Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Metallo (Roger Corben)

Post by Jabroniville »

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METALLO II (Roger Corben)
Created By:
Curt Swan & Martin Pasko
First Appearance: Superman #310 (xxxx)
Role: Legacy Villain
Group Affiliations: None

-Huh, so there was a second Metallo. Roger is the brother of John, and was created by a secret organization named SKULL who transferred Roger's brain into a robotic body so he could get revenge on Superman for the death of John. He wore a funny featureless green mask and was also powered by Kryptonite. He appeared a bit throughout the Bronze Age, and was featured in Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, which I forgot about. He never appeared Post-Crisis.
Sidney369
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Brainiac! Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Looking at his history, Metallo is a character who became more important after Crisis. Pre-Crisis, John Corben died in his first appearance, and Roger only made a handful of appearance since 1977, including fighting Batman and Lois Lane in Brave and the Bold, and Blue Devil in the 80s.
Last edited by Sidney369 on Thu Jan 12, 2023 4:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Brainiac! Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo!)

Post by greycrusader »

Wait, so there was a villain (Metalo) who invented a serum that made him nearly as strong as Golden Age Kal-El, crafted power armor, and later came up with a ray beam that significantly weakened Superman of Earth-Two...and he's a two-appearance nobody? He's literally got near Luthor-level genius and the chutzpah to go one on one against the world's most powerful hero in hand to hand, and he's utterly obscure!?

Jab's right...comics are weird.

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Re: Metalo

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 1:18 am
Ken wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 12:15 am In World's Finest #6 (Summer 1942), Superman faced a villain called Metalo, who was actually a scientist George Grant who had developed a power armor suit and a strength ray. He only appeared twice.



His second appearance was in Superman Family #217 (April 1942), nearly 40 years later.

I can only guess whether or not the creators of John Corben remembered this villain from 17 years earlier. If they did, they must have realized that as a Superman foe, "Metallo" needed to have an "LL" in it, hence the name change.
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Jabroniville
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Atlas

Post by Jabroniville »

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ATLAS IV
Created By:
Jack Kirby
First Appearance: 1st Issue Special #1 (April 1975)
Role: One-Off Hero

-Atlas was a very short-lived character created during Jack Kirby's run at DC, lasting only one issue before disappearing. There had been three prior versions, but were short-lived themselves. He was created to skirt the line between hero and villain- his family were killed by raiders years ago, and he was raised by a mysterious traveller named Chagra. Realizing that Atlas is one of the people of the Crystal Mountain, Chagra promises Atlas revenge, but only if Chagra can be led to the Mountain himself. Atlas was a protector of the innocent, but his dark nature eventually came to the forefront when his enemies were vanquished. And that was it for him. The character was brought back out of nowhere for Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman, more closely based on the mythological figure- he competes with Superman & Samson to "win" Lois Lane's heart, similar to the '60s story. He reappears in Superman #667, this time in proper continuity, and intends to kill Superman and replace him as defender of Metropolis. Atlas gains the upper hand on Superman, but is held off by Krypto- he nearly kills the dog, but Superman fights and defeats him using the magical assistance of Zachary Zatara. This was all revealed to be a government test in using magic to kill Superman. Atlas is later kidnapped & brainwashed into fighting the Justice League by unknown beings.
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Steel (John Henry Irons)

Post by Jabroniville »

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STEEL III (John Henry Irons)
Created By:
Louise Simonson & John Bogdanove
First Appearance: The Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993)
Role: Black Best Friend, Technical Genius
Group Affiliations: The Justice League of America, AmerTek, STAR Labs, Suicide Squad, Infinity, Inc., The Supermen of America
PL 12 (207)
STRENGTH
3/13 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 8 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+5, +12 Suit)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Science) 8 (+16)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)
Technology 10 (+18)
Vehicles 3 (+7)

Advantages:
Diehard, Equipment (Tech Gear), Improved Critical (Hammer), Improved Smash, Inventor, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Takedown

Powers:
"Steel Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [71]
Enhanced Strength 8 (16)
Protection 9 (Extras: Impervious 11) (20)
Flight 8 (500 mph) (16)
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) (2)
"Rivet Gun" Blast 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (24)
"Sensors" Senses 3 (Direction Sense, Analytical Vision) (3)
Immunity 7 (Heat, Cold, Pressure, Radiation, Vacuum, Drowning & Suffocation) (7)
-- (88 points)

