Bloodsport
(Alex Trent)
Context
There have been at least two enemies of Superman going by “Bloodsport”. This one is the second, a mass-murdering White supremacist who first appeared in 1993.
Bloodsport — as a modern-day KKK agent — fighting Superman may be an historical allusion. An important bit in the war to strip the Klan of its tremendous popularity in the US was a 1956 series Superman radio serials episode. In this adventure, Superman fought the KKK and exposed their odd “secret codes” and rituals.
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Background
- Real Name: Alex Trent.
- Marital Status: Unrevealed.
- Known Relatives: None.
- Group Affiliation: Aryan Brotherhood.
- Base Of Operations: Metropolis.
- Height: 6’1” Weight: 216 lbs.
- Eyes: Blue Hair: Blond
Powers and Abilities
Trent is a muscular, powerful fighter and soldier, and an excellent marksman. He can fire a variety of powerful weapon systems very accurately and very quickly, and usually does so with just one hand.
He’s generally an excellent athlete.
Genetic experiments gave him borderline superhuman strength, and it has been commented by a Stryker’s Island lifer that Trent was the strongest inmate they had. This quite a feat given the number of heavily ripped, huge inmates there.
He uses a similar teleportation technology as the first Bloodsport. However in his case the technology has been directly implanted in his body – and not in a subtle way either, as the scars left by the operation are quite obvious.
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History
Trent is the product of something that started well before his birth.
He is the result of program in selective breeding (and eventually genetics) started by a KKK-like organisation called the Aryan Brotherhood. This Brotherhood apparently has historical ties with the modern prison gang of the same name .
The apparent centre of the Aryan Brotherhood was in Melonville, a staunchly conservative and racist burgh where the the Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood were quite popular. Though a robust percentage of the locals opposed their violent terror tactics, much of the police department and other authority figures were members.
When the selective breeding/genetics program to produce Aryan supermen began is unrevealed. Given the popularity of eugenics and the Klan in the US after 1914, it may date from the late 1910s or early 1920s.
Eventually, this program would borrow from Nazi “research” in those areas and, after WWII, be defined in part as a continuation of Nazi dreams about übermenschen.
Exposed
The Melonville program in genetics was headquartered in a played-out iron mine some distance from town. A significant amount of Nazi-style research on human specimens was conducted there, usually on captured Black residents of the town, who lived in fear of the Nation’s terrorism.
This laboratory was exposed by two courageous journalists from Metropolis, Perry White and Franklin Stern. The latter was an African-American with cousins in Melonville, who had told him about the sinister disappearances in the local Black community.
This exposé presumably took place in the late 1950s. It earned White his Pullitzer and resulted in a Federal raid to close the lab.
White Power
The Aryan Brotherhood in Melonville had already produced some so-called “White Supermen”. These gentlemen sported a large and abnormally powerful muscle mass, were able to bend steel bars with their bare hands, and could withstand great pain.
When the Feds came Mrs. Trent was heavily pregnant with Alex, who thus was the last documented “White Superman”.
(The story was published during the early 1990s, making an Alex Trent born around 1959 still plausible. Nowadays of course this timeline runs in the usual ageing problem. See the Leòn Genetic Sequence article for more about this and a potential solution).
Trent was raised in fanatical hatred of the usual KKK targets (particularly Black folks), and to see himself as a superior “champion of the White race”. Though he likely has a significant track record of terrorism, his first documented appearance occurred in 1993.
Bloodthirst
Bloodsport was contacted by the demonic monstrosity called Bloodthirst. The demon wanted to kill Superman and generate a large bodycount in Metropolis. Bloodthirst implanted Trent with the teleportation technology once worn by a previous Metropolis mass murderer, the first Bloodsport.
Though Trent wore a different costume, he reused the Bloodsport name. Bloodthirst then stocked an arsenal of advanced, teleporation-ready weapons of unknown provenance for Bloodsport. Lastly, the demon hired High-Tech as his second agent.
After a few murders in Suicide Slum, the new Bloodsport struck at Metropolis’ predominantly Black neighbourhood of Hob’s Heights. This was a paramilitary attempt at extermination, with automated machinegun nests preventing SWAT units from reaching the theatre.
