Josh Diaz

* Human
* Chimera

**Josh Diaz** was a supporting character in Season 5 of *Teen Wolf*. He was first introduced as a club kid who spent a lot of time partying at Sinema, the new nightclub. At some point in the late summer/early autumn of 2012, Josh was captured by the Dread Doctors and experimented on, which caused him to turn into a Chimera. He gained retractable fangs and claws, glowing purple eyes, and the ability to absorb and control electricity, magnetism, and electromagnetic fields.

Shortly after his last round of experimentation, Josh ran around town chewing on electrical cables in order to absorb the energy from them, eventually ending up on the roof of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. After he finished chewing on the cables to the emergency generator, he attacked Stiles Stilinski, who had accidentally wandered onto the roof during a hallucination after he had read *The Dread Doctors* novel by Gabriel Valack. Before Josh could kill him, however, Theo Raeken intervened and started to fight Josh, which ultimately led to Theo ripping out Josh's throat with his claws in self-defense.

The next two nights, Stiles and Theo used Josh's body as bait in an attempt to catch the person who had been stealing the bodies of the dead Chimeras, but though they did lure the thief (who was actually Jordan Parrish in a Hellhound-trance, although no one knew it at the time) to the animal clinic, they were both knocked out by Parrish, allowing him to take Josh's body without interference.

Parrish then brought Josh's body to the Nemeton to place his body with those of the other failed Chimeras, where Josh remained until *Status Asthmaticus*, when Theo used the Dread Doctors' green serum to resurrect him and three other previously deceased Chimeras-- Hayden Romero, Tracy Stewart, and Corey Bryant.

Afterward, Josh joined Theo's pack, though he was reluctant to do so at first; it wasn't until Theo showed him the perks of being pseudo-supernatural and the fun he could have with his powers that Josh really got on board with the pack's mission. Unfortunately for Josh, he became a victim of Theo manipulations once again when Theo killed him a second time and took his Chimera powers, both to practice taking powers from others as well as to have Josh's powers to use for his own ends.

With Josh's powers, Theo was able to put on the Dread Doctor Mask and learn the true identity of the Beast, who he intended to kill by stealing *his* powers, believing the powers he already stole from Josh (and would eventually steal from Tracy) would make him powerful enough to do so.

Josh was a member of the **Chimera Pack** and a student at **Beacon Hills High School**.

## Throughout *Teen Wolf*

### Season 5

Josh was first introduced in *Required Reading*, when he appeared at Sinema during Hayden Romero's shift. He was so under the influence of drugs that he thought his glow stick broke, and when Hayden told him it simply "ran out of glow", Josh asked for his money back. Hayden rolled her eyes and gave him a new glow stick before complaining under her breath that she hated all-ages night.

Josh was then seen by Lydia Martin during a Banshee premonition, where he was pleading with the Dread Doctors not to hurt him. They peeled away a large patch of skin on his abdomen, revealing glowing bluish-purple flesh underneath before The Surgeon determined that his condition was worsening.

He was then apparently set loose some time afterward, where he ran to Beacon Hills High School and consumed all of the electricity in the building's system before he set sight on Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. Once there, he began to chew on the electric cables on the roof to absorb the electricity. When Stiles Stilinski wandered up onto the roof during his hallucination of his repressed memory, Josh mindlessly attacked him until Theo Raeken showed up to defend him. Theo and Josh then began to fight, which ended in Theo ripping out Josh's throat.

In *Strange Frequencies*, Josh's body was stolen from the animal clinic by Jordan Parrish in a Hellhound-trance while Stiles and Theo kept watch over it outside. His body was then taken to the Nemeton to join the other bodies of the dead Chimeras up to that point.

In *Status Asthmaticus*, Josh was resurrected by Theo using the green serum created by the Dread Doctors, along with Hayden Romero, Tracy Stewart, and Corey Bryant. Afterward, Theo informed them that they were now his pack, and he was their new Alpha.

In *Damnatio Memoriae*, Josh was seen leaving Sinema when he was approached by Theo, who asked him how much drugs he had taken that night. Josh angrily replied that he had taken a lot and that he didn't feel anything, which Theo explained was due to his enhanced healing ability, which would prevent him from ever getting drunk on alcohol or high on drugs again.

