CENTURIONS

HISTORY

The Centurions were the first major hero team to be based out of Superior City during the Modern Heroic Age. Apex was the first hero to emerge in the city, followed soon after by Paragon and Olympiad. Across the river in the neighboring Paradise Cities the hero Lynx had also made her debut and the heroes would occasionally cross paths with each other.

All four teamed up to face the threat of the villainous Slaughterhouse Five, led by Apex's nemesis Carnage. During the confrontation one of the Five, the alien Astra, turned on Carnage and the other villains, siding with the heroes. The heroes defeated the four remaining villains and in the aftermath decided to remain together as a team, calling themselves the Centurions. The five heroes remained the core of the team throughout its existence, joined on occasion by Whiz Kid and Edge, the teen sidekicks of Apex and Paragon respectively.

The Centurions faced a number of enemies, both as a team and as individuals, during the roughly six years the heroes were active. In the end it was a series of tragedies that led to the downfall of the team. Carnage eventually returned with an expanded Slaughterhouse Seven, leading to a devastating confrontation where the villains were eventually defeated but at the cost of Astra's life. Olympiad was killed a short time later, giving his life saving others during the first Crisis. The death knell of the Centurions came during the Legends crisis, during which Paragon and Lynx were killed and Apex fell into a coma. Whiz Kid and Edge survived, but left their heroic identities behind in the wake of Legends.

Through the machinations of Carnage, the people of Superior City were made to forget the Centurions had ever existed. The memory of the heroes remained blocked until the Enforcers of Justice discovered the scheme and thwarted Carnage's plot to take revenge on the city. The memory of the heroes restored, the Centurions have been honored by the city.

APEX

PERSONAL DATA

• Alter Ego: Nicholas Young

HISTORY

Nicholas Young was a highly decorated officer with the Superior City Police Department when he received a terminal cancer diagnosis. With his health declining rapidly, Nicholas received an offer he could not refuse. Representatives from the secretive Sector 10 told Nicholas that they could save his life and turn him into a super-hero to boot. For Nicholas there was no question, so the police officer was transferred from the hospital to the secret labs of Sector 10.

For several weeks Nicholas was subjected to Sector 10's treatments. A combination of strange chemicals and exposure to exotic radiation slowly transformed the former police officer into superhuman powerhouse. Imbued with powers to make him a near-rival to Superman himself, Nicholas was equipped with a costume and Apex, Superior City's first hero of the Modern Age made his debut.

Nicholas spent almost all his time as Apex, though his true identity remained a secret. As far as anyone knew, former police officer Nicholas Young was still on extended medical leave due to his cancer diagnosis. Meanwhile Apex would spend much time patroling the city doing all the things a super-hero should, from fighting crime to rescuing cats from trees. Like elsewhere, either due to the presence of heroes like Apex or in spite of it, Superior City began attracting super villains and battling them took more and more of Apex's time.

Within a short time after Apex's debut more heroes began to appear in Superior City. Apex would cross paths with them from time to time, the most frequent initially being Paragon. When a yound superhuman speedster appeared in the city Apex took him under his wing and the boy became the hero's sidekick as Whiz Kid.

Not content with one success, the powers-that-be at Sector 10 sought to replicate their success with Apex by creating another hero. Ex-Special Forces soldier Jordan Straite was selected as the new candidate, and he was subjected to a refined and updated version of the treatments given to Nicholas Young. The result was an even greater success, and also Sector 10's greatest failure. Jordan initially debuted as a the new hero Prodigal, but it soon became clear that he was not cut from the same cloth as Apex. When a new, brutal super-villain team called the Slaughterhouse Five appeared in Superior City, it took the combined efforts of most of the city's heroes plus the betrayal of one of the villains' own before they were defeated. The entire city were shocked when it was revealed that the villains' leader, Carnage, was in reality Prodigal. The heroes that had banded together to defeat the Slaughterhouse 5, including Apex, opted to remain together as a team calling themselves the Centurions.

