| Titan | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Dark Horse Comics |
| First appearance | Comics' Greatest World: Golden City Week 2 (Cameo); Comics' Greatest World: Golden City Week 3 (full) |
| Created by | Barbara Kesel Team CGW |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Frank Wells |
| Team affiliations | NSC, Golden Boy, Catalyst |
| Abilities | flight, invulnerability, super-strength, super-speed, heightened endurance, imperviousness to pain, ability to return from the dead |
Titan (Frank Wells) was a Dark Horse Comics superhero. He first appeared in Comics' Greatest World: Golden City Week 3 (1993).
Character history
Origin
Frank Wells was the son of a US Marine Sergeant. Sgt. Wells was physically and mentally abusive to both Frank and his mother. At a young age, Frank’s super-strength manifested and he began protecting his mother from his father’s abuse.
[He] told all his friends down at the base that I was special. Until one day
[...]
he found out how right he was!
He hated me for being different. In his mind I was better than he was.
[1]#2
Eventually, Sgt. Wells was sent to ’Nam, where he was eventually killed.
A sniper sent dad home in a box. Mom cried for weeks and one could only wonder why.
[2]#5
The Wells family moved off the base into town, where Frank was bullied by the other kids.
I could have crushed them all in a second! Instead, I hung from a branch thirty feet in the air, quaking with fear!
[3]#4
Over the years, the bullying grew steadily worse until high school. Frank stool a football uniform and ran onto the field during a game. Taking the ball, he plowed threw the players on both sides, leaving a “trail of broken bodies littering the field Template:Ref/ Will To Power#7.”
Never even looking back, Frank left town, eventually finding his way to Golden City and the woman known only as Amazing Grace. Almost immediately upon arrival, Frank was picked up by agents of Grace.
He was put threw a rigorous series of tests, greatly impressing everyone, from Grace to her top aids and scientists. Everyone that is except Madison:
You’re making a big mistake. I don’t think Frank here has the guts to do the job.
[4]#10
Against Madison’s objections, Grace unveiled Frank as the American icon, Titan. He was eventually given a boy sidekick named Elmore AKA Golden Boy. On his first solo mission Golden Boy was captured by a villain. Golden Boy lost an eye and was retired from duty (actually, Madison mind-wiped him so he wouldn’t remember anything).
Despite this early setback, Titan proved himself over the next few years.
But in the end, Grace betrayed me…betrayed Titan!
[5]#11
This betrayal came in Grace’s announcement of “a new age for Golden City” and “a hero for that new age Template:Ref/ Will To Power#11.” That hero was not Titan but newcomer Rebel.
The Warmaker Incident
When the supervillain and US government prisoner, Warmaker, escapes from The Vault, a super-prison located in Golden City, all the local heroes, including Titan, have to face him. While Titan is easily more powerful than Warmaker, he is overconfident and has no self-control.
Titan is near invulnerable but when the villain aims his wrist canon at him, instead of taking the hit, Titan pushes Warmaker's arm causing a skyscraper to be damaged. This endangers the lives of both the people in the building and the pedestrians on the street below.
Later, after Grace has defeated Warmaker, Titan attacks him for no reason. Warmaker strikes Titan knocking him into Rhapsody, who falls and is killed.
Catalyst
Grace uses Warmaker's escape and the death of Rhapsody as an excuse to secede from the United States. The US attacks the city attempting to force Grace's surrender. She forms Catalyst: Agents of Change to defend the city. The team consists of Titan, Rebel, Ruby, Mecha, and Warmaker, who has made a deal with Grace in exchange for freedom.
Titan, along with Mecha and Warmaker, defends the city's food source, a wheatfield, from the US attack, while the rest of Catalyst protects the city itself, which is being attacked with missiles.
The government then sends in Grenade, a cyborg solder, to attack the heroes. When Grenade is defeated by Catalyst, he releases a radioactive cloud and then self-destructs.
Using public opinion (she had the fight televised on CNN), Grace is able to force a truce with the government, gaining independence for Golden City.
Later, Titan and Grace disagree over her motives leading to his resigning from the team to "find America."
Will to Power
After leaving Golden City, Titan discovers Tent City, a newly formed suburb of refugees trying to get into Grace's paradise. He then decides someone needs to champion the people and goes to join the National Security Council as a field agent.
His first assignment puts him up against The Inhibitors and his own former sidekick Golden Boy.
He then is sent to Arcadia to protect Congressman DeMarco from the vigilante X. X attacks the congressman and Titan chases him, confronting both Scream and Monster, before X convinces him he is a dupe for a drug lord.
Next, Titan is sent to Steel Harbor to quell the gang wars that are tearing the city apart. He faces down Mace Blitzkrieg’s Prime Movers before going completely over the edge. Now quiet crazy, Titan faces Barb Wire, the Wolf Pack, and Motorhead, before Grace snatches him up and brings him back to Golden City.
Titan defeats Catalyst then flies to Cinnibar Flats to challenge Vortex. Titan’s rampage at the army base causes the deaths of many US solders, including Lt. Eileen Anderson, Vortex’s only human friend. Vortex is angered by the death and kills Titan.
Autopsy
After his death, Titan's body was taken by the government. They attempted to autopsy him but couldn't cut open his body due to its invulnerability. Suddenly, for unknown reasons, Titan's body went threw some kind of change, becoming vulnerable. It that exact moment Special Agent Bert gained powers similar to Titan.
Enemies
As a Hero
- Warmaker/Elvis Westbury
- Grenade
- The Inhibitors (aka The Chosen People)
- Proph/Dr. Stanley Kirby
- Lethargy
- Microwave
- Eagle
- Golden Boy/Elmore
- Unnamed; Possibly "Dog"
- X
- Boss Roscoe Ligotti
- The Prime Movers
- Mace Blitzkrieg
- Airborne
- Deadlight
- Hurricane Max
- Killerwatt
- Blackbelt
- Ignition II
As a Villain
Bibliography
- Comic's Greatest World: Golden City 2 (One Panel Cameo)
- Comics' Greatest World: Golden City 3-4
- Catalyst: Agents of Change 1-4
- Titan Special 1
- Will To Power 1-12
References
- ^ Richardson, Mike. "Prologue Sequences" to Will To Power 1-12. June-August 1994. Published by Dark Horse Comics.