ideaofamerica: (Default)
Eli Bradley/Patriot ([personal profile] ideaofamerica) wrote2013-06-07 03:09 pm

Cape And Cowl App

[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Chris
AGE: 24
JOURNAL: [personal profile] millennialfalcon
IM: ccgentes
PLURK: [plurk.com profile] gazzafizza
E-MAIL: canadia.dayo+eli@gmail.com
RETURNING: N/A

[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Eli Bradley/Patriot
SERIES: Marvel 616 - Young Avengers Vol. 1
CHRONOLOGY: Post Children's Crusade, after moving to Arizona with his family.
CLASS: (reluctant) Hero

BACKGROUND:
The Marvel Universe is a lot like our own, only with mutants, aliens, supervillains, Norse gods, megalomaniacal dictators, and genetically enhanced super soldiers thrown in. One of the main players in the Marvel Universe is Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. In World War II, scientists working with the US government used an experimental serum and procedure to make Rogers into a super strong, super durable fighting force. Unfortunately, the serum was destroyed and the scientist who created it killed, so the government had to try to recreate the formula in order to make more super soldiers. They tested their serum on 300 forcibly recruited African American soldiers, of whom only one survived— a man named Isaiah Bradley. Isaiah was sent on a suicide mission, before which he stole a Captain America shield and uniform. His mission was successful, but Isaiah got captured. When he returned to the US months later, he was court-martialed and sentenced to life in prison for stealing the uniform. He spent 17 years in solitary confinement, where his physical and mental condition deteriorated as an unknown side effect of the serum. His wife Faith, who was told that Isaiah had died but refused to believe it, wrote President Eisenhower a letter every month for three years, so Isaiah was finally pardoned and released in 1960, on the day of JFK’s inauguration.

Steve Rogers didn’t find out about Isaiah and the government’s horrific attempts to recreate the Super Soldier serum until years later, when he spoke to Faith to get the whole story. By this time, Captain America had long been an integral part and a leading member of the Avengers, one of the main superhero groups in the Marvel Universe. Together, the Avengers have faced foes such as the alien races the Skrulls and the Kree, scientist/sorcerer/ruler of Latveria Victor von Doom (aka Dr. Doom), World War II villain the Red Skull, and the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror (real name Nathaniel Richards).

After Scarlet Witch, a mutant who was one of the Avengers’ most powerful members, suffered an extreme mental breakdown which resulted in the depowering of 90% of the world’s mutant population and the deaths of several of her Avengers teammates (among other things), Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) decided to disband the Avengers. It was at this time that a young Nathaniel Richards, having met his future self, traveled back in time from the 31st century to stop himself from ever becoming Kang the Conqueror. When he arrived in the 21st century, he meant to enlist the Avengers’ help, but, finding them disbanded, discovered a fail-safe program designed by the Vision which listed young heroes who had ties to current or past Avengers as possible recruits. Nate visited the people on the list under the alias Iron Lad with the purpose of creating a new team which would eventually become the Young Avengers.

But a world full of constantly clashing heroes and villains can only go unchecked for so long. There's a limit to the amount of collateral damage the nonpowered public can stand, and when a battle between a villain named Nitro and a group of reality-TV heroes named the New Warriors resulted in the deaths of 60 schoolchildren, plus many other civilians, Congress decided to introduce the Superhero Registration Act, a bill which would require all heroes to register with the US government. The issue divided the superhero community, with Iron Man leading the argument for registration, and Captain America heading those opposed to it.

Initially all the Young Avengers sided with Captain America against registration, but after Hulkling was captured and vivisected (don't worry, he got better), Wiccan was arrested by the pro-registration camp, and they went through one battle after another of friends fighting friends, hero against hero, eventually Stature decided she wanted to fight villains, not heroes and cops, and changed sides. The so-called Civil War came to an end when Captain America finally surrendered, realizing that all this fighting was hurting the innocent civilians the heroes were sworn to protect. Before he could stand trial, however, he was assassinated on the steps of the courthouse (don't worry, he too got better).

The Marvel Universe suffered through a few other major events after the Civil War— a surprise Skrull invasion, former villain Norman Osborn getting government-sanctioned control over a new "peace-keeping agency" and using his new position to create a team of Dark Avengers made up of former villains and less-than-scrupulous heroes, an orchestrated attack on Soldier Field that resulted in the deaths of thousands and led to a siege on Asgard. You know, the usual world-altering events that superheroes have to deal with.

The most recent event from Eli's perspective is the rediscovery of the Scarlet Witch, who had disappeared after the mutant depowering fiasco. After the battle between the Avengers, X-Men, Young Avengers, X Factor, Scarlet Witch, and Doctor Doom (it was very complicated) resulted in the deaths of Stature and Vision and the setting of Iron Lad down the path to supervillainy, Eli decided to hang up his shield and give up heroing forever.

PERSONALITY:
Eli has had a chip on his shoulder his whole life, ever since he was old enough to understand what being a young black man in America meant, the struggles black people have gone through in this country, and what the American government did to his grandfather. No one else believes in the black Captain America, so to everyone in Eli’s Bronx neighborhood, Isaiah is just his retarded grandfather, barely able to speak, let alone prove bullies wrong with displays of extraordinary strength. Even Eli began to doubt the truth of his grandfather’s history, until one day Isaiah defended him from some bullies. After that, Eli was convinced that the story of the black Captain America was true, and he wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, to be able to make him proud. Problem was, Isaiah is a super soldier. Eli is not.