For the next few years Apex continued to serve Superior City, on his own or alongside Whiz Kid or the Centurions. Tragedy soon struck the heroes, starting with a returning Carnage and his team (now called the Slaughterhouse Seven). Soon the first Crisis struck, followed shortly by the rise in anti-metahuman sentiment of Legends. During the final conflicts of the Legends crisis the forces of Apokalips attacked and the Centurions moved to help protect the populace that had only just turned against them. Leading the forces that were attacking in Superior City was the demented scientist Desaad. When Apex went to confront Desaad the villain was able to use a device that amplified the latent cancer in the hero. With his cancer nearly out of control, Apex's natural invulnerability reacted to try and save him and the result was the hero falling into a deep coma, his powers all but gone as his body fought to keep him alive.

The authorities recovered Apex's comatose form after the battle and covered up his identity. Sector 10 placed him in a hospital as Nicholas Young where, in part thanks to the machinations of Carnage, Apex remained comatose for several years until a strange series of events led to his revival. Now Nicholas once again protects Superior City, this time under his new heroic identity of Aegis.

POWERS & WEAPONS

The treatments from Sector 10 granted Apex a wide range of powers, comparable to those of Superman. Apex had superhuman strength and resilience, superhuman speed, and could fly. His senses were also enhanced, granting him telescopic vision and the ability to see in wavelengths beyond those of normal humans; and with his hearing Apex could perceive sounds in frequencies outside the usual range as well as pick up sounds over large distances. Nicholas' cancer was kept at bay by his newfound invulnerability and resistance to toxins. Apex's one weakness seemed to be a susceptibility to energy that was of the same type and electromagnetic frequency as that emitted by the exotic meteor that was used to power the experiments that transformed him.

PARAGON

PERSONAL DATA

• Alter Ego: Gareth Durant

HISTORY

Gareth Durant was the eldest son and heir of the Durant family, one of the wealthiest families in Superior City. Highly intelligent and athletic, Gareth easily mastered many skills both physical and mental. Constantly seeking to challenge himself, Gareth became an expert in multiple martial arts while at the same time racing through school, graduating high school by age 13 and going on to earn university degrees in multiple disciplines by his mid-20s.

Seeking more challenges, Gareth was inspired by the new wave of heroes, including Apex, to adopt a heroic crimefighting guise himself. As the enigmatic Paragon, he presented himself the peak of human intellectual and physical prowess. As an expert in multiple fields of study and a master of several forms of unarmed combat, and possessing an arsenal of high-tech gadgets designed by himself, Paragon became a relentless scourge of Superior City's criminal underworld. When the Centurions formed, Paragon took on the role of the team's chief strategist.

Paragon battled many enemies over the years, most notably foes like the Ace of Thieves and the Animus. On one adventure Paragon was assisted by a gifted teenager that reminded him of his own younger self and he wound up taking the young man under his wing. Jason Sinclair would soon adopt the costumed identity of Edge and would act as Paragon's sidekick until the latter's death. Paragon continued to fight crime in Superior City until he was killed by Apokaliptian Warhounds during the Legends crisis.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Paragon was in peak physical condition and was an expert in multiple styles of martial arts. He was also highly intelligent and was skilled in a wide variety of science and engineering disciplines. As Paragon he wore an armored suit that was equipped with communication gear and sensory enhancement like night vision. Paragon typically carried a variety of other high-tech gadgets to assist him in his battles against the criminals of Superior City.

Paragon was by all appearances human, though seemingly at the peak of human physical and mental potential, however given that his half-brother Julian possesses metahuman powers it is possible that Paragon was unknowingly a metahuman as well.

