| Ultra-Man | |
|---|---|
 David Danner | |
|
Concept: |
Brick |
|
Nationality: |
American |
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Place of Birth: |
McCook, Nebraska |
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Date of Birth: |
7 February 1919 |
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Hair/Eye Color: |
Black/Blue |
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Height/Weight: |
6' 6" / 260 lbs |
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Status |
Member of the Global Guardians |
Background[]
David Danner was born in the town of McCook, Nebraska on February 7th, 1919. He was the first (and only) child born to sheep ranchers, Eben and Sara Danner. They did their best to raise him right and proper as befitting a child born to hard-working, God-fearing people such as the Danners and they did an excellent job. Danner was an intelligent and curious boy and he carried those traits with him as he grew to manhood. As he grew older, David also developed a fierce sense of patriotism and when the time came to join Uncle Sam's army, he jumped at the chance. Danner went through basic training and it was as if the hand of Uncle Sam himself guided him. He not only passed. He excelled!
Private First Class Danner was based at Fort Freedom Army base in Freedom, Arizona. On the night of his 20th birthday, in the summer of 1939, Danner had been given leave and after signed out a jeep from the motor pool, had driven to visit his parents, who had come down to Tucson to visit him. It was a trip he wasn't destined to finish. On the dusty road Danner was nearly struck blind by an object that had suddenly materialized before him. Stopping his jeep, and more than a little curious, Danner got out and approached the brightly glowing object on foot. Upon his approach, a high pitched whine began to emanate from the object. There was bright a flash and Danner was struck unconscious. Upon reawakening, Danner found himself strapped to a table and positioned under a strange apparatus. Hearing shuffling in the darkness away from his field of vision, a strangely accented voice addressed him.
"Gut, you are avake. Though you may not know it, you ztand on the pinnacle of mine crowning achievement. Behold! You zee above und before you, the 'ATOMIZER'. I haff harnessed the forzes of the cozmos itzelf and I haff bent them to my vill. Uzing these hithertofore unknown forms uff energy, I vill make und control an army of 'atomic powered' soldiers for mine Feuhrer. Underztandedly, this prozess is experimental and I haff to be zertain that a man can withstand the 'atomic' forzes that I command. Thus, your presence here, und, once you survive the prozess I will transplant mine mind into your newly 'atomic powered' body and be General to the army that vill conquer the world!"
Upon the utterance of the last word, Danner heard a switch being thrown, followed by the sound of a generator powering up. Try as he might, Danner was unable to break free of the bonds which imprisoned him. In the light of the bluish/white glow of the apparatus, Danner could see that he had been stripped of his uniform and dressed in a garish blue one-piece bodysuit and red boots. (Later he would find out that the bodysuit amplified and controlled the 'atomic energy' that was being directed at him). Suddenly, a beam of light lanced forward from the apparatus and it was as if Danner was immersed into the very fires of creation itself. His entire body felt as if it was aflame, as if every microscopic particle of his very being were being energized from within. He screamed and his cry was the sound of millions being born and millions more dying. His life was over and yet, it was just beginning.
Danner felt his body swell as if the strength of the entirety of humanity flowed though his arms, and he stretched. The bonds that held him to the table tore, like wet tissue paper. He reached above him and saw his hands. They were larger and bursting with power. At first, he couldn't believe they were his but he knew they were! Inadvertently, he had grazed the apparatus as he had stretched forward, and his very touch had caused it to swing wildly about. The beam bathed everything it touched with the scalding energies spewing from its nozzle. Danner heard a cry, the sound of something heavy and soft flung into machinery, hard and unyielding. Another cry, this one small and shrill then Danner was engulfed in a massive fireball. He was flung upward and outward. Remarkably, neither the flame, the concussive force of the blast or the superheated shrapnel bouncing off of his skin caused any damage. He was transformed and so was his life forever more.
Danner soon was able to master the powers he had gained from the 'Atomizer'. Great strength, the ability to survive in any environment, almost complete protection from injury, the ability to project destructive forces from his eyes and perhaps the greatest power (to Danner), that of flight. Danner used his newfound powers in the service of his country as Ultra-Man, the Atomic American.
Danner later found out that it was the mad genius, Baron Pieter Maltus that was to blame for his transformation. While Danner initially thought that Maltus had been killed in the explosion, he would later find out that Maltus had survived. Maltus would become his greatest nemesis, and he would continually hound Danner for his entire career.
Ultra-Man fought a number of nefarious villains in the years prior to the Second World War: Captain Bedlam, the so-called "Norse Goddess of Death" Hel, the insectoid Scorpius and Ulti-Man (a villainous doppelganger created by Maltus) just to name a few. Ultimately, he would triumph over them all. But then he went up against an evil even his much vaunted Atomic Strength could not overcome: War.
