MrWonderful
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Christian Charming, also known as MrWonderful, is a Invulnerability/Super Strength Tanker whose astounding intellect, high level of disposable income and innate sense of justice caused him to pursue superheroics in Paragon City.
| |
| MrWonderful | |
| MrWonderful | |
| Player: @MrWonderful | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Tanker |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Christian Charming |
| Known Aliases: | Captain Charming, Seth Thygesen, Crab-Man |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 34 |
| Height: | 6'5" |
| Weight: | 278 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Hazel |
| Hair Color: | Blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Place of Birth: | Glendale, CA |
| Base of Operations: | Los Angeles, CA |
| Marital Status: | Married, to Miyuki Charming |
| Known Relatives: | Miyuki Charming, wife; Eiko Hinohara, mother-in-law (deceased); Kureigu Hinohara, father-in-law (deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Invulnerability, Super Strength, Flight, Speed, Energy Mastery | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Acting, Super Intellect | |
| Equipment | |
| Advanced Super Suit, Flight Belt | |
| No additional information available. | |
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Affiliations
Blue Justice, Justice for Blue, Society of Thespians, The Ultimate Team
Powers
MrWonderful is classified as an Invulnerability/Super Strength Tanker according to the Paragon Registration files, but this is based on a somewhat inaccurate set of tests. Christian Charming does indeed possess strength at the peak of human physical capacity and has an innately high tolerance for pain, but can be damaged just as easily as any normal human being. The key to more obvious and impressive powers is actually in the highly advanced super suit he wears underneath his yellow and blue tights. In other words, were he to be attacked while out of costume, he would likely be able to overcome a physical attack, but would still be susceptible to death by a simple gunshot. Nevertheless, Charming and his agent felt it necessary to misrepresent his powers on the registration card in order to further conceal his identity. It was easy for him to demonstrate his physical prowess during the Paragon Registration tests, but faking natural invulnerability was much more difficult. Using his high pain tolerance, a basic knowledge of martial arts, principles of stage combat and stunt work, misdirection, and a bit of special effects, MrWonderful was able to appear to be invulnerable to oncoming damage to the extent necessary to be considered equal to a first security level hero.
Super Strength
MrWonderful has parlayed a fortune into personal training that have allowed him to gain seemingly super human strength without appearing bulky like most comparable strong men. He is able to lift 1450 pounds over his head without extra effort. Later in his career, his suit was updated to better stabilize him and use artificial muscle to increase this number to one and one quarter tons. The stabilization also allowed him to smash solid objects without causing damage to himself, allowing him to stomp the floor in order to attack any enemies surrounding him. Because of an equal amount of time spent on tone and muscle build up, he has full control over his strength and there have been no incidents of accidental over-usage of power.
Invulnerability
MrWonderful is can absorb large amounts of damage from most forms of attack due to his super suit, which his high pain tolerance allows him to wear flush against his skin in most areas. Damage from physical assaults, i.e. blunt, sharp, or pointed objects; extreme temperatures; and energy-based attacks are mitigated in this way, but he is left vulnerable to psionic attacks due to an inability to protect against them.
Flight
Using the flying circuits embedded in his suit, MrWonderful can fly at speeds close to eighty miles an hour, clocking in at about a mile in fifty seconds. Flight is powered b bioenergy, and therefore leaves him drained if used for prolonged periods of time while in combat.
Speed
Without his super suit, his is fully capable of running a mile in under two minutes, about thirty miles an hour, without becoming winded. The suit, however, grants him a further ability to move quickly, allowing him to attack faster, but due to the nature of how the suit works, this makes him exhausted after prolonged use, and, therefore, cannot indefinitely use this ability.
Energy Mastery
An increased reliance on the use of bioenergy to power his super suit, MrWonderful was forced to learn how to better control his energy, both in terms of input and output. By refining circuitry pathways in the suit, greater energy efficiency was managed. After the battle with Bohanatsu, another addition was made, allowing the batteries that originally powered the suit to be put back to use along with capacitors that allowed for energy to be released in short bursts, but these must be recharaged after each use and therefore cannot be used often.
