Captain Evening
Captain Evening was a major superhero of Reality Z-25 31-H and the leader of the Odds, a team of superbeings. At one point in its history, the team included a shifter claiming to be Jenny Everywhere, but who was in actuality Jenny Nowhere. Other Captains Evening existed in other universes, including a heroic zombie.
Description
Physical appearance
Captain Evening was a muscular white man with a square jaw. He was never seen without his black helmet with an opaque visor, which left only the lower half of his face visible, and whose forehead was adorned with a picture of the Moon. In full superhero regalia, Evening also wore a black form-fitting outfit, lighter-coloured gloves and boots, and a cape. (COMIC: Tales To Behold)
Personality
Captain Evening broadly acted like the epitome of the noble hero. However, he was criticised (even by his own enemies) for his tendency to stand around making grand moralising monologue instead of actually helping with the matter at hand, even if he usually eventually fixed the problem. (COMIC: Tales To Behold) This bad habit aside, he was quick-witted in a crisis, able to quickly assess a situation and strategise, although he was not an especially brilliant tactician. (COMIC: Journey Out Of Misery) He obsessively protected his “secret identity”, never taking off the mask that covered most of his face, even when he was showering. (COMIC: Meanwhile, On Earth)
Powers & abilities
Captain Evening was skilled at physical fighting and at flying his Skycicle. He also allegedly had actual superpowers, although he used them very rarely, (COMIC: Enter–the Legion of Light!) one of them appearing to be increased resilience: he was seen withstanding a direct blast of fire from the Cosmic Solution with no visible injury, although he was left dazed by the experience. He also carried a handheld laser-gun of some description. (COMIC: Journey Out Of Misery) He also demonstrated superhuman strength on some occasions, such as breaking out of a pair of handcuffs through sheer physical strength. (COMIC: Road Trip Of No Return)
Biography
In Reality Z-25 31-H
Origins
Captain Evening had a mother. He claimed to have been given superpowers by “people from the future”, kickstarting his superhero career, although he used Professor Madison's gadgets as often as these fairly nebulous powers in his activities as a superhero. (COMIC: Enter–the Legion of Light!)
Meeting "Jenny Everywhere"
Long after his enmity with the mad scientist Doctor Brain was well-established, Captain Evening was patrolling the skies of his home city at night when his attention was attracted by chaos seemingly coming from an abandoned building. It turned out to have been used by Doctor Brain as the location of an interdimensional portal, from which Doctor Brain had summoned a monstrosity which he couldn't defeat. Evening managed to prevent the entity from crossing over from its home dimension by removing the Portal's power source, which was none other than a woman, who introduced herself as Jenny. (COMIC: Tales To Behold)
He brought Jenny to his home, where she took a shower and then claimed that she was Jenny Everywhere. As they were getting to know each other, however, they were summoned to the Captain's belltower by the arrival of a Griffin called Merv, who'd crashed into the bell mid-flight. It turned out that Merv had been magically summoned by Doctor Brain and his witch daughter some weeks back, and magically cursed to remain in this world until he could kill Captain Evening — only for the two villains to neglect to tell the Griffin how Captain Evening might be found or what he looked like.
Honourable to a fault, the Captain confessed his identity to the Griffin, but Jenny saved his life by temporarily shifting him to a parallel universes populated with zombies while giving Merv the zombie Captain Evening to “kill”, thus fulfilling his magical compulsion. She then brought a very confused Captain Evening back. Grateful, Merv vowed to remain in this world even now that he was free, so as to help Jenny and the Captain get revenge on the Brains. (COMIC: For Whom The Toll Bells)
After Professor Madison visited, she granted the Captain the use of a new device she'd built which allowed one to detect the opening of transdimensional portals. Rushing to the site where one had been detected, the Captain and friends did not run into Doctor Brain, but rather into a battle between a group of strippers helped by a living skeleton on one side, and the Legion of Light and the demon Red Vicious on the other. Though the strippers already had things mostly under control, the Captain helped finish to tie the villains up, and lectured them on their bigoted, self-righteous ways. He then took the disassembled Armstrong Fatbuckle back to his base where he and his friends helped put him back together, after which he offered him the chance to join the team (an offer Armstrong gladly accepted). (COMIC: Enter–the Legion of Light!)