"Sledgehammer" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [16]
"Thrown Hammer" Blast 12 (Feats: Extended Range 2) (Quirks: Does Less Damage at Closer Ranges -1) (25) -- (26 points)
  • AE: "Melee Hammer" Strength-Damage +2 (Extras: Penetrating 8) (10)
Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Hammer +10 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Rivet Gun +10 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Thrown Hammer +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4 (+13 Armor), Fortitude +6, Will +7

Complications:
Relationship (Large Family)- Steel has a large supporting cast of family members, who are often threatened by gangs (his sister's children) or people who attack him through them (his grandmother was killed this way).
Relationship (Natasha)- John has a particularly long-term relationship with his niece- he is both protective of and easily-annoyed by her. They were estranged when she joined Lex Luthor's "Everyman Project" and he even somewhat betrayed her, but made good by rescuing her.
Motivation (Justice)- Steel wants to life a life "worth living", and fights against things like his weapons technology being used for evil (an old design of his was used for weapons that gang members frequently use).

Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 87 / Defenses: 15 (207)

The Man of Steel:
-Steel was created during the famous Death of Superman storyline as one of many potential "replacement" Supermen, some of whom were claiming to be the real guy (as a young fan, I assumed that Hank Henshaw was the real-deal, because he was SO AWESOME YOU GUYS)- but what he was REALLY there for was to give DC a new, high-profile black hero- something they'd been struggling to have for a while. Ultimately, however, he gained a strong case of "90s Spinoff Character Syndrome" mixed with "Supporting Character Syndrome", as a book nobody cared about kept him away from important stuff, and then he got endlessly screwed around with.

-John Henry Irons was an engineer who quit AmerTek Industries when a weapon he'd designed was used to kill innocent people. When he was saved by Superman, he asked what he could do to repay him, and was told to "live a life worth saving"- he endeavored to become a new hero for Metropolis on the Man of Steel's death against Doomsday. He was spun off into a solo book that lasted for four years, done by Louise Simonson (a Marvel exile), and Christopher Priest (who really got attached to every "black book" in the industry, it seems- something he would occasionally speak out against- "as Marvel got more PC, I somehow got BLACKER"). In the book, we met a large extended family, including his grandparents, sister-in-law, and five nieces and nephews. Many of his early adventures were against AmerTek, who was hunting him even in his own home (he'd moved to Washington, DC- probably to keep the Superman stuff out of his book), as well as the gang warfare using John's weapon designs- a nephew was crippled by a bullet meant for his brother, who was in one of the gangs (which he thought offered him protection).

The Steel Comic:
-So... if you're familiar with the 1990s in comics, you know the deal- writers the company doesn't really care about writing side-books about CHARACTERS the company doesn't really care about, doing stuff that won't ever matter in the grand scheme of things. The point to a lot of these was to flood the market- Marvel & DC both did this, trying to hurt the other. So Steel lasted 50 issues, but it's all stuff that only affected him, AND managed to take him away from the books where he could have gotten greater fame. In the book, John dated a physician named Amanda Quick, dealt with his gangster nephew getting addicted to the super-drug "Tar", and more. His armor would slowly get upgraded, at one point being able to teleport onto him, but tragedy struck when his crippled nephew, Tyke, turned on him out of resentment and anger, revealing Steel's secret ID to enemies- the villain Hazard ultimately killed himself after failing to hurt Steel, but John's identity was then revealed to the world. Thus, he and his family were harassed by mobs and super-villains alike, and his grandmother was killed.

-Christopher Priest took over 34 issues in, relocating the book to Jersey City- John built a suit of armor MUCH less powerful than his last one (lol was Priest like "how the hell can anyone challenge him?" or what?). A rival for Amanda's affection popped up and of course he became a super-villain named Skorpio. We also met Steel's long-lost brother Clay, a hitman whom everyone thought had been killed. Clay became Crash but turned himself in so Natasha, his daughter, could get a blood transfusion. Steel #52 was the final issue- Steel now ran the hospital that was the center of much of Priest's run, after its previous owner was revealed to be a criminal. 1997 saw the release of the movie Steel, long before the superhero movie craze, with Shaquille O'Neal as the main character. As Shaq is no actor, this was disastrous and did nothing for the character.

