Killer Croc

Name: Waylon Jones  

Alias: Killer Croc (Earth One)

Identity: Public  

Age: 33

Species: Vagrant


Physical Appearance:  

At 7 foot 5 inches tall and weighing 686 pounds, Waylon Jones aka. Killer Croc is a hulking behemoth of muscle.

Due to being afflicted with a condition called Regressive Atavism, Croc has taken on the genetic markers of an ancestral human bloodline, causing him to develop characteristics akin to that of a crocodile. His skin has a deep green hue to it and is covered in thick armour-like scales that render him completely hairless and give him a reptilian appearance, but this isn’t all; he also possesses sharp claws on his hands and feet and even his eyes have taken on animalistic features. Like a crocodile, his eyes are a dirty yellow colour and feature a tall elliptic pupil; though curiously, these eyes turn red at night and can be seen in the dark by even those with the poorest night vision. Croc also has the powerful jaw of a crocodile lined with a terrifying repertoire of teeth that are visible even when his jaw is closed as is common with his reptilian counterparts.

As a strange after effect of his transit through the portal to this new earth, his body has undergone some changes to how it was in his reality. This includes his skin getting harder, claws and teeth sharper, his body growing larger and strangest of out, the growing of a massive, three-foot-long tail from his lower back. This prehensile protrusion is a mass of muscle and sinew that hits with all the force of his arms and often has a mind of its own.

Due in part to his mutation and how enormous he is, Croc walks with a permanent hunch that feeds even more into the impression he gives of a monster. This brings his height down closer to seven feet, still towering over most people he encounters. It should also be noted that Croc’s hands are much larger than you would expect even for a man of his size and has been known to be able to lift people by the torso with one hand.

Croc’s voice is low, mimicking the guttural growl of a feral animal, a distinct gurgle in each syllable as his genetics struggle to maintain a voice box capable of human speech. This does however lend itself very well to fear-inducing roars.

Given the opportunity, Croc has been known to wear suits that have been specifically tailored to his enormous frame, or even giant trench coats and hats in some vain attempt to hide his appearance. It is more likely however to find Croc in the bare minimum of a torn pair of trousers or shorts to cover his dignity and strips of bandage over his hands and forearms as commonly seen worn by bare-knuckle boxers or martial artists. Due to the deformity of his feet, Croc is incapable of wearing shoes.


Personality:

((Note to players: The personality for this Killer Croc is of Earth-one Croc, not the criminal that most are familiar with.))

Waylon Jones has lived most of his life alone, mostly to avoid the ostracization and abuse he's suffered from strangers and family alike. Unlike his alternate personalities from other realities however, instead of internalising years of abuse in a bitter hatred of humanity, Earth One Killer Croc instead allowed himself to fall into despair and lonely reclusiveness.

Croc likes to keep to himself mostly and is distrustful of others due to their usual snap judgements concerning his appearance. Usually he doesn't give people a chance to show their willingness to harm him as he has been burned too many times in the past trying to explain that he isn't an evil monster. He is more likely to try and scare people off or even outright attack them if he believes that giving them even a moment to react could result in them trying to harm him.

However, since the travel through the portal, this usually behemoth has begun to experience changes that he cannot explain.

Waylon has something growing in him. A deep and uncontrollable rage that threatens to destroy everything around him. He sees flickers of other worlds, times that he has been used, betrayed and brought to the brink of death. Seeing people from his alternate 'past' triggers complex emotions. Fighting pushes him closer to the beast within.

The angrier Waylon gets, the more he leaves his humanity behind and reveals the monster that dwells inside him. The more stressed he is, the more he loses his mind. The itch in his mind that grows with stress robs him of his mental faculties and leaves him unable to string together simple sentences let alone make rational decisions. His primal reactions in his agitated state are without restraint and a dire threat to the survival of anyone who stands in his way.

Waylon is locked into an inner struggle he isn't sure that he can win in this hateful world of turmoil. Win and remain a human. Lose and become the beast.


Powers:

Super Strength: The progression of his Atavism has bestowed upon Croc super-human strength that rivals that of a venom-induced Bane or Solomon Grundy. Examples of his strength include being able to tear a bank vault door off its hinges without much effort and requiring explosives for Batman to be able to knock him unconscious.

