyone who could afford them. He was never a particularly A-level threat but he was capable and earned his money, gaining a reputation for competent work along the way.
But then Lupas vanished.
It was like he had dropped off the face of the Earth and no one, not even his closest allies, had any kind of contact with him for years.
Unexpectedly though, the monster-hunting hero Codex (coming when I finally get around to making him) stumbled upon the former mercenary hiding out in the wilderness. He didn’t seem entirely together, muttering somewhat incoherently to himself about some kind of imminent danger.
When he locked eyes with Codex, Lupas seemed to address his rants much more directly to the newcomer. He claimed to have seen the future. To still be seeing the future. A future that Codex played a part in. An incoming calamity that would test the entire world.
As the brother of Harbinger, Codex was no stranger to prophecies of doom. He had heard them for most of his life so he took Lupas’ comments at least somewhat seriously. Uninterested in apprehending the still wanted criminal, Codex left Lupas to his ramblings.
It was an encounter that set Codex on a journey that would test not only him but the entire world.
No one seems to know why Lupas gained these visions of the future, least of all himself, but he is convinced that the end of the world is coming and has now decided to return to that world to play his own part, either in its destruction or its salvation.
Even to this day, many people still consider the original American Dream to be one of the greatest heroes of all time.
Rita Rose found herself empowered by an ancient talisman and used her newfound strength to defend her country during world war 2 and beyond. American Dream earned the respect of the entire country and became something of a feminist icon before retiring from life as a costumed hero to focus more on her burgeoning acting career.
Rita set aside her heart-shaped talisman and eventually married the love of her life, starting a family while also maintaining an award-winning acting career. Rita Rose became an American legend before quietly retiring in her old age to live out the rest of her years in quiet peace with her family.
Rita’s end would be anything but quiet though.
When the extra-dimensional tyrant Omega invaded earth, the entire world was thrown into conflict and Rita was forced to use the lingering remnants of her powers to defend her family from Omega’s forces. While she successfully protected her family and many others, the strain proved too much for the ageing legend. Rita Rose, the American Dream, died as she had lived.
A hero.
Before her passing though, Rita publically endorsed a new American Dream who today is one of the worlds most celebrated heroes. She also saw her granddaughter Jennifer adopt her heart talisman (entirely by accident) and become the heroic Supermodel.
Rita’s legacy is today not only carried on by the new American Dream but also in a number of other young women. Most notably, her great-granddaughter, Jamie. Also known as Knockout, who inherited the heart totem from her aunt Jen. The former member of the Nowhere Kids, Icon, and the Watchguard’s Aerial are also distantly related to the legendary hero.
With four amazing young women fighting to protect the world in her honor, the legacy of Rita Rose and American Dream continues to this very day.
Erik Holdermann isn’t exactly thrilled by his family’s connection to known Nazis.
He’s even less thrilled about his own association with Nazi’s.
The Holdermann family have been associated with the Air Raid identity since World War 2 when Erik’s grandfather fought for his country as Air Raid until the end of the war when the family were named and shamed as Nazi loyalists and lost much of their wealth in the process.
The identity of Air Raid has been passed down through the generations since then, mostly as a way to help the family secure illicit funds and restore their power and name. As the strongest and most able member of the current generation of his family. The responsibility of being Air Raid has been thrust upon Erik.
To be perfectly honest though, Erik would much rather be done with the whole thing. His personal values don’t exactly align with that of the elders of his family. Those same elders, his grandfather, in particular, are the puppeteers pulling all of Erik’s strings.
He is nothing if not loyal to his family and will do whatever they ask of him but secretly, Erik longs for the day the elders of his family finally die out and he can forge his own path.
“Magic is just science we don’t understand yet.” – Arthur C. Clarke.
Australian scientist Dr Dumont was obsessed with that quote. The very idea that there was something out there which she couldn’t learn with enough study frustrated her to no end. She was determined to figure magic out. She would understand it.
Unfortunately for the doctor, magic proved much more difficult to quantify and assess than she had initially expected. There was clear, tangible proof that magic existed in this world. One needed only to look at the trail of chaos left by the likes of the Keeper and Shaman during the recent Magic Wars for proof of that. Despite all her study though, Dumont simply couldn’t make any logical sense of the magic exhibited by those she observed. Second-hand knowledge just wasn’t enough. She needed to actually experience the use of magic for herself.
So the already somewhat unhinged doctor made a deal.
When a voice whispered in her ear, disembodied from anything physical that she could comprehend, it offered to teach her the ways of magic. To grant her some of its own power in exchange for tagging along with the good doctor. It wanted to experience life as a human.
“Well, what can be the harm in that?” thought Dumont, barely even realising the possible implications of what she was doing.
A few years later, the woman that had once been Doctor Dumont was gone. Replaced by the merging spirit of human and demon. All that was left was the increasingly insane “Doctor Demon”.
Doctor Demon still maintains the facade of conducting experiments to scientifically understand magic but in truth, she simply revels in the use of her new powers. It’s a thrill ride and she doesn’t ever want to get off.
Doctor Demon has, for the most part, stayed off the radar of most superheroes but a recent encounter with American Dream, in which she sent the hero back in time to meet her predecessor, has brought her a lot of unwanted attention. Someone as crazy as Doctor Demon who can travel through time via magic is clearly someone who needs to be dealt with.
