Nick Phoenix
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Contents
Origin
Nick Phoenix was born Skylar Worthy Williams in 1989 to famous supers Jade Phoenix and Scythe. Both of his parents were part of the rockstar super legacy that had begun in the early 80's. The rockstar supers were tremendously popular and turned the idealistic image of supers upside down. Skylar Williams inherited this legacy from the day of his birth. Pictures of his cherubic newborn face graced the front page of almost every magazine in the store, which continued even after his parents legally separated four months later. Paparazzi would follow him for most of his life.
There was no real question over whether Skylar would follow in his parents' footsteps; it was simply assumed. The media had already chosen the name "Nick Phoenix" ("Phoenix" being the public last name of his mother and "Nicholas" his father's real first name) when he was only twelve and years away from beginning a crime-fighting career.
Skylar did want to eventually be a superhero, but on his terms. His childhood heroes were Justiciar and Defender, heroes more committed to making a difference than publicity. Unfortunately, the public would not allow him the image he wished to have, nor the role he wished to play. It was also true that despite his good intentions, Skylar had been raised in a material and shallow environment and lacked the discipline to be an effective hero.
When Skylar accepted the mantle of Nick Phoenix and officially began his career it generated great public excitement. He appeared on several morning and late night talk shows and his t-shirts sold by the millions overnight. However, he was mere image. He had little-to-no opportunity to actually confront threats to humanity. Most legitimate superheroes wanted nothing to do with him.
Nick Phoenix would continue to have a love-hate affair with the public spotlight. At times he seemed to shun it; at others he deliberately cultivated it. He was once quoted decrying the Hollywood-ization of the superhero world... to Joan Rivers during a red carpet interview. He had numerous short-term flings with A-List actresses. He rarely turned down a magazine cover, regardless of its reputation. He claimed he did this to draw attention to his message that he was not just a pretty face, but the words and the actions seemed to contradict.
The Ministry of Order
Nick grew increasingly frustrated with his inability to do any real good and with a public image completely different from how he saw himself. His attempted solution was curious: He joined The Ministry of Order, a hero organization with public aspirations of world domination, considered by some to be no better than VIPER. Nick had hopes that this would break public perceptions of him as a media darling. It both worked and backfired at the same time. "Is Nick Phoenix a terrorist?" was a phrase that crossed several newspaper and magazine covers. The same late night talk show hosts who had him as their guest made him a repeated target for mockery. Legitimate supers still wouldn't touch him, though now for completely different reasons.The Ministry of Order's reputation has been damaged by Nick Phoenix's membership as much as the opposite is true. The Ministry has faced mockery and lost respect from some of its counterparts for being willing to take a vain starlet like Phoenix into its ranks. For now both entities have decided they need each other.