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Ethan Crane (Extreme)

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 Sentinel, Glory, SuperPatriot... All my old comrades... gone. Once Earth's Greatest Heroes, they were all defeated by their own mortality! Now super corporations are sponsoring their own guard of genetically enhanced super-beings. Those beings seem true heroes, yet their youth may blind them to their corporate masters' private agendas. This array of heroes spans all levels of society... from corporate and military sponsored covert operations... to green policemen and cyborg mutants... and, of course, there is the balance of the darker side... and those in-between. So much has changed, yet much remains the same. 
—Supreme[1][src]

History

Origin[]

Ethan Crane (Mean Supreme) from Legend of Supreme Vol 1 1 001
In 1925, Ethan Crane fell in love with Louise Masters and they started dating. On September 14th, he gifted her a pendant.[1] In 1937, Ethan shot and killed two men in retaliation for the rape of a 15 year-old girl. Crane was subsequently shot by two police officers, but he survived and was sentenced to life in prison. In prison, the government offered him a chance to participate in an experiment to enhance humans, hoping that unlike the six previous guinea pigs, he would survive.[2]

Unfortunately, Crane perished like the others; but, unlike the others, he came back to life. The outside world was strange and new to him. Making his way to a church, Crane found sanctuary given by Father Beam, and soon discovered some of his new abilities. He took the name "Supreme," and upon hearing about the ongoing war in Europe, he decided to do his part.[3] During these initial adventures, Supreme befriended photographer Billy Nelson and a group of kids who called themselves the Junior Supreme Squad.[1] Supreme also met Charles Flanders, who was able to tap into Supreme's powers and became Kid Supreme.[4] However, Supreme didn't let Charles participate in World War II because he'd be too vulnerable if Supreme ever needed his full powers.[5]

In 1943, the Allies tried to recruit Supreme's help in liberating the town of L'Fontaine, France. Supreme responded by destroying a Nazi plane and dropping its bombs on the town, killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children. When Glory became outraged at this, Supreme kissed her to make her shut up and flew away.[6]

Supreme from Legend of Supreme Vol 1 3
Eventually, Supreme joined the Allies and began dating Glory.[7] On August 6th and 9th, 1945, Supreme dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. For the Nagasaki bomb, he let Kid Supreme tag along and record the event.[5]

After Adolf Hitler's suicide, Supreme captured a German Nazi called Wilhelm von Richter.[7] Afterwards, he visited Father Beam in Washington, who reminded him that one of the Ten Commandments prohibited killing and warned him about considering himself above God. Lashing out, Supreme slapped Beam and accidentally killed him.[8] In his grief, he decided to leave Earth, but did so under the pretense of wanting to find a higher calling for himself other than stopping human crime.[7] Supreme spent decades in space, fighting against various threats on the side of an alien race known as the Katellans. Among his feats, he led the Katellans to victory at the Maxia campaign[9] and defeated "Too-Lan-Roo."[1]

1992[]

Ethan Crane (Mean Supreme) from Supreme Vol 1 1 001
In 1992, Supreme flew through space, heading to Earth.[10] When he arrived to the planet, he was stopped by Youngblood members Sentinel, Photon, Combat, Diehard and Bedrock, who demanded he identified himself. When Supreme said his name, Combat recognised it as the legend who led his people to victory at Maxia. Outraged at the thought Supreme was pretending to be such legend, Combat attacked him, and Supreme engaged in battle with Youngblood, ending with a collision with Diehard equal to a 500 megaton explosion. After that, Sentinel admitted they had acted hastily and requested Supreme to allow them to escort him to a conference on Earth. There, scientists ran tests and determined he was the real Supreme. Sentinel offered him a contract to join Youngblood, but Supreme was disgusted at the government's genetic engineering of superhumans. He flew away to Earth's orbit, as he heard every news outlet in the planet talking about him, and wept.[9]

Feeling the time had come for a long overdue visit with the past, Supreme visited his old foe Zachariah Grizlock in prison, intending to execute him. Grizlock taunted Supreme, detailing how he'd murdered Supreme's friend Billy Nelson, his lover Louise Masters, and his allies, the Junior Supreme Squad after Supreme left Earth unattended. Before Supreme could kill Grizlock, he was stopped by the super-team Heavy Mettle, made up of Decibel, Menagerie, Riot and Skyraker. Although most of them barely distracted Supreme, Skyraker's weapons actually cut through his skin, but his body adapted to the threat and created natural defenses quickly enough. Thinking it was time to try a different approach, Decibel explained Grizlock had proven an invaluable asset to the nation and to Heavy Mettle's owner, G.A.T.E. International. Although Supreme felt no explanation could keep Grizlock alive, he agreed to meet G.A.T.E. International's CEO, Jason Temple and hear him out for five minutes. Before the five minutes were up, Temple managed to convince Supreme to become the field team leader of Heavy Mettle.[1]

