Midnighter

Latest revision as of 06:08, 21 May 2024

Midnighter in Grifter v3 #7.

Midnighter is a male comic character who in Wildstorm Comics/DC Comics.

Biography

Wildstorm

Midnighter in Midnighter v1 #1.

Lucas Trent

By this point, him and Apollo were still a couple together but on the streets with no place of their own. They were recruited by the Weatherman Henry Bendix to become part of the top secret StormWatch team of superhumans. Only Bendix was aware of their existence and had built them to be super-powered operatives who were provided costumes and code-names already with all trace of their former identities ceasing to exist. (Stormwatch v2 #4)

Five years ago, he and his team were assigned a mission investigating a mysterious facility. (Stormwatch v2 #4)

Most of his teammates were killed during the mission with Apollo being the only other survivor. The pair later came to learn that their mission was stealing a bio-reactor derived from Daemonite technology. The device was created as part of a medical advancement with Bendix actually looking to steal it. Midnighter and Apollo then decided to go underground where they began to watch Bendix's activities. (Stormwatch v2 #6)

Later on, the two remained underground in hiding where they operated secretly. (Stormwatch v2 #4)

After Stormwatch was destroyed, Jenny Sparks convinced both Midnighter and Apollo to come out of retirement and join her new group, The Authority. A formidable fighter with a sardonic attitude, Midnighter epitomized the new team's commitment to fighting for a finer world, including against vested interests and world governments. He was the architect of the team's first significant victory, the defeat of autocratic dictator Kaizen Gamorra, which he achieved by dropping the 50-mile-long Carrier on to Gamorra's island base. (The Authority v1 #4)

Jenny Sparks and Stormwatch Black were in hiding when most of Stormwatch died at the hand of the insane Henry Bendix. Jenny recruited new versions of the Engineer and the Doctor, and along with Swift, Jack Hawksmoor, Midnighter and Apollo they formed the Authority to take the place of Stormwatch as the world's first defense against superhuman menaces. They discovered the Carrier, a sentient ship that could travel the Bleed, the space between worlds in the multiverse, and used it as their headquarters. Midnighter preferred fighting crime on the street level, but Apollo told him he was going to have to grow into his new role. Terrorist Kaizen Gamorra attacked Moscow, causing untold loss of life, and Jenny contacted her old handlers Jackson King and Christine Trelane for information on him. The Authority had already done their research, but she wanted her ex-handlers, who were still connected with the UN, to feel important. Jack visited Moscow, and realized the Children of Gamorra used teleporters with a unique energy signature. The signature appeared next in London, and the Authority arrived to defend Jenny's home. Midnighter thought Apollo was out of form after six months out of action, and told him he whined like an old woman. The Authority violently murdered a number of the Children of Gamorra, forcing the rest to teleport away. Apollo had wrecked the teleportation gear of one of the Children, who was forced to fly back to Gamorra Island, with Apollo in pursuit. Kaizen put up his island's force field to rethink his strategy, and the Doctor saved Apollo from splattering himself on the forcefield. The Doctor reminded him that although he was new to superheroics his mind was as old as human existence. Jenny split her team to offer emergency aid to Moscow and London. Jack thought that the more responsibility Jenny got the more yelley and horrible she became, but he still supported her. Jenny told Apollo that she was uncomfortable with leadership, and haunted by past mistakes, but she'd resolved that there had to be people ready to save the world and then change it. (The Authority v1 #2)

Apollo kept nagging Jenny about how they were going to get past Gamorra's forcefield, and Engineer had been working with the Carrier, which showed her it could open a gate directly to the island. Jenny told Midnighter to do recon on the island, while the rest of the team traveled to L.A., where they predicted Gamorra's next attack would come. Jack noted that they were resembling a team even though they knew virtually nothing about each other. Jenny contacted the UN to alert them to the danger to L.A., but before she could make any more preparations the Children of Gamorra arrived. The Doctor felt out of his element, but his predecessor spoke to him, reminding him that the world was his village, and he had every Doctor in his corner to help him realize his potential. The Doctor turned half of the attacking Children into trees, but the strain of such powerful magic left him unconscious, and he was returned to the Carrier. Engineer reminded her teammates she wasn't a soldier, but Jack convinced her she had to learn to fight, and she created a web of knives that cut a number of the Children to shreds. Midnighter made his way to Gamorra Tower, and discovered the bioreactor Gamorra was using to pump out more and more superhuman soldiers. Midnighter was trained to beat problems until they were dead, but he realized that strategy would not work against two miles of machinery. He returned to the Carrier, and plowed it into Gamorra Tower, destroying it. Jenny alerted the UN to send inspectors to Gamorra so they could recover Kaizen's technology, and she told the world they would make it better. (The Authority v1 #4) Christine Trelane contacted the Authority when a rip in spacetime opened and fighter jets emerged, devastating L.A. Apollo and the Doctor destroyed a number of the crafts, and Jenny Sparks recognized them. She said they were under attack from the parallell world of Sliding Albion. Jenny Sparks created a gigantic electric avatar, short-circuiting the ships, and reminding them that her Earth was still under her protection, before the remaining ships returned to Avalon. Jenny filled in the crew on her previous encounter battling a Sliding Avalon invasion in 1920, and reached out to her old contacts to get entry to R.A.F. Rendelsham's holding facility. She introduced the Authority to her ex-husband Lorenzo Antonio Slzfi. (The Authority v1 #6)

Midnighter was the only Authority member to evade capture when the US government had the team attacked and replaced with manipulable substitutes. Presumed dead, Midnighter had in fact escaped the Carrier with baby Jenny Quantum. He returned to overthrow the puppet team and rescue Apollo from imprisonment and abuse at the hands of their replacements. Shortly thereafter Midnighter and Apollo were married and adopted Jenny. (The Authority v1 #29)

