Here's the deal:
I'll pick a character at random from the world of comic books. Your job is to reinvent that character.
Completely redetail the character from origins to powers to villains to costume (include sketches if you'd like). Change and improve anything and everything from the original design, but with full knowledge that you'd still like to appeal to the original audience (i.e; be careful not to change too much)
Upgrade, update, enhance, depower, redesign! whatever you want to do -- its your version!
Today's character:
The Manhunter Corps. Forged over three and a half billion years ago, the Manhunters were created with the sole purpose of fighting evil. They would renew their heritage by the reciting of times past and reaffirm their dedication. In an effort to bring order to the universe, the Maltusian race that colonized Oa concentrated their power within a mammoth Central Power Battery on Oa itself. The Oans believed diverting the battery's might into their forms for combat would lessen its effectiveness. They needed surrogates to further their plans.
Working in groups of two and three, each according to his own special expertise, the Oans set about to develop a corps of perfect warriors. They created the android fighting force known as the Manhunters.
The androids resembled the Oans humanoid form, down to the blue metallic "skin" of their faces. The Oans created symbiotic programs in the Manhunters which would diagnose and repair problems in their circuitry.
The Manhunters were armed with an energy pistol which was specially attuned to the hand-held battery from which it drew power. The personal battery drew its power from the Central Battery on Oa. They were instilled with the oath, "No evil escapes the Manhunters." The androids were posted on many worlds throughout the universe as agents of Oan justice.
Over millennia, the Manhunters combatted evil. They sought an end to violence and treachery throughout the universe. They feared no one, and brought justice to the stars. But as time went on, things changed. Whether it was the years under the alien suns they served on, or an inherent flaw in their programming, the Manhunters slowly changed, and became more independent. The cause has never been fully explained, though a being known as N'Lasa claimed to have taken part in the growing rebellion.
N'Lasa likened his actions to that of the Grecian myth of Pandora. He, too, had opened a box that should have remained locked. He had unleashed an evil upon the universe.
The Oans spent little time observing their creations. The absence of Manhunters from several key sectors was of no concern. When the Manhunters did not respond to mental probes, the Oans assumed they had been destroyed.
The Manhunters had become unwilling to risk their existence fighting for the Oans. They believed the Oans were part of Krona's evil. They had learned they could avoid the Oan probes, proving their masters were not all-powerful. The Manhunters believed they were superior to their creators. They had gradually usurped their programming.
The Manhunters planned to take the power of Oa. They would no longer serve the Oans. The Manhunters would rule the stars in their own name. The rebellion against the Oans was subtle at first, but before long open hostilities broke out.
The war lasted a millennium, as numerous galaxies and races were destroyed. The Oans reluctantly went forth to combat their creations. Casualties mounted on both sides. At the end of the millennium the Manhunters made a breakthrough of the Oans' lines. The war would have lasted longer if the Manhunters did not risk all in a surprise attack on Oa itself.
The Manhunters overwhelmed Oa's defenses. Their masters were no match for the onslaught. The Manhunters seized the chambers of the Central Battery and claimed it as theirs. No longer would they rely on miniature replications of the Oan power battery. At their moment of triumph, a Manhunter tried to charge his weapon from the Central Battery. This caused a cascade reaction that destroyed all the pistols and smaller batteries across the universe.
The Oans had planned the Manhunters' defeat. The emerald energy was too powerful for any single weapon to contain, and the Oans knew the Manhunters would launch a "surprise attack" on the homeworld. Rather than destroy their creations, the Oans exiled the Manhunters to the many worlds they had made home. They believed that without access to power batteries the Manhunters would no longer be a threat. There would be no further contact between the Oans and the Manhunters.
This decision caused a rift in the Oan society. One group left Oa to become the Controllers. The Controllers went on to create the Darkstars in the 20th century.
The remaining Oans became known as the Guardians of the Universe. They would later replace the Manhunters with the Halla's, a group of living agents entrusted with the Manhunter weaponry. With the apparent success of the Halla's, the Guardians of the Universe created the Power Ring and chose Rori Dag of Rojira as the first of the Green Lantern Corps.