With the Odds
The unlikely grouping of the Captain, Jenny, Armstrong and Merv the Griffin became known as the superhero team of “the Odds”. Within a few weeks of its formation, the Odds were summoned by the New York Chief of Police, who was desperate to solve the mystery of the “reverse robberies” which had been popping up all across the city. The Odds agreed to help and discovered that the culprit was Armagedda, who was hiding out in the sewers and had plans to bring down human civilisations. The Captain ordered an ill-advised charge on Armagedda and a henchmen; he, Merv and Armstrong were easily captured, but Armstrong managed to distract Armagedda while the still-free Jenny worked out a way to exploit Armagedda's weakness to magic (after Armstrong tricked her into taking human form, Jenny shifted her to another universe using the Magic Sword of the Legion of Light). (COMIC: Redistribution)
Intent on growing the team further, Evening visited Glow Girl on the set of a movie she was filming, though she was uninterested in joining the Odds, being happy with her new career and having therefore left superheroics behind. However, she did agree to lend a hand should her rather unique, but infrequently useful, superpowers ever prove themselves necessary to a crisis at hand. (COMIC: Glow Girl!) Shortly after, back at the Fortress, the team were taking showers; Jenny asked for the Captain's help when Armstrong Fatbuckle walked in on her. It turned out, however, that she didn't want him to scold Armstrong about the honest mistake itself, but rather, needed his advice because she had attempted to shift in her surprise, only to find that she couldn't. The Captain helped her to the guess that it was the effort of banishing Armagedda that had temporarily sapped her powers, and that they would soon return. (COMIC: Shower Intermission)
Trip to the United Kingdom
The Odds were called away to England to deal with a city that was being taken over by Insect People. With Jenny unable to shift, they travelled by aeroplane, which meant, to the Captain's irritation, that he had to do with his Skycycle, which he couldn't take through customs. On the way, he phoned Professor Madison to ask her and Rodney to house-sit for him while he was gone. Arriving at their destination, they were greeted by Chief Inspector Dennis of Scotland Yard, who explained that the Insect People were not mindless warriors, and were in fact not breaking the law, but that they mingled with the population and seemed to do their best to be as irritating as possible in non-actionable ways. Their leader was not returning any of the human authorities' attempts to talk.
Though disappointed the adventure wasn't more “epic”, the Captain agreed to lead the Odds up the giant anthill and into the Insects' hive to try and talk things out with them. The Insect guards did their best to be irritating as was par for the course, and when the Odds tried to cut through the labyrinthine waiting line through which the Insects wanted them to go before they met the “manager”, a fight finally broke out. During this fight, Captain Evening received a phone call from Madison, (COMIC: Battle of Britain) who wanted his and the Odds' help to besiege the Bureau of Singularity's headquarters at the Nexus of Realities. The Captain told her that he and the Odds were otherwise engaged at the moment, but that she could engage his computer's Omega Program to summon some of his other superhuman allies to her aid with his blessing. (COMIC: Singularity War, Battle of Britain)
Finally making their way to the “manager”'s office, the Odds confronted the leader of the Insect People, Insecto. Playing to his ego, Jenny managed to convince him to do away with his scheme to irritate the humans into leaving town out of sheer aggravation, and instead stand for mayor openly in a democratic election. He was defeated in a landslide, in large part because the Insect People didn't have the right to vote. The Captain found this resolution anticlimactic, and was easily convinced by Merv the Griffin to stay in England for a little while yet, particularly after Madison phoned him again to assure him that the situation she'd been dealing with was now under control. (COMIC: Battle of Britain) Merv had made the suggestion because he had felt a strange magical signature.
Using Professor Madison's device, Merv was able to pinpoint its location to under an ancient monolith, which he lifted. Underneath, they found the remains of the Blue Knight, an Arthurian knight made immortal by his magical armour, who had been trapped under the boulder for centuries, magically kept alive. In thanks for their freeing him, the Blue Knight quickly pledged his services to the Odds, bowing to Captain Evening as his new “liege”. After they discovered that, over the centuries, the Blue Knight had degenerated into an incorporeal spirit animating a hollow armour, Merlin appeared out of nowhere and transferred the Blue Knight's spirit into the body of his last descendant. To deal with the confusing situation, (COMIC: Encore) the Captain called Madison once again, whereupon she informed him that he had completely missed the adventure she had phoned him about earlier. (COMIC: Singularity War, Encore)
Return to New York
Jenny, announcing that she had recovered her powers completely, shifted the entire Odds team, now including the Blue Knight, back to the Fortress of Evening in an instant, with them appearing in Professor Madison and Rodney Rabbit's bedroom. Madison began running tests on the Blue Knight while the other heroes freshened up in the Fortress's shower room. They soon had to leap back into action as Rodney informed them, based on what he was seeing on live television, that the ceremony where Captain Perfect was to be given the Keys to the City by Mayor Wilson was under attack by a giant robot called “Ultimatron”. The Odds rushed to the scene, but only succeeded in distracting Perfect, who was knocked out by the robot. They tried to defeat Ultimatron, but had little luck, with Centennia soon arriving and dispatching it herself.
