Graviton!

Real Name: Franklin


Alias: Graviton


Identity: Public


Age: Probably mid-50's


Species: Neohuman



Physical Appearance:


Consider, for a moment, a god taken from Greek, Roman, or Norse mythology. You might picture one like Jupiter or Hercules, or perhaps one like Zeus or a younger Odin. Franklin Hall is the latter. By preference and nothing more, his blackened hair falls low to his shoulders, kept neatly away from his forehead, and decorated by only the faint traces of graying on the very edges. His skin is not necessarily pale, but is a fair tone that contrasts greatly with the dark. His eyes, a blue that has long lost its sharpness, edging into a sagely gray. Usually, a goatee lines his strong jawline, on occasion replaced by a more prominent beard. In regards to his physicality, while prior he was never anything special, in using his mastery over gravity, Franklin has developed a strong level of muscle mass befitting of any deity.

On attire, Graviton is almost never seen without his specially constructed armor. Crafted from a synthetic substance, it offers little in the way of actual physical protection, but it was designed instead to be able to tolerate the extreme levels of gravitational force Franklin often exudes. The suit, depicted above, is a blue tint with white mixed in, with a billowing white cape flowing behind him (although at times it is absent).



Personality:


He is a god. While the statement may not be entirely true, it serves to define every aspect of Franklin Hall as a person. He is not limited to the constraints of the every day human being, why then should he be treated as one? No. He views himself as something far more. Something purely cosmic. To be fair, owning one of the primary fundamental forces of nature, he may have every right to believe that. But it's that pride, that ego, that drives the man to do everything he does. He has power, he has intelligence -- why not use it in any way he pleases? If there is something he wants, he takes it, and crushes any who oppose him under a literal squashing force. If there's someone he dislikes, he murders them without warning; or he cripples them for life, depending on his mood.

But Franklin is not devoid of compassion, or a sense of restraint. As any deity, if one affords him the proper respect or adoration, he has a tendency to show mercy. In the normal circumstance, in fact, he has an actual care for his allies' and followers' well being, doing as he can to insure their safety. In one instance, he even granted many the ability to control gravity as he could, albeit in a limited capacity. In another, he went out of his way to save a group of people who had been his enemies only moments prior, at the expense of his own. He is not a madman, not exactly. He does not believe in wanton slaughter for the sake of chaos alone. So long as respect is shown where it is due.

On a related note, while he is prone to jealousy, it is not unending. Graviton believes in a pantheon, so long as only those with true power over others are a part of it. In many instances he has partnered with others of varying power and ability. At one time, he was at the head of AIM's science division. He is placated knowing that his presence is feared by the majority of others, and has ignored that there are one or two who don't outright worship the ground he walks on. As long as they don't openly oppose him, of course. Those that do are quickly turned to paste on the earth, bones crushed to nothing more than powder. The wrath of a god is not to be tested.



Powers:


Gravitikinesis: Graviton possesses the ability to control, finely and absolutely, the theoretical gravitons that create gravity. His power allows him to rapidly increase or decrease the force of gravity on himself and others, as well as objects, by an unspecified amount. The range of his ability can extend to about 2.5 miles in one direction -- at one point he lifted a massive piece of land into the air that was roughly 4 miles across. There appears to be no actual limit to the amount he can lift, so long as it lies within his range. Graviton is also capable of multitasking with his power, at one point demonstrating the ability to shield himself from attack, pin multiple heroes to the ground, fire gravitational bolts of energy, all while continuing to levitate before-mentioned 4 mile-wide landmass. While no direct limit has been shown, he has demonstrated that he can use his ability at maximum force for up to 8 hours before he begins to tire and experience limited capabilities. However, when conserving his energy, he has continually used his power for over 18 hours.

Flight: Graviton is capable of flight, and can even fly at great speeds, by manipulating gravity around him. He has shown to be able to survive in space.

Impairment: As mentioned, Graviton can also control gravity's effect on others. He has used this ability to drastically increase the gravitational force on a number of individuals, often either slowing them down or pinning them completely. In extremely rare circumstances, he has even used his mastery over the forces of gravity to cause malfunctions in a human being's normal bodily functions, including the stopping of their heart. That particular ability, however, is one Graviton scarcely uses -- as mentioned, he's a god, not a mass-murderer.

Gravity Creation: He is entirely capable of giving a person or object its own gravitational field, similar to the one the world has. This field can be of any strength, just light enough to cause minor attraction, or strong enough to rapidly pull nearby objects or people towards the new center of gravity.

NOTE: This ability is one of Graviton's most deadly. He has shown the ability to increase the new center of gravity to the extent that it forms a black hole, and even opens dimensional rifts to other realities or dimensions. For purposes of plot and other obvious reasons, I will NOT be pursuing that amount of power, except in those rare circumstances where the story allows it, and only under modly supervision.

