02 – The Gold Gladiator
From #1 – Lady G’Lipis & the Danaians
… America’s first real superhero! (The Gold Gladiator is arguably the first superhero, by a matter of minutes.)
After the departure of the Danaians, Michigan Senator Trent Edward Day suddenly doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach and screaming that his skin was burning as a steam started to rise from his skin. A scientist left in charge of the mysterious Elixir sphere quickly responded to the situation and dowsed the Senator in luminescent contents of the orb. With a final scream Trent Day was transformed into the GOLD GLADIATOR!
The Gold Gladiator’s body has been completely converted to a golden metal that has rendered the Senator impervious to injury and allows him to shift his right arm into a large, very sharp blade. Other physical changes accompanied this transformation including enhanced strength, the loss of the need to breathe or eat which has been replaced with a need to absorb solar energy, and a significant increase in his weight.
Modeling his heroic identity after the Roman gladiators, the Gold Gladiator serves as the leader of America’s first superhero team, the Secret Soldiers. The other members of his amazing squad all have origins dating back to that fateful night in the wilds of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Senator Day’s astonishment at his transmogrification was short lived as meteors, caught in the wake of the Danaians interstellar ship, fell to Earth, to the clearing where Senator Day and the others were gathered. Day used his newly invulnerable form to shield his wife and the scientist with the Elixir. A soldier standing nearby wasn’t so fortunate as a meteor…
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I like this design and concept. Always a sucker for a good superhero story.
Another keeper, love the crest on his head and those roman spirals on his belt are a nice touch that really bring his design together. Is his body malleable in any way? How did he form his hand into that awesome gladius?
Heck, i’m sure it’ll be answered in the first issue of of Secret Soldiers! 😉