Fortunately for the world though, Doctor Demon has barely given a thought to how time travel could potentially be utilised. She was just curious to see what would happen if the new Dream met the old in her prime. Quite what the maniac deduced from this meeting is only really comprehensible by herself. If that. Maybe she just thought it would be fun.
Either way, Doctor Demon has now come firmly into the crosshairs of both the magic and metahuman communities. The demon-hunting hero Codex has especially taken an interest in the doctor. Which most likely won’t end well for her.
In the meantime though, Doctor Demon is having an absolute blast learning all about magic. Much to everyone else’s detriment.
The Witness is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
In the ’90s and early 2000s, David Cain became the first hero to use the name of the Witness. Cain was an eccentric, oddball. A blind man who lived in a wooden shack on the roof of a building in New York City, Cain had the strange ability to perceive the world through the eyes of other people. As the Witness, he defended his neighbourhood using a bizarre martial arts technique that used his opponents’ vision against them.
While using his power one day, David happened across a young, homeless boy who appeared to suddenly become someone else. Initially confused and disoriented by this, David soon realised that the boy was a meta-human. A shapeshifter who was using his power to con people out of food and money. The more he watched, the more David realised the potential in this boy. Potential that he was currently using just to stay alive. While he could easily have used his powers to shift into someone else and rob them blind, he instead stuck to small-time thefts of only what he needed to survive the day. He clearly didn’t want to actually hurt anyone.
When David tracked the boy down, he offered to help train him to use his powers wisely. To help people. Initially hesitant to accept help from a crazy old man but with few other options, the boy accepted.
David soon learned that this boy apparently had no recollection of his life prior to a few months before they met. He couldn’t even remember his own name. He was a complete mystery, even to himself.
Over the following years, the Witness trained the boy and the two grew close, eventually forming a father-son-like relationship as the boy grew older. The boy adopted the name, Alex Cain in honour of his new father figure. It wasn’t the only identity he adopted though. Over the years, Alex used his shapeshifting powers to set up lives throughout the entire world. Identities he could drop in and out of whenever he chose. He saw it as practice for his powers. And he was good at it.
Alex would occasionally help out other heroes but he found that his powers lent themselves better to operating in the shadows, working out mysteries, than wearing a brightly coloured costume and punching people in the face.
After Alex had grown to adulthood and built a life (or several) away from the Witness, he received some troubling news. It seemed his mentor had gone missing during what should have been a normal mission. Friends and allies could find no trace of him. Alex had just as little success. Alex chose to take up the name of the Witness and continue his mentor’s mission to help people while also searching for any information that could point him in the direction of his predecessor.
Frustrated by the lack of progress in his investigation, Alex had all but given up hope but was then approached by the man known only as John Doe. Doe offered to help Alex track down the Witness if he would, in turn, help him with his own investigation. A much larger investigation involving corruption in the United States government.
The man with no identity and the man with many worked surprisingly well together. The Witness helped John Doe in his subterfuge and spy work and John helped Alex find new information on the fate of his father. Not enough to finally solve the mystery but certainly more than Alex had been able to uncover on this own.
One mystery they did solve, however, was the conspiracy to infiltrate the government by a number of super-villains led by the insidious mastermind, Vox.
Vox and his people had managed to discredit many of the countries heroes, forcing many of them to retire or become wanted fugitives themselves. John Doe and the Witness were integral in uncovering this plot but not before Julia, the woman that John loved, had been killed.
Evidence uncovered by John Doe and the Witness was made public, exposing Vox’s plot and rallying the heroes and the public to oust the villain and his cohorts from power, prompting a radical shift in the inner structure of United States government and, in turn, the entire world which is still being felt to this day.
John and Alex, for their part, chose not to accept any kind of public praise, preferring to remain in the shadows and out of the public spotlight. But for John Doe, an investigation is never completely over and even after he and the Witness parted ways, he continued to investigate and tie up loose ends. It was then that he discovered the most shocking thing of all. Almost by accident, he stumbled across evidence of who killed Julia.
He had fooled everyone!
The Witness had killed Julia!
Alex Cain had stood by John Doe’s side at the funeral of the woman he loved and promised him that they would find the killer, knowing full well that he had killed her himself. He had outsmarted the world’s top spy and slipped away without being noticed before anyone even figured it out. John was completely blindsided by this.
The Witness vanished, better at doing so than anyone John had ever known and leaving far more unanswered questions than answers. But John wasn’t just about to let him get away. He was furious. And he would have revenge.
John Doe set out on a journey across the world to track down the Witness. He would recruit a number of others along his way, including the likes of Replay, Howler and another shapeshifter, Twin, who has engaged the Witness in a game of lies and subterfuge like no other.
John is wary of using the help of another shapeshifter but with her help, he has gotten closer to the Witness than ever. During this mission of revenge, John has uncovered even more plots and mysteries. A web of mystery that seems to trap everyone involved, dragging them deeper and deeper.
The Witness has dragged John Doe into this mystery and John has learned a lot about a lot of things but the thing he learned above all others?
When it comes to the Witness, nothing is ever entirely as it seems.
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