Power Universe Retrospective: The Fabulous Five

The first real superhero team I ever created, the Fabulous Five would make the first major turning point in my creative direction. Prior to this team, my primary obsession was with monsters and mutants, being largely influenced by 80s cartoons and the toys they were created to shill. At some point, however, I start gravitating towards superheroes, though I knew very little about the genre. You can sort of tell this with the F5, as their design aesthetics were very much still in the monsters and mutants phase; none of them were the spandex and capes types. The Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon was as much an inspiration as was the Batman, Superman, and Fantastic Four comics.

Regardless, after the Fabulous Five, my mind would lock very solidly on superheroes. While the F5 were more directly inspired name wise by the Fantastic Four, the team was actually more like the Power Universe’s Avengers and Justice League. Each of the Five was a character I had already created and drew and had come up with solo adventures for prior, and when it came time to pull together a team, they were the best of all the solo heroes I had at the time. Afterwards, I liked the team idea so much, pretty much every superhero idea I had was a team concept from that point on.

SETTING SIGNIFICANCE

Fittingly, within the context of the Power Universe, the Fabulous Five is the first superhero team of the modern era. As such, they were a great influence and inspiration for the heroes to follow, setting the bar for what most other hero teams aspire to be. While not the most overtly powerful team in the setting, they are nonetheless one of the stronger and more seasoned groups. Each member has a unique origin, style, power set, and history all their own, making them a truly diverse and effective team.

One particularly beneficial effect the Fabulous Five have on the superhero community is that the team started a precedent of good relations between superheroes and the authorities. As such, similar to the DC Universe, superheroes are publicly accepted and praised for their service to humanity, with most police and military forces willing to work with them rather than give them trouble.

ROSTER

SPY GUY

Real Name: Jason Delano Winrite

Powers and Abilities:

Immortality Effect – Spy Guy is immortal and essentially unkillable. He has superhuman regeneration of such speed that he can recover from total atomization within 30 seconds. He can recover from other injuries with comparable speed. He is immune to disease and poisons, does not need rest or sustenance.

Immunities – Spy Guy is completely immune to magic, psychic, chi, spirit, elemental, and other such powers. All such attacks are neutralized upon contact with him. Similarly, psychic, mystical, or other such supernatural senses cannot detect him, nor can they even detect a “gap” where he should be. This extends to whatever he is immediately touching, so his clothing, equipment, and the like are likewise rendered immune to such powers.

Gadgets – Spy Guy builds many various devices, including special sensor visors, gas pellets, sonic blasters, explosive pellets, etc. He also has a mini-machine gun that fires off a variety of special bullets.

Martial Arts – Decades of fighting and training have made him one of the world’s top martial artists. His immortal, regenerating body enables him to push his physicality past human limits when needed, enabling him to strike and bend in ways that would otherwise damage a normal person.

History: Jason was a cop in the 1920s who helped shut down a powerful mafia organization. In retaliation, they killed Jason’s family by gunning them down in their own home, then captured Jason and drowned him in a river. While at the bottom of the river, however, Jason’s corpse came into contact with a barrel of illegally dumped chemicals, which broke open and soaked into Jason’s body. Miraculously, Jason arose from the dead a few days later. He quickly realized he was now immortal, but despite his regenerative powers, he still had the appearance of a half-decayed corpse.

Unsure of what else to do with his life, Jason returned to being a cop, and served for decades in his precinct, becoming known as a specialist for superhuman crimes. He eventually formed a partnership with Zakman in the 1970s, and would become the leader of the Fabulous Five in the 1980s. Because of his long-standing tenure, Spy Guy is one of the most respected and well-known heroes in the Power Universe.

Jason has a long-standard nemesis in the form of Dr. Victor Cornelius Mathworths, whom he had a hand in accidentally empowering with immortality of his own. Since the 1940s, Jason has tracked down and stopped Victor’s mad ambitions time and again.

Personality: Spy Guy is a serious minded individual, who has dedicated himself to his work for so long, he doesn’t really know much else. Quick-thinking and ever vigilant, he is always occupying his mind with new cases and problems to solve. He has incredible focus and willpower when dedicated to a certain task, or in the field. Truthfully, Spy Guy has become numb to the world in many ways and outside of his team, has no real friends or social contacts.

BRAWN

Real Name: Joseph Black

Powers and Abilities:

Superhuman Strength and Durability – Brawn has massive superhuman strength, sufficient to lift an entire mountain and hurl it into space or create continent-wide earthquakes by punching the ground. Officially, he is the single strongest superhero on the planet; extremely few other heroes or villains even approach his weight class, and even fewer surpass it.

