Negative Man
Negative Man is a male comic superhero who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
Lawrence Michael Trainor
Larry Trainor operated as an elite civilian test pilot until his existence altered catastrophically during a high-altitude suborbital flight command aboard the experimental rocket aircraft known as the K2F. The spacecraft suffered a critical systems malfunction and was violently bombarded by an unexplored, high-density belt of cosmic radiation within Earth's upper atmospheric wave belts, permanently saturating his physical cells with lethal levels of radioactivity. Though he managed to execute a rough landing entirely uninjured by the impact, he quickly discovered that his biology had transformed into a radioactive hazard that posed an immediate fatal risk to anyone in his vicinity. Desperate to operate within human society without poisoning others, he sought refuge under the medical guidance of an enigmatic, wheelchair-bound scientist known as the Chief, who provided him with a specialized layer of specially treated, lead-lined bandages to completely trap the escaping radiation lines. Larry Trainor initially retreated into a state of severe self-pity and domestic isolation, hiding away from the world until the Chief formally summoned him to a central facility to meet fellow outcasts Rita Farr and Cliff Steele. Under the scientist's explicit strategic persuasion, the trio agreed to pool their unique physical anomalies to safeguard humanity, facing their very first tactical trial when an anonymous criminal syndicate hid a plastic time bomb within the local metropolis. Larry Trainor deployed his unique ability to release an intangible energy spirit from his biological frame, guiding the entity to seamlessly phase through a solid structural barrier to locate and neutralize the countdown mechanism within thirty-two seconds. Following the successful citywide rescue, Larry Trainor fully embraced his permanent role as a founding combat operative within the World's Strangest Heroes alliance, adopting the official team name of the Doom Patrol. (My Greatest Adventure v1 #80)
Post-Crisis
During the Blackest Night, he fights against Black Lantern Valentina Vostok, pitting his Negative Spirit against the corrupt Black Lantern version and starts convulsing in pain after absorbing both entities. (Doom Patrol v5 #4) Managing to take control of them, he sends them into Valentina, overloading her and destroying her ring. However, when he recovers, he cannot repeat the same attack against Black Lantern Cliff Steele before Black Lanterns Celsius and Tempest attack. Robotman comments that the combined form of both entities is partially similar to Rebis. (Doom Patrol v5 #5)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
Both Negative Man and Robotman went to the Negative Space and, despite Larry being sentenced to continue being connected to Keeg, Robotman talked the council out of their decision, stating it was only fair for Larry to decide if he wanted to continue having powers or be normal. Larry agreed to continue being Negative Man and accepted Keeg, hoping that his powers could be used to continue helping people
Standing before the Negative Spirits, Trainor decided that he wanted to re-bond with Keeg Bovo and serve as an agent of balance. (Doom Patrol v6 #4)
However, the positive energy that Hank brought Larry was too effective, and his positive energy overwhelmed him and escaped. After the energy was supercharged again by Lotion the Cat and forced back upon Larry, Keeg was permanently expelled from Larry's body - who then became the new Positive Man. (Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds v1 #2)
After Superman is framed and rendered comatose, Larry Trainor joined the group of heroes heading towards Mars to confront their mysterious enemy. The heroes meet and engage Doctor Manhattan, but they are easily defeated. (Doomsday Clock v1 #9)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Larry Trainor was a towering human male who possessed a slender, athletic build developed from his extensive career in military aviation. His true baseline facial features, skin tone, and hair were completely obscured from public view, leaving him looking precisely like a living, horizontal-wrapped mummy from head to toe. His entire head, neck, hands, and limbs were tightly encased in a dense layer of thick, chalk-white, lead-based bandages designed to safeguard standard biological organisms from his permanent radioactive output. He frequently wore dark, opaque sunglasses over his wrapped eye sockets to shield his sensitive vision and a loose-fitting civilian trench coat over his bandaged frame to present a marginally standard human profile while traveling through public spaces. When actively projecting his extraordinary energy form, his physical body automatically collapsed into a completely limp, motionless, and inert husk that remained entirely vulnerable to external physical trauma, while the emerging spirit manifested as a shadowy, translucent black humanoid silhouette completely composed of crackling negative energy lines. (My Greatest Adventure v1 #80) After Keeg was expelled from his body, Larry came to be referred to as the Positive Man. (Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds v1 #2)