When Iron Lad first contacted Eli, saying he was looking for members of a potential new team of Avengers, the person he was really looking for was Eli's uncle, Josiah. Wanting to carry in the tradition of his uncle and his grandfather Isaiah, Eli lied and claimed that through a blood transfusion from his grandfather, he had inherited Isaiah’s Super Soldier abilities. In truth, Eli was using the Mutant Growth Hormone drug to get his powers. After he was found out, he walked away from the Young Avengers, ashamed, but was brought back in to fight when the Skrulls and Kree showed up to fight over his teammate Teddy. Gravely injured during the ensuing fight, Eli ended up getting a blood transfusion from Isaiah after all, giving him the same Super Soldier powers he claimed to have before, though not to the same level of those produced by the MGH. He has the same abilities as his grandfather, uncle, and Steve Rogers.

Eli is still to this day ashamed of himself for taking MGH and, perhaps more importantly, lying to his teammates. He had taken on a sort of leadership role in the group (co-leader, along with Kate Bishop/Hawkeye), and felt— let’s be honest, occasionally still feels— undeserving of the position after the mistakes he made. He takes all his failings extremely personally and is unfairly hard on himself. He is able to channel that frustration into training, however, in his constant drive to make himself a better teammate, leader, hero, and person. That’s not to say he doesn’t sometimes doubt Kate’s leadership decisions, such as deciding to align themselves with Magneto in the search for Scarlet Witch.

It has been hard for Eli to take on the identity of Patriot, a hero designed to stand up for America and its ways, while reconciling the country’s ugly history when it comes to race and prejudice. Like he says, “sometimes it’s really hard not to hate this country.” The (predominantly white) kids in his class accuse him of reverse racism, often goading him into a violent reaction. Some of his teachers try to help, but more often than not Eli ends up being suspended for his outbursts, even if he’s only trying to do a report on the Tuskegee experiments or say a few words about the deceased Captain America at an assembly. Eli received some guidance from Steve Rogers, who explained that patriotism isn’t about supporting the government blindly, it’s about supporting the idea of what the country can be, trying to lead it there through example, and holding it responsible for its shortcomings. After Steve died following the events of the Superhero Civil War, Eli met with his friend and former sidekick, Bucky, for further reassurance about what it means to be a hero wearing the Red, White, and Blue.

Though he is a superhero, and a tough kid from the Bronx, Eli is also a huge nerd. He works at the public library, reads comic books, plays video games, and hopes that one day nerds will be at the top of the social pyramid and scientists will have a unified field theory. When Iron Lad first founded the Young Avengers, Eli had pretty much no social life, and didn’t date— mostly because he had no idea how to talk to girls. He had a thing for Kate Bishop from the moment he saw her, even though sudden villain activity prevented him from asking her to dinner. Later, after Kate joined the Young Avengers and the team went through a lot (including Eli’s MGH scandal), Eli finally asked Kate out. He bought flowers and a tie, and rented a horse-drawn carriage for a ride through Central Park. When Kate said she wanted to remain friends, he got angry and stormed off. Later, though, Kate told him she just needed some time, and their relationship was strengthened while they were trapped under some rubble in the ruins of the fallen Asgard.

After the events of Children's Crusade, Eli has sworn off heroing. He's decided the cost is just too great to justify running around in tights. His sense of justice remains, and I posit that he won't give up on helping people, but focus his intentions in a more mundane avenue, such as studying law and justice in college.

POWER:
Eli’s canon enhanced abilities include: strength, speed, stamina, healing, senses, durability, agility, and reflexes. For an exact detailing of the limits of each ability, see this chart (Eli’s post-transfusion abilities fall under "peak human"). For the purposes of this game, I'm knocking it down to enhanced strength, agility, and healing.

Eli is also a skilled tactician and a disciplined leader, who has training and experience in hand to hand combat. He is very athletic, and has displayed some skill at parkour.


[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

[The broadcast opens on a video of a young black man in typical teenage garb. He's wearing a backpack and a New York Yankees t-shirt.]

So this city-- it's not really New York, is it. It looks like it is, but it's not. [For one thing, the library where he used to work is at the wrong subway stop-- and yes, that's one of the first things he checked, right after trying to find his grandparents' apartment.] This "Porter" thing just sucked us through and what? It expects us to do what it wants from us? Well I'm sorry, I don't play that game anymore. Too many people lose.

Does this alternate world have colleges? 'Cause I applied Early Action to Howard and I really don't want to mess that up.

Whatever. [He ends the feed.]

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

Eli shows up at the apartment he's been assigned and drops his backpack by the door, kicking off his shoes (grandma's habits die hard) before crashing on the couch, dropping a hand over his eyes. He'd hopped a train to the Bronx before finding this place, but couldn't find his old apartment. It was like the whole building where his grandparents have lived for decades just... wasn't there. He'd have said "That's impossible!" but knowing what he's been through, nothing's impossible. He's stuck in some alternate dimension where they want him to be a hero again, but he won't. He refuses.

Except he'd given them that name. Patriot. They'd asked for his alias and he'd just spit it out without thinking. Not enough time has passed, it seems, since that was a part of his life. Since that was his life. But it isn't anymore, and he'll be damned if some machine in a tower is going to make him change his mind.

He takes a deep breath, and tries to come up with a plan. There's no way out, it seems, unless he can find someone with powers like Billy's, maybe. So he'll wait it out, see what he sees, who he finds here. He still has his Constitution textbook in his backpack, he can at least study to pass the time.

Except, after maybe half an hour of reading the same paragraph over and over, Eli decides to give up on studying and explore the city some more. He'll check on some of his old haunts-- the library where he worked after school, the warehouse where the team used to meet, Avengers mansion. See what, if anything, is the same about this place.



FINAL NOTES:
Nothing! Just a note that it'll take some hard work and convincing to get Eli to put on a costume again. He doesn't even have his old costume, unless the Porter somehow grabbed it.