#3 “MURDERMAN” Max Cardiff

Universe/Storyline: The Band

Universe details: In the isolated city of Crescent where these characters live, superpowers spring from close encounters with death. Only people born in the city can gain these powers, and since this is a relatively new settlement, the first generation of people born there are just starting to show signs of super-fication. This means mostly kids and teens. Of the teens, Camille, Max, Amelia, Walter, and Rin decide to team up and form a band. They take it upon themselves to help other kids who are just getting powers/dealing with death. Eventually, when The Band realizes that everyone deserves to be informed about the city’s unique predicament, they try to reach every kid in the city at once by putting on a live concert.

Height: 5’ 9”

Body Type: Big, but not fat. Awkwardly somewhere between boy and man. Tall.

Hair: A little longer than chin length, the ends in the back can be seen from the front. Straight, but with a slight flair out at the end. Bangs parted in the middle. Overall an unplanned/messy look that somehow comes off as elegant. Medium-dark brown in color.

Eyes: Brown

Race: White

Age: 16

Attire: Plain black suit jacket and matching pants. Jacket is always unbuttoned, showing the white collared shirt underneath. The collar of the shirt is always unbuttoned. The tails of the shirt are never completely tucked in. The shoes are orange Converse high tops. Sometimes wears silver aviator sunglasses with burnt orange/brown gradient highly tinted reflective lenses.

Superpowers: Metal Manipulation, Conscious and Subconscious (primary)- Max can manipulate metal right down to the molecule. His finely tuned powers let him separate the metal from other compounds and break down and rebuild any metal objects almost instantly. However, metal does not always follow Max’s conscious demand, and sometimes behaves on its own accord when he is in the vicinity. Aspects of THE RAD’s (see Weapons below) personality come from Max’s subconscious or suppressed desires.

Sound Manipulation, Conscious- Max can manipulate any sound wave’s volume, frequency, direction, etc. to such an extent that he can turn one sound into a completely different one. Altering his voice, creating sonic booms from a strum on THE RAD, and moving around in complete silence are just some of the possible uses.

Personality: Max is rebellious against any establishment, tradition, or formality. He cares mostly about himself first, but will fight to protect others if it is necessary. His arrogant manner and overconfidence in himself often get him into trouble. His favorite pastimes include disobeying orders, showing off, and acting rashly. Despite all this, he has developed a somewhat goofy and pathetic crush on Camille.

Hobbies: He has a somewhat unintentional collection of bottlecaps built up. He’s not sure what he’s going to do with them yet.

Weapon/Partner: THE RAD- An old-fashioned yield sign (upside down yellow triangle) that has been converted into a guitar. The sign portion is the body, and the rectangular metal post with small circles punched out every half inch or so serves as the neck. The six steel strings attach directly to the far end of the neck, in the style of other ‘headless’ guitars like the Steinberger. The strap is a length of chain, which links onto the last hole at the body end and a hole at the front end of the body. The backside of the sign is marked with graffiti reading “THE RAD”.

THE RAD is almost always at Max’s side, either strapped to his back or floating beside him. Max can also ‘ride’ or ‘surf’ on THE RAD in a fashion similar to a hover board. THE RAD has a personality like any other character, and can use his strings like hands to gesture or make various twanging noises to communicate. THE RAD usually obeys Max’s bidding when it’s given, but often behaves in a sensitive, passionate, or kind way without prompting.

Power source/backstory:

a.      Metal (manipulation on the molecular level, wide range, subconscious and at will)- murder under the mind-control influence of Control Freak

b.      Sound (manipulation/generation at will)- later, the murder weapon, which broke down into metal dust at the time of the murder, rematerializes during meditation (Camille prompts Max to focus on one sound in order to clear his mind and access his subconscious). Max grabs it instinctively.

Theme Song: Symphony of Destruction- Megadeth

Category: 2011, Superhero