Cort

Cort is a Chicago-based superhero and founding member of the Contenders.

## Origin

Cort's origin is shrouded in mystery. He arrived on Earth in the present day, with no memories beyond the fictional history he recalls from "The Quick and the Dead," a movie he seems to have been conjured from. Thankfully, he was intercepted by UNTIL, who determined that his nature required intervention. They classed him loosely as a "time traveler," and set him up with an apartment and some general education classes to help him adapt.

Looking for something to do, and driven to try and do good in this seemingly lawless society, Cort joined Ringster in thwarting a crime in progress. Realizing that he needed a guide in this realm of superheroics even more than he needed one to navigate the modern world, Cort asked to join Ringster on a permanent basis and the young mutant agreed, forming the foundation of what would eventually the superhero team "The Contenders."

## Appearance

Cort is the exact duplicate of Russel Crowe as depicted in the 1995 film, "The Quick and the Dead." He is a swarthy Caucasian male of about 35 years of age, with shoulder-length brown hair.

## Personality

Cort is practical, slow to anger, and self-sacrificing. He has an inquisitive, logical mind, only slightly hampered by a lack of modern context for his ideas, and often functions as the team's strategist. He has a tendency to overthink, however, and due to his reflective nature he is often slow to take action until prompted by his teammates.

As a former preacher, Cort often espouses the least violent course of action. This attitude has changed somewhat over time, however, as pacifism is rarely an effective strategy against super-villains.

## Powers

Cort is a highly skilled gun-fighter, able to wield any pistol with deadly precision. He has exceptional reflexes and, although he is not a speedster-type, his reaction time is incredibly fast for a human.

Cort has a suite of bizarre powers related to the fact that he exists in a "movie" version of reality. He can travel rapidly thanks to "jump cut" and "montage" cinematographic techniques, which mirror forms of teleportation. He can translate text thanks to "subtitles" that only he can see, and even catch occasional glimpses of far-off events which have bearing on his current situation, in the form of "scenes." These movie-powers extend to his gunplay as well; he never needs to reload, except when dramatically appropriate, and never seems to hit anything he wasn't specifically aiming at.

Although he appears human, there is growing evidence that Cort may be some sort of Fae creature, as he has an intense connection to the Blazing World and in particular to the Deadlands.

#### Hazel's Revenant

In order to gain immunity to the Time Wizard's deadly aging powers, Cort allowed himself to be ritualistically slain by Hazel Clay, the Lady of Lead, in her home dimension of the Deadlands. Resurrected as a Revenant, he is now Hazel's undead servant. In addition to making him immune to aging, his undead condition means he now carries a small portion of Hazel's power inside his reanimated body. The utility of this is as of yet unknown.

## Weaknesses

Cort has no physical weaknesses, but his existence as an outsider in modern society causes him no end of trouble. He has difficulty adapting to modern technology, does not understand current social mores, and tends to get confused with the real Russel Crowe on a regular basis.