Jenny Quantum came to meet Midnighter in order to provide him files about his past life before Bendix had wiped his memories. (Midnighter v1 #10)

Midnighter managed to retrieve all the information about his former life prior to his reprogramming by Henry Bendix given by Jenny Quarx, and discovered that his real name is Lucas Trent, that he was born on July 14, 1967 (making him 40 years old in 2007), and that he hailed from Harmony, Indiana. On visiting the town he found it was the hub of a paramilitary patriotic organization named Anthem, with ambitions to take over the United States and provide the country with the conscience they felt it had lost. While battling Anthem and its superpowered operatives, he discovered that Jenny had falsified the documents she gave him, and that he had never been Trent - but decided to stay on in Harmony nonetheless. (Midnighter v1 #15)

Midnighter took a central role during the Authority's brief over the United States. A visitation, apparently from a future Apollo, convinced Midnighter that he was on the path to becoming a malign dictator. To avoid this fate Midnighter quit the team, precipitating its break-up, and returned to life fighting solo on the streets. Raised alone by Apollo, Jenny exploited her powers to age herself to young adulthood and reformed the Authority. Having convinced Midnighter to rejoin the team Jenny discovered he was being manipulated by a dimension-hopping Henry Bendix, hitherto assumed dead. Midnighter fought for Bendix before the Engineer was able to break the mind-control; Midnighter then killed Bendix by ripping out his spine. (The Authority: Revolution v1 #12)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

Midnighter took notice of a superhuman named Apollo and began trailing him in secret. He was watching him when he witnessed the hero being ambushed by Stormwatch. This saw Midnighter intervening where he helped knock them out only to find that they were looking to recruit the pair into their team. (Stormwatch v3 #2)

He and Apollo were later operating in Yemen where they were shutting down genetically engineered weapons made by super-terrorists. It was then that the pair were recruited by Superman to join his pro-active superhero team called the Authority. (Superman and the Authority v1 #2)

The team later took part in a mission to Warworld in order to depose the tyrant Mongul. (Action Comics v1 #1035)

Overview

Personality and attributes

The name Midnighter was a code name given to him with his previous identity being erased. (Stormwatch v2 #4) It was later said that his original identity was that of Lucas Trent. (Midnighter v1 #10)

He came to regard the Gardener as family despite seeing her as a delusional maniac who had an unwavering ability to rationalise collateral loss of life. (Midnighter v2 #1)

Powers and abilities

He was born from a training program run by Bendix where he ran a secret team that was under heavy security to hide their existence from others. They were superhumans that had been built by Weatherman and trained to the point of excellence. (Stormwatch v2 #4) As an artificial enhancile, he was created with superhuman abilities with his nervous system being replaced with weird carbons in muscles and bones. These traits made him tough and very fast that made him a dangerous fighter. Midnighter had memory induction and neural implantation where he was able to run a fight through million scenarios before any battle was fought allowing him to predict his foe's moves. (Stormwatch v2 #5)

He was able to survive walking on the surface of Mars without equipment for a certain time. (Grifter and Midnighter v1 #6)

Midnighter was shown to wear a costume that was actually made of carbon armor. (Stormwatch v3 #2)

He once established the Asset Network that consisted of a group of contacts that he met during his missions. Each were provided a smartmark that was injected into the neck where it served as a communicator that was pressed in order to activate. Communication was only one-way with the tagged people sending the information to Midnighter which meant he could not contact the person. This allowed those in this information network that saw something that needed Midnighters attention being able to call upon his aid. Each person tagged in this manner was known as an asset and given a designation such as Asset 377. (Midnighter v2 #1)

Notes

• Midnighter was created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch where he made his first appearance in Stormwatch v2 #4 (February, 1998).
• In an interview for Comic Values Annual (1999), edited by Alex G. Malloy, Warren Ellis described Midnighter as "The Shadow by way of John Woo".
• During an interview on CBR, writer Steve Orlando commented, " I think getting back to that idea, that he really is a hero of the people — inspired by the Shadow. Too often people mention that he’s an anti-Batman, and I think there’s a lot of differences between him and Batman. I’d like to get back to the roots of the character that way — him finding ways to help people, change that he can see, instead of this macro-scale type of thing that he got into with the Authority and the Stormwatch, which even he says is not really his style. Especially in the New 52 “Stormwatch,” where he openly says that he’s for the little guy. He has to be on his own to create that myth. I think that goes back to his roots as being related to Batman, as being related to the Shadow. When he’s connected to these other movements — he needs to be a movement himself. Midnighter has to be that signal."
• At an interview on Raysonnes Writing, writer Steve Orlando noted further similarities to the Shadow, "In [“Midnighter #1”, we introduced] the SmartMark and the building of the Asset Network. These are people that he’s helped in the past that are people he has given a chance to […] help him do his job better. Eve though he can go through the Door in his apartment, to be anywhere he needs eyes on the ground to curate the type of things he should be helping with. It’s much like when The Shadow rescued you, you’d have these little signal rings to call him."

Alternate Versions

• In The New 52: Futures End v1 #1 (2014), an alternate future version of Midnighter appeared in the setting of Future's End.
• In Wild Storm v1 #17 (2018), an alternate version of Midnighter appeared in the rebooted setting of The Wild Storm.
• In Future State: Superman: Worlds at War v1 #1 (2021), an alternate future version of Midnighter appeared in the setting of Future State.

Appearances

• Stormwatch v1: (1998)
• Midnighter v1:
• Stormwatch:
• The Authority v1:
• Midnighter v2:
• Midnighter and Apollo v1:
• The Wild Storm v11: (2018)
• Future State: Superman: Worlds at War v1: (2021)
• Superman and the Authority v1:
• Action Comics v1:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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