High Regeneration – Brawn is able to regenerate from damage at great speed, aided by the slime covering his body. He can regenerate a lost arm within an hour. He is also immune to disease and poison.

Resistances – Brawn is massively resistant to psychic, magic, spiritual, and other such powers.

Bio-Slime – Brawn is covered with a thin layer of living slime which ends up further protecting him from damage. He has some degree of control over the slime, able to make it slippery, sticky, or acidic. He can also control the flow of the slime around his body, allowing him to climb up walls, slide along the ground at high speed, deflect some physical attacks, or maintain a grip on objects or enemies. He can also spit the slime for a ranged attack.

Notable Weakness: Electricity – Brawn is less resistant to electrical attacks, as his slime is conductive, although it still takes a full-force lightning bolt to actually cause any pain, and considerably stronger electrical attacks to actually cause harm. It is, however, the most reliable way for enemies to defeat him if they cannot directly overpower him.

History: As a soldier during World War II, Joseph Black and his squad were forced into a deep cavern during a botched scouting mission through the Black Forest in Germany. Due to recent bombings of the area, much of the cave’s interior had collapsed, but new sections were opened up. In one such chamber, they discovered an alien ship which had been cracked open, revealing a slime oozing from the wreckage. Joseph touched the slime, and this awakened it. The ooze enveloped Joseph and mutated him into a monstrously powerful being, but with a hideously overdeveloped musculature.

Joseph, believing he had become a horrible freak, he went AWOL and withdrew into seclusion. He began wandering the Earth, occasionally drifting into the edges of human society and helping out in a crisis but never sticking around, until he joined up with the Fabulous Five. He adopted the nickname Brawn due to his tremendous strength.

Personality: Brawn is an easy going individual, gruff but kind. He has a bit of a dry wit and looks out for his teammates, almost like the big brother of the team. He has a sharp tactical mind and strong sense of right and wrong. Despite his initial depression over his mutation, he has become totally comfortable in his own skin, and no longer cares what others think of his appearance.

ZAKMAN
Real Name: Julius Richard Zakman

Powers and Abilities:

Power Armor – Zakman’s armor grants him mid-level super strength and high durability. He can fly at Mach-3 using anti-gravity units. The armor also comes with special sensors and has a variety of attack options including micro-missiles, lasers, flash freeze bombs, white noise emitters, and shock blasts.

Psycho-Physical Enhancement – Attributed to both training and some degree of psychic influence over his own body, he has peak human reflexes and can dead lift up to two tons when he pushes himself fully. He can also heal rapidly, able to recover from a gunshot wound within two days, and his aging has slowed.

Technopathy – Zakman can telepathically communicate with and control machinery. This also allows him to innately understand and learn the workings of complex machines and detect flaws in their design, giving him genius-level skill in engineering, mechanics, and robotics, despite never previously knowing such skills.

Psychic Resistance – He has a high-level resistance to psychic control and attacks.

History: Zakman is a Vietnam War veteran who was chosen to pilot a prototype power armor built by his brother Magnus. During a dog fight in skies over Vietnam, Julius was shot down, and the armor underwent a power surge, which nearly fried Julius’ brain.

Instead, however, Julius’ dormant psychic powers were unlocked. With his newfound technopathy, Julius was able to repair and enhance the armor past his brother’s initial designs. Although he was able to return to the states, he retired from active duty, initially hiding his newfound talents as he realized his powers could lead to him creating weapons of war far more devastating than any yet created.

Nonetheless, he found himself donning his armor to assist in crime fighting when his brother Magnus created new armors for his own criminal ambitions. Zakman joined forces with Spy Guy for a time before the two eventually formed the Fabulous Five.

Personality: Julius is serious minded and tends not to tolerate foolishness. He still has that sense of tension from his military days, and while he has learned to relax in the company of his teammates, he tends to be guarded around strangers. He has an iron will, but perhaps fears his own potential too much, causing him to inhibit his creative talents.

BAT

Alternate Alias: Jeffery Knight

Powers and Abilities:

Immortality – Bat cannot die of natural causes or disease and does not age. He can also regenerate damage, able to heal a gunshot wound within two days.

Superhuman Physicality – Superhuman strength sufficient to lift up to forty tons, and durability sufficient to resist small-arms fire. He has bullet-dodging reflexes and speed, and can fly.

Life Drain – Able to drain the life force of a person and use it to swiftly heal himself.

Swordsmanship – Bat has near-superhuman skill with a sword.

Magic – Bat possesses powers of magic and vast occult knowledge, granting him numerous abilities:

-Mystical senses, allowing him to detect the presence of others, and of supernatural phenomenon, beings, and objects.

-High level resistance to psychic control and attacks.

-Innate high level resistance to magic.

-Basic telepathy via mind-meld techniques.