OLYMPIAD

PERSONAL DATA

• Alter Ego: Mark Carrington

HISTORY

Mark Carrington was a gold medal winning Olympic decathlete who was on a promotional tour of Europe when he gained superhuman powers. During the tour, Carrington found himself involved in a series of strange but seemingly unconnected events. In Spain he found himself running after a thief who had stolen a women's purse, eventually recovering the purse though the thief got away. Then while on a boat on the Mediterranean in the French Riviera he dove after a woman who had fallen overboard and saved her from drowning. In Rome, Mark saved a group of people trapped under rubble from a wall that collapsed during a freak windstorm and finally in Athens he had to restrain an abnormally strong man who was drunkenly threatening some tourists.

When visiting the Parthenon shortly after that last encounter, Mark found himself transported to Mount Olympus where the goddess Athena revealed that each encounter had secretly been a test. The thief in Spain had actually been the god Hermes, the drowning woman was really a Nereid, one of the servants of Poseidon, the storm that toppled the wall in Rome had been sent by Zeus himself, and the drunkard in Athens was a disguised Heracles. Having passed each of the gods' tests Mark had proven himself worthy and he was given the gift of Ambrosia, which would bestow Mark with great powers.

Returning to his home in Superior City, Mark drank the magical elixir and was transformed into the ultimate athlete. Using his superhuman strength, endurance and agility to battle evil, Mark became Superior City's third, and most public, super hero as Olympiad. Over the years he faced several villains on his own as well as part of the Centurions. Olympiad also used his public presence to support several charities.

During the first Crisis, Olympiad was killed by the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons while he tried to protect the people of Superior City.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Already a gifted athlete, Mark Carrington was granted superhuman capability by the Greek Gods. The Ambrosia gave him superhuman strength, endurance, agility and reflexes. As Olympiad he could also run as fast as a race car, swim as fast as a speedboat, and leap a distance greater than a football field.

LYNX

PERSONAL DATA

• Alter Ego: unknown

HISTORY

Virtually nothing is known about Lynx, who was the protector of the Paradise Cities. There are reports she is half-cat, half-human; while others claim that she is a normal, though highly-trained, woman. She first appeared in public more than a year after Apex and many of the heroes of Superior City, but she may have been operating in secret for several months prior to this. The super powered villains tended to operate on the Superior City of the river, so Lynx most frequently dealt with non-powered criminals, though many of her opponents had unique modus operandi.

Her public profile increased greatly after she joined with the heroes of Superior City to form the Centurions. Despite being part of this more high profile team Lynx remained a mystery, reportedly even to her teammates. Her crimefighting activities were still focused on the Paradise Cities, but she was always ready to work with the Centurions against greater threats.

Lynx was with the Centurions during the Legends crisis and came out to fight the forces of Apokalips when they were unleashed against the people of Superior City. Lynx was never seen again after the battle and was presumed killed though her body was never found.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Lynx had high agility and endurance and was seen to perform extraordinary, possibly superhuman, feats of acrobatics. She also had claws, which may have been part of her costume or a natural ability and were capable of cutting through steel. There was also evidence she had superhuman senses, again which may have been based on technology or her own superhuman abilities, including the ability to see in the dark and extended hearing.

ASTRA

PERSONAL DATA

• Alter Ego: none

HISTORY

The beautiful Astra was a princess on her distant home planet before a rebellion forced the entire Royal Family to flee. Separated from the rest of her family, Astra's badly damaged spaceship crashed near Superior City. She was found by the evil Carnage, who recruited her into the Slaughterhouse 5 but she soon switched sides and helped the Centurions defeat the villains.

Astra remained with the Centurions, helping them to battle their enemies, and was welcomed by the citizens of Superior City. She spent some of her time trying to find out the fate of the rest of her family, but her vessel had been badly damaged in the crash and Astra was not able to recover the navigation data. Still, she would spend much of her spare time working with STAR Labs astronomers hoping to find a familiar star.

