John Wright

John Wright, also known as the Commander, is a public hero, the leader of the Set, and Ernest's father.
==Biography==
===The Knight===
When John was in his early teens, he convinced his friend Corbin Underwood that the two of them should be using their powers to help others. The two began fighting crime as vigilantes, calling themselves the Knight and the Rook. They worked internationally, essentially as espionage experts: John was a bodyguard-for-hire and Corbin as a brutally effective mercenary. Corbin did most of the dirty work, wanting to protect John from the ugly side of the job.quipquipquip: Things To Know About Corbin Underwood
While on a mission in England, Corbin and John encountered Amira bint Balqis, a young intelligence agent who had already been monitoring the Rook and the Knight with some interest. When their mission went pear-shaped, Amira bailed them out. She saw immediately that they were in sore need of guidance, and joined them as their Queen.
As the Set, Corbin, John and Amira were one of the first successful heroic teams, but by the time they were in their late teens and early twenties, the friction between them had reached breaking point. Corbin's self-hatred was difficult to be around, Amira was either ignored by the press or portrayed as an oppressed Muslim woman, and John's burgeoning popularity made both of these things hard to cope with. The trio disbanded.
===The Commander===
John did not cope well. Feeling abandoned by his best friend, he drowned his sorrows in alcohol and wound up drunkenly crashing into a barn in Texas. There, he was found by Roxanne Grant, who helped him to get cleaned up, fed up and back on his feet. She was an androgynous teenager, and John initially assumed she was a boy; Roxy, eager to escape her small town, took advantage of his, introducing herself as "Roy" and begging John to train her. His protests proved entirely ineffectual and, with Roxy's brothers' blessing, she became his sidekick. Each helped the other towards a fresh start, Roxy as the Champ and John in a new heroic identity as the Commander.quipquipquip: Things to Know About Rosario Galán-Grant
Initially, the pair had success as crime fighters, and John in particular became America's new sweetheart. But although John had trained Roxy in combat, she was largely ignorant in other areas, such as the law. Both made mistakes and took unnecessary risks. When the Champ's carelessness caused evidence in a child pornography case to be tainted and a criminal to walk free, she was roasted in the media. In the wake of the scandal, the BPHA gave a strongly-worded suggestion that the Commander and his sidekick step back from the public eye for a while.Origins, Issue #2, p. 67Secret Identities
They retreated to Maillardet's Academy, where John became a combat instructor. Roxy came clean to John, admitting that she had been masquerading as a boy, and was surprised to find that he already knew. He had figured out early on in their partnership that she was female-bodied, but his friendship with the genderqueer Corbin had taught him that a person was whatever they said they were, so he had accepted "Roy" without question.
The Set eventually reformed, with Corbin going public as the Rook.
===Gloria===
Gloria Goldstein is a pink-band poster and so-called villainess with the power to produce pheromones with which she can attract and influence others. It is an uncontrolled power, one which she cannot turn off, although she has certainly used it to profit herself in the past, hence the 'villainess' label. John was the first person she had met who was not affected by her powers, and the two quickly fell in love, eventually marrying when John was in his later thirties.quipquipquip: "Things to Know About Ernest Wright"
This alarmed the Foundation, which believed John had succumbed to Gloria's influence. Both protested that this was not the case, but as they were unable to provide any solid proof, their word held little weight. The marriage was annulled, Gloria was institutionalized, and the moment she gave birth to her son, he was taken away from her. Fortunately for Ernest, his super strength began developing in utero, assuaging the Foundation's fears that he might inherit his mother's pheromone powers, and John was allowed to raise his son himself.quipquipquip: "Does the public know that Gloria is Ernest's mom?"
