Sportsmaster (Stargirl TV Series)

Lawrence "Larry" Crock, also known as Crusher, was a major antagonist turned antihero in The CW and DC Universe series . He is a reformed criminal, a former member of the Injustice Society of America, the husband of Paula Brooks and the father of Artemis Crock
 
==Biography==
 
===Background===
Lawrence Crock was born in the 1970s. He had a strict and possibly abusive father who taught him to endure pain, presumably explaining Larry's violent tendencies. Larry eventually became an accomplished athlete, like his daughter, and became known as "The Crusher." However, he eventually retired and turned to a life of crime as Sportsmaster, a criminal supervillain who used sports equipment-based powers. He made his debut as an enemy of Wildcat and Green Lantern. Larry was eventually recruited into the Injustice Society, where he met and fell in love with fellow ISA teammate, Paula Brooks/Tigress. They later married and had a daughter together, Artemis.
 
After killing most of the JSA members on December 24, 2010, Sportsmaster retired his vigilante career. He and Paula moved their family to Blue Valley to accommodate for Jordan Mahkent/Icicle's plans for Project New America. Larry opened a gym and Paula became the school's coach. They supported their daughter, Artemis, and were prouder of her when she became the first woman to join the football team at Blue Valley High. However, their daughter's hot temper and violent tendencies caused her to clash with two football coaches. Larry and Paula played a role in killing the coaches or making them "mysteriously disappear." This made them clash with Anaya Bowen, who got tired of them interfering with her school.
 
===Season 1===
When the Dugan-Whitmore family moved to Blue Valley, Pat visits the gym that Larry started and unknowingly meets his enemy from ten years ago. Larry tries to formulate a friendship after Pat comes into his gym a few times, but his former rival is taken aback by his eccentric personality. Larry gives him a few pointers on exercise, taking the man under his wing, apparently unaware of who Pat is. He also attends a parent-teacher conference with the rest of his family, where he and Pat stroke up a conversation. 
 
Later, Larry and Paula are watching their daughter perform her best at football tryouts. However, due to her violent tendencies, Artemis gets frustrated at a tackle, so she punches her teammate in the face. The coach threatens to bench her for the rest of the season, causing Larry and Paula to kill him. As they argue about what to do with the body, Anaya spots them and informs Jordan, who comes to scold the couple for killing a third coach in the past two seasons. 
 
During another football practice, Paula and Larry are given a key card for Empire Enterprises. They lie to Artemis the following night that they are going out on a date. However, they are really breaking into Empire Enterprises. During a fight with the JSA, Sportsmaster confronts Hourman until Stargirl intervenes by coming to her friend's aid. However, Tigress comes to assist her husband, who had managed to fight off Stargirl and divert attacks from her when she tried hitting him with her cosmic staff. They later make their escape. The next day at the ISA meeting, Paula and Larry suggest bringing their children into the fold. However, Anaya and Jordan shoot down their suggestion. 
 
At another ISA meeting, Sportsmaster notices his wife's fear of the Dragon King. 
 
In the series finale, Tigress and Sportsmaster are ordered by Jordan to take out the Dugan and Whitmore family. Despite their twisted friendship, Larry doesn't hesitate to attack Pat before turning his attention to Mike. Before he can hurt him. Pat takes Sportsmaster out with a steel pipe telling him to stay away from his son. Anaya comes to the house, telling her ISA counterparts that Jordan sent him to make sure the couple doesn't ruin their plans for Project New America. Anaya snaps and tells Larry and Paula they are unfit to be parents, blaming them for Artemis' wild animal like her mother. Offended, Tigress kills her rival by shooting her with an arrow through the heart. 
 
During their battle with Blue Valley, Courtney (as Stargirl) successfully knocked them out, winning her rematch. Afterwards, the Crocks are arrested and sent to jail and Artemis is placed with an uncaring foster mother. 
===Season 2===
In the beginning of the season, Artemis goes to visit the prison her parents are in. Larry and Paula break out of prison to see their daughter Artemis's try outs. In the moment of their freedom, Paula and Larry go to Blue Valley and kidnap Mike Dugan, convincing Barbara and Pat to help them see their daughter play on the promise they will break back into prison when the do. Pat asks Larry if jail is anything like Shawshank Redemption but he admits that he never saw the movie. He also inquires Larry about him seeing anyone from the old gang. However, Larry admits that he never really saw anyone on the ISA as friends; in fact, Jordan was the only one he liked. 
Later at the tryouts, Paula and Larry are taken to the field, where Pat tells them to stay quiet. However, Larry and Paula cannot help but support their daughter by shouting her name. Artemis is happy about this but suddenly hallucinates and tackles her own teammates, mistaking them as FBI agents. She is thrown off the team and shares a final goodbye with her parents before they leave and break back into prison. Blaming the JSA for her parents' imprisonment, Artemis joined Cindy Burman's Injustice Unlimited to get revenge on her rivals. However, this ended with Isaac Bowin's death and Cindy being sucked into a portal and into the Shadow Lands by Eclipso.
In the Season 2 finale, Artemis breaks her parents out of prison and they join the JSA in the final fight against Eclipso. In the aftermath, The Crocks visit the Dugan-Whitmore family and tell them that they have moved into the house next door, much to Mike, Courtney, Pat and Barbara's annoyance. 
===Season 3===
 
==Personality==
Larry is without a doubt unhinged and inherently violent, possibly due to his upbringing. Despite his displeasure Ent, he is a caring father. And loving husband, supporting his wife and daughter despite their hot temper. He also shares their violence as well and had his father telling him how to deal with pain, which is without a doubt, an unhealthy coping mechanism. Additionally, when Anaya insulted Artemis as well as Sportsmaster and Tigress' parenting skills, Larry grew angry and praised his wife for her shot when she killed her. He is enthusiastic about working out and eating healthy and often gets upset with his clients when they don't follow those two rules. 
 
During his time in prison, Larry still retains some of his violent tendencies and his love for his wife and daughter. He forms a vitriolic and twisted friendship with Pat after bonding when they hid at the Dugan/Whitmore household. In Season 2 Larry and Paula admit to Artemis that they deserve to be locked up and pay for their crimes. By the end of Season 2, the Crocks move into the house next door, much to the family's annoyance and frustration. In Season 3, both Larry and Artemis change for the better and try convincing Sofus and Lily Mahkent to do the same. However, they refuse.
 
==Powers and Abilities==
 
*Peak Human Condition:
**Fighting Skills:
**Peak Human Strength:
** Peak Human Durability:
** Peak Human Agility
**Peak Human Stamina
*Master Martial Artist
*Marksmanship
*Weapon Proficiency:
==Equipment==
 
*Sportsmaster Suit: Sportsmaster wears this to disguise his human persona and supervillain persona.
*Sports-Based Weapons: True to his name, Sportsmaster uses various weapons disguised as sports equipment. This includes the following: a baseball bat equipped to hit their target at any place, a hockey stick, and a badminton shuttlecock disguised as a flash bomb.
==Trivia==
 
*Stargirl is the first live-action adaptation of Sportsmaster.
*Like the comics, Sportsmaster was part of Green Lantern and Wildcat's rogue gallery. He was also broken out of prison by his daughter Artemis, now a member of Injustice Unlimited similar to how he was in the TV series. However, in-show, Artemis breaks her parents out of prison for their help in defeating Eclipso. 
* He never saw the movie Shawshank Redemption. 
* He is one of the few ISA members to reform, similar to his wife and the Gambler. Incidentally, all three of them were murdered by Icicle.
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