History
Fitz was one of the six founding members of the Union of Justice. Around the age of nine, Fitz's father abandoned him and his mother, from which Fitz derived the observation that nothing lasts forever. While in college, Fitz met a young woman named Joyce when they were twenty one years old. Eventually, the married and three children together. Their eldest is named Peter, then a daughter and then another son.
Some years later, when his youngest was still a toddler, Fitz meets a 19-year-old girl named April Kelly after the conclusion of a battle with the robots of the Puppeteer somewhere in the Midwest. At first he takes the girl on a sidekick, taking on petty criminals and soon begins a torrid romance with her, feeling that he no longer has anything in common with Joyce.
Shortly thereafter, Fitz sets her up with a job and an apartment, but when he lobbies for her to join the Union, the other members refuse. The team feels that because Kelly has no superhuman abilities and because their rather public affair that she has no place on the team. Sheldon even goes so far in ordering Fitz to end his affair with the girl or else he would be fired from the team. Fitz complies but regrets it immediately, so he flies after April and proposes to her and then soon after divorces Joyce.[1] As a result the team has very little to do with him afterward.
After Fitz is critically injured in battle and is left a paraplegic, April leaves him, after which Fitz realizes that he made a mistake, and has now lost everything. Joyce reunites with him, however, in order to take care of him.
By 1965 Fitz regains enough of his strength to resume his career as The Flare[2] and on his first outing he faced Doctor Hobbs and his gang. All of the members of the Union were stripped of their powers, with the exception of George, who had quit the team some time before.Attributes
Powers
- Superhuman Speed: The Flare's most prominent power is his ability to move at vast superhuman speeds.[1]
- Superhuman Reflexes: The Flare can dodge gunfire at close range.[1]
- Superhuman Strength: The Flare is strong enough to easily overpower normal humans[1] but he wasn't quite strong enough to stop a falling starship from hitting the ground.[3]
- Superhuman Durability: The Flare possesses vast resistance to damage and could survive being crushed under a large starship, though it did leave him paralized for years.[3]
- Superhuman Stamina
- Flight: Fitz can fly at extremely high speed.[1]
- Accelerated Healing: Fitz was able to heal from a complete paralysis in five years.[2]
- Energy Projection: Fitz can shoot energy blasts from his hands powerful enough to hurt Skyfox.[4]
Weaknesses
- Paralysis: (formerly) After being gravely injured Fitz was left paraplegic for years.[3]