Josh seemed to resent this side-effect of being a Chimera and claimed that Theo should have just let him stay dead, but Theo assured him there were other ways to get that feeling and helped him siphon electricity from a car battery. This appeared to exhilarate Josh so much that he transformed into his Chimera form, with glowing purple eyes, vicious-looking fangs, and glowing purple claws. Liam Dunbar saw this occur from a safe distance away and immediately left to inform his best friend Mason that Josh, like Hayden, had been brought back to life.

In *Amplification*, Josh, along with the rest of his packmates, invaded Eichen House on Theo's orders. Outside the entrance, Josh sneaked up on a guard, who pulled a taser stick on him, but Josh simply grabbed it and absorbed the energy from the stick, which resulted in his eyes glowing purple. Once the guards were neutralized, Josh, Theo, Tracy, and Corey all entered the main lobby, where they requested that Schrader allow them to see Lydia Martin, who was being used by Gabriel Valack to figure out the identity of the Beast of Gevaudan.

After going in her room, Josh and Corey remarked on the fact that Lydia looked like she was in bad shape as a result of the hole Valack had drilled in her head. When Valack asked what a pack of Chimeras would want with a Banshee, Theo explained that they had no interest in a Banshee, but were instead looking for a Hellhound. Just then, the pack looks shocked by the arrival of Jordan Parrish, who was transformed into his fiery Hellhound form and melted through one of the doors to the closed unit with his pyrokinesis.

In *Lie Ability* at Theo's request, Josh, Corey and Tracy Stewart attacked the unstoppable Hellhound while Theo held Lydia in a choke-hold for additional leverage against Parrish. Josh ripped a pipe off of the wall and grabbed the wires that were covered by it in order to absorb the electricity, causing his claws and eyes to glow purple.

However, when he grabbed Parrish by the arm to both shock and neutralize him, the electricity passed harmlessly through Parrish's body, allowing him to grab Josh in a choke-hold before slamming him onto the ground. Just as Parrish was about to slash at Josh with his claws, Corey appeared and grabbed his arm, holding him back with his super strength to protect his friend. However, Parrish responded to this by bursting into flames, which gave Corey 3rd-degree burns over the majority of his body as a result.

After the fight had ended, Josh picked up Corey and helped him walk through the building in an attempt to find him help. The two eventually found Malia Tate in the morgue with Kira Yukimura, who had recently passed out due to her Thunder Kitsune spirit reacting badly with the telluric currents at Eichen House. When Malia attempted to take Kira's pulse, Josh told her not to touch Kira because he could still feel the powerful electricity coming off of her body. He then offered to help Malia with Kira if she returned the favor by helping Corey, who was still in very bad shape as a result of his burns.

The two brought Corey into the morgue and laid him on the table, where Josh wondered why Corey wasn't healing. Malia guessed that it was most likely because the immense pain from the burns were keeping him from healing, and she offered to take Corey's pain to trigger the healing process, but only if Josh helped Kira by absorbing the excess electricity and foxfire from her body.

Josh insisted it was a lot harder than it looked because Kira had an exceptional amount of power, but he ultimately did as he was asked in order to get Corey the help he needed. After Malia and Josh saved their respective friends by absorbing their pain and electricity, respectively, Eichen House's lockdown ended thanks to Hayden and Mason's help, and he and Corey eventually left the building together together.

In *The Beast of Beacon Hills*, Josh was seen in the Dread Doctors Operating Theater, where Theo and Tracy were discussing the Dread Doctor Mask that Theo had recently stolen from Gabriel Valack while Deucalion watched with interest. Theo and Tracy attempted to talk Josh into putting the mask on because they knew it would kill them.

After Tracy cryptically told him that he was the one with the power, Deucalion explained that the reason they wanted him to wear it was because The Surgeon had created the mask to harness electromagnetic fields—since Josh's powers were also associated with electromagnetism, he would be able to put on the mask without being seriously harmed. Josh picked up the mask to verify Deucalion's claims and sensed its electromagnetic power, but though it looked like he was about to put it on, he ultimately refused and told Theo to do it himself.

Later, while they were all discussing what to do to figure out the identity of the Beast, Deucalion remarked on the fact that Hayden didn't tell Theo that Belasko's Talons would kill Theo if he put them on. After Deucalion asked Theo where Hayden and Corey were, Josh, realizing that the other Chimeras were beginning to defect from the Chimera Pack, stated that he was going to leave.

