Albert Norman Griffins (Earth-418)

"I'm no fighter. I don't like battles, not directly. I'm a man of the mind; learning, teaching. And yes, truth be told I have fought in the past, and it's never ended well - for either side. Just because my mutations know no limit doesn't mean I won't limit myself."—Norman GriffinsProfessor Albert Norman Griffins, also known as a Doctor or a Sir with his name usually shortened to just Norman Griffins is a Deputy Head Master as Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as well as an overseer for the X-Men. Furthermore, Norman was the founder and leader of The Keepers, a team of heroes he formed in order to combat The Organization; the group disbanding following the defeat of The Organization. He is also the unknowing father of Jared Nyman.
Being a mutant of unbelievable ability himself (or at least assumed to be a mutant), Norman is able to absorb all the abilities of any power around him for an unlimited amount of time, keeping them from any distance in the surrounding area. This has allowed Norman to live for an unknown number of years as well as have a nigh-unlimited list of abilities be them from other mutants, mutates, sorcerers and more. Norman however isn't a man to use his abilities to fight, rather simply to protect and teach, being an actual teacher as the school he works at rather than just an authoritative figure.
==Biography ==
===Before 2025===
Little is known about Norman's history due to his long lifespan and is refusal to speak in detail about it.
What is known however is that Norman is a Mutant, however this is technically just a strong assumption. Furthermore though not many know of his seeming immortality, those who do know he is at the very least over 300 years old.
He has also been known to on record state that he, in the past, had a loose connection to The Organization, and The Emperor himself - though that trail as of then led nowhere despite people's investigations. He has also been teaching at Xavier’s School for at least 40-50 years which comes as a surprise to many due to his seeming youth. During the time before 2025 he also met Raymond Reddington, someone who he'd in future have strong connections with.
Theory also has it that Norman once had a family whom he cherished very much, though due to his unnatural lifespan they all died, many of natural causes and some due to violence. Norman rarely comments on questions about this theory, implying it's truthful background however it has never been confirmed nor denied. The closest Norman has ever gotten to nearly confirming it is simply when he states that he has "lost so much" in his long life.
===Approached by Amanda Waller===
On the 23rd April 2025, Norman was approached Amanda Waller, a governmental figure and the leader of Taskforce X. Amanda approached Norman via bursting into his classroom mid-lesson at X-Mansion and insisting he give up information on The Emperor, leader of The Organization. She simply assumed he would have such information due to his old age and the rumours of him having something of a connection to The Emperor, though this was never proved.
Norman refused to give any information up, insisting he didn't know anything other than how powerful The Emperor was and in fact confirmed the fact he did know of The Emperor before The Organization existed. Despite this, Norman never gave up The Emperor's name for an unknown reason. Amanda, irritated by this, tried to threaten the Professor which simply didn't work. She eventually simply gave him a card with a number on it, insisting he may need it when he is "being subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Community" - something Norman didn't seem to care for.
The interaction ended with Norman using his telepathy to make Amanda and her troops leave the school, hoping for her never to return though deep down he knew she would. It was soon after this encounter where Norman began to ponder the idea of a team to fight against The Organization as, despite the fact Norman could fight them head-on, he'd rather keep a back seat due to his guilt over his sheer power levels compared to others. This team wouldn't be formed for a number of months.
===The Formation of The Keepers===
====Meetings with a Criminal====
===== Coffee with a Criminal =====
Norman eventually decided to act, arranging a meeting with Raymond Reddington, a known Criminal Anti-Hero Griffins had met in the past. The pair met at a Café by the Washington Monument. They discussed the idea of a potential new team acting as a "Rebirth Version 2". Despite Reddington being against the idea initially, Norman was able to convince the man to assist in the team's development through his experience, resources and funding.
===== Party at Sinaloa=====
At a later date, Norman accompanied Reddington to a party. The party was for the daughter of Camila Vargas, it being her 16th Birthday. However Reddington and Norman where there for a different reason - a business deal. The business was concerning Camila's at-the-time war with the Columbian Cartel due to a stolen shipment of Cocaine which was interfering with Raymond's business.
Upon discussing the details of the situation, Norman got concerned about the amount of money made and stolen over death. This led to a light debate over the morality of the situation before Reddington and Camila took over the conversation and came to a deal.