Powers and abilities
Larry Trainor was born a member of the human race where he gained extraordinary superhuman capabilities following an accidental, high-altitude bombardment by a cosmic radiation belt. His primary attribute was negative spirit projection, which granted him the absolute ability to consciously release a sentient, radioactive energy entity from his physical mouth or chest area at will. This projected energy body possessed the capacity for supersonic flight, absolute intangibility that allowed it to easily phase through solid physical blockades, and the unique ability to absorb external thermal energy to convert it into a concentrated, explosive discharge or intense waves of localized heat. While operating inside the negative spirit, his primary mind and consciousness seamlessly migrated into the energy form, though his tactical field deployment was strictly restricted by a severe sixty-second time limit, as remaining separated from his organic host for longer than a minute would instantly induce terminal biological failure and kill him on the spot. His baseline human body was permanently radioactive, generating a continuous field of harmful emissions that required him to wear specialized, lead-treated tape to interact with humanity without causing lethal radiation poisoning. Additionally, he possessed advanced military aviation proficiency, retaining an elite knowledge of suborbital aerospace mechanics and manual piloting reflexes that allowed him to successfully maneuver damaged aircraft under extreme environmental stress. (My Greatest Adventure v1 #80)
He was host to a Negative Spirit named Keeg Bovo that was bonded to his body. As a being of Negative Space, he was beholden to the Negative Entity known as N'Hal that was the primordial atelier of their caste. They followed a series of laws and rules with all members of their kind were required to follow. The first law was of their kind that no one was supposed to interfere with Negative Space. The ninth law was that no one was supposed to partially merge and fragment a Negative Spirit. (Doom Patrol v6 #4)
Notes
- Negative Man was created by Bob Haney, Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani where he made his first appearance in My Greatest Adventure v1 #80 (June, 1963).
- In Back Issue! (2003), Drake recalled in an interview, "I left [editor Murray Boltinoff's] office and bumped into Bob Haney in the hall. Bob was a real good friend of mine ... I asked him if he got an assignment from Bob Kanigher. He had this routine where he'd come up from Woodstock once a week and stay for two nights and get a couple of assignments from Kanigher and then go back home and write them. He said he didn't get an assignment from Kanigher, and I told him I had this assignment that I was about two-thirds through with, but I needed another character and maybe between us we could come up with something. We sat down and came up with this notion of a guy who has gone through a cloud of radioactivity and is bandaged from head to toe with these specially treated bandages that keep the radioactivity within him so he isn't injurious to others. The most novel aspect was Negative Man, the character who lives inside him who can only be outside of him for 60 seconds - and don't ask me why 60 seconds."
In other media
Television
- In Teen Titans, Negative Man appeared in the animated television series in the two-part episode "Homecoming" where he was voiced by actor Judge Reinhold.
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Negative Man appeared in the animated television series in the episode "The Last Patrol!" where he was voiced by actor David K. Hill.
- In DC Nation Shorts, Negative Man appeared in the animated Doom Patrol shorts where he was voiced by actor Clancy Brown.
- In Titans, Larry Trainor as Negative Man appeared in the live-action DC Universe television series where he was portrayed by actor Dwain Murphy and voiced by actor Matt Bomer.
- In Doom Patrol, Larry Trainor as Negative Man appeared in the setting of the live-action DC Universe television series where he was portrayed by actor Matthew Zuk and voiced again by actor Matt Bomer,
Films
Appearances
- My Greatest Adventure v1: (1963)
- Doom Patrol v1:
- Justice League v2:
- Doom Patrol v6:
- Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds v1:
- Unstoppable Doom Patrol v1:
External Links
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