Young Plutonian

Young Plutonian is a second version of the legendary hero hailing from an alternate timeline. He appears exactly as the original Plutonian did when he made his public debut in 1979. Due to interference in his upbringing by the villainous Time Wizard, it is unknown whether he should be considered a hero or villain.

## Biography

Born Daniel Hartigan, Young Plutonian was raised by adoptive parents in Nebraska until he was abducted by the Time Wizard. A master manipulator, the Time Wizard began a steady brainwashing program to bring the young hero to welcome the Time Wizard as a mentor and friend. The Time Wizard repeated this process several times, going back in time to try again and again, until he was successful in totally bending the Plutonian to his will.

He used Young Plutonian as his ace-in-the-hole when the Contenders confronted him at his Dubai compound. Unfortunately for the Time Wizard, he had neglected the boy's combat training, and despite the Plutonian's incredible strength he was unable to defeat the more seasoned heroes. Disgusted, the Time Wizard charged him with Chroniton particles and then left the boy to fend for himself while he fled the battle.

Young Plutonian was driven into a rage at the thought that the Time Wizard, whom he believed was humanity's only hope of salvation, had been driven away by the heroes. But his brainwashing had only skewed his essentially good nature, not erased it; the strike team was able to talk him down from his rampage, and convinced him to at least attempt to save the Earth.

Leaving the heroes to come up with a suitable plan, Young Plutonian raced off, already heeding the cries for help from around the globe. Knowing that it wasn't fair to judge the world when he knew so little of it, he decided to join the Tiger Squad, China's state-run superteam, in order to help his beloved country while he learned more of this world's conflicts and politics. He quickly became disgusted with the human rights abuses he saw, however, particularly the labor camps where Chinese mutants were imprisoned. With the help of the Contenders, he broke with the Tiger Squad and liberated one of these camps, defeating several of his former allies in the process.

## Personality

LIke the original Plutonian, his younger version is a caring and selfless hero. But the Time Wizard's manipulations have left their mark: he is willing to cross lines that the original never would. He sees no issue with a few deaths to protect the world, and excused the Time Wizard's cruelty (though he had some reservations) as necessary to saving humanity from extinction.

Now that his mentor has fled the timeline, it is unclear how Young Plutonian will act, though it seems that he is still driven to help others no matter the cost.

## Powers

Although not nearly as strong as the original Plutonian in his prime, Young Plutonian is extremely powerful in his own right. He has demonstrated super strength and invulnerability that would be the envy of even the toughest bricks, in addition to the ability to fire beams of energy from his eyes. He can move at incredible speeds, even circling the globe in seconds.

He has enhanced senses as well, including x-ray vision and an accute sense of touch that allows him to detect subtle vibrations in the air. He was most famed for his amazing super-hearing, which granted him the ability to hear a cry for help from across the globe.

The original Plutonian displayed many unusual powers over the course of his career. It is unclear if Young Plutonian has these abilities, or if he doesn't, whether he will develop them in time.

Recently, Young Plutonian has been seen to display some crude forms of Chroniton manipulation, reminiscent of the Time Wizard's unique powers. He seems unaware of these abilities, indicating that he may be using these powers unconsciously.

## Weaknesses

The Plutonian had a well-known weakness to Illudium, an extremely rare metal found primarily in the remnants of meteorites. Approaching this metal caused the Plutonian to suffer weakness, dizziness, and diminishing powers; it is likely that the Young Plutonian suffers the same weakness, though this has not been tested yet.

The Time Wizard furnished Young Plutonian with an amygdala implant, based on the design invented by the KGB for Old Mentat, that provided him excellent defense against mental attacks. Unfortunately, the flaws of this design have given Young Plutonian a weakness to electrical attacks that the original Plutonian never had.