When America entered World War II in 1941, it was The Atomic American that led the soldiers in their first major battle. But even he couldn’t stop the Axis by himself. In the following years, Ultra-Man met a number of other "Mystery Men", displaying strange powers and abilities and who decided to fight the Nazi menace. Among them, the British heroes Union Jack, Tyger Tyger, and John Bull, the French strongman Resolu and Defi, Master of Savate; the mystical Russian heroine Natalia; Canadian hero Fleetfoot, and fellow American heroes Airdrop, Sergeant Victory, Liberty Belle, and Mister America. But most especially, Ultra-Man fought beside Uncle Sam, the living spirit of America.
Though these heroes were all powerful in their own right, they were no match for the combined might of the Axis, especially when the Nazis started using "Mystery Men" of their own! Nazis who cared even less for the ideals of freedom and democracy than their un-powered brethren did.
It was during 1943 when the call came out for a group of super powered heroes to take the fight to the Nazi villains, called "The Ubermenschen". The various governments urged their heroes to band together to form a group of like minded heroes. The Liberty Legion was born!
Ultra-Man was never one to shirk his duty and soon the Atomic American found himself in a group of international heroes that banded together to fight a common enemy. The Liberty Legion found itself battling the Ubermenschen time after time. Sometimes, narrowly averting defeat. In the winter of 1944, during the height of World War II. Ultra-Man, along with the rest of the Liberty Legion, was engaged in a pitched battle with Maltus (who in league with Hitler had acquired the mystical "Spear of Destiny"; rumored to be the spear jabbed in Christ’s side as he hung on the cross at Cavalry) and the Ubermenschen.
Maltus, using the spear, blasted the Atomic American with a powerful beam of mystical energy that vaporized Ultra-Man on the spot, before the very eyes of his team mates! The ppLiberty Legion[[, spurred on by the demise of one of the most beloved heroes in the world, fought the good fight and defeated Maltus and his plans. Afterwards, with the permission of the Allied governments, the team mourned their fallen friend by erecting a statue in his honor on the street where he fell, in Ghent.
Little did they know that instead of killing him, which Baron Maltus was unable to cause the spear to do, he had mystically opened up a dimensional portal around the Atomic American, causing him to disappear from that temporal plane. So great was the power of the spear that it had forever closed off Danner from his time and deposited him in another, far in the future. Sixty years in fact.
Finding himself in the Germany of the present time and confused by his appearance next to a statue of himself that declared him deceased, Ultra-Man contacted the American Government for help acclimatizing himself to this time.
During his period of acclimation, Danner was very public as a hero; feeling that his time spent in the present would be best spent doing what he had always done best. Championing the causes of freedom, justice and fair play.
Personality and Motivations[]
Danner is an old fashioned man. Straight and simple. Coming from a simpler time, where things were seen in black-and-white terms, he is unfailingly polite, respectful of his elders, women and authority. Having spent a great deal of his life in paranormal wartime combat, he is very confident in his abilities and will always fight fair, even his if foes don't. But he will fight to win.
He always defers to the person in command and is seen as the perfect battlefield soldier. He is naive to the ways of modern morality and ethics, preferring to respond to situations as he was raised, sometimes to a fault. Due to his time spent acclimating to this new time period, he is aware of computers, space travel, and nuclear power but he is still in awe that these devices can be made so small and is still fascinated by all this new (to him, that is) technology.
In his off time, Danner likes to catch up on current events, listen to old time radio broadcasts. And having been raised as a farmer, Danner likes to travel back to Nebraska and help the locals in their farming chores, which has made him VERY popular in his home state.
Quote[]
"This one's for the good old U-S-of-A!"
Powers and Abilities[]
The "Atomization" Process provided Danner with incredible powers. He has phenomenal strength (capable of lifting nearly 800 tons above his head), the ability to fly, imperviousness to almost any type of injury, and the ability to survive in any sort of hostile atmosphere (or lack thereof).
Danner prefers to think of all of his powers as "atomic based", as it was Maltus' "Atomizer" that gave him his powers.
Appearance[]
Danner, as Ultra-Man, cuts an impressive figure. He is a terrifically muscled man with a Herculean physique. He wears a royal blue bodysuit with red gloves and boots. A gold chestplate in the shape of an American Eagle, with a half royal blue and half red and white striped tunic underneath, a red and white striped cape with white stars on a blue border at the hem, gold bracers etched with an atomic symbol and golden greaves shaped like stars, accentuate the costume.
Out of uniform, he dresses in loose fitting denim pants with suspenders, work boots, flannel shirts and a ball cap.