Captain Collider
American
Once a brilliant physicist with a view for changing the world for the better, Malcolm Parton's life was changed forever when a freak accident caused him to fall into a highly experimental particle collider mid-collision. Though he should have been killed, an unknown variable caused the hyper accelerated particles to destroy and reconstruct Malcolm's body, merging with his physiology at a subatomic level. The process radically altered Mal, granting him the power to manipulate the very particles that make up the universe itself. Imbued with power beyond his wildest imagination, Mal vowed to use it responsibly in keeping with his pacifistic beliefs and became Captain Collider, the immeasurable Master of Matter!
A gentle and reserved soul at heart, Captain Collider considers himself a scientist and human being first and a superhero second, always prioritising thought and diplomacy over unnecessary violence and confrontation. Though his levelheadedness may make him a hero among heroes, however, his idealistic pacifism occasionally borders on naivete. Still, with the potential for absolute power constantly present within him, Captain Collider strives every day to ensure it doesn't corrupt him absolutely.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Powers
- 2.1 Particle Manipulation
- 2.1.1 Atomic Manipulation
- 2.1.2 Electromagnetism Manipulation
- 2.1.3 Energy Manipulation
- 2.1.4 Gravity Manipulation
- 2.1.5 Ionic Manipulation
- 2.1.6 Matter Manipulation
- 2.1.7 Molecular Manipulation
- 2.1.8 Nuclear Manipulation
- 2.1.9 Positron and Electron Manipulation
- 2.1.10 Quantum Manipulation
- 2.1.11 Tachyon Manipulation
- 2.1 Particle Manipulation
- 3 Equipment
- 4 Abilities
- 5 Personality
- 6 Friends & Allies
- 7 Weaknesses
- 8 RP Hooks
- 9 Trivia
- 10 Gallery
Biography
Born to renowned physicist Gerald Parton and medical doctor Regina Parton, Malcolm Herschel Parton was the middle of three children, his elder brother, Nicholas, and his yet to be born younger sister, Melinda. Born into well-educated, well-off family, Mal wanted for little and received all the love and support he needed from parents, siblings, friends and teachers growing up. From a very early age, the true value of companionship and community were instilled within him.
Inheriting his father's natural genius, Mal showed a staggeringly high intellectual capacity very early in his childhood. Inheriting his father's love of science and his mother's compassion for others, he would often spend his free time studying the world around him in the hopes that he could somehow use what little knowledge he possessed at the time to make the people in his life happier.
His timidity and general lack of malice quickly earned him the scorn of his first bully, however. The older boy, eager to put Mal in his place, promptly singled him out and beat him up. Astonished by the boy's behaviour, Mal quickly ran home to report it to his parents. It was then that his father sat him down and told him the importance of both pacifism and knowing when to resort to violence and why.
Far away from his brother who favored the arts over science and his sister who simply preferred to socialise with her friends, Mal grew to become more and more enamoured with science and, before long, was off at one of the better high schools in the country, an honour roll student with aspirations of becoming a physicist even half as acclaimed as his father. There he met the woman who would go on to be the love of his life, fellow honour roll student Vanessa Morello.
Becoming fast friends and, eventually, unlikely sweethearts, Mal and Vanessa both graduated from high school and attended Millennium City University, with Mal studying physics and Vanessa studying chemistry. It was during their study at the university that a twenty-one year old Mal proposed to Vanessa. Engaged to be married following the receipt of their respective PhDs in Particle Physics/Engineering and and Analytical Chemistry respectively. When their years of studying came to a well-deserved end, the two long-time lovers marked the occasion with a small wedding ceremony of family and friends.
A year later, their first and only child -- a healthy girl -- was born. Settling on the name 'Luna', Mal and Vanessa agreed that Vanessa would temporarily put aside her scientific career while Mal secured a job working within the physics lab of Millennium City University both as a particle physicist and as a lecturer. In this position, Mal quickly established himself as a brilliant physicist, helping to make a number of breakthroughs in the field of particle physics and gradually making a name for himself via his own personal discoveries and theories. One such theory would go on to form the basis of his later work, and that theory was the 'Power Particle'.
