Post by Penance on Jul 18, 2008 9:27:04 GMT -5
The Character
Robbie Baldwin’s transformation into the tortured — and immensely powerful — hero known as Penance has taken its toll. [ComicVine]
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Cannon or your own: Canon
Copyright (Marvel/DC/ect): Marvel
Characters civilian name: Robert Baldwin
Code names/Aliases: Speedball / Robbie / Penance (Both of the names Speedball and Robbie are dead to him now, and even he only refers to himself as Penance)
Class [Superhero, Vigilante, Mercenary..ect]: Anti-Hero
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Gender: Male
Age: Unknown (By me)
Apparent Age: Late 20's
Hair: Blond (Currently bald)
Eyes: Blue
Height and weight: 6'0" / 197 lbs
Appearance:
Outside of the Penance suit, Robby Baldwin looks a shadow of the man he once was. His skin is pale, and covered with scars and pockmarks from the small wounds constantly inflicted on him by the 611 internal spikes on the suit.
Robby is bald and relatively average looking - aside from the multiple scars. He tends to wear plain, white or grey clothing. Dressing in common t-shirts and pants, he doesn't stand out in a crowd.
Picture [if available]:
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Super Powers:
Hyperkinetic Shockwave:
After the assassination attempt by Mr. Stricker, Robbie's powers changed and are now fuelled by pain. His armour channels the power into energy conduits via the interior lining's spikes.
This shockwave can travel considerable distances, and destroy most objects in it's path and area of effect, finally hitting the target with a force to harm and kill a normal human with ease. it appears that the longer the shockwave has to fly to the target, the more power it leaves along the way.
Kinetic Energy Field:
Robbie Baldwin's exposure to energy from a dimension of kinetic energy gave him the superhuman ability to create a kinetic field of unknown energy around himself which absorbs all kinetic energy directed against him (what he originally called the "Speedball Effect.") This absorption can vary from resisting the effects of physical objects such as bricks and rocks to resisting that of energy and fire and even explosions.
Telekinesis:
Whilst his ability is not strictly directly telekinetic, it acts in a similar fashion. As Speedball, Robbie was capable of manipulating a number of orange coloured 'bubbles' that he could produce, and use to move objects, block attacks, or even as offensive weapons.
He appears to re-discover this power in Thunderbolts #199 - #121, during a psychic assault on the thunderbolts from the captives Caprice, Mindwave, Mirage and BlueStreak - all of whom are now deceased, after being killed by the newly healed Bullseye.
Learned Abilities:
A history of service with the government funded meta-federal-marshals 'The Thunderbolts' has placed him in a variety of situations that required him to learn and adapt to new styles of hand to hand combat.
Though through training and experience Penance is a formidable combatant, he is far from the best in the world.
Equipment:
Penance Suit:
The Penance suit serves two purposes. Firstly, it serves as a constant, painful reminder to Robbie, of the deaths that he feels responsible for. He himself has said he would wear the suit constantly if he could, and suffer deservedly until the day he mercifully dies.
Secondly, as Robbie's powers evolved, they became fuelled by physical and mental pain and anguish. The 611 internal spikes in the suit provide a source of constant pain, and therefore a constant source of power.
Interestingly though, Penance fought Moonstone without the suit in Thunderbolts Issue No. 119, 'Caged angels', and displayed so much power that he almost killed her.
Weaknesses (Must Have):
Mental instability:
Penance has a very unstable psyche, and has dropped out of fights altogether on occasion to focus on punishing himself for 'Not being good enough' or having failed to suffer sufficiently.
He has caused several incidents whilst a member of the Thunderbolts, that almost caused the team to be torn apart.
Fuelled by pain:
Penance's powers are fuelled by physical and mental pain, and should he not be experiencing such suffering, he is usually unable to summon all of his power.
Oddly though, when Moonstone threatened and attempted to kill him whilst he wasn't wearing the suit, he used so much power against her that he almost killed her.
Background:
Origin
Robbie Baldwin is the son of Justin Baldwin, District Attorney of Springdale, Connecticut, and Maddy Naylor-Baldwin, a popular actress. His parents held very opposite views and often argued in front of Robbie, a fact made more poignant as their arguments often had to do with what Robbie should be doing with his life and future career.
As a high school student, Robbie was interning at the Hammond Research Laboratory in Connecticut. There, Doctor Benson and two colleagues began the final stages of their attempts to tap an extra-dimensional energy source, but the researchers did not construct adequate safeguards and the energies began to overload Hammond Labs' equipment. Part of the energies fed back into the generator, shorting out the entire system. Unfortunately, Robbie had sneaked into the lab where the experiment was taking place, curious as to what all the hush-hush preparations had been for. Robbie was bombarded by energy from the dimension but survived, finding himself surrounded by weird energy bubbles, clad in an odd costume, and having a hollow and resonant voice. Panicking, Robbie sought to escape to the roof of the lab building where he encountered four masked gunmen. During the ensuing battle, Robbie discovered that his body now generated a kinetic energy field that protected him from any impact and made him a bouncing dynamo of kinetic energy.