Steel the Justice Leaguer & Retired Hero:
-Around when Steel was cancelled, the character got a new lease on life in Grant Morrison's JLA, where he was immediately recruited when the team expanded to twelve members. His job was now "The Tech Guy". Here, he was kind of "filler", and rarely factored in to major stories, but as a "Diversity Hire", he's not bad- he fills a role beyond "black guy" (plus, DC has far fewer tech-heroes than Marvel does in the major leagues), and he's established as being quite powerful. He retired after being badly injured in the Imperiex War, having mostly gone unused for a while. He & Natasha then moved to the Superman books, living in Metropolis. Natasha became the new "Steel" with a suit John built for her. However, things went poorly in 52, as he grew dissatisfied with the superhero community and even destroyed Natasha's suit out of spite. Lex Luthor manipulated his genetics with a super-virus that made him organic steel, but nearly murdered Luthor until Natasha stopped him. John had a breakdown due to guilt, but was instrumental to Luthor's ultimatel defeat in the story, shutting down the "exo-genes" Lex was using to empower himself, thus saving the captured Natasha and others. He's part of the Infinity Inc. book, but this proves to be an uninteresting failure, and he later has to rescue Natasha and the other imprisoned heroes after they'd been "passed around" to various characters (I assume the writers were "stuck" when the Dark Side Club was disbanded and the Clock King took it over). Finally in the Superman books again, Steel was injured by Atlas and did some more background stuff, and then continuity ended.

Supporting Character Syndrome:
-Okay, see all this? This is what happens when you have a perfectly good supporting character who takes up multiple roles (he could have been DC's "Iron Man" AND their highest-tier black hero), and cock it all up with stupid ideas and concepts, and so the character ends up badly damaged and uninteresting. Part of the issue is that Superman isn't really set up as a "Team Book" anymore, so he doesn't really need a lot of super-buddies- the Silver Age saw the most of the "Supergirl/Pets" stuff and by the '90s Superboy and Supergirl had spun off into their own books. DC flooding the market with books led to a 52-issue Steel book that no one read, and so the character had to LEAVE Superman so it could stand alone, and then you have these nobody writers and easily-ignored stuff when the character could have been thriving a lot more in a Superman-themed title.

-He makes the JLA, but it's a 12-man team and he never gets any focus (I don't think he's even seen OUT OF COSTUME in any of it) before the team goes back to the Big Seven after the Mageddon arc. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND then you get one of the most boring subplots of 52, John going a bit nuts, randomly going "organic steel" and fighting Luthor, before recovering his wits and fighting Luthor AGAIN but having this uncomfortable relationship with Natasha, whom DC keeps wanting to set up as a Legacy Character but ALSO cocking it up and instead it's on some garbage Infinity Inc. book that gets cancelled so fast it damages every character involved.

-Like, really, Steel was a genius with a Tony Stark-like backstory (repentant weapons designer) and one of the most powerful suits in comics history, and they did NOTHING with him.

Steel's Powers:
-Steel is sort of "Iron Man Lite", lacking a lot of "Good Showings" and high-end fights, but he's unquestionably powerful, and fits in on the Morrison-Era Justice League without looking out of place. The Hammer is pretty central to his offensive power- take it away and he's MUCH weaker. The DCA build includes a TON of stuff I've never seen (but keep in mind I've only read him in JLA)- Wikipedia only includes this stuff (and I think he later dropped the Rivet Gun). He's smart and a good fighter, but his history seems full of a lot of bad decisions and screw-ups, as he can't keep his family safe for any length of time (recurring situations involve them getting injured, crippled or killed), so I'm leaving his Awareness & Presence rather low.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo! Steel!)

Post by Batgirl III »

I want to like Steel… DC doesn’t really have an Iron Man character, it’s got some tech guys, but most are pretty much street-level D-Listers. Mr. Terrific II and Blue Beetle II probably being the only really prominent tech guys and their B-List at best. An Iron Man analogue that was meant to handle Superman level threats? That’d be a really unique niche in the DC roster. (Aztek tried to fill the same niche, but his book bombed bigger than Shaq's film.)

