Merle McClintock

[Merle McClintock]

Name: Merle McClintock
Age: 19

Power: Accelerated strength, metabolic and intellectual capacity. IQ is genius level for technical problems (unlocking doors, computer codes) but he's not a political or historical kind of genius.

Strength: He pulled tanker truck at a village competition 100 ft in 22.3 seconds. Everyone's pressuring him to apply for Strongest Man in Britain, but Merle doesn't see it as a big thing. His strength is growing, even if he doesn't notice it quite yet.
It's a definite conflict for him to embrace his gifts as a super but deny them as a person.

Equipment: Merle tried to rip a door of its hinges and got a fistful of splinters. Now, he wears heavy work gloves and keeps a crowbar for "smashwork".

Personality: Merle has tried to be humble for the longest time. His grades were just hard work; his success on the rugby pitch was hard work. But nobody believed him. They told him to stop being so modest.

Now he just doesn't talk about it. If someone asks about his talents (and he makes no effort to hide his trophies in his room), he's honest. Merle's a great actor. Merle's a friendly guy who would never desert you when you needed it. Merle doesn't see what's so damn funny about Monty Python.

Merle is unnaturally afraid of guns. He doesn't know if they can actually hurt him, but he's read some really gross medical journals.

Being a mutant is kind of a sore sport for Merle. He hasn't transformed or spouted wings...it's only Xavier's word that he isn't just a peak human being.
He told he goes to college "In the City". His parents don't go out of the way to be supportive...they're nervous and expectant, too.

Despite his physiology, Merle can get drunk. And he does; he finds it a release from being great at everything.

Description: 6'8" and bald, well built but not bulging. Merle takes pride in his size and physique and never slouches.
Brown eyes, strong and well defined. His irish mother pressures him to let his red hair grow out, but he doesn't. Merle fancies himself a badass.

Merle absolutely adores tracksuits (in powder-blue and white, or powder blue and black) and does laundry religiously to avoid wearing dirty clothes. He likes sunglasses but doesn't love them.

Background:
Half Irish and half Saxon-British, Merle's family moved to Surrey a short time into The Troubles. A deeply loving but religiously diverse pair, Merle lived a booked life. Soccer, then rugby, church and sunday school, chess club...
nobody got bullied at chess club while Merle was on the team. But his true love was Shakespearean acting; he caught on as Puck in a semi-professional version of Midsummer at age 12 (upsetting a few repertoire actors). He pulled it off well.

High School was a great time for Merle. He was all set to marry his high school girlfriend, Margaret Hall; she died in a car accident the day after graduation.

He went to London for college to get away from his hometown. It's...not all right, but Merle thinks he's over it.
When he got to college, he was surprised that his strength and brains were caused by some "X Gene". Honestly, he doesn't believe it yet; it COULD be just good luck.

He hasn't fought any supervillains yet, but he has thwarted a few muggings, carjackings, etc. He really wants a costume and a codename. For some reason, "Paragon" and "Mr. Britain" are a scad too...boastful. Just a scad though.

[Samantha McManus]

I'd like some idea of what he can lift before we approve him.

[Merle McClintock]

I imagine 10 tons is a nice round number. Ten American Tons. Lift/Drag of 4x that

I just want him to be 'balanced' against other people without being comical and lifting up the dorms to get a kitty out.

[Madrox Saavedra]

IMHO, 20,000 lbs is not balanced.

[Drascus]

Lifting up 10 tons is a bit too much, at least at the beginning. 2 tons is much more reasonable, being a strength based character, you could go as high as say, 4 tons at the most. Give yourself a bit of room to grow.

[Merle McClintock]

4000 pounds is fine with me.

[Drascus]

No further issues here.

Approval 1/2

[Samantha McManus]

Yes, nicely toned down.

Approval 2/2

[Merle McClintock]

New codename: Champion.

[Victoria Valentine]

You're joking, right?

[Constantine McGraw]

We're gonna have to send all the 'Captain Meatshield' t-shirts back now.

[Will Stanton]

New code name: "Second Runner Up"