Gravity Blast: Graviton can utilize his mastery of gravity to condense it to the point where it forms solid mass. This ability has been used to create beam-like projectiles that he can fire at range. The maximum force he can exert with this particular power is equivalent to 20,000 pounds of TNT.

Gravity Field: Similarly, he can also condense gravity to create a shield around himself. This shield has been demonstrated to be able to take the explosion of a nuclear bomb.

Limited Superhuman Abilities: While he does not possess any real superhuman abilities outside of his gravity control, Graviton can mimic superhuman abilities, such as strength, speed, or endurance, by manipulating gravity around himself and objects in accordance to what he wishes. For example, for strength, it's a simple matter of countering the object's mass with an appropriate gravitational force to eliminate the object's weight.



Abilities: Franklin Hall is immensely intelligent. The very reason he has control over gravity at all was because he designed a device that could allow teleporation -- unfortunately, it was the malfunction of the device and the explosion that followed to made Graviton who he is. While no actual IQ has been stated, his various innovations, inventions, and participation in AIM as their head of science, speaks volumes of his apparent intellect.


Weapons/Equipment: N/A



History:

Very little is known about Franklin Hall's past. We can theorize that he was born to a wealthy Canadian family, as he not only graduated from college but went on to get at least one master's degree at a university. However, his family is never mentioned or seen, and Graviton seems uninterested in giving any answers. What we do know is that for the first half of his life, he lived as a rising academic star. He was ambitious, intelligent, handsome for a time; although relationships didn't interest him nearly as much as his studies did. It is also unknown if he had any public, academic achievements, but it is likely, considering his eventual employment at Research City and primary contribution to a large majority of their experiments.

Franklin was in the midst of performing one such experiment -- a device he designed with the intent of finally allowing human beings to teleport from one location to another -- when everything changed. Perhaps he had found the one thing that had stopped the machine from working the way it should have, but in fixing it, the entire isolated chamber he was in was engulfed in a fiery explosion that should have killed him immediately. It did not. In a strange trick of fate, that Franklin could only attribute as a testament to his godhood, in the carnage of the machine's destruction his own molecules were mutated, fused with the very gravitons in the air around him. Eventually, he was found, unconscious and buried in rubble, but alive.

It was almost immediately that he discovered the change. He had only recently awoken to a striking migraine when he inadvertently shifted the glass of water on a table next to him into his hand. At first horrified, yet intrigued, by this newfound power, he practiced in secret but kept it hidden for fear of others' judgement. In time, however, his fear shrank away, replaced only by a desire to utilize what he assumed was a result of his ascent to godliness. So use it he did. His first outing involved taking Research City hostage and using the scientists there as manpower to drive a scientific nation. Needless to say, it inevitably failed after a drawn out conflict with the Avengers.

Time and time again Graviton returned, each time his threat being answered by numerous heroes from differing groups and places. Each time, met only with failure. But that did not mean his menace was any less. The power Graviton wielded meant he was a force to be reckoned with for any individual to face. However, eventually it was his power itself that was his undoing. It was in the middle of a furious brawl that Graviton, in a fit of rage, lost control of his power just long enough to accidentally open up a portal that swallowed him whole. When he emerged, he was no longer in a place he was familiar with. Not at all...



Weaknesses:

In the very physical sense, Graviton's primary weakness is the ability for others to counter his gravitational control with science. Numerous times intelligent heroes have been able to craft machines that counter the force of gravity, thereby nullifying Graviton's control. This weakness, in a way, is superficial, as Franklin has recently demonstrated that he is more than capable of adapting to even those machines, sometimes finding ways to use his power in more innovative ways, in other instances outright overpowering said devices altogether. But the brief period where those machines take effect are enough to create that opening many would require to take Graviton down.

On the mental plane, Graviton's pride is also his greatest weakness. On many an occasion, he has severely underestimated his opponents, allowing them to trick or distract him. This has resulted in his defeat many times over his history as a villain. In some cases, it has simply been that Franklin believes he should be able to overpower anything and anyone one, and despite having the ability to emerge victorious, decides instead to mindlessly force his way through a given situation, leaving himself open to one who actually has a plan in mind.

Franklin's greatest fear is losing the respect and adoration of others. That in turn is why he drives so hard to gain it. Its vanity, in a way; he desires the world to fear him, and he in turn fears that they won't. As a weakness, this has caused him to act unwisely and rashly, and in some cases even desperately; with the intent of gaining that adoration, but often losing it instead. It is also that desire that has subconsciously forced him to at least attempt the subduing of beings like the Incredible Hulk. Which, as anyone could tell you, never ends well.


Other Information: He's Canadian!



OOC Information

OOC Name: Duckster!

Character color: I NEED TO FIND A COLOR AAAAAAHHHHHH

Group title: God of Gravity

Face Claim: Nope! Just comic Gravy!