-Elemental magic, with an emphasis on fire and wind spells.

-Shadow control.

-Healing spells.

-Can commune with and summon ghosts and spirits.

-Can perform soul rip techniques.

-Teleportation portals.

-Skill with various ritual magics.

History: Three thousand years ago, Bat was a vampiric demon who served as a high ranking general in the army of Zathenos, First and Lord of Vampires. For nearly a thousand years, their demonic forces tormented the people of Earth. However, Bat eventually came to pity the mortals, swayed by the good in humanity, and impressed by their potential as a species.

When the Messiah appeared on Earth to drive away the demon hordes, Bat betrayed Zathenos. Ultimately, the defeat of Zathenos and the other demon generals required that Earth be stripped of nearly all its magic. Bat, and his fellow general Wolf, wished to remain on Earth to watch over humanity, and thus underwent rituals to become immortal humans.

Bat has since traveled the world and gone on various adventures, drifting in and out of society. As magic finally began to return to Earth, Bat found his old mystical powers returning; however, this also meant the return of ancient supernatural foes. Since the late 1800s, Bat has secretly been helping to eliminate the trickle of demons and monsters sneaking back into the world. However, with the rise of superhuman and alien threats throughout the 1900s, Bat realized his secret battles were soon to become public. He adopted the superhero persona of “the Bat” in the 1960s.

While still mostly keeping to himself, he allowed his heroic persona to become more known, and he even joined forces with the likes of Spy Guy and Brawn. As such, he found himself caught up in the events that would lead to the formation of the Fabulous Five, and gladly joined as their mystic expert.

Personality: Bat has the wisdom and skills of millennia, but still feels a bit out of place in human society, particularly modern society with its rapidly advancing technologies. This is not to say that he is uncomfortable with tech, merely surprised by how quickly it advances. Then again, this is exactly the potential he saw in humanity, and is why he dedicated himself to their protection.

Otherwise, Bat is the team’s spiritual support, offering advice when his fellows need reassurance. He is far older than all of his teammates put together, and as they deal with the implications of immortality, Bat is there to lead his wisdom. He also has a dry wit when the situation calls for levity.

RAYMAN

Real Name: Jimmy Ray

Powers and Abilities:

Human/Stingray Hybrid – Rayman is a half-human/half-stingray, granting him webbed feet and hands, fins, and a tail. He has gills as well as lungs, allowing him to breathe underwater and in air. He can glide through the air using his fins. He also has a mild electrosense ability, though it mainly works underwater. This form also makes him about three times stronger, faster, and more durable than a normal human.

Laser Tail – Rayman can fire powerful lasers from his tail.

Regeneration – Rayman can heal a gunshot wound within two days. This also slows his aging.

Psychic Resistance – Rayman has moderate resistance to psychic control and attacks.

Engineer – Rayman is a skilled engineer and mechanic, and has even gone so far as to custom build his own flying car.

Raymobile – A flying two-person vehicle also able to operate underwater. Utilizing anti-gravity units, it is incredibly agile in the air, can fly up to Mach-3, and can launch explosive fireballs from the tail section.

History: Jimmy was a teenaged orphan whose parents had died during a hit and run drive by shooting. Dr. Mathworths happened to be in the area and witnessed this tragedy. Seeking new subjects to perform his genetic experiments on, he offered Jimmy the chance to be empowered, so he may exact revenge on his parent’s killers. Jimmy accepted, and allowed himself to be mutated into his current form.

Jimmy became a vigilante for a brief time before the team-up that would form the Fabulous Five. While originally desiring to help Dr. Mathworths, once he realized the mad scientist’s villainous intentions, he decided to join the rest of the heroes.

Personality: Jimmy is a bit cocky and has a snarky sense of humor, but he truly desires to be a force for justice. He looks up to his teammates and learns much from them. He gets along the best with Brawn, and the two have developed a sort of nephew/uncle relationship. Alternatively, he and Zakman tend to get on one another’s nerves, but they work well together nonetheless.

Despite his mutant form, Jimmy doesn’t really have an insecurities about it. His mutation gave him super powers, which he wanted, and in a world of emerging mutants, demi-humans, and supernatural creatures, and already being on a team of strange superhumans, he doesn’t feel so lonely and out of place as he might have if he’d been transformed in an earlier decade.

RELATIONSHIPS

Spy Guy and Brawn – These two men have a lot in common. Both were horribly mutated by the same things that empowered them, which distanced them somewhat from human society. Both were effectively rendered immortal, and grew up during a time of great national struggle (World Wars and the Great Depression). Both were men serving their country as a cop and soldier respectively. The two respect one another and relate to one another a bit differently than with the others. At the same time, the two approached their life changing transformations differently. Brawn retreated to seclusion for a long time to figure himself out, whilst Spy Guy remained in the public eye, but essentially withdrew into his work. While the two admittedly don’t have many common interests, their relationship is one of understanding and acceptance such that little verbal communication is needed. They each “get” one another pretty well.