In the end Astra's earlier actions would come back to haunt her, as she was targeted by Carnage and his newly expanded Slaughterhouse 7 team. The Centurions were able to defeat Carnage and his allies, but at the cost of Astra's life and she became the first Centurion, but sadly not the last, to fall in battle.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Astra came from a planet whose star had faded, leaving the world bathed in perpetual night. As a result her people developed the ability to draw nourishment and strength by absorbing starlight. They were also resistant to the deep cold and could survive in the vacuum of space for short periods of time. In the microgravity of outer space they could also propel themselves with a limited form of flight, an apparent limited form of telekinetic ablity. When Astra arrived on Earth, she discovered that the proximity to a bright star like the sun supercharged her natural abilities. As a result she was able to fly even in Earth's gravity, and her normally limited telekinesis had expanded to include the ability to project beams of force.

Her society had a martial spirit, and as a member of the royal family Astra received extensive training in several forms of unarmed and armed combat. Though she did not have a particularly scientific bent, during her time working with STAR Labs scientists Astra became knowledgeable in astronomy and astrophysics.

EDGE

PERSONAL DATA

• Alter Ego: Jason Sinclair

HISTORY

A gifted teenager, Jason Sinclair was a star athlete and honors student in high school, but yearned for more. Jason got his chance when a battle between the hero Paragon and the villain Psychotrope was happening at the Metroplex at the same time Jason and some friends were at the mall there. Psychotrope was using his mind control to make the mall patrons and employees attach Paragon while the villain attempted to steal valuable pieces of art that were part of a touring exhibit at the mall. Jason was able to resist Psychotrope's powers and leapt in to help Paragon. Observing that one of the hanging displays in the mall's open area was directly above Psychotrope, Jason was able to find a way to climb up and drop the display on the villain. Psychotrope's force field kept him from being hurt, but it was enough of a disruption to temporarily break his mental control of the people attacking Paragon. Taking advantage of the villain's distraction, Paragon broke away from his confused attackers and was able to take down Psychotrope.

Impressed by the actions of the young man, who reminded Paragon of himself as a teenager, the hero tracked down Jason several days later and offered to take him on as an apprentice hero. After the thrill of his first effort, Jason readily agreed and after a few months of intense training under Paragon he made his first public appearance alongside the hero. When reporters asked Paragon why he had a sidekick, the multi-talented hero stated simply that everyone can use an edge, leading the media to start referring to Jason as Edge, aka the "Teen Supreme". As Edge, Jason used his keen intellect and athletic ability to back up Paragon and always seems to have just the right piece of technology on hand to give him the proverbial edge over his opponents.

Due to his age, Edge was only considered to be an honorary Centurion but he frequently fought alongside them. Edge became close friends with the other honorary member of the team, Apex's teen sidekick Whiz Kid, and the pair would often join forces on adventures of their own outside the Centurions. The pair's final team-up happened during the Legends crisis, when they confronted the mystical being known as the Animus. The Animus was feeding on and influencing the fear of and hate towards super heroes during that Legends, making the situation worse in Superior City than in many other parts of the country. While their mentors and the other Centurions confronted the forces of Apokalips that were attacking the city, Edge and Whiz Kid were left on their own to deal with the Animus. They were successful in subduing the being, but their victory was tempered by the loss of the other Centurions during their battle.

Guilt-ridden over not being there to save his mentor Paragon, Jason abandoned his Edge identity and left Superior City. He did not abandon super heroics forever, however, and would eventually find another way to serve.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Jason was a genius and had mastered all his high school subjects and started studying college level material well before he graduated. He had a knack for technology, and had begun developing his own small-form electronics as a preteen. Jason leveraged this skill with the access to advanced technology he had as Edge to create a veritable arsenal of gadgets he made use in his heroic career. As Edge he also carried an advanced miniature toolkit that he could use in the field to jury rig new gadgets on the occasions he found himself lacking one suitable to the current situation. Under Paragon's tutelage Edge also became a skilled detective with knowledge of criminology and forensic science.