After leaving, Reddington and Norman discussed the future of The Keepers team, Norman hoping to use the old Rebirth Island as the HQ for the team.
====Finding The Blood Child====
At some point after the agreement between Reddington and Griffins, Norman visited the Avalon HQ to meet with a young girl him and Charles Xavier had known of for a while by that point: Amara Blood. Norman visited her during one of her nightmares, him using his telepathic powers to pull her out of the nightmare.
Norman and Amara spoke briefly about herself at Avalon, Norman introducing himself, before the pair moved to see X-Mansion, Norman wishing to give Amara a tour. Amara and Norman then discussed a great many things such as her past, her morals and everything in between before she eventually agree to join Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as one of his students. Amara would later learn of The Keepers existing and would join as a full-time member.
====The Twins ====
===== Finding Weapon Hex =====
After hearing a theory that something or someone of immense power would be appearing in the French Alps on April 17 2025, Norman couldn't resist but find himself searching around there on that day. However, all Norman would find was a woman who'd been apparently torn apart with runes floating around her. After casting a protective spell around the pair and awakening her, the woman would awaken to inform she knew nothing of who she was or where she'd come from prior. The pair soon exchanged names, her remembering her name only to be Weapon Hex. 
Eventually Norman convinced Weapon Hex to join him back to X-Mansion as to help her discover her past. Here Norman was given permission to look into her mind to retrieve her name as 'Laura Kinney', the same name as X-23 - the mutant clone of Wolverine - which confuses Norman and brings him to the realisation that 'Weapon Hex' was another genetic clone of X-23 and/or Wolverine merged with another mutant he theorises to be the Scarlet Witch. After gaining large flashbacks and reliving memories suddenly, Norman is forced to send Weapon Hex to sleep to ensure she doesn't cause any accidental damage.
After waking up, Laura opted to leave Norman in hopes of finding Gavrill, another mutated clone whom Laura had been seeing visions of, despite Norman's wishes for Laura to leave as he'd advised her to stay at the X-Mansion and stay as safe as possible. Laura agreed to later return with Gavrill, the person Norman doubted even existed due to Laura's bad mental state at the time. Norman doubted Laura would return, leaving him waiting for her while he'd continue to do other things.
===== The Speedster =====
After Garvill (with Elfilin) appeared in his presence within his office at the X-Mansion, Norman realised Laura was in danger and, after reading Speed Weasel's mind, he'd see Laura was battling Iron Man in New York who was hunting the twins for experiments which would lead to their "sacrifice for the greater good" according to Stark. This led Norman to intervene and teleport Laura back to the X-Mansion.
The three then discussed the situation where Norman suggested they stay in the X-Mansion until the Keepers HQ would be ready for Norman to assemble a team to ensure they can combat the new threat of Stark and, furthermore, The Organization at a later date. The trio agreed to stay with Norman, Laura specifically stating she trusted Norman to keep them safe and help them stop Stark and whoever Stark was working for.
==== Coming across the Good Man====
At some point in time Norman was able to recruit Steve Rogers, also known as 'The Captain' and once 'Captain America', onto The Keepers.
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==== The Man with the Monster ====
At some point in time Norman was able to recruit Michael Morbius onto The Keepers.
[NEEDS EXPANSION]
==Personality==
Kind, calm and eager to help for the chaotic good, this man is the perfect teacher for many students. Norman is quite the patient man, but once his patience breaks he can be scarier than the devil himself. The power behind his kind and warm façade is something that makes him a far greater threat than most would imagine. However, Norman is not a fighter meaning he is unlikely to ever wish to fight anyone, however on occasion he has known to duel against his foes in a defensive manner as he isn't the fondest of violence.
==Physical Appearance ==
Norman looks around the age of a man in their late 40s having the energy and physicality of a man in his prime and beyond. He has slicked back brown hair with a large brown beard, all of his hair having grey specs and hairs throughout. He also has brown eyes and is around 5 foot 10 inches in height and 191 pounds in weight.
He tends to wear very refined clothes which mirror those of a 1920s time period. This results in many suits and ties being worn, mainly in brown, grey or blue colours however he has been known to wear other colours. His usual outfit contains a grey three-piece suit with an optional large grey (or blue in some accounts) trench coat and matching fedora hat for outside use. He also occasionally wears a scarf. All of his clothes are theorised to have some kind of enchantment on them to allow them to be far more durable and fantastical than you would expect such as having seemingly infinitely deep pockets and his clothes being fire and water proof among being resistant to other attacks.
