Black Marvel (deceased) Strength Agility Intellect Willpower 10d 6c 4x 6d Hand Size: 4 (25) Edge: 2 Powers: (none) Equipment: Long Bow (a): Dan could use this instrument as a +2 weapon, generally inflicting a whole lot of damage with each deadly shot. He was very good with it, and as such, could use it to devastating effect, often utilizing various trick shots to confuse and befuddle his foes. Hindrances: Guilt-Ridden: his entire life changed by the tragedy at the Grand Royale hotel, Dan becomes almost mentally incapacitated when faced with a similar situation, and falls to zero (0) in all ability scores while trying to extricate himself under such conditions. Skills: Archery (a): his weapon of choice, Dan can use the bow with incredible accuracy. He can make attacks, trick shots, and other actions with a bow as if the difficulty were one difficulty level lower than normal. He can also use a crossbow, technically, but has never been shown to do so. Ricochet (a): this skill allows Dan to bounce a weapon (usually his arrows) off of one or more objects, in order to strike either multiple targets with one projectile or a single target by surprise. These secondary or ambush attacks occur as a contingent action. Survival (w): 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. Wrestling (s): if he managed to damage a target in unarmed melee combat, Dan can make an average difficulty Strength (Strength) action to hold onto his foe. He can maintain this hold every exchange with a similar action, inflicting a like amount of damage until he lets go or is dislodged. Calling: Adventurer, with a secondary calling of Repentant: Dan is a true hero at heart, wishing to do good deeds. However, he obsesses over his failures more than is healthy, and can be literally moved to retire from heroics if he suffers one that is severe enough. 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, was dead-set on becoming a hero. So much so, in fact, that when he failed in his attempts at heroism that he became dangerously obsessed over the fact, and was driven to irrational and extreme lengths to try and 'set things right'. Real Name: Dan Lyons Occupation: adventurer Legal Status: American citizen with no known criminal record, legally deceased Marital Status: single Alias(es), if any: none Group Affiliation: none Height: 5' 9' Hair: brown, then gray, then brown again 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. In the late 1940s, Dan took a turn for the worse when he failed to rescue several people during a fire at New York's Grand Royale hotel. He managed several saves but didn't get everyone, and this (to him) failure gnawed at him day in and day out. His guilt only became worse when, years later, a movie about the tragedy served to amplify his self-recriminations. Retiring from active heroism, Dan slowly descended into his own mania, planning to somehow recreate the disaster and save everyone in danger this time. He temporarily resumed his costumed heroics during a party hosted by fellow Golden Age hero the Angel, and helped to save a weakened Captain America from Zeitgeist, a fellow with a problem regarding super heroes in general - and who was targeting the first of them. Possibly spurred on by this, Dan was much more amenable than he should have been when he was approached by the diabolical Mephisto. Knowing his desire, the demon made a deal for Dan's soul: he would restore him to his youth, and give him four costumed identities to disperse. Agreeing, Dan was restored from his aged state to his physical peak, and proceeded to give these four costumes out to college students that came to call themselves the Slingers - a tribute to Spider-Man, who had used all four identities at one point or another. Active again as the Black Marvel, Dan mentored these youths until they caught wind of his plan to burn down a newly reopend Grand Royale hotel - during which he'd intended to rescue everyone trapped inside. Confused by the panic inside, Dan sort of fell apart during his plot. Once he was incapacitated by the Slingers, they went on to save everyone in the building he'd immolated. Shortly thereafter, Mephisto came calling to collect Dan's soul, in addition to those of his youthful charges as payment for his apparently 'evil' tutelage. They rallied around their stricken mentor though, abandoning their super-heroic identities in order to save his soul. Once freed, Dan's soul then passed on from Mephisto's Lower Depths to a much more amenable afterlife. He has not yet reappeared, but one never knows. Now that he's been tainted with the supernatural, Dan could theoretically reappear at any time. The Black Marvel Saga-converted by the DiceCipher!