Quickly becoming a popular name for his various theses and books on the Power Particle, it wasn't long before Mal received the support he needed to turn his theory into a reality. Approaching the bold, young physicist with an offer of his own lab stocked with resources, a team of diligent, intelligent physicists at his disposal and all the money he needed to make sure he made the most of them, Olivier Dreyfus, President and CEO of Unlimited Dynamics, enlisted Mal's brilliant mind in the search for his much vaunted Power Particle, establishing a professional and personal friendship that would span throughout the following years.
Not all was well in Mal's personal life, however. Though he had always tried to be a loving and attentive husband and father, his commitment to his work on the Power Particle put a notable strain on his relationship with Vanessa and the now nine years old Luna. Their relationship was pushed to its full limit, however, when Luna was hit by a speeding car while playing outside. Though she survived the experience, she became permanently crippled from the waist down, confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Consumed by grief and guilt, Mal devoted himself to finding the Power Particle even faster in the hopes that he could use it to allow his daughter to walk again.
Though he insisted he was doing it for Luna's benefit, Mal's increased fervour towards his work inevitably had its toll on Vanessa, who was left alone to cope with the grief and added burden of Luna's accident. Eventually, the couple had a heated argument on Mal's thirty-eighth birthday and quickly filed for divorce soon after. Vanessa won sole custody of Luna on the grounds that Mal wouldn't have the time to look after her properly. Though reluctant to give Luna up, Mal was forced to concede that she was correct.
Without a family to go home to, Mal increased his work hours and devotion to the Power Particle over the next year. Eventually, as if through sheer determination, his efforts bore fruit and he created the Power Collider -- a particle accelerator that hoped to uncover the mystery behind the Power Particle through the collision of various other particles theorised to be related to it. On the precipice of finally proving the legitimacy behind his life's work, Mal immediately called a press conference for the first attempt at giving birth to the Power Particle.
With scientists from all over the world, the Unlimited Dynamics board of executives and news crews all gathered for the momentous occasion, Mal and his team readied the Power Collider and prepared to make the final preparations for what may have been a life changing world event. As the collider powered up and prepared to fire, however, a walkway on the upper levels suddenly gave way, causing one of the scientists working on the collider to slip, narrowly grabbing on to the dangling walkway. With the walkway rapidly coming loose, Mal acted before thinking. Hoisting himself up to the walkway despite protestations from the rest of his team, he hurriedly pulled his fellow scientist to safety. As he turned to follow her to stable ground, however, the walkway finally came loose, sending Mal plummeting into the collider just as it fired off. As the horrified guests and scientists watched helplessly, Malcolm Parton was atomised before their very eyes.
As the rest of Mal's team ran to shut down the collider in an attempt to save their leader, however, something unexpected began to happen. As the collider continued to smash particles into one another, a form began to coalesce within the light of the lofty machine. As if particles of energy were beginning to come together of their own sentient will, the collider's particle beams gave way to an indistinct, humanoid shape. Startled, the team activated the collider's emergency shut down and watched as the shape within the collider fell to the ground, revealing itself to be a stark naked Malcolm Parton.
Though Malcolm appeared to possess the same memories and basic physical features he had prior to falling into the collider and being atomised, his body had been completely altered during the reconstruction process. Going from a lean, brown-eyed 5'11" man, he was 'reborn' with extremely dense and well-developed musculature, almost unnervingly blue eyes matching the hue of the collider's particle beams, the sides of his hair whitened and all with an extra five inches added to his height.
Further study of Mal's physiology quickly yielded even more shocking results. For all his altered looks and musculature, the most radical change to his body came at a more subatomic level: indeed, his blood, bone marrow and even saliva all radiated a unique type of energy which indicated that the very building blocks of his body themselves had been manipulated completely. In his effort to create the Power Particle, Mal had become the Power Particle -- or at least the closest thing science had seen to it by that point.
