Dominic Destine

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Powers and Abilities

Having been born the child of an immortal man and a powerful djinn, Dominic has several mystical gifts, one of the most potent being an extended lifespan. If his life isn’t ended prematurely by traumatic events, Dominic can expect to live for centuries, during which he should retain most of his physical strength and vigor.

Outside of his lifespan, the most startling gift that Dominic has inherited from his parents are his senses. All five of Dominic’s senses are supernaturally sensitive.

• His eyesight is sensitive enough to allow him to see the wavelengths of the EM spectrum well outside the normal human range.
• His hearing allows him to detect whispers through concrete and steel walls as though they weren’t there.
• His sense of touch is so sensitive that the running of someone’s finger down his arm feels as though he were being rubbed with a piece of sandpaper.
• His sense of smell is so acute he can:
  • Detect the scent of anyone who has handled an object that he examines.
  • Identify specific food ingredients that someone has handled even after vigorous handwashing.
  • Easily track and identify people by their scent.

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However, Dominic’s senses aren’t limited to the mundane five sense. When scouting the Griffin Technologies Complex from a nearby hill, he was able to ascertain that the complex included a large underground structure three levels deep. He could even specify that it housed a lot of machinery, but no human life forms.

When looking directly at his sister Samantha, he can also perceive the mystical aura surrounding her that she taps into in order to manifest her metallic ectoplasm.

Downside

All of these sensory enhancements come with a brutal price though. Within most humans, when most sensory receptors are introduced to a new sensation they fire quickly and vigorously, allowing the individual to perceive/feel the stimuli.

Eventually though, these receptors accommodate (or get used to) the stimuli. Thus, they stop reacting with such enthusiasm, decreasing the perceived intensity of the stimuli. This prevents the individual from going insane from pain or constant stimulation. These receptors are called phasic receptors.

Dominic doesn’t not have phasic receptors in his body. Every sensory organ within his body is made up of tonic receptors. These receptors react with the same amount of enthusiasm regardless of the length or duration of the stimuli. This means that Dominic perceives everything with the same amount of intensity at all times.

As a result, he once lapsed into an intoxicated unconsciousness from having a small piece of chocolate after 11 years of eating only seafood. He was once rendered helpless with pain after his senses were overloaded by the infra-red, microwave and sonic emissions included in a high frequency scan generated by a security system.

Other assets

Dominic has also been gifted with a preternaturally agile and strong body. He is capable of feats of agility and dexterity that very few mortals can duplicate. This, coupled with his supernatural senses, make him a devastating hand to hand fighter. He is capable of taking down giants like his brother Walter with seeming ease.

He seems to have an instinctive knowledge of pressure points and nerve clusters. This is probably in part due to training, but his ability to actually perceive these clusters with his naked eye plays a large role.

Finally, Walter describes Dominic as quite brilliant, with a capacity for flawless deductive reasoning. This, and his enhanced senses, make him the ultimate sleuth.

History

Dominic was born into the Clan Destine, sometime within the last century, with bright red hair and pale green skin.

Even as a child, Dominic was somewhat of a freak amongst freaks. He was the only one of his family that was unable to pass for a normal human at any time. During this time, Dominic forged a close relationship with his older brother Newton, who became his de facto mentor.

It’s an act

Like his other siblings, Dominic’s powers first manifested in his early adulthood. While they were still developing, Dominic made a living as a costumed illusionist and escapologist. Back then he was based in Greenwich Village, New York, New York.

Once, during a live performance, Dominic had a chance encounter with a mystical Chinese puzzle box. It caused him to fall into an occult dimensional realm. He struggled valiantly with the creatures he found within, but found himself in need of aid.

Fortunately for Dominic, when he solved the Chinese puzzle, the newly appointed Sorceror Supreme was alerted to his danger. Doctor Strange arrived just in time to rescue Dominic from the otherworldly realm and returned him back to his stage. The audience merely thought it was part of the show.

Clan affairs

To what extent that Dominic was involved with Clan matters over the following years is spotty at best. He was in Bankok, China when Walter went on a rampage. The two clearly fought several times over the years. What is known, is that immediately after Adam murdered Dominic’s brother Vincent, Dominic retreated to a remote island off the coast of England.

His reasons were two fold:

1. The resentment that he harbored towards his father (for murdering Vincent) and Walter (for not stopping Adam) prevented them from co-existing.
2. His enhanced senses had grown so sensitive that living in an urban environment had become intolerable.

For Dominic, 11 uneventful years passed with little to no direct contact with the Clan. It wasn’t until the actions of the young Destine twins (Rory and Pandora) revealed the existence of the family that Dominic returned to the fold.

Apparently, the young Destine twins had inadvertently revealed the existence of the family. That happened when they intervened in a battle between the scientific organization A.I.M. and lackeys of the mutated being Lenz. The twins tried to stop them by taking the object of their dispute, the Gryphon, but soon fled the scene.

Pandora’s cape was torn off and then retrieved after the battle and due to a label sewn into the fabric, led to the death of several of the family.

Deaths in the family

Walter and the twins arrived on Dominic’s island the day after the initial attacks began. They hoped to recruit Dominic’s aid in ascertaining the reason for the attacks on the family.

Dominic initially refused to help, instantly angering his brother Walter. The two traded several blows before the twins were able to calm the two down. Dominic, both intrigued and entertained by the twins courage, eventually gave over. He agreed to help the Clan once more.

He returned with Walter and the twins to Ravenscroft – their anscestral home. He thus reunited with his other siblings, only Albert and William being absent. Alongside his family, confronted Lenz in his own lair. Like most of the battles the Clan participated in, the fight quickly went south. The Clan were in danger of losing not only the fight but their lives.

It was only the timely arrival of Adam that turned the tables and resulting in Lenz’s ultimate defeat.