But not even Priest or Morrison could figure out a way to make him interesting.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo! Steel!)

Post by Ares »

Having just re-read Death and Return of Superman, I can say that Steel and Superboy (as he was originally portrayed) were the two best things to come out of it.

Of the four supposed Supermen, Steel was the one who actually had the morality of Superman. He showed constantly that he was willing to stand up to anyone in the name of protecting others and in the name of actual justice. Whether it was the Eradicator, the Cyborg Superman, Mongul, Lex Luthor, Doomsday or Darkseid, Steel would fight you and not back down.

His origin as a weapons designer who quit after something he designed was used on innocent civilians is a solid origin, his focus on family and being a good man makes him a solid role model, and I honestly wish he'd gotten a better push.

He was also one of the few Power Armor types who could REALLY rock a cape, and his approach to fighting was a lot different than Iron Man's. Instead of having an arsenal of weapons, Steel's suit was primarily designed to act as armor, augment his strength, let him fly, give him a degree of life support, and some sensors. That was it. His main combat abilities came from the rivet gun on his arm and his hammer that had a telescopic handle, but later gained a Thor like ability to return to his hand. This made Steel unique as a guy in power armor who was more of a brick, and who had to actually use his problem solving skills and the environment to overcome his opponents. I wish they'd quit messing with the design, as that all chrome look was just solid.

The way I summarize Steel is that he's got the brains and tech of Iron Man, the fighting style of Thor, and the morality / nobility of Captain America.

Steel definitely is a better fit as the JLA's tech guy than Cyborg, and DC needs to stop trying to force Cyborg onto the League.

I actually wouldn't do much to Steel except put him on a solid team book like Justice League. I like the concept that his armor is actually used primarily as armor, life support, sensors, flight and strength augmentation, so I'd have all of his offensive stuff he either has to hand-carry or is more modular stuff he trades out of on his wrist gauntlet. Maybe have the default weapon be a weapon that can fire either solid munitions or serve as an energy blaster, keep the hammer with the throw and return ability, the telescoping handle, etc.

Honestly, with Steel on the League you have both a tech guy an "flying guy who hits things really hard with a melee weapon", so you could keep Hawkman and Hawkgirl on the JSA.

Hmmm, there's a thought. Give Steel access to Nth metal.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo! Steel!)

Post by greycrusader »

I...kind of liked Kurt Busiek's reintroduction of Atlas. Not malevolent, but immature and self-centered, definitely willing to fight truly evil people but without the nobility of a Superman or Steel. He isn't a conscious anti-hero like the modern day Black Adam, just bad-tempered, impatient, and moody. He's too powerful to walk away freely UNLESS he's directed at a greater threat. I could see a writer using him for a solid "hero's journey arc, whether he successfully emerges as a hero or not.

Like Batgirl, I WANTED to enjoy Steel's book back in the day, but...it was just mediocre, like most of Superboy's concurrent run but not as good. The stories just ultimately didn't matter much, and all John Henry Irons' enemies seemed too small for him somehow. Another problem is that, unlike Superman, Wonder Woman, or Captain America, Steel doesn't have any particularly intriguing background hooks, which are rather important for a character who is a mental and moral paragon. Not the easiest character to write, honestly.

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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo! Steel!)

Post by Batgirl III »

The idea of making him a “family man” was a good foundation, they just didn’t build on it…. well, they did, but it was shoddy workmanship and it fell down.

Comics writers seem to have a real problem writing healthy relationships.

John’s extended family could have been his grounding, giving him a reason to focus on crime-fighting, social injustices, and other “earthly” concerns despite having a Superman-esque level of power. Have him sit at the table with the JLA as their “tech guy,” but keep that in that book. In his book, have him fight street-level foes and save people from natural disasters… Give him a Wilson Fisk or an Amanda Waller sort of story arch length antagonist who he cannot just smack with a super-hammer nor one who’s schemes are obviously evil enough that he can just ask Kal-El to lend a hand.