Special Powers
Heightened Constitution
By using the Alexander Technique popular amongst stage actors, MrWonderful is able to relax and control his breathing under even the most dire of circumstances. This allows his to, first, participate in battles longer without succumbing to his injuries; second, manage his bioenergy more efficiently so that he can actually attack for longer periods of time; and, third, deal more damage by controlling exactly how his body commits to an attack.
Sands of Mu
While investigating the Circle of Thorns, MrWonderful led his attack with his trademark footstomp in the center of a ceremony. He failed to realize that the Circle was performing a bonding ritual, and instead became the recipient of the magical weapon, The Sands of Mu. The Sands allow him to launch a flurry of dark energy, but while doing so, he cannot move nor maintain excretion of bioenergy. The Sands permanently inhabit his body, moving freely within that sometimes causes the body part that it resides in to feel 'asleep,' but the more often The Sands are allowed to be expelled, the less the feeling exists.
Nemesis Blast
After defeating who was thought to be The Real Nemesis, MrWonderful reverse-engineered one of the staffs to find that it was powered by the steam-driven automaton suits. He modified it to collapse into his own suit and utilize his bioenergy, making it innately tied to him so that it cannot be used against him if he is disarmed. The staff generates a blast similar in nature to the Energy Torrent created by the capacitors in MrWonderful's suit.
Equipment
Advanced Super Suit
It took more than some extremely well-negotiated film contracts to afford the costs of the original super suit, affectionately referred to as WonderArmor. Some well-placed investments in companies like Sinclair Enterprises and COLETECH, some confiscated villain research and technology, and some huge favors by some well-placed friends enabled Christian Charming to use his intellect to the best of his ability, creating a suit impervious to physical attacks. The further Christian Charming excelled in either of his careers, the more advanced the suit became. The crudest suit was that of Captain Charming, which used metal plates and pads for protection, but was abandoned with the guise in favor of an energy-based under-tights suit that marked the first appearance of MrWonderful, aptly nicknamed his Classic Suit. The minor forcefield offered limited protection against firearms and blunt weapons and was powered by the battery packs on his belt, which eventually were used for dedicated flight. At that time, Christian tapped into a more practical energy source, himself. Due to his level of athleticism, his biology generated an excess of energy, provided he continued to fuel it, i.e. rest often and eat. Thus, he upgraded his suit, giving himself extra protection at the same time that provided him with a reputation for being invincible.
Numerous upgrades were made to his suit thereafter, primarily based on advances that occurred without regards to the suit. For instance, when Christian became more used to the draining effects of using his bioenergy to power the suit, more protection was added, and much later a short range attack was produced by storing power in a temporary capacitor. When his strength began to increase too rapidly for his body to handle the strain, an exoskeleton-like frame was added. When he had advanced in Security Level such that his strength no longer seemed super, he introduced artificial muscle to heighten his own natural abilities.
His suit was temporarily abandoned when he contracted the self-titled "Crab Disease," which prevented him from fitting into the suit without major and costly modifications which would essentially force him to rebuild the suit from the ground up. Fortunately, he formed a strong chitin layer over his skin as a side-effect of the disease, which allowed him to continue to fight crime, though under the temporary guise of Crab-Man. When the disease was cured, he returned to the suit, but occasionally uses the device that cured him to transform back into Crab Form whenever he is unable to access his suit, though, since this is an insurmountably painful process, it is rarely done.
During the events of Wonderful/Knuckle, MrWonderful wore his suit for the first time without any external layers in order to avoid discovery by The Ultimate Team. This is sometimes referred to as his Golden Suit, due to its off-yellow color. After the anti-gravity belt was damaged while fighting Bohanatsu, the parts were scrapped and added to this final version of the suit, completely run by bioenergy, though further enhanced with longer term capacitors that stored on-demand power to lessen the jolt of sudden fatigue. Because of this, however, MrWonderful is unable to have full protection while engaging in aerial combat and will tire easily.
