Steelheart (Epic)
| Steelheart (Epic) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Died | Accidental suicide |
| Abilities | Epic |
| Aliases | Paul Jackson |
| Residence | Newcago |
| Homeworld | Earth (Reckoners) |
Steelheart is a High Epic of considerable power that rules over Newcago.[1]
Attributes and Abilities
Powers
- Invulnerability
- Steelheart is impervious to harm from all known sources, including bullets, edged weapons, blunt force, suffocation, radiation, electricity and fire.
- Super Strength
- Inhumanly broad and tall, Steelheart is strong enough to crush bones and throw people with ease.
- Wind Manipulation
- Control of the wind grants Steelheart the ability to fly and pick up objects using the air around him.
- Flight
- Steelheart is capable of flight under his own power. This ability is referred to separately from his wind manipulation.
- Steel Transfersion
- When angry, Steelheart spontaneously transforms non-living matter around him to solid steel, spreading out from him in a sphere. Steel and iron have the ability to "insulate" against the transfersion, but other metals are transformed to steel. As this ability is tied to his emotions, he sometimes uses it without intent. This power has a radius of about four miles.[2]
- Energy Beams
- Steelheart can project energy beams from his hands that can vaporize people and melt steel with ease.
- Eidetic Memory
- Steelheart claims to remember everything perfectly, but this is not broadly established and may be boasting.
Weaknesses
Steelheart can only be injured by the actions of a person who has absolutely no fear of him. Thus, he did everything within his power to make people fear him, including condoning the random executions of the Epics he ruled over, having Nightwielder shroud the sky in eternal darkness, fabricating stories of his previous mass killings, publicizing videos of him randomly targeting and destroying buildings, and killing people with their own weapons.
Steelheart received this fear (and thus his weakness) during his job as a night watchman. He was afraid that someone would not respect his authority, and wanted everyone to obey him. When someone wasn't intimidated by him, he became afraid.[3]
He was killed by himself in a trap set by the Reckoners. David Charleston hid a small detonator inside the barrel of his pistol before dropping it, anticipating that Steelheart would attempt to use the gun to kill him. When Steelheart fired the gun, the detonator was triggered, setting off explosives the Reckoners had planted under the ground. Because Steelheart did not fear himself, and the detonator was triggered by his own action, the explosion killed him. David himself expected to die in the process, but he was saved by the last-minute intervention of Jonathan Phaedrus.
History
Before becoming an Epic, he was known by his given name, Paul Jackson. In high school, he was a track star and had a reputation for being a bully. After finishing high school, he worked as a security guard at a factory and was an active member of online conspiracy theory forums.[4]
About one year after the arrival of Calamity,[5] Paul Jackson was sent on a mission, lead by Hershel Black, to a secret Russian satellite facility. In route to the facility, Jackson saw Calamity glow and then fell unconscious for several hours; when he awoke, he started to show the characteristics of an Epic. The team then raided the secret facility, but the raid went poorly until Jackson used his new Epic powers to kill the defending Russian soldiers and destroy the facility. He also attacks a member of his team, causing the rest of his team members to turn on him, but Jackson kills each of them in turn leaving, only the team leader Hershel. He then pins Hershel under the now collapsed Russian facility; Hershel has to cut off of his leg to escape the trap.[6]
Steelheart came to Chicago about one year after the appearance of the Epics. He annexed the city and much of the surrounding territory, declaring himself emperor and all those within his domain his subjects. He offered other Epics the choice of serving him or dying. One of his initial acts was the Great Transfersion, in which he transformed most of Newcago, including buildings, part of Lake Michigan, and several miles underground to solid steel.[5] Initially, he claimed to be building an ideal city with a vast network of understreets, but he soon abandoned this pretense and ruled his subjects harshly and erratically. He enlisted three Epics, Nightwielder, Conflux and Firefight,his inner circle, built a high-tech Enforcement division, and allowed intelligent, wealthy or attractive humans to live above with the Epics, serving as functionaries and entertainers. Epics within his domain were allowed to kill or terrorize humans for any reason or no reason.
Notes
| Preceded by Insulation |
Controller of Conflux |
Succeeded by unknown, possibly free |
- ↑ Steelheart chapter 1#
- ↑ Calamity Chicago signing
— Arcanum - 2016-02-22# - ↑ Firefight Atlanta signing
— Arcanum - 2015-01-24# - ↑ Firefight chapter 6#
- ↑ a b Steelheart prologue#
- ↑ Lux chapter 47#