the Black Marvel

Origin:

Dan Lyons, the Black Marvel, is just a normal human, in that he lacks super-human powers of any stripe, whether we speak of those gained by a scientific accident, intense sorcerous education, or even alien ancestry. He is very good with a bow, however.

Known Powers:

(none)

Equipment:

Long Bow: Dan could use this instrument to inflict Good (10) Edged Attack damage with each deadly shot. He was very good with it, and as such, could use it to devastating effect, which often included various trick shots to confuse and befuddle his foes.

Quirks:

Vow: Dan had vowed to prove himself worthy to the Black Feet chief that gave him the mantle of the Black Marvel. As such, he is bent upon performing one hundred good deeds, each of which earns him a notch on his bow. He's far from completing this vow, but he tries nonetheless.

Talents:

Survival: Dan is a true outdoorsman, and can easily keep himself alive in a variety of environments, including savage deserts, arctic wastes, and even the urban jungle. He can even use this skill to recover his bearings should he lose his sense of direction, or to find food if he lacks it.

Weapon Specialist / Bow: while taking the tests of worthiness, Dan demonstrated uncanny skills in the use of a bow; for instance, he hit a bullseye four times while blindfolded! Consider his Agility with this item to be +2 CS for the purpose of attack rolls.

Contacts:

For the most part, Dan fought the good fight all by himself, in his quest to perform one hundred good deeds. Aside from his friends in the Black Feet tribe, he has no known contacts - but he is known as a hero of his age, and can likely get some help from his fellows.

Costume:

As the Black Marvel, Dan wore a black stretch fabric suit, coupled with black shorts over the stretch suit, a yellow belt, yellow gloves, yellow buccaneer boots, a red cape, and a black half-hood that covers the man's eyes but leaves the rest of his face visible.

Personality:

Dan Lyons, the Black Marvel, is confident and self-assured, and seems dead-set on becoming a hero. In fact, he made a solemn vow to the tribal chief that gave him his heroic persona to do good deeds and to constantly maintain his worthiness to the Black Marvel title.

Real Name: Dan Lyons
Occupation: adventurer
Legal Status: American citizen with no known criminal record
Marital Status: single
Alias(es), if any: none
Group Affiliation: none

Height: 5' 9'
Hair: brown
Eyes: green
Weight: 170 lbs
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: none

Story:

After the three last viable candidates fail the tests of worth, tribal outsider Dan Lyons asked the dying Black Feet chief if he can take the tests as well. Since his father had helped the chief out in the past, he saw no problem with this.

Dan must pass trials of speed, strength and stamina. He does so by beating a deer in a race on foot, salmon in a race in the water, and strikes four bullseyes blindfolded - only from memory! Then, Dan is warned to protect himself - which he does by catching several arrows shot at him!

For his last trial, Dan must kill a huge bear... unarmed! Managing this feat with relative ease, he returns to the Black Feet with the dead bear in tow, and upon his arrival he is given the mantle of the Black Marvel - and is admonished to act in loyalty, honesty and clean living!

Promising to live up to the legacy of the Black Marvel, Dan collects his bow and his new costume and vows to make one notch in his bow for every good act he commits to help mankind. Happy with this, the dying chief finally passes on and leaves Dan to get on with the business of heroics.

Returning to the city, Dan finds the power cut suddenly and, investigating this mystery, locates several armed thugs sabotaging the place. Trouncing them, he then interrogates one thug to find the whole thing a distraction to make their robbery of the local armory go that much easier.

Breaking up this crime before it's too late, Dan discovers the whole plot was hatched by a so-called combine of crime, a corporation of criminals bent on taking over all illicit activity in the city. Naturally, though, the man dies of an inexplicable heart attack before snitching further.

Dan never got to the bottom of this so called Combine of Crime though, for he was next seen fighting a gang of Nazis hanging out in the States, who had killed Professor Eisenberg, a man who had fled Germany in order to dedicate his life to the cause of Democracy itself!

Dan next did battle as the Black Marvel to end the crime spree of the so-called Grinner, a formerly peaceful scientist who had managed to transform himself into a sociopathic freak with a would-be cure for pneumonia. The Grinner lost his mob - and his very life - in battle with our hero.

Wandering abroad, Dan became embroiled in a plot to swindle the Chisolm diamond mind away from its owner in South Africa. Investigating, Dan was overpowered and given to cannibals for a lunch, but our hero persevered and stopped the would-be swindler from making off with the mine.

Returning to the states, Dan next mixed it up with 'Longnails' Legarva, a mobster trying to force an ex-con to go bad in order to rob the bank he's working at now. Naturally, Dan's been hunting him for some time as the Black Marvel and, growing wise to his plot, foils it quite handily.

Though a majority of Dan's further adventures have yet to be revealed, he nonetheless continued to have bizarre adventures like these for the duration of World War II, slowly adding notches to his bow all the while.

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