super-powers Report on Superpowered Humans 1900 - 2015 (Rated: Classified)

[CardiMuscleman]

Report by Lt. Strawmeadow into superpowered humans of history

Following a discussion with Col. Albermarle, commanding officer of this garrison, I have been conducting an investigation into the following questions:

Do superpowered humans exist in the world?

Are any of them British

Are they useful for the British military.

In summary I believe the answers are yes, yes and yes, but will explain in detail for each one. The first super powered human I encountered in my research was that of Hugo Danner. Hugo was born in 1900 to Professor Abednego Danner and his wife, Matilda on Christmas Day. You may remember, sir, that in a past report that Professor Danner's name was mentioned as one of the pioneers of research into alkaline radicals that were said to increase the strength and endurance of something, but that after 1900 no papers were found. I believe that it was Hugo's birth that caused this. I had to liaise with our colleagues in America as it turns out he signed up for service during World War One and became quite the mascot and it was during that research I came the conclusion that super powered humans do exist. This is a copy of a note that was written by Hugo's commanding officer when he signed up in 1914:

 

During kindergarten, Hugo nearly killed the school's bully in a one-sided fight after being assaulted by the child. This event branded him as an outsider in the eyes of the other children. Because they treat him with such abhorrence, his only solace comes in the form of unleashing his powers within the Colorado wilderness (these include uprooting trees, throwing huge boulders, leaping to the mountain tops, etc.). However, this stigma eventually wears off, though, and is forgotten by the time he enters high school

 

After completing his schooling, he attended Webster University in St. Louis, and although they were a little questionable about why I wanted to know about him they did state that during his time there he was their star athlete. He broke the world record for the mile (clocking a time of 24 seconds), broke the world high jump record (40 feet) as well as the world long and triple jump records (200ft and 400ft respectively), however in 1913 he killed an opposing player in an American football game and was quietly dismissed from the college where he joined the American navy. When he joined they came him a full physical and determined that he was 6ft tall and although from the look of him you would expect him to weigh 155lbs, he actually weighed 211lbs. In 1914, his boat was trapped in France at the outbreak of the war and as a result he was roped into the French Foreign Legion where some of the feats he displayed beggared belief. He covered thirty seven miles in about half an hour whilst carrying all the supplies for his unit (weighing about two thousand pounds), Bullets seemed to just bounce off him and if he was ever injured, as he was by an artillery shell in 1916, the worst he suffered was a slight headache after waking up in the hospital (with his wounds all healed). These powers came him an idea and he spent the next two years planning it. I happen to have a summary of them here. He would train to become a pilot and then volunteer to fly a plane, loaded with bombs, as far into Germany as the fuel would allow. Once the plane crashed, he would run (still carrying the plane and bombs on his back) to Berlin, strangle the Kaiser, killing the generals and bringing down all the buildings (in the same style as Samson). This plan was stopped when the Treaty of Versailles was signed (incidentally on the day he was going to enact this plan) and so returns to the United States to try and fit ( (as a steel mill worker, bank teller, farm hand and even standing for election in the congressional elections of 1920 as a disarmament candidate) but his stature (6ft 5 and almost 280lbs) puts people off, so in the end he offers himself to a history professor who is doing a dig on the Mayan culture in the Yucatan.

 

There, he discovers that the Mayans had discovered the same thing as his father (helped by taking on board what the Egyptians had found out)  and when his great strength is displayed to the professor by accident, it is suggested that he creates a new race of human dubbed "the sons of Dawn" that would put the world on the straight and narrow. Hugo, initially agrees, and starts work to recreate the formula that his father used but as time goes on he worries that these sons would be ostracised by the world as he was and so, during a thunderstorm prays to God to help him in his quandary. His wish is granted in a way, as he is killed by a lighting bolt and when the professor finds him seventy two hours later, he finds a sheet of paper nearby that is completely charred and I can only assume that had the formula on it. The professor buried Hugo in Mayan temple where I can only assume he still lies and therefore might be able to undergo DNA analysis

 

There are not many representations of Hugo, but I managed to find this painting that is entitled "Death of the Son of Dawn" and is clearly based on the tale of Hugo's death

[mrnonsense76]

Original and very well written. I hope you continue with many other chapters.

[goremeridian]

Wow, quite a left-field idea; I like it. I second mrnonsense76; further chapters, perhaps detailing the lives of other super-strong characters, would be fascinating.

[Strengthlover]

Very interesting read. I hope you continue this. Love super powered beings! Especially super human strength

[js44]

I agree, this is an original and very well-written story. Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to reading more.