Super Speed: Croc has inherited the unique characteristics of a crocodile, in that he boasts impressive short-term bursts of speed and improved reflexes. Able to propel himself very quickly in a straight line over a short distance, few people can outrun him in a confined space. Though equally, he risks running into walls from the burst of acceleration. This burst of speed mimics the ‘snap’ the crocodiles exhibit in the wild, said to be so quick that prey has no hope to react within a body-length of their predator. Over longer than a few metres, his speed drastically reduces and becomes closer to the kind of speed you would expect of a professional athlete.

Crocodile Coat: Killer Croc’s skin is a lattice-work of armoured scales that bestows upon him an incredible resistance to all forms of abrasion and rendering him mostly bulletproof. High calibre rifles are required to penetrate his tough exterior and even then, the gun must be fired from close range to be effective.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Croc is able to regenerate all but the most devastating of wounds and is even capable of replacing entirely lost limbs over the course of a year.

Enhanced Senses: Croc’s reptilian mutations have enhanced his senses beyond normal human limits.

Hearing: Croc’s hearing is capable of picking up frequencies beyond the normal range of human hearing and due the intricacies of his reptilian inner ear, he maintains an impressive level of hearing when submerged in water.

Sight: The same unique quality of Croc’s eyes that makes them glow red in the dark (See: Appearance) allow him a level of night vision vastly superior to a human's. This does however mean that at night he is more vulnerable to bright lights. He can also see perfectly whilst under water, but otherwise boasts an eyesight only marginally better than a normal human’s.

Smell: Croc boasts a keen sense of smell which not only allows him to track better but can be a valuable source of information for him. In the past, Croc has been able to tell if something has changed about a person he’s met before and even spot doppelgangers by the slightest difference in their odor, the same way a Crocodile’s nose allows them to tell what species of prey have wandered close to their banks.

Natural Weapons: Croc’s extra sharp fangs and claws have no trouble tearing through flesh as if made of paper, his impressive jaw strength capable of crunching through bone with ease. His claws have given all but the strongest man-made fibers a run for their money and have been known to gouge deep marks into brick and steel.


Abilities:

Swimming: it’s no surprise that Croc is an incredible swimmer, proving superior to even the most accomplished Olympic athletes and capable of swimming against strong currents. He also has a large lung capacity and resistance to pressure, granting him the ability to spend much longer periods underwater than any normal human could.

Wrestling: In his younger years, Waylon made money wrestling crocodiles and still maintains some expertise in this area. This ability is self-trained and he therefore isn’t as competent as those who have properly trained under masters such as Batman or Nightwing.

Iron Stomach: Like a crocodile, Croc is capable of digesting raw meat at no risk of complications to himself and is a strict carnivore. He can also swallow bone, rubble or even small amounts of metal and it will pass through him without issue.

Poison/Disease Resistance: Waylon's crocodilian physiology contains many strains of super anti-bacteria which attack and break down harmful bacteria and many kinds of poisons and natural venoms. These natural defenses make him mostly immune to all but the highest grade manufactured toxins.


Weapons/Equipment:

Rarely does Croc even wear clothing with pockets with which to carry equipment and his claws, fangs and brute strength are all the weapons he needs.


History:

((Note to players: The history for this Killer Croc is of Earth-one Croc, not the criminal that most are familiar with.))

Born in an impoverished part of Tampa, Florida, Waylon Jones had a very difficult childhood.

Waylon’s mother died giving birth to him and upon seeing the hideous child that was his offspring his father abandoned him to be raised by his alcoholic Aunt. Waylon had been born with a unique presentation of Regressive Atavism that caused him to develop the characteristics of a crocodile, including skin that gradually became more scale-like in appearance and teeth that grew more deformed over time. In the early years of his life, his aunt tried to force him to scrub his changing skin off to keep it smooth and human-like but this caused him great pain and chose to stop doing it, ensuring that he would never be treated normally by other people.

Unfortunately, Waylon's woes did not stop there. His disobedience lead to his being thrown out by his aunt, into the custody of the only other relative that would take him in. His uncle saw in him a great potential. Not for success, not due to a great mind or talent. No. The potential for profit.

His Uncle forced him to train and become part of a travelling circus where he was to fight alligators for sport under the name 'Killer Croc'. For years he fought and earned money for his abusive uncle until he grew old enough to break away and set off on his own, but by then it was too late. He was cemented as Killer Croc, the alligator-fighting monster of a man. He was a spectacle, he was feared.

He was alone.

