Name This Hero

Alexander Deerborn was 14, serving as an ensign in the Royal Marines aboard the HMS Swiftsure in 1798, during the Battle of the Nile. A freak accident involving Egyptian artifacts commandered from the French gave him the strength of 10 men. He served with distinction and was grievously wounded during the Battle of Trafalgar. Nonetheless, he recovered and retired a full colonel after the Battle of Waterloo.

Col. Deerborn was recalled to duty to serve in Kamchatka in 1854, despite his advanced years. He is recorded as having endured hardships side-by-side with men a third his age. He was also shot on at least three occasions, but without suffering permanent harm.

Still alive in 1914 and appearing to be “about in his mid-forties”, Col. Deerborn served with the Canadian Armed forces throughout the Great War. It was during this time that incidents of bullets “bouncing off his chest”, and leaps of 40 – 60′ were first reported.

Between the First and Second World Wars, Alexander Deerborn served as an Inspector and later a Superintendent in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Although he was retired with distinction in 1937, there was some evidence that he was criticized within the force for the number of fatalities among suspects in his investigations.

Deerborn returned to Britain, and the rank of Colonel, during World War 2. The early months of his service appear to be in some clandestine operation, but in 1941 he joined the Parachute Regiment of the British Army. At this time, he appeared to be a young man in the prime of life, and would regularly jump from airplanes without a parachute. Later, he served in Force Britannia under (acting Brigadier General) Dr. Atum. Some reports indicate he was drinking heavily at this time, and the American Superhero Captain Connecticut claimed in his autobiography that Deerborn once threw a tank at him in a drunken rage.

By the end of World War Two, Col Deerborn was capable of flying under his own power, and was clearly stronger then he had ever been before. Just as clearly, he was out of control. Although he was used by the British Military until 1954, he was no longer employed in publicity exercises, nor was he involved in military operations that required subtlety. He was mostly used as a demoralizing weapon against vastly inferior opponents. He retired again after the Korean War.

In 1958 he was arrested after a fight with his girlfriend of 4 months. Although she was not injured, her car and two nearby buildings were destroyed. Alexander Deerborn surrendered to police without incident, but two days later, suffering from heroin withdrawal, he broke out of jail. He went on a sporadic crime spree for the next 8 months until captured by The Hypernucleic Man. In Gairsay Prison he was visited regularly by Dr. Atum, his old commander, who apparently taught him some ancient meditation techniques to control his temper and heroin and alcohol addiction. (Dr. Leon Visserman has hypothesized in his “Overman, Overmind: Psychology and the Superman.” that Alexander Deerborn had been suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress since the mid-1800′s.)

Released from Gairsay in 1972, Deerborn traveled to Egypt, Turkey, India, Tibet, and Nepal, among other places. He assisted the third Force Britannia on two occasions: Against the Supervillain Fury, in 1976, and during the Erdanian Invasion of 1980-81. By this time Deerborn was capable of unassisted spaceflight.

In 2001, when Dr Atum disappeared, Alexander Deerborn took the codename Heru as a mark of respect for his mentor. However, he rarely uses it, preferring to operate simply as Deerborn. Deerborn is considered to be one of the 20 most powerful Supers operating on Earth today, but rarely takes the field against super foes. His most audacious recent actions have been mitigating the Tsunami of 2004, fighting the plague of Asteroid Dakuro, and (most controversially) irrigating the Plains of Sahara.

Alexander Deerborn shows no sign of the unstability that plagued him during the later 20th Century, but only time can tell if he has truly conquered his demons.