Hardcase

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Background

Powers and Abilities

Hardcase’s body has been strengthened to an astounding degree. He can lift trucks, jump a mile, and his senses are superhuman.

He also has started noticing that he heals faster when he drinks lots of mineral water, and is one accident away from realising that he does not have to breathe.

History

After the Squad died, and it became obvious that Starburst would never wake up from her coma, Tom Hawke retired from being a ultra-hero. His spirit had been crushed by the defeat inflicted by NM-E. He felt unable to fight another ultra. Tom came back to his original vocation as an actor.

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Hardcase now merely was Tom Hawke’s character in successful, blockbuster movies narrating his fictional feats.

After a year, a nearby bank heist spurred Hardcase into action back again. However his unwillingness to face the real world made him arrive too late. Several police officers were killed in the meanwhile.

Guilt-ridden again, Hardcase felt forced back into the role of the super-hero, albeit a reluctant and self-absorbed one.

Description

See illustration.

Personality

Tom Hawke is a movie superstar, and the public still thinks that he was the first ultra ever. He’s tall, powerful, muscular, attractive and adulated by the crowds, both as an actor and as a hero. It would be truly remarkable if that didn’t get to his head. And Tom Hawke is all too human.

He has sold out. His altruistic side is gone, crushed by fear of defeat and the guilt over the death of the Squad and Starburst.

Don’t call it a comeback

It was guilt, again, that spurred him into action after the death of several policemen. However, he was reactive rather than proactive. He no longer fought for the common good but rather reacted to threats and covered his arse. He protected himself and what he held dear, and did not see much further than that.

Hardcase is spoiled, with a huge ego. He often acts smug and superior, like some movie stars do. He worries about his property and status symbol – Hardcase once fled in order to save his expensive Porsche from being wrecked. He sees himself as somebody who should be above normal worries and problems, yet fate takes a perverse pleasure in hammering him.

As time went on, Hardcase’s decency and courage started to crawl from the wreckage left by the death of the Squad. He slowly began to become a true hero again.

Quotes

“Don’t worry. We’re celebrities.”

DC Universe History

Hardcase is the seminal hero of the Ultraverse, and he’s the one who created the concept of the public ultra-hero. The last stand of Hardcase and the Squad is what prevented NM-E from reaping a new generation of ultras, changing world history.

The core concept is that he’s just a well-meaning man who ended up being super-popular and a Very Important Person – and the impact that this had on him.

If you are launching a brand new campaign, the Ultraverse is a good working base. The origin of superpowers is logical, the characters are interesting, and the universe has not been explored much (the Ultraverse line was created to support many years of continuity, but closed shop after only two years).

Thus, you could use and customize the Ultraverse as you wish, perhaps keeping Hardcase as a key NPC figure.

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Ultraverse.