Spy Guy and Zakman – Having served as Spy Guy’s partner in the years leading up to the formation of the Fabulous Five, the two have a strong bond. Their relationship has evolved from mentor/student to full brothers-in-arms. Zakman still looks up to Spy Guy, and Spy Guy still depends on Zakman as his second-in-command. In a way, Zakman helped Spy Guy stay human through a time when he was growing numb to the decades of struggle against crime, whilst in turn, Spy Guy showed Zakman a better way to channel his aggression. More so than any other pair on the team, these two work in synch to an incredible degree.

Spy Guy and Bat – Bat is one of the few men who makes Spy Guy feel young and inexperienced. Bat’s millennia of life and connection to the mystical realms have given him a unique perspective which Spy Guy is awed by. Bat has been a good console to Spy Guy when the latter has questioned the nature of his own existence. At the same time, Spy Guy was an inspiration to Bat to become a public superhero and symbol for justice. The two don’t have much in common on a personal level, and both see one another as slightly exotic. However, Spy Guy values Bat’s wisdom, even as Bat is galvanized by Spy Guy’s seemingly endless drive.

Spy Guy and Rayman – Rayman greatly admires Spy Guy as a near-legendary hero and an authority figure. He is also grateful to Spy Guy for giving him a chance to be more than just a small-time street vigilante. Although the two don’t really hang out, Spy Guy enjoys Rayman’s presence on the team, appreciating his youthful vigor, sense of humor, and enthusiasm. The two share a skill in mechanics and have collaborated on improving one another’s gadgets and vehicles. Spy Guy also feels some responsibility towards Rayman, since the young hero gained his mutant form from his old nemesis, Dr. Mathworths.

Brawn and Zakman – The two are both former soldiers and as such can relate to one another that way. Other than that, they don’t have too much in common. However, Zakman respects Brawn as an elder teammate, and values his judgment. Brawn is also good at keeping Zakman calm in times of duress, though Brawn’s more laid back attitude can sometimes irritate Zakman slightly. Nevertheless, the two are on good terms.

Brawn and Bat – Brawn is somewhat fascinated by Bat and vice versa. Being of two completely different origins, alien and mystical, the two don’t have much common ground, but get along nonetheless, Bat’s own laid back attitude mirroring Brawn’s. Brawn enjoys Bat’s old stories, and Bat finds Brawn to be a comfortable presence.

Brawn and Rayman – Brawn and Rayman are pals, with Brawn being like the cool uncle and Rayman the upbeat nephew. Brawn affectionately calls Rayman “Squirt,” a nickname which Rayman was at first annoyed by, but eventually gets used to. The two tend to hang out more often than with the others, despite the decades-wide generation gap. Rayman takes Brawn’s advice to heart, even more so than with Spy Guy, and Brawn tends to look out for Rayman the most during dangerous situations. The fact that they are the two most obviously inhuman members of the team also helps them relate to each other more.

Zakman and Bat – These two have an interesting friendship. They hang out together frequently, and can smoothly banter together. Oddly, Zakman isn’t really fazed by Bat’s mystical nature, and similarly, Bat isn’t fazed by Zakman’s technological nature. Bat’s relaxed attitude tends to help Zakman mellow out, while Zakman ends up helping Bat acclimate better to the modern day. It somewhat helps that as the two most human-looking members of the team whose identities are not really known, they can go out in public without being instantly recognized and can thus let themselves just get lost among the normal crowd for a while, just enjoy being human. Bat is somewhat attracted to Zakman, which the latter is aware of, but as Zakman is not interested in that sort of relationship, nothing has come of this.

Zakman and Rayman – These two get on one another’s nerves. While they’re relationship has mellowed since the team first got together, the two still tend to rip on one another and occasionally get into arguments, with the other members of the team breaking them up. The two do respect one another and while “on duty” can still work together quite well, but when it comes to down time, the two just don’t click. Rayman sees Zakman as too serious, while Zakman sees Rayman as not being serious enough.

Bat and Rayman – Rayman finds Bat to be cool, fascinated by Bat’s magical powers and his origin as a vampire demon. He also finds Bat to be a more fun to be around than Zakman, and the two banter occasionally. Bat sometimes even sides with Rayman during one his snark-off’s with Zakman, though he’s usually the first to break up or mitigate an argument between the two. Likewise, Bat enjoys Rayman’s youthful enthusiasm and sees much potential in him.