Superman flew in and disabled those, but Bloodsport’s guns were too powerful for Supes to stop him on the spot. Trent and SCU officer Maggie Sawyer nearly killed each other, but Sawyer’s colleague “Terrible” Turpin prevented this.
Friction in war
High-Tech joined the fray to relieve Bloodsport. Realising that his ally was also using the Bloodsport teleportation technology, Trent assumed that he had been betrayed by Bloodthirst, and turned against High Tech.
Both disappeared when the wounded Bloodsport let a live super-grenade drop to the ground. High-Tech escaped, and Bloodsport’s cybernetics had a freak reaction, saving his life by teleporting him away.
Trent soon returned for an armed rampage on Metropolis’s Queensland Bridge. This time he delayed Superman by encasing him in steel-hard foam.
Once the Kryptonian got out, Bloodsport had a ring of machineguns open up outward with armour-piercing bullets, forcing Superman to race out and catch the bullets as they could easily pierce walls and kill people across multiple blocks. Bloodsport then attacked a relocation centre.
Meanwhile, Daily Planet staffer Ron Troupe then located the teleportation-ready arsenal of Bloodsport. Troupe risked his life to grenade the cache. Out of guns and ammunition, Trent was arrested by Superman.
Jailhouse rock, part 1
Due to budget cuts Trent and the original Bloodsport, Robert DuBois, where both incarcerated in the Stryker’s Island prison. Trent ran with the Aryan Brotherhood gang and DuBois was the champion of another racial gang, Black Future.
The situation was guaranteed to degenerate. The only workable solution for the warden was to organise a boxing match between the two Bloodsports. The gangs agreed with the idea, and to abide by the results of the fight without further bloodshed.
As a further precaution, the warden ensured that Superman would referee the match, and prevent any riot among the cons watching the fight. The Brotherhood wanted to cheat, though – they prepared advanced weapons keyed to Trent’s teleportation system, and set up a jammer to defeat Stryker’s Island ECM for a short while.
Jailhouse rock, part 2
The near-superhumanly strong Trent was confident he could win without weapons. However, the maniacal DuBois was a match for him. The Aryan Brotherhood champion then teleported a gun to his hand and shot Superman and a guard, but DuBois belted him, took the gun and ran.
Trent also ran and passed out guns to his gang. DuBois nearly killed Trent but Superman narrowly saved the supremacist. The riot was quelled with Superman’s help but several corrections officers had been shot dead by one Bloodsport or the other. DuBois was shot while running toward the shore.
When the Brotherhood learned that Trent would have been killed by DuBois if not for Superman, they threw a molotov in their former champion’s cell.
Much later, a strange-looking man in more or less the Bloodsport II costume shot several MPD officers in a running gunfight before being stopped by Superman. It may have been Trent, badly scarred by the fire in his cell.
Bloodsport III ?
In 2006 (publication time), a Black man wearing the Bloodsport I outfit and a weapon teleportation ring is seen. Somebody who appears to be the same person is latter spotted on the prison planet during the Salvation Run event. Except this man, despite wearing the same costume and having the same goatee, is now White.
Thus, either this Bloodsport is Alex Trent (Bloodsport II) wearing Bloodsport I’s costume and who was once mistakenly coloured as a Black guy, or there is a third, African-American Bloodsport who was depicted with the wrong skin tone during Salvation Run.
From the little we’ve seen, this character does not display any trace of Bloodsport II’s pathological racism (especially when he’s drawn as a Black guy). And it would make little sense for Trent to wear an uniform associated with an African-American serial killer.
So I’m leaning in favour of a third Bloodsport — see Bloodsport I’s profile for gear and use Bloodsport I’s stats for the time being.
Description
See illustration.
Personality
Trent is pathologically racist, especially versus Black folks. He blames every single bad thing since Eve and the apple on them, no matter how absurd that may be.
He’s obsessed with the supposed evils done every minute… nay, every *second* by African-Americans. And to a lesser extend Hispanics, Jews, Asians, White “race traitors” associating with non-Whites, etc.. This obsession is consuming him.
He also hates liberals. And space aliens, though this can be mitigated to some small extend if they happen to look White.
As a terrorist and mass murderer, he’s even worse than the first Bloodsport. He schemes and deploys heavy firepower to slaughter as many Black people as he can, including women and children.