Even before Paragon had started training him Jason had been a talented athlete in a variety of sports including track and field, gymnastics, wrestling, soccer and basketball. Paragon supplemented these skills with training in a variety of martial arts styles as well as in forms of melee and ranged weaponry.

WHIZ KID

PERSONAL DATA

• Alter Ego: Michael Lester

HISTORY

One day when he was thirteen years old, Michael Lester missed the school bus home. Reluctant to call his parents, and afraid they would be mad, Michael started running home, and got there ahead of the school bus. At first scared of what had happened, Michael eventually decided to see if the event had been a one time thing. After dark on the weekend he snuck out of the house and biked to his school. Climbing the fence, young Michael went to the track and started running laps. Within seconds he had lapped the track a dozen times, and kicked up a mighty dust storm in the process.

Michael spent the next few months secretly practising with his mysterious newfound abilities while trying to figure out what to do with them. The decision was made for him during summer vacation, when the creature later known as Rage first appeared, cutting a path of destruction across Superior City. The city's heroes, the Centurions, were away on a mission leaving the hopelessly outmatched police to try and deal with the monster. As city officials pondered calling for a military strike as a desperate last measure to stop the rampage, Michael saw an opportunity to use his powers for good. He donned a makeshift costume and raced at superspeed to confront Rage.

Arriving at the scene, Michael's first actions were to attract the creature's attention. Taunting the monster and using his superspeed to evade Rage's attacks, Michael was able to stop the creature's destructive progress as it instead focused on him. When it became clear that he could not do this for long before Rage scored a lucky hit, Michael desperately tried to think of something he could do to stop the creature for good. As part of his practice with his powers, Michael had started reading up on everything he could find about the hero The Flash, both the current hero from Central City and his Justice Society predecessor. Michael was able to recall a case where The Flash had stopped an adversary by running a circle around them fast enough to generate a whirlwind that drew away all the air inside the funnel, causing the target to pass out.

With nothing left to use, and a military strike on its way that was bound to cause even more destruction, Michael ran faster than he ever had before, pushing himself beyond his limits and successfully creating the whirlwind. It took several minutes for the gigantic Rage to succumb, but eventually the behemoth fell unconscious. With the creature knocked out the police were able to restrain it and the media dubbed the young new hero Whiz Kid.

Michael began regularly patrolling parts of Superior City with his superspeed, and after stopping some small-time crimes he was surprised to find himself face-to-face with the hero Apex. Apex had been impressed with Whiz Kid's handling of the encounter with Rage and offered to take the teen hero under his wing. Michael was ecstatic and agreed immediately. Equipped with a new costume, Whiz Kid began appearing alongside Apex, and soon began working with other members of the Centurions. Like Paragon's partner Edge, Whiz Kid was considered an honorary member of the Centurions due to his age.

Over the next several years Whiz Kid continued to fight crime on his own, alongside Apex, with the Centurions, and also teaming with Edge. Whiz Kid's last appearance was alongside Edge when the two were able to defeat the mystical being known as the Animus during the Legends crisis. Though the two were victorious, at the same time the rest of the Centurions had been battling forces from Apokalips and the heroes had apparently all been killed. Disillusioned, Michael gave up his Whiz Kid identity and left Superior City, swearing off super heroics. It take several years, but Michael would eventually make a return under a new heroic identity.

POWERS & WEAPONS

When he was a young teenager, Michael developed superhuman speed powers. The exact source of these abilities was never identified, but based on the time and location it may have been a result of the mutagenic side effects of research from the illegal Chimera Project. As Whiz Kid, he possessed superhuman speed and reflexes. Whiz Kid could run at several times the speed of sound, and had superhuman reflexes with reaction times measured in microseconds, or even nanoseconds as he improved his control over his powers. Whiz Kid also possessed enhanced toughness, a level of resistance to physical damage that protected him when he moved at superhuman speeds.