Ch-ch-changes

To everyone’s (and most likely his own) surprise, Dominic didn’t return to his island at the conclusion of the battle. Rather he remained in Ravenscroft with the rest of his siblings. The goal was to regroup and plan the Clan’s next actions.

Unlike the others, Dominic did not move into Walter’s sprawling estate. Instead he moved into the ruins of the old manor-house (that Vincent destroyed). He slept and took his meals in the Anechoic Chamber that Newton had built him years ago when his powers first emerged.

Soon, Dominic found himself becoming more and more involved with the twins’ future. He often argued with Walter on how they should be raised. He even found himself agreeing with Adam and though the two shared several conversations, Dominic’s resentment remained and the two have yet to reconcile.

Raise the sword

The family later fell under attack one final time, through a crazy series of coincidences and actions. Dominic was thrown a few years into the past. He found himself on the dimension hopping train of Excalibur when they were lost on a “cross dimensional caper”.

He was eventually rescued from this predicament by Newton, Rory and Pandora. At the conclusion of that adventure, Dominic had had enough of the mundane world. He went to live in Newton’s extra-dimensional home of Etherea and remains there to this day.

Description

Dominic has some bizarre features that keep him from being a truly attractive young man. He has bright red hair, amber (golden-yellow) eyes and pale (almost white) green skin. Other than those distinguishing features, his facial features are actually quite becoming. He possesses a lean athletic build that reminds one of a swimmer.

Dom’s costume however, is somewhat of a nightmare. It is a black unitard that covers him from neck to toe, including his hands and feet. The hands of the unitard are pure red, and red tiger-like stripes run from his wrists to his torso on the arms of the unitard. They get progressively farther apart allowing more and more black to show through, until the chest and lateral portions of the costume appear fully black.

The legs of the unitard are covered with large red ovals that touch at the edges allowing only a hint of black to show through. Finally the costume is completed by a frilly, furry green cape that hangs down past Dominic’s bottom.

Personality

Dominic is a confluence of different personalities. On the one hand, he can be charming, funny and lighthearted. He most often exhibits these traits when dealing directly with the twins. He loves to play jokes on them. Dominic also quickly joins in with them when they choose to tease Walter.

He seems to want to nuture their growing powers and give them the correct outlet for their energy. This is most likely due to the fact that Dominic feels that he didn’t have anyone there for himself when he was that age.

Anger

On the the other hand, Dominic can be a bitter, angry, resentful, brooding and aloof young man. Outbursts of rage and violence can happen at the drop of the hat. This is especially apparent when he deals with his older brother Walter.

In part, this is due to the deep resentment that Dominic has harboured towards his family over the years due to their lack of concern over his welfare. But more than anything else he can never forgive his father Adam (or Walter) for murdering Vincent.

Moreover, Dominic feels that Adam’s cold, intellectual aloofness made him too distant for his children that needed him while growing up.

Pain

The other reason for Dominic’s outbursts can be attributed to the constant painful stimulus he is under due to his enhanced senses. It is only through constant concentration and training that Dominic is able to sort through all that stimuli and remain sane.

To give yourself a glimpse into his life, imagine standing in a dance club with the music turned up to the maximum. Now imagine that you are standing with the speaker pressed against your chest.

To make matters worse, the strobe lights that are firing off are pointed directly into your eyes and even when you close them, you can still see them. Now imagine that someone has put smelling salts directly into your nostrils while filling your mouth up with feces.

To top it off, imagine that same idiot rubbing your entire body with sandpaper covered in a layer of rubbing alcohol. Now imagine that you are living with that at all times. Dominic lives with that everyday, but at a greater intensity. You’d be pretty irritable as well.

Quotes

“STOP ! Don’t move. I can’t bear it. My teeth are on edge. Blundering musclebound hypocrite. You told the children to be silent then you stomp and crash about.”

Walter: “I understand you’re still bitter about Vincent but …”
Dominic: “You let Adam kill him !”
Walter: “It had to be done ! Listen, you selfish swine. You have an obligation and I intend to see you honor it.”
Dominic: “I was hoping you’d resort to violence… it gives me an excuse to cause you pain.”

“If you know all that, why have you come to disturb me. My nerves are shredded by unceasing discordant noise… the air stinks. By night the sky burns with urban glare… by day the sun flares through thinning ozone. Please go away.”

Dominic: “No Adam. We’re all to blame. The twins wanted their father’s approval and affection. What they got was passionless intellect. I remember how that felt when I was their age.”
Adam: “Why … why did you not tell me ?”
Dominic: “Some things are worthless if you have to ask for them. Knowing that makes me even more ashamed… when the twins came to see me I shunned them. I pray that we have an opportunity to make amends.”

Adam: “Perhaps this can lead to a reconciliation between us.”
Dominic: “No ! I sympathize with your plight. I truly pity you… But I will never forgive you for killing Vincent.”

“I do believe there is some validity to the heroic ideal. The Relative Stranger Protocol demands that we don’t draw attention to ourselves… that we use our gifts secretly. Selfishly… but maybe there is a higher cause.”

Phoenix: “Meggan’s right… I wasn’t attacked… just stunned by what he has in his head. So much sensory awareness. I’m surprised you aren’t insane.”
Dominic: “There are those who think I am.”

DC Universe History

The clan is such a minor group within the marvel universe, they could conceivably be inserted wholesale into the DC universe with very little modifications to their backstory.

Instead of encountering the Inhumans, they could have encountered the Amazons or some far flung group of Legionnaires on a trip to the past. Lenz could have been created by Intergang or Professor Ivo or even been one of Luthor’s experiments.

By Bryan Gittens.

Source of Character: Alan Davis’ Clan Destine published by Marvel Comics.

Helper(s): Darci.