Darkglove
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| The New Darglove! | |
| Darkglove | |
| Player: @Masked Revenger | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Security Level: | 3 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Richard DeLance |
| Known Aliases: | DG |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | Confidential |
| Height: | 6' 5" |
| Weight: | 220 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Ex-Professional Boxer/Licensed Super Hero |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City, Rhode Island, United States |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, Rhode Island, United States |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Lisa (Mother), George (Father/Deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Magical Boxing Gloves combined with natural boxing skill (Dark Melee/Willpower) | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Boxing | |
| Equipment | |
| One pair of magical boxing gloves | |
| No additional information available. | |
Darkglove was a concept first created by Masked Revenger (Player) for the City of Heroes game about a year ago. It wasn’t until he reached the 39 month veteran rewards that he could make the concept come to life.
Contents |
Affiliations
- None, as of yet.
Supergroup: None
Personality
Richard DeLance is an angry man. He’s angry at his father, angry at his mother and angry at the world in general. This anger has been displayed in the ring by a tendency to continue to beat on an opponent even after he was knocked down. Still, he honestly wants to do the right thing as Darkglove, and to redeem that name along with the DeLance name. He just doesn’t yet realize the kinds of changes in himself that will require.
Powers
Darglove is a trained professional boxer, and skilled at not only dealing damage, but taking it as well. Despite his size, he can be surprisingly quick on his feet. His biggest advantage, however, is the two magical boxing gloves that have been imbued with dark energy.
Dark Melee
These special black boxing gloves were made by a demon, to be given to Richard’s father as part of a Faustian deal. They are imbued with the dark energy of the underworld, allowing Richard to strike stronger, harder and quicker than a normal human. They can even increase his strength while wearing them. It has been suggested by some mystics that the gloves, being demon made, might have a corrupting influence on the wearer, but there is so far no conclusive evidence to prove such a theory. Only time will tell.
Willpower
In his years of training as a boxer, Richard DeLance has learned how to take a hit, and to resist even the most disorienting blow to continue fighting. He has refined this ability to the point where he can ignore an incredibly high level of pain, and has even proven resistant to some mind affecting powers.
Boxing
Despite his long hatred of his father, Richard DeLance was as drawn to the Sweet Science as George DeLance was, and he started his training when he was ten. When he finally broke into professional boxing, everyone knew that his skill would make him a champion. He just needed to overcome his anger and over-aggressiveness. Now, as a hero, he needs more than ever to overcome that anger if he truly wishes to redeem his family name.
Character History
The First Darkglove
The story of Darkglove really starts back in the early 80’s, with George DeLance. George was a professional boxer, but was universally known as such a looser that he was only good for practice matches or filler bouts before the bigger, pay-per-view shows. The money he made was more than enough to care for his wife, Lisa, and young son, Richard, but George wanted more than money. He wanted fame and recognition. He wanted respect. Despite his wife wishing he would quit the dangerous business he worked in, and work at her father’s steel mill as a vice president, George continued to peruse his dream of one day wearing the championship belt. He tried everything from bribing refs to paying other fighters to lose the match, betting on his own matches and even switching managers several times to get people to take him more seriously, but all he managed to accomplish was to lose money, rack up a debt with the mob and become even more of a laughing stock than before. Things were getting strained at home and George was getting more and more desperate to make it. That was when the mysterious stranger entered George’s life.
George never did find out who he was, or why he helped him, but the mysterious stranger gave George a book that described how to have all your wishes fulfilled through a mystic ritual. Desperate, with his wife threatening to leave and the mob threatening to kill him, George followed the instructions in the book, and contacted a demon. He was surprised at first, but the demon promised that he could make George the champ, and he jumped at the chance. In return for George’s soul, the demon created a pair of magical boxing gloves, infused with the very essence of the underworld, and told George how to activate them.
With the gloves, George suddenly couldn’t lose. He hit harder and faster than ever, and once he started winning matches, he gained a reputation as a “come back.” The press started calling him Darkglove because of the distinctive black gloves he boxed in, a change from his previous blue ones. Things were perfect. He had respect from his peers, admiration from fans, and even the press loved him. His wife seemed happy, his kid worshiped him and the money was flowing in. With several well placed bets on himself, George was able to finally pay off the mob. Then, finally, in 1987, George’s dream came true, and he won the coveted Heavy Weight Championship belt. That’s when everything went down hill.
True to his typical performance, George let slip to his manager about the magical gloves. Now, his manager was an unscrupulous type, who actually worked for the mob, and so this wouldn’t have been a problem under normal circumstances. However, there was also a young boy and his father in the room, who wanted an autograph of his boxing hero. When the two heard about the magical gloves, and saw the demonstration George gave of them by smashing a locker, they fled to the commission and reported everything they saw. Suddenly, George’s life was a swirl of controversy. An investigation into the matter, performed with aid by a Mystic hero who was also a sports fan, proved that George did, in fact, have magical gloves. He was disbarred from boxing, his title was stripped, to the point that his name isn’t even mentioned in the record books, and he was required to pay back all the money he had won on the Championship match.
George was up against the wall. He didn’t have the money, he had given it all to the mob to pay off his debts, as well as used the remainder to pay for a new house and car for his family. Then things got even worse. Seeing what her husband had become, Lisa took herself and the then five year old Richard and left. With out any way to box for money professionally, he had lost his only source of income. His house was repossessed in order to pay back the money he owed the boxing commission. He was forced to move into his family home outside of Paragon City, now a dilapidated old two story building in a run down part of town. In desperation, he used the only tools left to him, his gloves, and turned to a life of crime.