Desperate to replicate the conditions that led to the particle manifesting itself within his own molecular structure, Mal ignored any further requests to detain and study the changes to his body and hurriedly attempted to figure out just what the variable or catalyst was that led to the creation of the particle last time but which could not be found in more controlled settings. Though he devoted a large deal of time to trying to rediscover the particle over the coming month, he eventually conceded defeat, realising that it would be impossible to find the one-in-a-million fluke that crated the first Power Particle.
Everything was not as it seemed with Mal's physiology, however. As he slaved away in his lab, the changes within his body caused by the presence of the Power Particle began to manifest themselves in a more external way. Reaching for a desk lamp to better illuminate his research notes, Mal was rather startled when the device was flung into a wall when his hand accidentally knocked it off the desk. To further escalate things, his vision began to blur and distort. As he struggled to clear his head, and reached for a bottle of water, the water within the bottle almost instantly reached a boiling point. When he recoiled at the sight of it, the water froze solid. Quickly losing his normally calm demeanor, Mal bolted from the lab and rushed home -- but not before reducing the his coat to sand and cracking the ground where he walked.
As Mal ran home, the impossible reactions his body and presence triggered in a number of things and people continued to overwhelm him: street lights flickered rapidly, the fur of various dogs and cats stood up on end, asphalt sizzled into tar beneath his feet, flowers wilted and bloomed in a matter of moment and, most of all, Mal began to perceive the various atoms, particles and molecular structures within every person, creature and inanimate object he could see for brief, dizzying flashes. When he finally hurtled through the door to his home, throwing it off its hinges, he realised that the cause of the chaos unfolding around him was the Power Particle.
As he struggled to make sense of what was happening to his body, Mal began to make his way towards the bathroom upstairs. Missing a step in confusion, however, he hurriedly slammed his foot down to save himself from tripping and, as a result, launched himself through the roof of his building and into a billboard several miles away.
Worried that his powers would only further spiral out of control and cause some adverse reaction -- mostly involving him exploding into a black hole -- Mal locked himself away in his basement and began drawing up plans for a suit capable of containing, focusing and stabilising the Power Particles flowing through his body. After about a week, he emerged from his isolation and contacted Olivier Dreyfus, informing him that he needed access to a Unlimited Dynamics test-site and a robotic engineering lab. Though wary of the seemingly unstable Mal, Olivier agreed.
Using his plans to assemble his 'Collider Stabilisation Suit' with the materials at his disposal, Mal donned the outfit and met with Olivier at the test site. Despite Olivier's skepticism at what appeared to be Mal losing his mind as a result of his accident, the CEO of Unlimited Dynamics quickly stowed his criticism when Mal began levitating off the ground. And any remaining doubts were quickly put away when he began flying.
Though his flight landed in another crash, Mal's point had been made -- the Power Particle existed and worked and could still be used to some effect. Through the use of his stabilisation suit, Mal believed that he could personally refine and use his new found powers to aid in scientific progress in a more 'hands on' manner.
Over the following three months, Mal and Olivier worked in secret to test the limits of his powers of particle manipulation, using the former's knowledge of science and the latter's creativity to thinking of new ways to manifest finer sub-powers and honing his pre-existing powers to their full potential. All the while, Olivier attempted to persuade the reluctant, pacifistic Mal to use his powers to become one of many costumed crimefighters in Millennium City, thereby promoting Unlimited Dynamics and his own celebrity status. Mal declined the idea of doing so, however, not wanting to become a cheap gimmick or a superpowered glory-hog. Though he kanebted the udea if nussubg a valid business opportunity, Olivier begrudgingly relented.
With Luna's eleventh birthday fast approaching, Mal took a break from his regular trial runs at the Unlimited Dynamics test site to go and check up on her. Deciding to keep his distance rather than risk getting in a quarrel with Vanessa, he used his powers to fly up high and use his telescopic vision to watch her from the skies. As he checked up on her, however another nearby even caught his attention: the armed robbery of a local bank. With the local authorities nowhere in sight and one of the criminals clearly on edge, Mal reluctantly spurred into action. Landing in front of the bank, he first tried to talk the criminals down. When one of them took a little girl that looked similar to Luna hostage, however, he quickly opted to diffuse the situation more forcefully.