It’s painful to admit, given how much I love Christopher Priest… But I think he was the wrong writer to assign to Steel’s solo title. John Henry Irons needed someone like Dwayne McDuffie, Darwyn Cooke, or Wolfman/Perez to take the reins in those early years.

He’s still one of the better characters to debut during the Mid-Nineties “diversity hire legacy hero” boom. Certainly seems better regarded than Connor Hawke, that’s for sure.
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Re: Steel (Natasha Irons)

Post by Jabroniville »

I was gonna do a full bio of Natasha Irons, but look! Lucky! I actually wrote one in 2019 so I don't have to!
Jabroniville wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 12:20 am Image
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STEEL III (Natasha Irons, aka Vaporlock, Starlight)
Created By:
Louise Simonson & Chris Batista
First Appearance: Steel #1 (Feb. 1994- as Natasha), Action Comics #806 (Oct. 2003- as Steel)
Role: Legacy Hero, Annoying Teenage Daughter, Powersuit User
Group Affiliations: The Titans, Infinity Inc., Team Superman
PL 9 (147)
STRENGTH
0/9 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+4)
Perception 5 (+5)
Technology 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Steel Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [71]
Enhanced Strength 9 (18)
Protection 7 (Extras: Impervious 11) (18) -- (19)
  • AE: "Giant Size" Growth 10 (45 feet) (20)
Flight 8 (500 mph) (16)
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) (2)
"Rivet Gun" Blast 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (24)
"Sensors" Senses 3 (Direction Sense, Analytical Vision) (3)
Immunity 7 (Heat, Cold, Pressure, Radiation, Vacuum, Drowning & Suffocation) (7)
-- (88 points)

"Sledgehammer" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [16]
"Thrown Hammer" Blast 12 (Feats: Extended Range 2) (Quirks: Does Less Damage at Closer Ranges -1) (25) -- (26 points)
  • AE: "Melee Hammer" Strength-Damage +2 (Extras: Penetrating 8) (10)
Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Steel Strength +7 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Growth +7 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Hammer +6 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2 (+9 Armor, +11 Growth, +6 Impervious), Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Family)- Natasha is close with her uncle John, but they later had a falling out. Her father was the supervillain Crash, who later disappears.

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 87 / Defenses: 11 (147)

-The niece of John Henry Irons, aka Steel, Natasha was a supporting character in his solo book. Level-headed and practical (compared to her brother Jemahl), she mysteriously got aged about three years during the first couple years on the book, likely because writers found it hard to place a 13-year old in certain stories. When Christopher Priest took over Steel, he apparently "radically altered" the character (this description appears on Wikipedia), as she becomes a more adversarial, stereotypical teenager with a bratty attitude and a flippand demeanor. Her father turns into the supervillain Crash, who later gets written out of comics. The mega-arc Our Worlds At War features Natasha becoming a legacy character, wearing armor that tapes into the Entropy Aegis of Darkseid, and she fights alongside the Superman Family characters. With her uncle badly injured, he builds a new suit of armor for her to use, and she becomes the new Steel.

-However, this is a VERY short-lived role, as within a few years, she has a falling out with her uncle over the perceived "self-absorbed narcissism" of DC's superheroes. Out of spite, she joins Lex Luthor's "Everyman Project" during 52, empowering herself as Starlight when John refuses to rebuild her dismantled armor. She even beats him severely! However, she soon learns the error of her ways (given that her boss is LEX LUTHOR), and tries acting as a mole against him, but is herself beaten by Lex. She gains a new set of armor from John after Luthor takes away her Starlight powers. In a renewed Infinity Inc. series, she is instead called Vaporlock, after its discovered that the "Everyman" people are all feeling side-effects- her powers are now to transform into a cloud of gas. After this, she gets mixed up in a government conspiracy and is generally a background character.

-It really, REALLY seems like Natasha is one of those "Whatever the writer needs" kinds of characters, turning from a practical kid into a bratty one to serve Priest's writing, and then an unruly Teen Superhero when they needed that. Having THREE SETS OF POWERS in about six years of continuity is also a disastrous thing in a genre where consistency is important (if infrequent).