During Every Rose Has Its Thorn, MrWonderful became especially aware of his weakness against mental assaults. Since then, he has been attempting to build a device into his mask in order to offer mental protection, but has thus far proven unsuccessful due to his inability to understand the nature of psionic attacks, which he hypothesizes may be due to a mental block caused by Desert Rose that prevents him from concentrating on the issue. This, however, cannot be verified since no member of The Ultimate Team has psionic abilities, and his identity prevents him from seeking help elsewhere.
Flight Belt
Early in his career, he gathered together recovered technology from various villain groups and assembled them into an anti-gravity harness, thus allowing himself to fly. Unlike the rest of the suit, it was originally powered via an external power pack attached on the outside of the belt. As was previously mentioned, the belt was damaged during the fight with Bohanatsu, and the suit was redesigned to include a self-contained flight belt. However, on the occasion that the Classic Suit or Crab Form is used, the belt is still worn, though it functions solely as a utility belt.
Special Equipment
Sgt. Knuckle's Vest
Teleportation Devices
- MrWonderful, like all heroes in Paragon City, carries a general issue Emergency Teleporter to transport him to a hospital in case he goes into critical condition while in battle.
- He also carries the general issue Arrest Teleporters, clipped onto defeated enemies in order to send them to prison.
- Christian invented a device using a back door in the Emergency Teleportation System and base teleporters to provide transport from any area inside or outside the city similar in function to Manticore's original teleportation ability, though to a less localized extent. It also can establish a primary relay link with Portal Corporation technology in order to achieve limited interdimensional transportation as well. He call his creation a The Ultimate Team On-Demand Base Teleporter.
Communication Devices
- MrWonderful carries a set of Team Communication Devices issued to all heroes in case extra heroes are needed to acomplish a mission.
- He also carries an Interdimensional Communication Device distributed to all members of The Ultimate Team to enable communication cross-shard. Though the technology is in fairly wide use throughout the hero community, The Ultimate Team uses devices built by the College Kheldians.
Abilities
Acting
In elementary school, Christian was fortunate enough to be one of the many children to be introduced to Shakespeare well before public schools traditionally find it acceptable as part of the many experiments of teachers in North America during the early 1980's. Because of this exposure, Christian never had any desire for any other occupation other than an actor, though this was much to the dismay of his parents, choosing the University of California, Los Angeles' Acting program over Berkeley's scientific offerings. Still, his easy, effortless acting has won him many roles, both serious and comedic, and he has become somewhat successful in the film industry.
Of course, in Hollywood, acting is not entirely what makes the actor. Christian Charming's success also has much to do with the intense training he has undergone, as well as the serendipitous rescue of agent Adam Thornton of Believer Agencies, Inc (see Rise to Stardom below).
Super Intellect
If his parents had their way, Christian would have become a scientist—or perhaps an engineer—whatever best made use of his astounding intellect. Technical gifts have come naturally to him his entire life, understanding many advanced technologies better than even the creators themselves. His parents encouraged him to make educational use of this astounding ability, but, like many geniuses, Christian sees this ability more as a hobby than a means to success. Moreover, anything that he needs to aid his hero work can be secretly created with money funded by his acting with a complete lack of risk of the same technology falling into the wrong hands.
This talent has been thus far shown to only be limited in regards to psionic mechanics.
Character History
Rise to Stardom
That's Not A Super Villain, That's my Wife, Heracles: Demigod.
Captain Charming
Christian Charming originally assumed the guise of Captain Charming, clad in a red and white version of his current suit circumscribed by metal armor. However, his agent, Adam Thornton, felt that superheroics would weaken Charming's career, so a new guise was developed in order to obtain registration while still maintaining anonymity. In order to hide in plain sight, they chose to relocate most hero-related activities to Paragon City, use the brightest possible colors in redesigning his suit, and select a variation on a name already taken in the registration, Mr. Wonderful, determining the person who used the name to be too self-absorbed to turn down credit for Charming's exploits. Thus far, there have been no incidents.
