Kevin Matchstick (The Pendragon)

Kevin Matchstick is the hero and protagonist of the graphic novel series Mage that started in 1984 with the title Mage: The Hero Discovered continued in 1997 with Mage: The Hero Defined and began again in 2017 with the last installment, Mage: The Hero Denied.
==Origin==
Kevin Matchstick was a normal man with an average life until he met the World-Mage Mirth. From that point, Kevin found that he had inherited mystical powers as a heroic avatar to protect humanity from evil magical forces and creatures.
==History==
=== The Hero Discovered ===
Kevin Matchstick was an ordinary yet an alienated young man until one night while coming home from work, he met a mysterious stranger. Kevin, normally a quiet and reticent man, opens up to the vagrant. The two discuss personal philosophies until Kevin goes on his way. Later, Kevin sees a homeless man being preyed upon by several unknown assailants and feels the urge to intervene and save the helpless old man.In the days to follow Kevin becomes involved in several other attacks.  Over this time, Kevin finds that he has several super-human abilities such as enhanced strength, durability, and stamina. Later Kevin meets up with the vagrant he talked to earlier to find out that the mysterious young man is the powerful World-Mage named Mirth. Eventually, Mirth enlists Kevin in the war of light against darkness, and they fight all manner of evil creature, gathering friends to help along the way. In the end, after all of their friends have died protecting Kevin while he was most vulnerable, Mirth finally reveals that Kevin is an avatar, one of many men and women chosen to carry the title and power of a magical hero, with Kevin being named The Pendragon, a title previously carried by the legendary hero King Arthur while Mirth is one of the many incarnations of the wizard Merlin. Kevin's mission is to defend the Fisher King who's blood can be used in a ritual to tip the balance of the war in favor of the darkness. Taking up the magical bat held by a his dear friend Edsel after her death. The bat was in fact the legendary Excalibur and Edsel was a decedent of the Lady of the Lake. Taking the bat and claiming his destiny, Kevin defeats the Umbra Sprite and becomes the Hero of a new age of magic.
==Powers and Abilities==
Kevin's powers stem from the fact that he is the latest avatar for a force of magical power that was held by several previous ancient heroes including King Arthur Pendragon and Gilgamesh the Sumerian. Kevin has demonstrated super strength, invulnerability, and heightened durability at various times. He described his powers this way in The Hero Defined: "So long as I'm in (the Bat's) general vicinity, I'm fairly resistant to harm. More so, if it's in-hand. Normally I'm right-handed but--with the Bat--my aim and dexterity are flawless. My balance and agility, precise." At this point he holds the bat horizontally between his hands and does a handstand, with the Bat balanced on a small rock like a see-saw.
=== Durability ===
As The Pendragon, Kevin is much more durable than an average mortal man. He survived being run over by a several-car subway train with no effects whatsoever. He fell 5 or 6 stories, and later was thrown from the top of a football stadium to the field with no ill effect. He jumped from the top of an elevator shaft and fell through the elevator car and to the bottom of the shaft without being hurt. The Umbra Sprite commented that Matchstick is "beyond any harm this world has to offer him." which means that Kevin is most likely invulnerable to any force that isn't imbued with or inflicted by magic.
=== Strength ===
As The Pendragon, Kevin is super-humanly strong and capable of lifting and moving weight far in excess of what an average mortal man should be capable of. He kicked a Grackleflint up and behind him perhaps 20-40' against a wall. He punched a hole in a brick wall. He jumped onto the field goal posts of a football field and ripped a post off, then beat an ogre to "death" with it. He easily threw a cinder-block through the air. He ripped the bars off a jail cell. He kicked his foot through a car door. He easily lifted a piano. He lept from the top of one skyscraper to the top of another across the street; Mirth said that he had to make sure to too jump too far when attempting this. Most impressively, he flipped over the enormous dead body of Cromm Cruich, which would have weighed a hundred of tons or more, with one hand.
=== The Bat (Excalibur) ===
His greatest powers so far, however stemmed from his use of a magic baseball bat which is the modern shape of the sword Excalibur. When Mirth first revealed its magic, he said it would act similarly to a cattleprod, and this seemed to be borne out when Edsel used it. However, once Kevin took it on, its magic fully asserted itself, and it became much more powerful, enabling him to kill many faerie monsters. The Bat was usually powerful enough to destroy a "nasty" in one stroke. However for more powerful creatures it may take several hits to destroy them. In The Hero Defined, Kevin was also able to use it to fire energy blasts. It could return to his hand when he throws it by his force of will. He could use it to block magical attacks and heal injuries or recharge someone's health, including mortal wounds.
Kevin's powers come from the faerie realms, the source of all the avatars' powers, as well as the source of power for the World Mage and the evil faerie creatures. Originally, it was said that the Bat was the conduit for his power. However, he eventually destroyed and yet he still retained his powers. Mirth later explained that the power was inside him and he didn't need the bat to use his power. Years later, it is shown that Excalibur was not a physical weapon but a power wielded by The Pendragon and that any object in Kevin's hand can be infused with his energy and become Excalibur. The durability and strength of each version of Excalibur depends on the object used with a twig being shown to destroy rock but still be brittle and break, to a steel sign post capable of battering and destroying an entire zombie horde. Kevin call the ability to infuse objects and make them into Excalibur, "drawing Excalibur".
Category:Superheroes
Category:The Chosen One
Category:Honorable
Category:Fighters
Category:One-Man Army
Category:Rescuers
Category:Protectors
Category:Legacy
Category:Neutral Good
Category:Hope Bringers
Category:Determinators
Category:Cosmic Protection
Category:Successors
Category:Parents