==Powers and Abilities==
===Powers===
*Power Absorption - Norman can absorb people's abilities but this Mutant can not only turn on and off the ability, but physical contact isn't needed, you just need to enter a radius around him. Also you aren't crippled and start dying if he absorbs anything from you - though he can do that if he wants to as well. He can also keep the powers he absorbs meaning over the years he's become extremely powerful. This means his power set is so long it is practically unlimited. He can also be-rid of any powers or abilities he has absorbed willingly, to gain it back he must reabsorb it. However some of his other abilities ensure this isn't strictly needed.
**Nigh-Immortality: The extent of Norman's immortality is unknown, no one but a very few people knowing of it being a power he possesses. However Noman is extremely old without much ageing occurring.
**Restriction Rejection - Unlike most Mutants, Norman is able to resist Inhibitor Collars, meaning if one is put on him he is still able to use his powers in any way he likes.
**Healing Factor
**Telekinesis
**Sorcery
**Telepathy
**Weather Manipulation
**Temperature Manipulation
**Light Manipulation
**Reality Warping
**Matter Manipulation
**Portal Casting
(Norman has many more powers via his absorption ability however it is impossible to list them all.)
*Mastery of Mystic Magic: Norman is a Master of the Mystic Arts, so much so that he is on a similar level to Doctor Strange himself, if not beyond him.
===Abilities===
*Genius Intellect - Norman has an IQ of an estimated 900+.
*Great Negotiator - Norman is a master of negotiating thanks to his persuasion skills and want for equal good.
*Teaching Capabilities - Being a teacher, Norman is great at explaining any concept to the simple minded in a way they would be able to grasp.
*Perception - Norman has and eidetic memory so can memorize anything on sight.
*Extremely Persuasive
*Master of Manipulation - Norman is very easily able to convince anyone to join him and any cause he has, though this may be a testament to his telepathy.
==Weaknesses==
*Emotional Attachments - Norman's attachment to friends and/or family can cause him to do things out of emotion on occasion, though due to his seeming lack of family this is rare though becomes more common with more friends he makes.
*Unwillingness to Fight - Norman refuses to fight directly a lot meaning he will likely need others to fight either for him or in place of him which can cause battles for the good to be lost.
*Stubbornness - Sometimes Norman can be very stubborn and set in his ways which can sometimes blind him to what needs to be done.
==Equipment ==
*Clothes - He tends to wear very refined clothes which mirror those of a 1920s time period. This results in many suits and ties being worn, mainly in brown, grey or blue colours however he has been known to wear other colours. His usual outfit contains a grey three-piece suit with an optional large blue trench coat and matching fedora hat for outside use. He also occasionally wears a scarf. All of his clothes are theorised to have some kind of enchantment on them to allow them to be far more durable and fantastical than you would expect such as having seemingly infinitely deep pockets and his clothes being fire and water proof among being resistant to other attacks.
==Relationships==
===Family===
* Jared Nyman - Son
** Unknown Former Partner - Jared's Mother
===Allies===
* X-Men
** Charles Xavier - Close Friend
*The Keepers - Leader and Founder
**Raymond Reddington- Financer and Old Ally
**Amara Blood - Student and Friend
**Laura Kinney - Ally and Member
**Gavrill Kinney - Ally and Member
**Michael Morbius - Ally and Member
**Steve Rogers - Ally and Member
*Avalon
**Batman
*Doctor Strange - Close Friend
*Taskforce X
**Amanda Waller - Occasional Ally, but not Friend
*Santa Claus - Old and Good Friend
*The Doctor - Old and Good Friend
===Enemies===
*The Organization
**The Emperor - Organization Leader and (possible) Former Ally
==Trivia==
*Norman is officially pen-pals with Santa Claus, the pair writing to each other back and forth throughout the year, occasionally meeting up.
*In reality (irl), the character of Norman Griffins was inspired by the character of Albus Dumbledore from the Fantastic Beasts series of movies within the Harry Potter fandom. This version of Albus is also portrayed physically by actor Jude Law.
Category:Characters
Category:Heroes
Category:Earth-418 Characters