Red Hood

Jack Napier wasn't enough of a household name around the hero community that most people would know him on sight. If they did it was because chalk white skin and a grin that ran so far back that it passed his ears made him a hard sight to miss. His Quirk, "Unhinged", was nothing of note - you couldn't make a hero career out of being able to open your jaw and swallow things whole like a snake, though it did make mealtimes efficient.

Jack did have a novel hobby, though, and that hobby was vigilantism. Studying vigilantism, that is. Not practicing illegal public Quirk use for social or ideological gain. Obviously. Jack researched and cataloged the phenomenon the way some people researched appearances of rare birds, from the nationalistic Freedom Ring to the well-loved Rogues of Central City. He was no academic, but in his own way he was still an expert.

Yamada had met him at a conference in New York a few years earlier. (Allegedly.) His pitch to Nezu was that their current enemies were allied around an ideology directly relating to heroism, not personal profit, and that meant security needed a new perspective. Plus, with Stain in the news the kids probably needed a little extra study on dealing with vigilantes, so they could claim him as a guest lecturer and get double the benefit out of him. Jack's Japanese was shaky but competent enough to address a class with, especially with Yamada providing support.

And Jack had neither the cash nor the inclination to turn down a free trip to Japan, no matter how busy his "hobby" was keeping him.

This was really not a good night to be Red Hood.

Banshee breaking out Blue Bowman would have been bad enough. Next to Owlman the archer was one of his most dangerous foes and Banshee was no slouch herself. At least with the rest of the Syndicate of the picture the heroes had a slight edge, maybe even a chance of a proper victory.

And then the pair got their hands on the flux capacitor.

Banshee fumbled with the controls while Blue Bowman held off the heroes' assault from the top of the Chessman building. Red Hood dodged a flash grenade arrow as his fingers clung to the rough stonework. Timekeeper was climbing beside him, his fur-tripped cloak waving in the wind.

"Hurry it up, Dinah!" Another set of arrows flashed down, one knocking off Timekeeper's crown and another impaling him through the leg. He lost his grip and tumbled down, saved only from death by a narrow ledge two stories lower.

"TK!"

A bright light flashed at the top of the building. The portal was opening. Hood looked up, then back down to his friend, wracked with indecision. Timekeeper waved him upward with a bloodstained hand.

"Go! Stop them! I'll be fine!"

"You'd better be!" Hood forced himself to keep going. He hauled himself up just in time to see Banshee and Blue Bowman disappear through the portal. No time to think. Just time to run. His feet took him from smooth concrete to rough alley pavement, and smack into Banshee moments before the portal closed behind him.

"I'll just be taking this--"

A piercing shriek sent him smashing into a brick wall. In his hands the flux capacitor cracked and sputtered, stinging his fingers with sparks.

"You idiot! We can't get back!" Hood heard a loud crack as one of them slapped the other across the face. Could be either one. The pair fought so much you could barely tell they were lovers. He feigned unconsciousness, waiting for his head to stop spinning.

"Who cares? Let the heroes have that world, or Owlman if he ever gets his tail in gear. Now we don't have to worry about either of them." Banshee's voice dropped to a coy purr. "We'll be the ones running the show."

"Huh. Kinda like the sound of that." Their boots crunched on broken glass as they walked away.

Well, shoot. Hood curled himself around the capacitor as he slowly clambered to his feet.
Even if he got the capacitor repaired, which was going to be no small task, he couldn't leave until he'd tracked down both of them. Whoever lived here didn't deserve the likes of them walking their streets.

He'd read Dr. Sivana's notes on the few alternate universes the scientist had investigated after he created the device, which had enabled Hood to find Batman's world. However he'd never been through the portal himself and he had no idea which world the Blue Bowman and Banshee had fled to. For all he knew everyone was fishpeople here. Best to play it cool until he had a better idea of what was going on. Hood fumbled in his suit pockets, past spare throwing knives and flesh-tone makeup, and came up with a small bottle of aspirin.

He had a feeling he was going to need a lot of it today.

Background:

My worst nightmare. A world without heroes.

Jackie Napier was a low-class working in Gotham City, possessing few ambitions beyond his mediocre stand-up comedy act. He was forced to flee Gotham after unwisely giving a performance mocking the local crime syndicate, headed by the newly-risen Owlman. Jackie wandered for a time, eventually winding up in Paris. An old but skilled warrior calling himself Henri Ducard (actually an alternate version of R'as al Ghul) took Jackie under his wing, training him in hand-to-hand combat and the superheroing arts. After completing his training Jackie returned to his home city and began to undermine the Injustice Syndicate's efforts under the alias "Red Hood". Other heroes began to follow his lead and resisted the Syndicate's push for total domination. Red Hood's luck faltered when Owlman tracked him to his hideout at the Ace Chemical Plant and threw him into one of the chemical waste vats, nearly killing him. Hood survived the painful experience, but the chemicals drastically warped his body. His psyche was "bent but not broken", scarred both physically and mentally, and only holding together through force of will. The scars also forced him to give up his civilian identity, and he dedicated himself entirely to the downfall of the Injustice Syndicate.

Red Hood gathered the other heroes and made a final massive assault on the Injustice Syndicate's headquarters. Unfortunately the attack ended in catastrophe and all of Red Hood's allies were captured. Red Hood barely escaped with his life.