-Natasha is a bit dumb and naive, but packs the mighty "Steel" Powersuit, which upgrades her to a PL 9 superhero in spite of her lack of skills. And somehow, that suit can GROW, because John was REALLY smart, and could arbitrarily break the laws of physics- it doesn't overly change her stats all that much (or else she'd do it ALL THE TIME), but it's something.

STARLIGHT (Natasha Irons, aka Vaporlock, Steel III)
Created By:
Louise Simonson & Chris Batista
First Appearance: Steel #1 (Feb. 1994- as Natasha), Action Comics #806 (Oct. 2003- as Steel)
Role: Legacy Hero, Annoying Teenage Daughter, Powersuit User
Group Affiliations: The Titans, Infinity Inc., Team Superman
PL 8 (119)
STRENGTH
0/8 STAMINA 2/8 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+4)
Perception 5 (+5)
Technology 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Everyman Project Powers"
Enhanced Strength 8 [16]
Enhanced Stamina 6 [12]
Flight 7 (250 mph) [14]

"Light Flashes"
Force Field +0 (Extras: Affects Others 8, Ranged 8) (16) -- [17]
  • AE: "Force Field Trap" Snare 8 (16)
Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Starlight Strength +7 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Force Field Trap +6 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +8, Fortitude +10, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Family)- Natasha is close with her uncle John, but they later had a falling out. Her father was the supervillain Crash, who later disappears.

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 59 / Defenses: 11 (119)

-Starlight is a much weaker hero than Steel III, like most of the "Everyman" users. Vaporlock's powers are to transform into a Gaseous Substance, which is only Insubstantial 2. I'm not really sure how offensively-powerful she was supposed to be.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo! Steel!)

Post by Shock »

Heh. Vaporlock

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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo! Steel!)

Post by Batgirl III »

And yet, despite all that, I don’t dislike her nearly as much as Riri Williams.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo! Steel!)

Post by Ken »

Batgirl III wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:55 amHe’s still one of the better characters to debut during the Mid-Nineties “diversity hire legacy hero” boom. Certainly seems better regarded than Connor Hawke, that’s for sure.
Well, I don't know that anyone believed that DC was going to really replace Superman with any of the four 'pretenders' for any length of time. Steel was always an addition to the Superman family, not a replacement.

Conner Hawke by comparison, was just a clumsy replacement. Barry Allen had died during the Crisis, in a grand fashion. Wally, Barry's protégé had been around for almost as long as Barry, so Barry taking over made sense. There were still people who disliked that Barry had died and been replaced, but it was done respectfully. Everything about the Crisis was done with respect, except for the pre-meditated f---ing over Roy Thomas.

Turning Hal Jordan into a cosmic villain, and replacing him with Kyle Rayner was 180 degrees the other way. They disrespected Hal Jordan, pissing off Hal's fans. They fired John Stewart and Guy Gardner, and brought in a nobody.

With Conner Hawke they sort of split the difference. They tried to make Oliver's death heroic, while making hinting that the alternative was the "Dark Knight" timeline. And they tried to make his replacement family, after a fashion, even if we'd never seen the character before. The fact that it made college-aged Ollie into a deadbeat dad, was ignored. It also added to the flanderization of Ollie, and the conflating of Roy and Ollie's approaches to women. Replacing Ollie with Conner was ... okay at best.

And that's all w/o the race swapping replacement stuff which, well, we saw that discussion a few weeks ago. Suffice it to say, it creates strong feelings both positive and negative.


When Roy became a Teen Titan, he became a skirt chaser; Ollie never was. For nearly 30 years, the only woman Ollie ever paid any attention to was Bonnie (Miss Arrowette). Then when he gave up hanging with teenaged buys, he got a beard. And he was in a monogamous relationship with Dinah for the next two decades. Well, monogamous for him; I still remember Black Canary necking with Batman on-board the JLA satellite in JLA #84. Then in the 1990s, people started grafting Roy's womanizing tendencies onto Ollie.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Vartox! Mr. Mxyzptlk! Metallo! Steel!)

Post by Ares »

Yeah, they were never going to really replace Superman, in the same way they were never really going to replace Bruce. Both storylines were meant to show that Clark Kent IS Superman and Bruce Wayne IS Batman. You can hand the job off on someone temporarily, but you can't truly replace them.
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- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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