His entire life being about imaginary conspiracies, Trent will quickly jump to the conclusion than any suspicious event is some form of dastardly treason, and react violently.
Quotes
“Name’s Bloodsport. You’re all dead.”
“Your kind always was fast on its feet, boy. How fast are you ?”
“They used to know their place.”
“You’re a race traitor !”
“Very noble, Superman — saving a future welfare mother or drug addict… or both ! She’s better off dead – her and her kind…”
“You’re almost White, Superman… you’d do the same thing in my place !”
“C’mon lady… your kind’s been doing it to Whites for years. Taking jobs, leeching welfare money, spreading drugs and disease ! The war drove a lot of you out of Metropolis, and I’m gonna see things stay that way ! You might say Bloodsport’s just doing his part… to keep Metropolis clean !” (Ch-ch-ch-CHAK !)
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Bloodsport II
| Dex: 04 | Str: 05 | Bod: 05 | Motivation: Psycho |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 03 | Min: 03 | Occupation: Criminal |
| Inf: 04 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 04 | Resources {or Wealth}: 004 |
| Init: 014 | HP: 025 |
Powers:
Teleportation: 08
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Teleportation can only teleport properly prepared weapons between a specially-equipped arsenal and Bloodsport.
- Those teleportations are an Automatic Action.
- Teleportation cannot fully solidify weapons in a strongly ionised environment, and lesser but significant ion counts may increase the R# of weapons that get ’ported in.
Skills:
Medicine (First aid): 03, Vehicles (Land): 04, Weaponry (Firearms, Heavy): 08
Advantages:
Lightning Reflexes, Schtick (paired machine pistols).
Connections:
Aryan Brotherhood (Low).
Drawbacks:
Serious Rage, MIH of non-white people and “race traitors”, MIA toward Paranoia. In his (uncertain) appearance listed at the end of the History section he had Strange Appearance, looking pretty much like Deathlok the Demolisher.
Equipment:
Like for Bloodsport I, all of Bloodsport II weapons can be used with one hand, though in many cases that require a STR of 03 or 04, depending on the model. Those advanced weapons were provided by Bloodthirst, and Trent might be unable to replace them.
- Energy pistols (x4) [BODY 03, Energy blast: 09, R#03]. Those are apparently modified, compact versions of the Toastmaster heavy energy rifle.
- Mini-grenade launcher (x2) [BODY 03, Range: 05, Ammo: 06] – another heavy pistol, fairly similar to the energy ones. Ammunition includes:
- Tear Gas Grenades (x12) [BODY 02, Fog: 02, Sensory Block (Sight, Smell): 09, Sharpness (Sensory Block): 10, Grenade Drawback. Notes: Sensory Block targets DEX/BODY ; Fog and Sensory Block are Combined, and Sensory Block is active throughout the Fog ; Sensory Block is resisted by an active Sealed Systems ; an airtight Sealed Systems negates Sharpness], using a very powerful compound which can blind even Superman.
- Shock grenades (x12) [BODY 02, EV (Area of Effect 1 AP): 10, Grenade Drawbacks].
- Electronic binocular (x3) [BODY 01, Data storage: 04, Telescopic vision: 04].
- Heavy flamethrower [BODY 03, Flame project: 09, Range: 03, Ammo: 10, R#02, Limitation: Flame project has no Range, use the listed Range instead].
- Grapple gun (x2) [BODY 03, Snare: 04, R#03, Bonus: Snare has the Swingline Bonus]. Another heavy pistol, fairly similar to the energy ones.
- Dual-tube Man-portable Missile Launcher [BODY 03, Ammo: 02] w/Hunter Missiles [DEX 03 BODY 02 INT 02, EV (Area of Effect 1 AP) 12, Data storage: 02, Flight: 06, Grenade drawback, Limitation : Flight can only be sustained for nine Phases (-2)]. Hunter missiles can download a picture from the Electronic Binoculars (which can be plugged into the Launcher) then locate and chase that target.
- Man-Portable Teleportation Cannon [BODY 02, Teleportation: 04, Ammo: 06, R#03]. This weapon is chiefly used to teleport away hostile white people (e.g., some police officers), presumably without killing them.
- Triple Stacked Barrels Semi-Automatic Shotgun (x2) [BODY 04, Shotgun blast (Range: 04): 09, Ammo: 05].