After it transpired that the entire attack had been staged by Captain Perfect as a publicity stunt, he was punched into the distance by Centennia. Impressed, Captain Evening asked Centennia if she would consider joining “the Odds”, and she seemed to agree. To celebrate their victory and Centennia's joining, Captain Evening organised a party at the Fortress, inviting “all his hero friends” — including the Odds, the Terrific Two, Glow Girl, Mysto the Space-Wizard, the Big Bad Wolf, Red Riding Hood and Terry Tornado. Jenny soon drew him away from the heart of the party and the two slept together, though they agreed this was simply a casual bit of fun between friends and they weren't dating. (COMIC: Meanwhile, On Earth)
Shortly after Evening announced to the other Odds that he had been secretly filming them within the Fortress of Evening, Armstrong made a confession of his own: that Armagedda was back in New York and he'd gone on another date with her. The heroes quickly headed to the building which Armagedda had presented as her home to Armstrong. This soon turned out to have been a ruse, as Armagedda had joined up with Doctor Brain, Captain Perfect, Jesse Brain, Insecto and Red Vicious as part of an alliance of the Odds' enemies, organised by Evil Cloak. To the Captain's bafflement, “Evil Cloak” took off her hood to reveal she was one and the same as the “Jenny Everywhere” he'd been adventuring with, and that she was really the villainous Jenny Nowhere.
Without giving him time to process, Jenny ordered the villains to attack the Odds, with Evening doing his best to strategise for his team while fighting off Doctor Brain bare-handed, all despite still reeling from the betrayal. Soon after, Nowhere, frustrated with the way the battle was going, used Doctor Brain's Portal to summon the demonic entity Gazoom — and instead of obeying her commands, Gazoom ate her without a second thought then went back the way he came. The heroes and villains agreed to call it a tie and cease fighting for the day, each group going its separate way, though Evening warned Doctor Brain that he wouldn't forget what Brain had helped do on this day. (COMIC: Meanwhile, In Queens)
Fighting the Cosmic Solution
Back at the Fortress of Evening, the Captain and the Odds prepared to part ways, as Centennia had decided that she didn't feel up to being part of a team full-time after all, and Armstrong intended to take Merv the Griffin and the Blue Knight on a road trip to show them the sights of modern-day Earth. However, as they were about to toast to the good times they had, they received a call for help from the Mayor, (COMIC: Meanwhile, In Queens) as a robot known as the Cosmic Solution had begun attacking New York City (having actually been sent by the Cosmic Order to carry out the destruction of humanity following Armagedda's failure) Although a small team summoned by Robot Madison, comprising Mysto the Space-Wizard, Terry Tornado, the Big Bad Wolf, Red Riding Hood and the Human Tree, got there first, the Captain soon answered the call, leading the remaining Odds into battle on his Skycycle.
He quickly took charge, ordering Centennia, Merv, the Human Tree, and anyone else noted for physical strength to try and keep the robot contained while he worked out a longer-term solution with Robot Madison. With Hank Richards's surprise contribution, they managed to work out a plan to distract the robot and drain power from him, but this progress was all undone when the Protectors showed up late on the scene and ignored the other heroes' advice, hitting the Robot directly and therefore powering him back up, stronger than ever. The Captain received a direct blast of fire from the robot's now gigantic fingers, as did Robot Madison, and was significantly frazzled by the experience, although not visibly injured. When the Cosmic Solution eventually returned to outer space of its own accord after being called off by yet another agent of the Cosmic Order, the Captain was barely standing, helped to his feet by Merv. (COMIC: Journey Out Of Misery)
A vacation
The Odds (now joined by the real Jenny Everywhere) were offered a vacation by the mysterious Mr Montibar, and flew to the equally-mysterious, magical Kokotomo Island, where dreams could magically come true for a limited period of time. Rather than something more elaborate, the Captain mostly elected to relax on the beach, as did Jenny and Centennia, who ultimately decided to stick around on Kokotomo while the Captain, Merv, Armstrong and the Blue Knight returned home to resume their superheroics. (COMIC: Tales To Behold Halloween Cameo Caper 2014) The captain was later reunited with his old friends, Kaza and Gwenna. (Kokotomo (Kaza's Mate, Gwenna comic story)
The Odds, now reduced to the Captain, Armstrong, Merv and the Blue Knight, finally went on the low-key road-trip in the American countryside that Armstrong had initially suggested, trying to forget their troubles and simply enjoy life, camping out in the countryside at night. Eventually, however, during one particular pit-stop near a creek, they ran into trouble as a duo of corrupt, drug-trafficking policemen knocked out Armstrong, Merv and the Knight with tranquiliser darts and took them prisoners, afraid that the heroes would meddle in their trafficking.