Although it is well-known that John was briefly married to a woman named Gloria, the full story is known only to a few. The official version manufactured by John's PR team is that the relationship ended after Matt Underwood's grisly murder, which happened less than a month after their marriage, gave Gloria cold feet. She was frightened that the Commander's enemies would attempt to get to him through her, and so sought an annulment. She left Ernest in John's care because she believed he would be the safest there. This caused John's popularity to skyrocket, as the public saw him as "a strong, heroic man bravely choosing to continue fighting The Good Fight, even though it meant being abandoned by his fickle baseliner lover".
===At the Academy===
John and Ernest live on campus, in a small clearing off the main path well into the forest underbrush.Origins, Issue #2
Besides his duties as a public hero, John teaches two classes at the Foundation. He usually gives new students the campus tour, although he was forced to miss it due to Corbin Underwood's funeral the year Ernest started his third block. He has enough influence with the governing board of Foundation to pull some strings and get them to change Ernest's partner from fellow high scorer Dylan Walsh to newcomer June Hovick, though not enough to keep them from changing Mal Underwood's score from a 48 to a 17. He announced scores and partners to the third-block students at the forum. After an enraged Mal stormed out, John found him in the training room and attempted to reassure him.Origins, Issue #1
==Personality==
“What doesn’t worry that man? ... but his paranoia is equal only to his stubbornness.”Origins Issue #2
“People follow John out of love and respect. He can rally the masses and command their attention in ways I cannot, but for all his charisma and drive, he lacks all but the most basic understanding of military strategy. People expect it of him, so when the public looks to him, he looks to Amira."Origins, Issue #7, p. 318
John believed that it [what it meant to be a hero] meant bodily putting himself between innocents and harm’s way,quipquipquip: "Things To Know About Mal Underwood"
==Physical appearance==
John is 6’4”, white and muscular, with blond hair and blue eyes.quipquipquip: "So does heterosexism exist in this world, or is that not an issue at all?" He does not age like most people, so although he is nearly fifty, he looks about twenty years younger.Origins, Issue #1, p. 27
==Powers and abilities==
John is an orange-band Alpha with greatly enhanced strength and durability. He has an enhanced metabolism, and as a result his core body temperature is warmer than an average baseliner's.quipquipquip: "Do the Wrights' body temps run higher than baseliners?"
==Relationships==
===Corbin Underwood===
All of the old news articles— and all of the framed pictures in their home— showed that John Wright and Corbin Underwood had been best friends, once upon a time. There was undeniable proof of it. In every photo, they stood side-by-side and hip-to-hip. But for as long as Ernest could remember, Corbin had been a name that he hesitated to use, like a dirty word or a curse. His dad and Mal’s dad had been friends, but that era had ended before either of them were born.Origins, Issue #1
===Ernest Wright===
===Gloria Wright===
His handlers avoid mentioning Gloria if at all possible. If unavoidable they characterize John as the injured party vs Gloria's "lies and seduction."quipquipquip: "re: Gloria being Jewish- does Ernest consider himself Jewish?"
==Trivia==
*He has punched evil dictators from badwrong dimensions in the face.quipquipquip: "Will there be heterosexual representation supporting and not finding the other sexualities unusual?"
*John was only the Knight from ages fourteen through nineteen, and he was unable to go back to it after the Set reassembled.quipquipquip: "Convince Ernest to change his moniker to The Strongman" He has used the moniker Commander for approximately 30 years, but this has not stopped people from still referring to him as Knight.quipquipquip: "Things to Know About Monikers"
*John is Christian but not a specified denomination.
*John has no sense of direction.quipquipquip: "John is a ferocious yet polite hero who "routinely gets lost in the woods"."
*If John were at Hogwarts, he'd be a Hufflepuff.quipquipquip: "Hogwarts houses"
==Appearances==
*Origins
*Abuelito
*Bad Things Happen
*Grinder (mentioned)
*Gunsmoke
*Secret Identities
*Say Please
*Castling: Part One (mentioned)
*Castling: Part Two
*Target Practice (mentioned)
==References==
Category:Characters
Category:Orange-bands
Category:Alphas
Category:Public heroes
Category:Origins characters
Category:Say Please characters
Category:Secret Identities characters