Speedball
Shortly afterward, Robbie's parents were accosted by Johnny Roarke, a criminal Justin Baldwin had put away, and Robbie used his powers to defeat him. The media leaped to the story, reporting the appearance of a new hero, whom they dubbed "the Masked Marvel." Robbie continued to use his powers to fight crime, and the Masked Marvel enjoyed a great deal of popularity from the townspeople, although his parents held very diametrical and vocal views about the costumed vigilante. Baldwin was forced to keep his power under control, avoiding any potential contact that might trigger his powers. He also spent much of his time trying capture Dr. Benson's cat, Niels, who was similarly caught in the energy experiment and gained Speedball-like powers, and using him to help understand his powers.
During a trip to New York City, Robbie ended up helping Spider-Man and Daredevil stop the Purifiers of the High Evolutionary, but mostly Robbie fought criminals in Springdale, such as the Sticker, Leaper Logan, the Bug-Eyed Voice, and the Feathered Felon. Robbie hoped to become a big-time superhero, and even joined a tryout for the premier hero team Avengers, only to be rejected. During a shopping trip to New York City with his mother he saw a battle breaking out involving Terrax, former herald of Galactus. Joining the fray along with the other heroes that would subsequently become the founding members of the New Warriors, Robbie agreed to join the team as well after Terrax was defeated.
Despite the long distance he often had to travel, Robbie stayed with the New Warriors for a long tenure, quickly becoming an annoying but lovable kid brother to the older Warriors and continuing to grow in the development of his powers. Shortly after joining the team, he asked his team mates to join him in investigating the long absence of his mother, who had joined a fanatical ecological watchdog group, Project: Earth. The Warriors discovered the group wanted to kill Baldwin's mother, as her celebrity would serve to make her a martyr to their cause. Robbie helped save his mother and defeat Project: Earth, and in so doing he revealed his secret identity to her. Although shaken, she supported her son's lifestyle as a superhero. For a brief time Robbie Baldwin was an intern with the construction firm Damage Control.
Speedball had battled numerous villains with the New Warriors, including Terrax, the Sphinx, the Puppet Master, Gideon, Force of Nature, Psionex, and the Folding Circle. At one point, the cosmic villain Magus created evil doppelgangers of Earth's heroes, and Robbie's duplicate used its powers to virtually destroy the town of Springdale. It also confronted Robbie's parents, and Robbie was forced to kill his duplicate. This led to his father discovering his secret identity, and Justin Baldwin denounced his son because of what he saw as vigilantism.
Robbie’s parents got divorced, and Robbie chose to live with his mom in New York. This allowed him to develop deeper relationships with his team mates, notably Nova, Rage, and, perhaps more reluctantly, his neighbour Carlton LaFroyge (who used the knowledge of Robbie’s identity to force his way onto the team as Hindsight.)
When Timeslip joined the Warriors, telling of her visions of Speedball’s death, she and Robbie nevertheless developed the beginnings of a romantic friendship while seeking the truth behind these visions. At the same time, despite Speedball’s ever-increasing control over his powers, Robbie began experiencing severe spikes in his power levels that wreaked havoc over his immediate area. The Warriors were confronted by the Sphinx, who claimed the presence of Speedball was creating chaos with time itself. They were also confronted with the evil techno-organic being Advent. The Sphinx succeeded in killing Speedball before escaping, and Advent left for the future. Timeslip, holding Speedball when he died, received memories from him in his dying moments-- memories of a citizen from the future named Darrion Grobe.
Grobe, the son of the man who would become Advent, hoped to undo the meddling his father had done by travelling through the kinetic dimension to the past. He used futuristic technology to become a duplicate Robbie Baldwin/Speedball, replacing Speedball when he was trapped in the kinetic dimension by the Sphinx several months before. Timeslip used her knowledge and powers to transport the New Warriors to the future. There, a holographic persona of Darrion helped the Warriors to undo all of Advent's manipulations. Ultimately, the team had to enter the kinetic dimension to escape the future before it became re-made, and they brought back the true Speedball while returning home.
Robbie has always been a New Warrior at heart. Even when the team seemed to be on a long hiatus, he and Nova helped re-form the Warriors to defeat Blastaar, adding new members Aegis and Bolt. Robbie and Nova even tried to pitch the New Warriors as an animated series, but they were forced to flee when they saw the producers’ unique take on the team. Nevertheless, Speedball returned when the New Warriors were led by Night Thrasher into a unique re-branding as a reality-TV show.
