# Kirt Niedrigh

Kirt Niedrigh is a fictional character, a semi-reformed supervillain and former antihero in the DC Comics Universe. Created by Cary Bates and Mike Grell, Niedrigh is a former hopeful for the Legion of Super-Heroes under the guise of Absorbancy Boy. After being rejected from the team, years later he resurfaced as Earth-Man leading a group of supervillains calling themselves the "Justice League of Earth", which help to enforce a xenophobic agenda that Earth has adopted. He first appears in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #218 (July 1976), and reappeared as Earth-Man in Action Comics #858 (Late December 2007), the first part of the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc.

## Fictional character biography
### Absorbancy Boy

As a teenager, Kirt Niedrigh applies for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes as Absorbancy Boy, possessing the ability to duplicate superpowers by absorbing energy. However, he is rejected, in part because Saturn Girl reads his mind and realizes that he has the potential to become evil. Enraged at his rejection, Niedrigh becomes a villain before being defeated by the Legion.

### Earth-Man

Niedrigh resurfaces in the 2007–2008 storyline "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes". Now calling himself Earth-Man, he sows distrust and hatred of aliens around Earth, resulting in it leaving the United Planets and aliens on Earth being captured and deported. Earth-Man allies with several other Legion rejects to form the Justice League of Earth, a group purporting to uphold Superman's ideals.
Earth-Man captures many Legion members, absorbs their powers, and uses Sun Boy to turn Earth's sun red. However, the Legion defeats him and imprisons the League on Takron-Galtos.
In Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, Earth-Man and the JLE join the Legion of Super-Villains. They are defeated, but Earth-Man gains a Green Lantern ring from Dyogene, a creature living inside Oa. However, Dyogene eventually takes the ring back after Earth-Man uses it for evil.
Brainiac 5 later manipulates Earth-Man into reforming and becoming an ally of the Legion. During this time, he sacrifices himself to stop the Bringer of Chaos.

## Powers and abilities

Niedrigh has the ability to absorb and duplicate the superpowers of metahumans and aliens. However he is not able to copy the knowledge or skills, so it will normally take time for him to master a new power. He absorbs energies of people within a certain range of him, anywhere from several feet to a mile radius. He has shown the capacity to manifest numerous powers at the same time. The absorbed powers only last for twelve hours at a time.

## Weaknesses

Earth-Man occasionally shows difficulty in juggling multiple powers, and his body can be overloaded by absorbing too many at once. Usually the Earth-Man loses his duplicated abilities once out of range of the owner, but theoretically due to the length of time spent with them.

## Equipment

As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, he is provided with a Legion Flight Ring. It allows him to fly and protects him from the vacuum of space and other dangerous environments. His ring has however been modified to keep him on a short leash and alter his morality. Earth-Man also temporarily possessed a Green Lantern ring given to him by Dyogene, a creature from within the planet Oa. This gives him all the abilities of the Green Lantern Corps.

## In other media

Kirt Niedrigh appears in Smallville Season 11: Argo as a member of the EarthGov army and Minister at odds with New Krypton.