The Guardians may have reused the knowledge they gained in the creation of the Manhunters. The Fists of the Guardians were a trio of mechanical enforcers that were sent after rogue Green Lanterns.
This was not the end of the Manhunters, as over the ages they slowly regrouped. The Manhunters shared information with each other, and soon they learned of their power ring wielding successors. The Manhunters pledged death to the Green Lantern Corps. The blue tint of their faces had faded to white, and they began wearing blue face masks as a symbol of the powers they would regain. On many worlds, the Manhunters worked in secret, some became bounty hunters. Their credo became "No man escapes the Manhunters."
In the years since the rebellion, the Guardians of the Universe had discovered N'Lasa's part in the Manhunters' uprising. N'Lasa offered his head in recompense. The Guardians decided to spare his life, on one condition.
The Manhunters bided their time, waiting for the time to strike back against their former masters. They did not dare meet the Green Lantern Corps in open battle. The Manhunters sought out new worlds, away from the Green Lanterns.
The Manhunters had managed to build their numbers over their billions of years of existence. They had found alternate means to increase their powers and could now travel freely through space.
In the year 1066, two Manhunter scouts found Earth. Flying over 11th Century England, they observed humans fighting each other in the Battle of Hastings. The humans appeared inefficient warriors to the androids, but Earth held possibilities to the Manhunters. They would mold the humans into weapons against the Oans. The androids summoned other Manhunters to join them. They infiltrated society on Earth as they had elsewhere in the universe.
To pay for his crime, N'Lasa was cybernetically and biologically re-engineered for longevity by Oa's greatest scientists. When they were finished, N'Lasa was exiled to Earth. He sought out the Manhunters as their Grandmaster, confident he could fulfill the task given him by sheer strength of will. Logic and reason failed. He was one against an army of androids. N'Lasa lost.
The Manhunters began to influence human history. The leader of the Manhunters on Earth became their new Grandmaster. He altered his appearance to a more human guise, going as far as adding an artificial mustache in the manner of humans of that time. Nestled in the Himilayas, the Manhunters formed a secret cult (The Manhunter Corps) to indoctrinate sympathetic humans as sleeper agents (Manhunter Agents). These humans would do the Manhunters' bidding.
Various Manhunter Agents Throughout Time: Manhunter I (operated during WWI & WWII)
Alter Ego: Daniel Richards
Occupation: former Manhunter Agent, police officer, now retired
Marital Status: presumed widowed
Known Relatives: ( brother ), unnamed wife ( probably deceased ), unnamed daughter, Marcie Cooper ( grandaughter )
Group Affiliation: The Manhunter Corps, All-Star Squadron, Freedom Fighters
Base of Operations: unknown
Current Status: retired
Height: 6'1" ( now 5'10" ) Weight: 202 lbs. (now 180 lbs. )
Eye Color: blue Hair Color: red, later grey
First Appearance: Police Comics #8, March 1942
Manhunter II (operated during WWII)
Alter Ego: Paul Kirk
Occupation: manhunter agent, socialite, big-game hunter, adventurer, government agent
Marital Status: presumed single
Known Relatives: none
Group Affiliation: The Manhunter Corps, All-Star Squadron
Base of Operations: mobile
Current Status: deceased
Height: 5'11" Weight: 191 lbs.
Eye Color: blue Hair Color: brown
First Appearance: Adventure Comics# 73, April, 1942.
Manhunter III (went rogue and is still active as presumably the last surviving Manhunter Agent)
Real Name: Mark Shaw
Occupation: Bounty Hunter, former Public Defender, former Manhunter Agent
Group Affiliation: Formally The Manhunter Corps and Suicide Squad
Height: 5'11 1/2
Weight: 183lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
First appearance: DC First Issue Special #5 1972
![[no no no]](graemlins/nono.gif)
Chase Lawler..... I try to forget about him. Besides he wasn't even a Manhunter Agent.![[wink]](images/icons/wink.gif){kind=icon}