Acting quickly, Mal used his particle vision to atomise the hostage taker's gun. When the other two bank robbers fired on him, he used a focused wall of radiation to stop the bullets in mid-air. With that out of the way, he quickly accelerated towards the criminals in the blink of an eye and -- taking a firm grasp of both weapons -- melted their guns into molten metal, effectively disarming them. With his impressive show of power over with, Mal implored them to give up once more. They surrendered without resistance.
As Mal watched the recovered security guards cuff the defeated bank robbers, however, the getaway driver made a speedy escape with the bags of stolen money already loaded into the vehicle. Giving chase, Giving immediate chase, Mal lifted the speeding car off of the road and gently placed it upside-down, welding the door handles shut to keep the driver in place until rescue services arrived. As he came away from the situation, though, he was surprised to see a gathering of civilians cheering him on for his works -- with an ecstatic Luna among them. Overcome with a sudden pride at having aided and inspired the crowd -- and, by association, his estranged daughter -- Mal departed from the scene and arrived at the test sight with a new tune -- he was going to be a superhero.
Rushing the prototype stabilisation suit to his design department to have them give it a more 'heroic' motif, Olivier began promoting the live broadcast premiere of 'Captain Collider': the 'Master of Matter' and the ultimate 'Superman of Science'. Though he had his doubts about his friend's branding of his superhero identity, Mal agreed to go along with the publicisation of his superhero persona, believing that, with his powers, it would be best to make his intentions and his gentle nature as clear as possible.
The very next week, Mal made his very first appearance as Captain Collider during Unlimited Dynamics' presentation at the Millennium City Science Expo. Introduced as a man who blended all the best elements of science and superheroism, he became Unlimited Dynamics' mascot and de facto head of physics. With his fantastic powers, it was undoubtable that he would make the world a better place and help aspiring scientists the world over reach their goals. In a blinding storm of flashing cameras, frenzied shouts and a stream of interviews, Captain Collider was born.
Now forty years old, but seemingly immune to the effects of aging, Malcolm Parton has been Captain Collider for a very short three months. In those three months, however, he has tirelessly used his powers to push the boundaries of science and heroism on an almost daily basis, quickly beginning to build a reputation for himself. And though his secret identity of Dr. Malcolm Parton, the particle physicist who just happened to get into a freak science-related accident a short time before Captain Collider made himself known, is probably the worst kept secret in the world, he continues to better himself as a man and a 'superman', mastering his command over particles with every passing day.
Powers
Particle Manipulation
As a result of the Power Collider deconstructing his body and reconstructing it with an infusion of Power Particles in his molecular structure, Captain Collider is capable of manipulating particles of all kinds to various effects. Though the vast cosmic potential for absolute power which stems from such a potent ability is enough to give anyone a cause for concern, Captain Collider's control over the particles in his own body and the particles of those around him are severely restrained by both the human brain's comparatively small capacity compared to those of more cosmic beings and his own narrow purview of what constitutes as reality and fiction, limiters present in most human beings. As a result, his mastery over particles is both crude and simple. In addition to this weakness, Captain Collider also abhors the use of excessive violence and completely strays away from the use of more destructive applications of his power, rarely even exploring ones which only serve to destroy. This means that entire branches of his particle manipulation go completely ignored. As time passes by, however, Captain Collider refines his own powers through concentration and training, pushing the boundaries of his own potential to new highs.
Currently, Captain Collider is able to use his powers of particle manipulation to achieve the following sub-powers:
Atomic Manipulation
- Atomic Energy Projection
- Atomic Fists
- Atomic Vision
- Atomisation
- Thermal Manipulation
- Fire/Ice Projection
- Heat Vision
- Freeze Breath
- Superheating/Supercooling Touch
- Thermal Resistance
Perhaps the most conventionally destructive branch of Captain Collider's powers, atomic manipulation allows him to manipulate matter on an atomic level. For obvious reasons, his general influence over such a devastating power is crude and limited, only manifesting itself in the ability to project atomic and thermal energy and the ability to perceive atomic structures. The most advanced application of Collider's control over atoms is 'atomisation', which effectively allows him to undo the atomic bonds in objects to effectively reduce them to fine particles. He has never tried to use it on a living creature and doubts he ever will.