They missed the Captain, however, who had gotten knocked out as part of an unrelated accident while away from the group; teaming up with a young, naïve and surprisingly athletic Sheriff, who knew nothing of her subordinates' corruption, he found the drug-dealers' lair and helped his friends break out, after which they easily overpowered the villains — while their leader Druggo had previously claimed to have superpowers, he turned out to be delusional. The Odds then went for a midnight swim in the creek with the Sheriff, who needed some time to relax and rethink things. As he advised her on how to deal with this betrayal, the Captain realised that he needed to take his own advice to her to ultimately “just keep going”, and decreed that the Odds should return to New York as there was “work to be done”. (COMIC: Road Trip Of No Return) Returning to New York, the Odds joined with numerous other heroes to offer their help to Professor Madison in her work rebuilding after the damage dealt to the city by the Solution. (PROSE: Epilogue to Destruction)
Against the Shadow Queen
When the Shadow Queen attacked New York City, the Odds — the Captain, Armstrong Fatbuckle, Merv the Griffin and the Blue Knight — responded almost immediately. Despite their speed, they did not fare well in their first battle against the Queen's shadow-warriors, who were intangible when they tried to punch them, but very much capable of dealing damage to flesh-and-blood opponents. Only the setting of the sun brought an end to the fight, forcing the Queen to retreat lest her shadows dissolve into the darkness of the night. However, the Captain managed to hurl a tracking device at her.
In the middle of the night, the Odds followed the tracking device to the Queen's house, where they distracted her by cutting off her electricity. In the confusion, they stole her Shadow-Ray and, getting Professor Madison to walk them through it over video-phone, reprogrammed it to create shadow-beings loyal to them rather than the Queen. When they attacked the Queen and her shadows openly, it was with the help of the Shadow Odds, living versions of their own shadows (including a Shadow-Captain-Evening, who handily beat the Queen's warriors. After she surrendered and was taken into custody, the Captain was interviewed by Amanda Allen, explaining how they'd beaten the Queen. At Armstrong's suggestion, the Odds then took possession of the Queen's Flying Platform, which they used to chase down remaining evil shadows, returning them to normal using the Reverse-Shadow-Ray. (COMIC: Chasing Shadows)
The Kate Five debacle
Like the others (save Armstrong), he was lounging on the roof, preparing to play a game of strip poker with his friends, when British metahuman Kate Five arrived at the Fortress. Kate, who was under the control of her evil symbiote at the time, dispatched Armstrong before going up to the roof and persuading the Odds to play a drinking game instead, using a bottle of alcohol that she'd secretly drugged. With all the other teammembers unconscious, it fell to Centennia to defeat Kate Five with the help of Armstrong's disembodied arm. After she did so and all the other Odds were awoken, Jung-La and Merv took it upon themselves to hunt for the symbiote itself, which had been dismissed from Kate's body by Centennia and had subsequently fled. They were unsuccessful in locating it, however, and it ambushed Kate and possessed her again just after she left the Odds' company intent on returning home to make amends. (COMIC: Symbiote Surprise)
Zombie Captain Evening
In one universe where “everyone was a zombie”, Captain Evening was no exception, looking like a dull-witted, undead version of his Reality Z-25 31-H self. In this latter reality, when faced with Merv the Griffin, who was magically compelled to “kill Captain Evening”, “Jenny Everywhere” quickly switched out her Captain Evening for the zombie one. Merv hit him with what would have been a fatal blow, satisfying the magical compulsion and therefore freeing him. She then brought the real Captain Evening back. Notably, the zombie Captain Evening then just wandered off and was not actually returned to his homeworld. (COMIC: For Whom The Toll Bells)
Still having heroic instincts like the living version of the Captain in spite of everything, the zombie Captain thus proceeded to try to fight crime and be generally heroic in the living New York City. After he stopped an armed robbery in the East Village, he was reported upon by the Hero Hour TV program, who described him as a “strange doppelganger” of the one who was to them the “real” Captain Evening. (COMIC: Interview With A Superhero)
| Recurring elements of The Cosmic Beholder | ||||||||||
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