However, a single bizarre option was left to him. Red Hood came into possession of a flux capacitor created by the brilliant Dr. Sivana, a device capable of opening portals to other worlds. In these other worlds Red Hood hoped to find more allies to help him in his fight against the Syndicate. An initial test of the device proved a success, with a throwing blade crossing over into the other dimension. Red Hood's attempt to pass over himself was thwarted by the arrival of Owlman and his allies Blue Bowman, Scarlet Scarab, and Silver Cyclone (alternates of Green Arrow, Blue Beetle, and Red Tornado). The latter stole the device from him and Red Hood was forced again to flee, all hopes for victory dashed.

In an attempt at damage control he later attacked the Injustice Syndicate when they broke into a local science facility. The Syndicate was attempting to gain a component for a bomb that would wipe out the alternate Earth, demonstrating the futility of standing against them. Red Hood's fight with Owlman landed them in an alcove on the lower level, where Owlman revealed that he was actually "Batman" of the alternate dimension. Batman had swapped places with Owlman when the latter used the flux capacitor to invade his Batcave. He had been masquerading as the villain in order to investigate Earth-3. Batman gave Red Hood a communication device and then captured him in order to prevent the other members from killing him.

Red Hood was taken to the same prison as his allies and tortured by Silver Cyclone for information on his further plans. Hood pretended to comply while secretly passing direction to the prison over the hidden radio. Silver Cyclone deduced his ploy but Batman was able to defeat him, freeing both Red Hood and the other prisoners.

During the ensuing battle with the Syndicate Red Hood was able to regain the flux capacitor and the villains were put into the same prisons they had reserved for the heroes. However, Silver Cyclone activated the bomb, rationalizing that the bomb would only irradiate organic tissue and that it did not matter which world he destroyed. Silver Cyclone, being a robot, would be left unharmed in a world blissfully free from organic life. Red Hood deactivated Silver Cyclone with a throwing spade to the cranium. While Batman attached rockets to the bomb Red Hood programmed the flux capacitor to open a portal to Earth 161, a world inhabited entirely by zombies. Since the inhabitants were already dead they wouldn't be harmed by the bomb.

With the Injustice Syndicate in ruins Batman returned to his own world to retrieve Owlman. As Batman left Red Hood expressed his hopes that his counterpart on Batman's Earth would be able to one day return the favor. Batman said he doubted it but did not tell Red Hood the reason why.

Namely, that Red Hood's counterpart was the Joker.

Appearance

I'll warn you, I'm...not much to look at.

Red Hood was fairly ordinary-looking before the toxic bath that permanently scarred his body. The chemical burns bleached his skin chalk-white and turned his hair bright green. They also affected the muscles of his face to the point that his default expression is a stretched, hideous grin. A heavy amount of makeup can disguise his skin color and the worst of his disfigurement, but his mouth will still look a little unsettling. In an effort to minimize the effect on others, he avoids smiling when his face is exposed.

Red Hood's costume is a formal tuxedo with a red cape and black gloves. Throwing blades are hidden up his sleeves. His titular red hood is a cylindrical opaque helmet that completely conceals his head from view.

Personality:

Guess I've always been a little screw-loose.

Red Hood presents himself as rather laid back, with a strong sense of humor and a fondness for snarky banter, but his willpower and dedication to justice sometimes border on the near suicidal. He is willing to take on ridiculous odds despite his limited resources, even when it would be no more than a symbolic resistance. This determination often leads him to throwing himself into dangerous situations with no concern for his own safety.

As much as he puts up a friendly front, he still suffers from the trauma of his deformity. It is Owlman's permanent victory against him, which no amount of crimefighting can remove. Because of his disfigurement he is very reluctant to remove his helmet in front of others. Under extreme stress, such as his torture by Silver Cyclone, he will occasionally resort to helpless laughter. This may occur even in situations where laughter is completely inappropriate. Humor, Red Hood feels, is one of the few things that keeps him going when the world seems too depressing to bear.

Red Hood has little socialization outside the small cabal of heroes he's managed to collect, and even those are more allies than companions. His main friends are "Gentleman" Jim Craddock, aka the Gentleman Ghost, and the clock-obsessed Wilhelm Tockmann, better known as Timekeeper. He also has a mild crush on Arkham Asylum's Executive Director, Dr. Harleen Quinzel. However, he feels that she deals with enough warped madmen in her day job and would not be interested in him, and that his dangerous lifestyle would put her in danger as well. Therefore, their relationship has never gone beyond the professionally courteous.

Abilities/Resources:

Oh, I think force will definitely be required.

Red Hood has significant hand-to-hand combat and freerunning abilities, enough to present a challenge even to Owlman. His signature weapons are a set of red throwing knives in the shape of playing card spades. The knives reference the Ace of Spades, the highest card in a deck of cards and a good luck symbol for soldiers. He also carries an array of crimefighting trinkets such as smokebombs, lockpicks, and a grappling hook.

Hood is the default leader of his very loosely organized superhero alliance, despite his lack of superpowers. Outside of major crises he prefers to work alone but he is highly respected by his peers. His most notable resources is the ability to plan and scheme outside the box, making it hard for his enemies to predict his next move.