- Staker [BODY 04, EV 06, Range: 02, Ammo: 02]. This close combat weapon shoots a hardwood stake with enormous force. Perhaps it was intended to fight vampires (an anti-Blacula weapon !), though it came in handy against High-Tech (and may in fact have been intended against people with magnetic or metal manipulation powers).
- Super-grenade (x3) [BODY 02, Bomb: 15, Grenade Drawback, R#02]. A stick-shaped defensive (or suicide) grenade ; the explosion created a huge crater, akin to that of a naval artillery shell.
- Machine pistol (x8) [BODY 04, Projectile weapon: 05, R#02, Advantage: Autofire]. Basically a high-tech micro-Uzi ; he uses those paired, mostly against civilians. Those guns seem to have shallow built-in magazines (Ammo: 02); so it seems he keeps teleporting ammo into them, hence the lack of an Ammo score in the stats above. He’s certainly quite liberal in the way he burns that ammo ! (though he wouldn’t formulate it with that adjective).
- Heavy Foam Projector [BODY 03, Gravity Increase: 10, Sensory Block (All): 06, Sharpness (Gravity Increase): 16, Sharpness (Sensory Block): 20, Range: 01, Ammo: 01, Bonus: Gravity Increase and Sensory Block are Combined, Limitations: neither Gravity Increase nor Sensory Block have Range – use the listed Range instead]. This pistol squirts a large quantity of pink foam at the target ; the opaque, dense foam quickly hardens to the density of steel and becomes extremely heavy, slamming the target against the ground and immobilising it.
Design notes
This assume both that Superman has a DEX of 10 (though he can sub his Superspeed if he wants), which is a common assumption with us, *and* that he has a Serious Bulletproof Syndrome (see the new Drawbacks article) lowering his AV by 2CS.
I’ve also had to use way too many APs of Sharpness (see the new Powers articles), since as usual Superman proves to be way more susceptible to attacks than a BODY of 18 would indicate.
The gunner’s dream
Beside his personal weaponry, Bloodsport also frequently employs sentry guns (automated machinegun nests) hidden around the battlefield. I assume he can teleport them in on the spot where he wants to place them.
There are 12 of those in his arsenal. They are triggered by remote control to execute macros (I assume the remote control can be used to designate a target for them). The stats for each are:
SENTRY GUN [BODY 04, Projectile weapon: 08, Ammo: 20, Detect (Movement – Discerning): 04, Military science (Camouflage): 05, Advantage: Autofire, Bonus: Projectile weapon is its own AV (+0 or +1 depending on house rules)].
At one point he fed his machineguns with APDU rounds, adding Sharpness (Projectile weapon): 02 to the SENTRY GUNS.
In the (uncertain) last appearance mentioned at the bottom of the History section, he was wearing a bulletproof costume [BODY 06, Skin armour: 02, Limitation: Skin armour only vs. blades and bullets].
Game Stats — DC Adventures RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Bloodsport (Alex Trent) — Averaged PL8
| STR | STA | AGL | DEX | FGT | INT | AWE | PRE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 | 03 | 00 | 04 | 03 | 00 | 01 | 01 |
Powers
Teleportation arsenal ● 68 points ● Descriptor: Technology, teleporter, BFGs
– Teleportation 12 (Limited 2 to specially-prepared items stored in a specially-prepared place).
– Enhanced Advantage (Quick Draw).
– The weapons themselves — Array (61 pts):
- Energy pistols — Ranged energy Damage 9, Diminished Range 1.
- Mini-grenade launcher w/super-tear gas — Ranged Cloud 2 Affliction 10 (Extra condition – Dazed + visually impaired / Stunned + visually disabled / Incapacitated).
- Mini-grenade launcher w/shock charges — Ranged Burst 2 Damage 10.
- Electronic binoculars — Senses 1 (Extended visuals), Feature 1 (Hi-res digital camera).
- Heavy flamethrower — Cone 2 fire Damage 9.
- Launcher with hunter missiles — Ranged Homing ballistic Damage 11, Quirk (only 2 missiles). The electronic binoculars can be plugged into this dual-tube launcher to upload a photo of the target they missiles are to keep tracking.