He stopped in his tracks when Deucalion started to show Theo how to steal the power from other beings by taking their pain and life first, which ultimately led to Josh's downfall, as Theo attacked Josh and killed him for a second time to take his electromagnetic abilities. Now possessing Josh's powers, Theo was able to use the mask to determine that the true identity of the Beast was Sebastien Valet, giving Theo the information he needed to go after him.

### Season 6

In *Ghosted*, Josh was mentioned by Liam Dunbar and Hayden Romero in relation to Theo Raeken's return from his underground prison; first when Hayden realized that Theo no longer had Josh and Tracy's powers, and again when Liam insisted that Theo needed to feel some remorse for killing Josh and Tracy, to which Theo retorted that he simply "put them back the way [he] found them".

Josh was mentioned again by Scott McCall in *Heartless* when he was trying to convince Liam about why they couldn't trust Theo, reminding him that Theo manipulated Liam into trying to kill him before actually killing Scott when the first plan failed, and also killed Josh, Tracy, and his own sister in cold blood.

## Personality

Not much is known about Josh, personality-wise, but from what has been seen thus far, he was a person who enjoyed chasing the highs in life, whether it was from drugs or from absorbing electricity. He also appeared to have mixed feelings about his resurrection, as he made an offhand comment to Theo Raeken stating that he should have left him dead.

Despite his less-positive qualities, he is a very loyal friend who is willing to put himself in harms way in order to ensure their safety and well-being, as evidenced by his willingness to go to Malia Tate, a member of their rival pack, for help in healing Corey, and was willing to take in an exceptional amount of electrical energy to save Kira Yukimura in order to make that happen. He also appeared to be a person who thought for himself, as he refused to allow himself to be bullied into putting on the Dread Doctor Mask, though this did ultimately end in his second and final death.

## Physical Appearance

Josh was a very tall, lean and muscular young man with tan to olive skin, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. He typically wore casual clothing such as jeans and baseball shirts with sneakers or boots, though he occasionally wore club clothing when he would attend all-ages night at Sinema.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

After being turned into a Chimera, Josh gained a number of supernatural powers. The powers Josh has demonstrated so far in the series are the following:

* **Super Strength**: As a Chimera, Josh had superhuman levels of strength, enough to allow him to break through locks, deadbolts, and chains, as well as throw a grown man across the room with little effort. He used this ability in his fight against the Eichen House guards and against Jordan Parrish/Cerberus by breaking the arm of a guard and by snapping a metal pipe off of the wall of the closed unit so he could access the wiring within it. *("Amplification")*, *("Lie Ability")*
* **Super Agility/Reflexes**: As a Chimera, Josh's agility was extremely heightened, allowing him to move swiftly and easily, jump high into the air and across long distances, and perform gymnastic and acrobatic feats. He used this ability in his fight against the Eichen House guards. *("Amplification")*
* **Accelerated Healing**: As a Chimera, Josh's body regenerated its cells at an incredible rate, giving him an immunity to all human illnesses and conditions as well as allowing him to heal from mild to moderate injuries within minutes. As a result of this healing factor, he was unable to get drunk on alcohol or high on drugs, a side effect that he greatly resented. *("Damnatio Memoriae")* It is assumed that this healing ability also included extended longevity.
* **Shapeshifting**: Josh had the ability to extend his fingernails into claws, and can extend his teeth into very long, thin, and crooked fangs. These fangs have an appearance of being somewhere in the middle between Werewolf fangs and Kanima or Wendigo fangs. He can also make his eyes and claws glow bright purple, which usually occurs when he is siphoning electricity.
* **Electromagnetokinesis**: Josh possessed the ability to manipulate electricity in a variety of ways. It was later confirmed that his powers were, in fact, electromagnetic in nature, suggesting that, if he had more time to explore his powers, he would have found he could control magnetism along with electrical energy. This power was ultimately stolen by Theo Raeken when he killed Josh and absorbed his power for himself. *("The Beast of Beacon Hills")*
	+ **Electromagnetic Energy Absorption**: Josh has been seen absorbing electricity from a variety of sources, usually involving electrical wires of some kind, such as those that are attached to car batteries, emergency generators, or electrical substations, though he has also siphoned electricity from tasers and even from Kira Yukimura, a fellow student with electrokinetic powers, although unlike Josh, Kira is a true supernatural creature, specifically a Thunder Kitsune. *("Amplification")*, *("Lie Ability")* Since Josh cannot create electromagnetic energy on his own, he needs to siphon it from other sources before he can direct it. When he was first turned into a Chimera, he absorbed electrical energy from chewing on electrical wires, such as those at Beacon Hills High School and Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. *("Required Reading")* Josh has since learned after his resurrection that he can achieve a euphoric high-like sensation when he absorbs electricity, which is the closest feeling he can get to being high on drugs since he was turned. *("Damnatio Memoriae")* When Theo possessed Josh's powers, Liam Dunbar, Hayden Romero, and Garrett Douglas believed him capable of absorbing the power of a true lightning strike, which they estimated would be around 5 billion joules, implying that Josh would have been able to achieve the same result. *("Ghosted")*
	+ **Electromagnetic Energy Projection**: Once Josh has absorbed electrical or electromagnetic energy from a source, he can discharge it in the form of electrical bolts or balls of electricity, using it as an offensive weapon against opponents who are vulnerable to electricity, such as Werewolves and most other shapeshifters. *("Damnatio Memoriae")*, *("Lie Ability")*
	+ **Electromagnetic Senses**: Josh has been shown to be able to sense electrical and electromagnetic energy, as he was able to warn Malia Tate not to touch Kira when she was overloaded with her own foxfire due to her inability to tolerate the Telluric Currents surrounding and protecting Eichen House. He was also able to see the electromagnetic energy in the Dread Doctor Mask once he was made aware it existed, which helped confirm that he would be the only person who could survive wearing the mask and utilizing its premonitory powers due to the fact that their electromagnetic powers were compatible with each other. As a result, Theo Raeken has even implied that perhaps Josh and the Dread Doctors are connected through this similar power, though this has yet to be confirmed in the series. *("The Beast of Beacon Hills")*
	+ **Electricity Immunity**: Josh's power of electrokinesis also afforded him an immunity to electricity, and as a result, it was difficult for him to be harmed by it, though he did appear to feel discomfort when he was siphoning the electricity from Kira's body due to the overwhelming amount of power she possessed. This power was also stolen by Theo Raeken, who then lost it after several months in his underground prison.
* **Mountain Ash Immunity**: Like all Chimeras, Josh was immune to the effects of mountain ash and rowan wood, since Chimeras were technically scientifically created rather than supernaturally-created. This means they can not only not be trapped within circles of mountain ash, but they can also use it against supernatural creatures like any other human.

## Weaknesses

As a Chimera, Josh possessed no known weaknesses. However, this does not mean he could not be killed. This was proven to be the case when Theo Raeken dug his claws into Josh's chest and killed him, indicating that he was susceptible to power theft.

## Relationships

* Josh and Corey (friends/packmates)
* Josh and Theo (Alpha/Beta bond, packmates)
* Josh and Malia (reluctant allies)

## Trivia

* It was implied in *Damnatio Memoriae* that Josh had a drug problem prior to his transformation into a Chimera, and he seemed to be very unhappy that he was no longer able to get high because of his accelerated healing. However, with Theo's help, he learned that siphoning electricity can give him a similar high to the drugs he used to take.
* Josh is the first supernatural-esque creature in the series to have glowing purple eyes.
* Strangely enough, Josh seems to have grown to be very loyal to Theo, despite the fact that Theo was the one who killed him in *Required Reading*. This was ultimately proven to have been a poor choice on Josh's part, since Theo then killed him a second and final time in *The Beast of Beacon Hills*.
* Due to Josh's craving for electricity, which was evidenced in both *Required Reading* and *Damnatio Memoriae*, it is possible that he has to siphon electricity into his body for sustenance, or at the very least to sustain his electrokinetic abilities, sort of like Blackout from DC Comics and *The Flash* television series.
* Fandom speculation has suggested that Josh's Chimera status could partially be a *raiju*, a shapeshifter of Japanese mythology that is associated with thunder, known as the "Japanese thunder beast."
	+ Jeff Davis later revealed that Josh was part Eel during an interview.