He fled the circus to the nearby city of Gotham where he tried to live as a normal human being, but wherever he went he was treated with fear and disdain. Another Croc would have fostered his bitter feelings of resentment to the world that tossed him aside but not this one. He decided instead to turn his back on the world that had turned its back on him. He took to the sewers of Gotham and turned them into his home. Sequestered from all that would hurt him.

And there he remained, until unusual visitors arrived.  

The first was a man in green who had a disturbing fascination with riddles. He hid himself in Waylon's sewers, but he kept to himself and worked his machinations on the surface. He didn't bother 'Killer Croc' so Croc didn't bother him either.

The second was a man most peculiar, a man clad in black who called himself the 'Batman'. Their meeting was... dramatic, but once they had spoken he seemed the most reasonable person he had met in his life. This strangely dressed man didn't care what he looked like, even offered to try and help 'cure' his condition, but Waylon knew that this wasn't possible. He turned his offer down but lead him to the Riddler's hidey hole.

Later, when he discovered what the Riddler had really been doing, Waylon was sick to his stomach. The victims of the man's schemes could have all been saved if not for his own apathy and disconnection from the world. He resolved to make things right and set off in search for the Riddler, arriving just in time as he planned to blow himself up and the Batman with him.

Waylon stopped the Riddler's suicidal plan, and took bullets in the chest for his trouble, but secured himself his first true friend in the Batman who tended his wounds and offered him a place to live in the Batcave.

It was one day in his new life as a resident of the cave that he and his reluctant keeper Alfred discovered a strange black swirling portal. Alfred called his master to see what to do about this sudden anomaly But Waylon was attracted by a familiar sound coming from inside. He reached out, touched it...

And left his world behind.

((For more on the effects travelling between worlds had, see the arrival thread opener.))


Weaknesses:

High School Dropout: Croc lacks a complete formal education and is unlikely to win any scholastic competitions. He is more likely to try and solve a problem with brawn than brains.

Bestial Nature: Due to irregularities in his personality created by his entrance into the world, Croc regresses to his more primal nature when exposed to threats or forced into a corner and loses his higher cognitive functions in favour of a more instinctual, primal fury. This fury makes him incapable of being reasoned with, or even voluntarily holding back, until he’s rendered unconscious or there’s nothing left to obstruct him and he’s had time to calm down.

Short Fuse: Killer Croc has deeply imbedded anger issues and is quick to lash out at a moment’s notice. Croc is easily provoked and has more than once been baited into a trap by abusing this well-known element of his personality.

Chemical Vulnerability: While it has been known in the past that gadgets such as Batman’s gas grenades have been effective in slowing Croc down, this weakness is especially true of chemical compounds that mimic the composition of pheromones. These chemicals and indeed pheromones themselves, such as in the case of the dreaded Poison Ivy, speak to Croc on a primal level and can influence his actions easier than others.

Help! It’s a Monster!: Croc’s frightening appearance is impossible to hide now his mutation has spread this far. The common reaction to anyone seeing him is to run from him in terror which limits his capacity to interact amicably with the public, an issue that isn’t helped by his notoriety as a Supervillain.

Fractured Memories: Due to the strange powers that brought him to this world, Croc is suffering from an inability to reconcile the memories of his world with the many others of alternate realities in which he was a criminal. When exposed to a Vagrant who knows of his other pasts he often has flashbacks of a time that isn't his own, which can be extremely distressing.

Am I Man? Or am I Monster?: Years of abuse from family and ostracization from many communities have left Waylon facing an identity crisis. Is he the man he's always believe himself to be, or the monster everyone has told him he is all his life. Flashbacks of his other lives (see previous weakness) only serve to further complicate his feelings.

Fear – Becoming evil: Recent events have instilled in Waylon's mind that in every reality but his own he is an evil criminal and, in some cases, a cannibal. This is deeply disturbing to him and he often has nightmares involving giving in to the beast.  


Other Information:

Croc's travel between worlds has warped him in many ways, primarily changing his powers to fit those of the realities in which he was strongest but also causing him to be plagued by memories from other worlds. A better description will be found in the arrival thread.

Many of the descriptions of powers included in this application have been written to reference the capabilities of real-life crocodiles where possible, keeping to the theme of Croc being an example of Regressive Atavism.











OOC Information

OOC Name: Gel/Geluvir

Character color: Forest Green

Group title: Reptilian Recluse