Taking up the name Darkglove the pressed had dubbed him with, he went in a spree of bank robberies and jewel heists. George is nothing, however, if not a constitute looser, and even at this career, he failed. He had a few minor successes, but mostly his crimes kept running into costumed heroes, who all easily defeated him. Even in the powered villain world, George was a laughing stock. During one of his last heists, he grew so angry and the laughing of the people he was holding up that he punched a security guard, so hard that the man died. Realizing what he had done, he fled, and decided to give up the villain lifestyle. He hug up his gloves for good, and tried to find a real job. It wasn’t long after that, however, that the FBI caught up to Darkglove, and arrested George for the crimes he had committed as the costumed villain. He was tried and sentenced to life for the death of that security guard, and George left meekly. That was the last anyone had ever heard of Darkglove.
Young Richard DeLance
Meanwhile, George’s son, Richard, was growing up. At the young age of five, he hero worshiped his father, the man quickly becoming a boxing legend. Then, he saw it all torn away, and at first didn’t understand that it was his father’s fault. When his mother took him away from his father, he hated her, blaming her for ruining everything. Then, as he grew older, he saw that his mother was right, and that his father was the looser everyone said he was. George watched with anger every news report on his father’s failed criminal career. Even as a super-villain, Richard could hold no respect for his father. Eventually, Richard started boxing himself, for though he didn’t want to be anything like his dad, boxing did give him an outlet for his anger, which seemed to get worse and worse with each passing year.
In high-school, his anger issues made him somewhat of an outcast, and caused all his teachers, who saw how smart he was, to express concern to his mother. However, his boxing continued, and as long as he had that to focus on, he never expressed his anger in any other physical manner. He eventually became the champion of his school boxing division, and even the district. He turned that into a professional career, eschewing college for a life as a boxer, much to his mother’s dismay and protest.
A Boxer’s Life
Richard found that the boxer’s life suited him. He traveled a lot, made good money and even got to meet several celebrities. His manager knew that he had what it took to become a big name in the industry, partially because of his overly aggressive tendencies in the ring. He would have to start out small, his manager told him, but Richard didn’t mind. Unlike his father, he was happy just to box, and while a Champion’s belt would be wonderful, it wasn’t his life’s dream.
He fought match after match, making a name for himself as a hard working fighter, willing to fight any bout no matter how small or insignificant. He even started gaining fans. However, despite Richard’s love of the sport, he felt like his life was empty. He lacked a goal, motivation to really do something with himself, a purpose. His father, at least, had his dream of being champion to drive him, but Richard didn’t even have that. But, unsure of what to do, he continued to travel from town to town, city to city, fight to fight.
The New Darkglove
His life continued to be like this until a few weeks ago, when he received a letter. It was from the FBI, and it notified him that his father had died in prison of unknown causes. The letter contained his father’s last will and testament, which bequeathed everything he owned to Richard, and most of that was included in the envelope. Two things stood out to him. One was the deed to his father’s family’s house. Somehow, it had never been reclaimed by the authorities when he was arrested. The other thing that stood out was what appeared to be a small, copper key. Except that unlike a normal key, it had no teeth. It was just a rounded head with a small protrusion. The protrusion had some indents on it, but there were none of the normal teeth one would expect on a key.
The key sparked a memory of his father from the time when Richard was five. His father was about to take a plain to Vegas for the championship bout. He was kneeling in front of Richard, holding this strange key, and explaining something to him.
“See this key, son?” he said.
“Yes, daddy.”
“It opens a secret family vault that my father built into the basement of our family home. We don’t live there now, of course, but I still go there from time to time. I keep my most valued possessions in there. One day, when you’re older, I’ll show you. Would you like that?”
Of course, as a five year old in love with his father, he couldn’t imagine anything else. But then the scandal had happened, and things changed. He had forgotten all about the key his father had once showed him.
His most valued possessions… Richard shook his head. It wasn’t possible that his father had kept the boxing gloves hidden there. Surly the FBI had combed that entire house, and would have discovered this hidden vault. Still, Richard was curious now. The gloves were never found, after all. So, he went to the house. The place was boarded up, and Richard had to practically brake in. He made his way to the basement, and discovered that it was as ransacked as he had expected. He was amazed that his father still owned the deed to this place, but even more amazed at the pure state of disrepair it was in. Still, he knew that if this so-called hidden vault existed, it would be here. So, he searched. After several hours of searching, he found something. He might not have noticed it if it weren’t for the small twig sticking out of it, but one particular brick had a small, rectangular hole in it.
With shaking hands, he inserted the key, and discovered that several of the bricks swung back on a hinge, revealing a small save in the wall itself. Inside was a pair of black boxing gloves, looking as new as if they had just been purchased, along with several pages of notes that George DeLance had made on using the magic in the gloves.
Suddenly, Richard was filled with purpose. He knew what it was he needed to do with his life. He was going to dedicate it to reversing all the wrongs his father had committed, to purging his family’s name from the stain his father had put on it. And he would do it using the same tools his father had used, the magic gloves. After practicing with the gloves in secret for a week, Richard called his manager and notified him of his plans. Over his manager’s protests, Richard quit professional boxing and moved to Paragon City, immediately re-building the house his father had left him. As soon as he was settled in, he went to Atlas Park and registered, using the last thing his father had left him. The name of Darkglove would now be known as that of a hero.