1993[]

On October 31st, 1993, Supreme spotted an unknown superhuman named Trencher wreaking havoc in Arizona. Analyzing his anatomy with his X-Ray Vision, he found out Trencher was a walking cadaver, but suffered no celular deterioration, so he couldn't be a member of Bloodstrike. Supreme decided he wouldn't tolerate another abomination in a world filled to brimming and that he'd make an example out of Trencher.[11] Supreme engaged Trencher and their fight took them to Las Vegas, where they levelled multiple buildings until Supreme punched Trencher's head off. He intended to take the body to G.A.T.E. so they could examine it, but Trencher's body moved on its own, grabbed its head and teleported away, leaving Supreme confused.[12]

Later events[]

Supreme soon left Heavy Mettle after defeating the villain Khrome. As Supreme fought Thor over the possession of Mjolnir, another character by the name of Enigma acquired another Supreme from an alternate timeline, to be kept in storage in case Supreme was defeated. Supreme did not lose, so the other Supreme was left to his own devices. Supreme eventually appeared to die during an assault on humanity by Lord Chapel, but in actuality, he ended up stranded on an alternate Earth. There, he spent several years until the alternate Supreme originally removed from this reality by Enigma returned and was overpowered by the original Supreme. The original Supreme managed to switch bodies with the alternate Supreme, thus restoring his powers. After various events involving Probe, Supreme's daughter from the future, and Enigma, the original Supreme, the alternate Supreme, Probe, and Enigma all worked together to defeat the evil Norse god Loki, whose machinations had been the cause of the various shifts between realities. In the end, while Probe remained on the alternate Earth, Supreme returned to Earth. Although considered to be the most powerful being in the universe, he had his share of defeats, including losing his powers[13], and being killed[14] not once, but twice[15].

When the alien known as Dominex attacked the planet and issued a challenge to Earth's champion Supreme was only glad to answer. He ignored Captain Dynamo and Omni-Man who were bickering about who was Earth's true champion and attacked Dominex while boasting about his power, just to be defeated with a single backhand.[16] The heroes decided to unite against the common foe and despite the arrival of Firebird, Savage Dragon and Doc Noble the battle lasted more than seventeen hours and Delta City ended up being destroyed. When Dominex was defeated Supreme argued that they should have killed him but in the end Captain Dynamo decided to spare him and they let him go.[17]

Attributes

Powers

  • Unique Physiology: Experiments granted Supreme a vast array of powers. His weight, mass and density are in a constant state of multi-level fluctuation.[9]
    • Superhuman Strength: Supreme possesses incredible levels of physical strength. He has exchanged blows with the likes of Pitt, Union and Quantum and has showed enough strength to fight toe-to-toe against Omni-Man and beat Suprema to uncounsciousness.
    • Superhuman Stamina: Supreme was once able to fight for more than seventeen consecutive hours.[17]
    • Invulnerability: Supreme is invulnerable to all forms of damage.[9]
      • Reactive Adaptation: Supreme possesses the ability to adapt to enemy attacks by automatically developing countermeasures that allow him to strengthen himself and become resistant to the damage inflicted upon him.[1]
    • Superhuman Speed: Supreme can move at vast superhuman speeds.[9]
    • Self-Sustenance: Supreme can survive in space indefinetly with no harm.[9]
    • Flight: Supreme has the ability to defy gravity and fly.[9] While his top speed is unknown he can reach supersonic speed.[1]
    • Energy Absorption: Unlike his post-revision counterpart Mean Supreme has demonstrated the ability to absorb various forms of energy to augment his powers.
    • Energy Projection: Supreme can shoot powerful energy beams from his eyes.
    • Superhuman Senses: All of Supreme's senses are enhanced to superhuman levels.
      • Superhuman Hearing: Supreme possesses an incredibly sensible sense of hearing, being able to hear news broadcasts from all over the planet.[9]
      • Superhuman Sight: Supreme is able to clearly see at miles of distance, can see through solid objects and can even see molecular structures.[1]

Abilities

Weaknesses

  • Mental Illness: Before the revision Supreme was described by many people as a psychopath prone to rage outbursts and willing to kill innocent bystanders in order to achieve his goals, as a religious zealot and as a man affected by a god complex. Original Supreme himself described him as brutal, savage, egotistic and mean.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

See Also

Links and References

References

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