Robbie’s bouncy personality seemed a perfect fit despite the contentions of other team mates, and the team hit the road to become heroes for the common man throughout small-town America.
Penance
Recently the New Warriors encountered Nitro, Speedfreek, Cobalt Man, and Coldheart in a small town called Stamford. During the battle that followed Nitro used his power and caused a massive explosion killing Night Thrasher, Namorita and Microbe of the New Warriors, His colleagues Speedfreek, Cobalt Man, and Coldheart, and around six hundred people of which sixty were children. This was the ignition to the Civil War and the Super-Human Registration Act.
Speedball was seemingly killed during this explosion and was later ridiculed by TV talk show hosts.
Speedball was found on a field about 500 miles from the explosion. He survived thanks to his powers but since he was absorbing so much energy his powers has completely burned out.
After recovering from a coma remarkably fast, he is arrested by SHIELD and placed in federal prison. After he discovers his powers are still functional, Baldwin is taken to the new penitentiary called Negative Zone Prison Alpha with Coldblood (Coldblood) Eric Savin, Typeface (Typeface) Thomas Gordon, and an unspecified Non-human fighter wrapped up like a mummy. He is used as scapegoat for the Stamford incident.
Reed Richards, the facility's creator, offers Baldwin the chance to testify before the U.S. Congress. On the Capitol steps, Baldwin is shot by an assailant and taken away in an ambulance. Baldwin recovers from the wound, and Richards determines that Baldwin's powers are evolving. Baldwin thwarts an escape from the prison and says that he will comply with the Superhuman Registration Act.
After discovering that his powers has evolved and now is pain-induced he agrees to join the Thunderbolts to redeem himself using the name Penance. He has a special suit of armour made that has 612 internal spikes, to remind him of the lives he feels responsible for.
Norman Osborn has stated that he is worried about his sanity and after fighting his old friend Nova he told him not to let them turn him into something he is not. He recently meet Squirrel Girl who has feelings for him and told him, "You just don't get it, do you? This self-punishment thing? It's too deep for you!"
He said his cat Niels has become "P-Cat, the Penitent Puss" and after a battling and defeating Americop with Bullseye, Norman sends a memo saying he is making progress. He left the Thunderbolts to travel to Latveria to confront Nitro for what he did. After explaining how his costume works, he force Nitro to wear it, as a way to torture him. After nitro was beaten to the point of death, Robbie removed the spike closest to the heart and left to come back to the Thunderbolts.
His suit now only features 611 internal spikes.
Personality :
More often than not, when off-duty and not wearing the Penance suit (which isn’t all that often) Robbie Baldwin seems quiet, calm and contemplative. His outward placidity belies the storm of inexplicable visions, strange numbers, guilt and self loathing that runs through the mind of the troubled hero.
He often says and does little, not feeling the need or the right to enjoy the luxuries of life – not even pleasant, if wasteful conversation. Still, if approached correctly Robbie can seem almost normal, as Doc Samson discovered. However, Robbie has been known to snap and become aggressive and even violent if provoked or manipulated in the right way.
He is a brooding, unstable and unpredictable character, with few friends other than his psychiatrist.
Other:
None
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Brief Sample Roleplay
Also, see MACH V and Sigma. . .
It was dark.
It was always dark in here.
Robbie Baldwin, the self-torturing hero now known as Penance, treated himself like a prisoner. It probably wasn’t far from the truth of the matter, in all honesty. Whilst he may be registered, and free to go where he pleased, whenever and however he wanted, that was only the opinion of the government.
They might have pardoned him, offered him freedom from the thunderbolts and offered him all kinds of rewards and luxury, but they just didn’t get it.
This self-punishment thing. It was too deep for them. He was too deep for them. He was deep now, and did deep things. Nobody else could understand, and nobody ever would. Even Doc Samson wasn’t able to fully comprehend him, even if he did seem to accept and empathise to a degree.
They would forever wonder why he sat alone in a windowless, darkened room, on the cold, hard floor. No one would know why he refused most meals, why he shunned even the luxury of furniture. None of them could ever know why his only possession in the world was a walking Iron-Maiden.
The door opened slightly, allowing a crack of light to filter into the room and illuminate the lone, almost naked figure sat cross-legged on the concrete floor.
“Robbie, it’s that time again.” One of his guards leaned into the room slightly, beckoning him toward the door with one hand.
As the scarred and bloody figure in the centre of the room stood, he lifted the Penance suit from its hook on the wall. He looked it over once, regarding it like one might inspect a vehicle before a long drive. Robbie turned to the guard, before turning back to the suit to put it on.
“Robbie is dead.” His eyes were emotionless chasms of unfathomable depth.
“I am Penance.”