- Teleportation cannon — Attack Teleport 6. This is used to teleport hostile-but-not-“race-traitor” White folks, such as most police officers, without killing them.
- Triple-barrel shotgun — Shotgun blast 8.
- “Staker” — Ranged piercing Penetrating 5 Damage 5, Feature (Hardwood projectile). It’s *probably* not meant to hunt Blacula, but rather as a special weapon against targets with magnetic/metal manipulation powers.
- Super-grenade — Burst 3 Explosive Damage 14. The equivalent of a Naval artillery shell in stick grenade form, which is useful in very specific situations or as a suicide charge.
- Paired machine pistols w/infinite ammo — Multiattack Ranged ballistic Damage 4, Enhanced Advantage (Takedown). These high-tech micro-Uzis seem to have a shallow integral magazine that get replenished in real-time via teleportation.
- Heavy foam projector — Close Affliction 18 (Extra condition – Dazed + Hindered / Immobile + Perception Disabled / Incapacitated + Immobile), Reach 2, Instant Recovery, Unreliable 2 (one-shot).
Combat Advantages
All-Out Attack, Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll 3, Evasion, Improved Critical (Teleportation arsenal) 2, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2, Seize Initiative.
Other Advantages
Benefit 1 (Access to unusually advanced weapons).
Skills
Athletics 2 (+6), Close combat (Unarmed) 1 (+6), Deception 1 (+2), Insight 1 (+2), Perception 3 (+4), Ranged combat (Teleportation arsenal) 7 (+13), Ranged combat (Other firearms) 4 (+10), Treatment 2 (+4) (Limited 2 to Stabilize and Revive), Vehicles 2 (+6) (Limited 2 to common land vehicles).
Offense
| Initiative +5 |
| Unarmed +6, Close, Damage 4 |
| Teleportation Arsenal +13, By type, By type |
Defence
| Dodge | 06 | Fortitude | 08 |
| Parry | 06 | Toughness | 03*/06 |
| Will | 03 |
* Without Defensive Roll
Complications
- Fanatical Bloodsport is a mass-murdering, pathological racist.
- Paranoia Bloodsport sees conspiracies at him at every turn, and can easily rush to paranoid conclusions based on very little.
- Isn’t it ionic Teleportation in strongly ionised environments will likely fail, or at best bring in an unreliable weapons (with weakened materials and/or missing bits).
Powers Levels
- Trade-off areas. Attack/Effect PL 12, Dodge/Toughness PL 6, Parry/Toughness PL 6, Fort/Will PL 6.
- Points total 142. Abilities 32, Defences 16, Skills 10, Powers 68, Devices 0, Advantages 16. Equiv. PL 10.
Operation-specific equipment
Bloodsport once deployed a dozen programmable, remotely-activated machineguns (“sentry gun” style). Each had Multiattack Ranged ballistic Damage 7, Senses 3 (Accurate Ranged Detect (Movement)) and Stealth 7 (+7) – though the later is only for the Hiding application and reflects camouflage when setting them up. They can be loaded with APDU rounds, giving them 4 Ranks of Penetrating.
A man who *may* have been this Bloodsport was once seen sporting a Protection 4 costume, but the Protection only worked against ballistic/piercing/slashing and similar Descriptors.
Notes
I tend to make enhancements into a separate Power, to show the layers of a character’s assets and help handle depowerment. But here it’s baked-in genetic enhancement, so there’s little to be gained by isolating it as a factor.
I have *vaguely* eyeballed Superman’s official scores to set certain numbers, but given the volatility of the d20 it doesn’t need to be super-accurate. The main exception is that numbers are pegged to Supes’ official Ranks of Impervious Toughness.
For trade-off computations I’ve assumed 11 Ranks in Effect since his weapons with more Effect Ranks have significant situational limitations).
The Averaged PL does reflect his so-so defences (he also lacks in flexibility, but the breadth of his weapons Array makes that point tactically moot). Though this character is one of the numerous cases “but why didn’t Superman/Flash defeat this villain within hundredths of a second before they could possible react ?”.
During his first confrontation with Supes, Bloodsport with likely *loaded* with Hero Points, particularly to use his Seize the Initiative Advantage.
Source of Character: DC Universe (mostly Superman stuff).
Helper(s): Ethan Roe.