Electromagnetism Manipulation
- EMP Generation
- Electromagnetic Vision
- Microwave Emission
By manipulating electromagnetism, Captain Collider is able to generate controlled EMP blasts, use the entire electromagnetic spectrum to enhance or otherwise influence his vision and emit microwaves. As one of the more powerful and potentially destructive powers in Collider's arsenal, he treats it with a certain wariness and avoids investigating its more destructive applications.
Energy Manipulation
- Energy Absorption/Redirection
- Concussion Beam Projection
- Energy Resistance
With his mastery over energy, Captain Collider can absorb, redirect and resist most forms of energy based attacks while simultaneously being capable of emitting non-lethal, concussive energy beams. Due to the very general nature of this branch, his knowledge of its finer points is limited.
Gravity Manipulation
- Immobility
- Gravity Punches
Another potentially catastrophic and very difficult branch of his particle manipulation, Captain Collider's ability to manipulate gravity is largely limited to using it to amplify his own immovability and his physical attacks.
Ionic Manipulation
- Electricity Manipulation
- Electricity Generation
- Electric Fists
- Electrical Resistance/Conductivity
- Plasma Manipulation
- Plasma Projection
- Plasma Fists
With ionic manipulation, Captain Collider is capable of exercising control over two very powerful forces of nature: electricity and plasma energy. Usually not very useful for non-violent apprehension, he typically uses them to act as a lightning rod in dangerous storms and to supercharge various machines.
Matter Manipulation
- Matter Absorption
- Minor Matter Transmutation
- Self-Sustenance
- Enhanced Lung Capacity
- Wind Breath
- Vacuum Breath
A very intricate branch of his particle manipulation, Captain Collider generally favours the vast potential of matter manipulation both for scientific purposes and for non-violent apprehension of the various criminals he confronts. With the ability to absorb the properties of any solid matter, crudely transmute said matter and send criminals flying with his vacuum and wind breath, it's no wonder that he relies on it so often. Not having to eat, drink or sleep also helps with his workload.
Molecular Manipulation
- Molecular Acceleration/Deceleration
- Molecular Oscillation
- Density Manipulation
- Super Strength
- Invulnerability
- Intangibility
Another personal favourite of his, Captain Collider uses his power of molecular manipulation for a wide number of very useful effects. Most notable among these is his ability to manipulate his molecular bonds to drastically increase his density, allowing for greatly enhanced strength, nigh-invulnerability to harm and intangibility. He can also accelerate and decelerate molecular structures with a touch, which is a whole other barrel of fish.
Nuclear Manipulation
- Nuclear Energy Projection
- Minor Elemental Transmutation
- Radiation Emission
- Radiation Absorption
- Radiation Resistance
Generally too dangerous to use in a non-lethal capacity, nuclear manipulation is one of Captain Collider's less utilised branch of powers, if not the least utilised. It's hard to be a friendly neigbourhood superhero when you're throwing around dangerous blasts of nuclear energy, after all. Still, being able to emit and absorb radiation has its applications for cancer research and hero work.
Positron and Electron Manipulation
- Telescopic Vision
- Electronic Disruption/Jamming
Another infrequently used power branch, Captain Collider can manipulate positrons and electrons with a thought. He only seems to use it to enhance the range of his vision and jam electronic devices.
Quantum Manipulation
- Age Retardation
- Enhanced Regeneration
His least understood and used branch of particle manipulation, Captain Collider still doesn't really seem to have any control over quantum particles. Its only effects on his powers are strictly secondary and subconscious, retarding his aging process and speeding up his body's healing abilities.
Tachyon Manipulation
- Super Speed
- Flight
By manipulating the Power Particles in his body and altering them to become tachyons, Captain Collider is capable of achieving both flight and superhuman speed. The upper limits of both are theorised to be faster than the speed of light, but he prefers to move at less dangerously breakneck speeds -- especially in a crowded urban environment.