[CardiMuscleman]

The answer to the question "Are any of these super powered humans, British?" (which was answered in the affirmative) came after a chance discovery from our Australian colleagues. May I present Master Jack Jaxon, a native of the country born in 1936 but who was brought here shortly after the end of the Second World War.

Jack was committed to a borstal in 1949 having been found guilty of a crime that he insisted he couldn't have done. Going through the case files, it turns out that he was indeed innocent and that it was his uncle who had framed him, but it's how this deception was uncovered that I think will interest the readership of this report.

It turns out that the borstal was built on the site of one of the earliest incursions into England of the Vikings and that they left behind a belt. There was a replica of such a belt on display at the British Museum and when I went to see it, I noticed a sort of rhyme on the buckle. I wrote the rhyme down (in it's orginal Runic) and had the boys in the translation department run it through their computers. They came back with the following:

"Buckle on this wonderous belt, Thine is my magic and my power, Thus speaks I, the mighty Thor, Thunderlord of Valhalla's Tower"

Now, as I mentioned this belt was created around the time of the Vikings and as I am sure you know in recent years a person called Thor has been working with the American SHIELD organisation in conjunction with those Avengers so I put a message through to Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD in the US, to ask if Thor could confirm that this belt was his and a few days ago he did indeed confirm that he was the orginal owner and loaned it to a Viking chief who he never saw again.

This belt plays a very important part in our inquiry because according to Master Jaxon (who by the way is now living back in Australia and from what I can tell is due to celebrate his eightieth birthday next year) it turned him into a man of superhuman strength and endurance. One such example was when his best friend was taking a plane for a ride and the engine failed, Jack managed to fly up to the plane and not only catch up but safely land it as well. I managed to find this picture based on a description of him and as you can see he does have a slight hint of an ancient hero about him.

I asked him if he knew where the belt was now, but he seemed rather coy on the subject saying that he had not used it since 1965, but found out that in 2006 another person called Thunderbolt was doing the rounds but have yet to determine if it is Master Jaxon or not

[howardbeatman]

The first story is taken from the novel GLADIATOR by Philip Wylie, written about 70 years ago.  Yes, it is the first fictional depiction of a physical superman... and predates the comic-book character by several years. The second is taken from an Australian superhero created in 1949.

[CardiMuscleman]

The final question asked "Are they useful for the British military?" was answered by nothing more difficult than going thorugh our very own archives. Now, no doubt a lot of you will remember this "little" fellow

Yes, that's our very own Captain Hurricane (known to his shipmates as Hercules) who was a Royal Marine commando during the Second World War and his nickname came with very good reason as well.

Prior to signing up to the Marines, he was captain of a tramp steamer that ploughed a trade between England and France, however that all came to an end in the very early days of the Second World War when his boat was sunk by a submarine. He, and his first mate, "Maggots" Malone survived the attack and joined up to seek revenge on the Germans. And my word, did he make his presence felt. This is from the diary of Field Marshall Montgomery just before he left for North Africa.

"Captain Hurricane is precisely that, a hurricane. I have never seen a man do the things he has done and am so pleased that we are on the same side in this war. I am writing this on the last day in Europe as we leave for North Africa tomorrow and have witnessed the Captain's devastation first hand. We came across a battalion of Italian tanks near Brindisi. They opened fire on us and managed to destroy one of our supply trucks. The captain immediately roared and shouted "Right, that's it, I feel a raging fury coming on" and jumped out of the truck we were all in, through the canvas roof and ran towards a tank. He jumped onto it and bent the cannon as it were a piece of liquorice and as he opened the roof he bellowed "Come out of there, you perishing Ice-Cream Wallahs" and with that jumped in and a few seconds later jumped out with two barely conscious prisoners who moaned "Mama Mia, he is not human!" I have to agree with that sentiment, but am so glad he's one of ours!"

From other records during the war, it became clear that the angrier the captain got, the stronger he became and so it should come as no surprise to hear that he was dubbed "the toughest marine ever to live". After the war ended and he was demobbed, he became a comic book editor (I can only presume to relive some of his campaigns). As to how the Captain came to be so strong, that's a bit of mystery but looking at the evidence I think it's possible that he was experimented on by our American friends (in the same way that produced that Captain America who I will discuss in a later chapter) but perhaps something went wrong in some way, but whatever did happen it's fair to that say that the captain was indeed one of "the few" that Churchill so famously spoke of on many occasions during the war.

[howardbeatman]

A slight correction: GLADIATOR was written about 80 years ago, not 70.

[Hialmar]

This belongs to the same amusing tongue-in-cheek genre as Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Family. It's fun!

 

http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Pulp2.htm#Intro