The First Rikti Invasion
Down and out in Los Angeles
East Coast and West Coast
Paragon City and San Francisco
Crab-Man
Nuclear Tsunami and Lobster Lady's attack on Blue Justice, development of "Crab Disease"
The New Umi Kami, formation of Justice for Blue
Capture of Lobster Lady, Curing of "Crab Disease"
Death of Umi Kami
Attack by Nuclear Tsunami, death of Umi Kami
Something else
Rebuilding
Ms. Dynamite and Scarlet Scorpion
Attempt to move beyond death of Umi Kami
The Society of Thespians
Formation of hero/actor team with Ms. Dynamite.
Mole in group causes mass deaths
Task Force Los Alamos and the Founding of The Ultimate Team
Teaming with Sgt. Knuckle and Garrett Jax, call for heroes by Positron
Victory over the triple threat, Garrett Jax goes missing
First meeting with Pink-Cowboy and Bohanatsu, investigation of Clockwork, rescue attempt
Victory over Clockwork King, death of Garrett Jax
Formation of The Ultimate Team
Kami Yuki
Resurrection of Miyuki Hinohara, first appearance of Kami Yuki
Search for Nuclear Tsunami
Prevention of Nuclear Cataclysm, jailing of Nuclear Tsunami
Identities revealed, proposal and marriage
Nuclear Tsunami Escapes
Femme Fatales
Mrs. Wonderful
Rabid fan
Discovering identity
Sapphire Reborn
Destruction of WonderBread and WonderBra factories
Threat on Kami Yuki
Identities revealed, final showdown
Sapphire Reborn escapes
Leadership
MrChow created
Ultimate Team members disappear
First appearance of Simon Dalewater
Entrenched
Return, Reorganization, Recruitment
Wonderful/Knuckle
Sgt. Knuckle returns, accused of conspiring
Old wounds, joining forces
Viral set up, outlaws
File:Security.wonderful.knuckle.jpg
New suits, hard-boiled detectives
Showdown with The Ultimate Team
Victory over General Stone, clearing of Sgt. Knuckle.
The Second Rikti Invasion
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Confusion and attack
Desert Rose wrecks havoc, barred from fighting
Something else
Rogues Gallery
Nuclear Tsunami
Killed Umi Kami
MrsWonderful
Tried to kill Kami Yuki and all seen as a stumbling block to her love
Sapphire Reborn
MrChow
Biogenetically-engineered miniature chow turned mutated mastermind
Desert Rose
Psionic-based villain that caused MrWonderful to rampage and nearly kill many
Alternate Realities
Other versions of Christian Charming in other shards.
Captain Charming
Champion, Magic helmet hides identity
Crab-Man
Justice, Seth Thygesen is real, Deep Blue Justice
MrTerrible
Pinnacle, Scarred Christian Charming's career ends and becomes a villain
Subarashi San
Liberty, Kurisu-chan Chamingu and the anime beginnings
MrWonderful Returns
Triumph, Four years older, married Scarlet-Scorpion, must come out of retirement
MsWonderful
Guardian, gender-swapped reality
Lt. Charming
Infinity, Sgt. Knuckle never discharged, his example causes new interest in military
The New Sgt. Knuckle
Protector, Post-Apocalyptic separation from Ultimate Team where heroes take over old guises
WonderRed
Freedom, North Korean communist assassin, closest to MrWonderful in this world
Christian Charming (Powerless)
Victory, Mr. Wonderful a movie character and Christian Charming the actor that plays him.
Trivia
- MrWonderful was originally created as a joke character make to look like Fabio, the muscle-bound, golden-haired cover model for romance novels.
- The second development of MrWonderful was a Prince Charming-type character, thus his secret identity, Christian Charming.
- MrWonderful finally became a serious character during the Collectible Card Game contest that required participants to write out a backstory. Almost all elements of this version of his backstory were ret-conned, however.
- MrWonderful's backstory was most fully realized for the Comic Book Creator Contest in Wonderful/Knuckle, Issue #1, which involved so many friend's characters, it became a part of the entire Ultimate Team's backstory.
- Christian Charming's anonymity is loosely based on actor Christian Bale, who has been wildly successful, but cannot be considered a celebrity because of his ability to remain out of the limelight.
