Philip Turner (The Acrobat)

## The Acrobat

Acrobat

**Philip Turner** (born 7 July 1991) is a journalist working for his city's newspaper, Daily Szczecin, as well as hobbistic IT specialist, but most importantly, a Superhuman with the power of superstrength, operating under the moniker of **The Acrobat**. He is the first superhero to appear in the modern times and one of the founding members of Team Y.

One day, he came across a couple in danger, attacked by a thief and having a heart of gold, he didn't resist to help them. Hurt by the thief, he discovered his superpower and in order to learn how to control it, he travelled to train in Japan. After he returned, seeing the crime tainting his city, he decided to put on a hero's mask and use his power for the good of society. Since then, he has been working as the superhero Acrobat.

One of his first missions was stopping the attack of Transforming Robots on The Unity building, after they came out of the portal, opened by the company's scientists. Although they returned to their world, they took John Smith along and severely injured Edmond Unary, who became a revenge-driven villain - One-Armed Man. Over time, he was joined by Wolf-Man and John, who came back from the Robots' world as a cyborg and their general. The three fought many battles, in which Acrobat allied with Steve, Igor and Gregory Enius. After the villains forced Igor to give away The Acrobat's identity, they hurt him and kidnapped all of Philip's friends, the hero faced them in a big battle, in which Igor sacrificed himself, while the One-Armed Man became good again, saving Szczecin and losing his life as well.

Two months later he met Michael Foot - his own great grandson from the future, who also operated as a superhero. He found out that Mike had time-travelled to find out more about his superpowers. Philip himself barely had any knowledge about them, but he offered working as a duet. A lifetime occasion came on the accident, when General John and Wolf-Man raided an old storage. After the battle, the heroes came up with the idea to visit the times of Jarowit Crucian, known during the war as Polish Patriot, so he would help them both in learning more about their abilities. Unfortunately, John managed to get away from the police and attack the heroes, switching the date in the Time-Watch for ten years too early. After landing in 1939, John used his memory-deleting cannon. Forgetting about their old lives, Philip and Michael joined The White Eagles - a brigade led by Crucian himself. There they met many other good friends, along whom they fought during World War 2. Eventually they regained their memories, when John unknowingly treated them with the same cannon. After revealing the truth about themselves to their new friends, who also turned out to be Superhumans, the all decided to stop John from deepening the paradox that had damaged the timeline and create a team, which would protect time and space from such dangers. Thus, Team Y was born and joining them were Living Ice and The Hunter. Although after supposedly defeating John once, he turned out to be a setup robot, after seeing a still unrepaired future, Phil and Mike once again went to the past, travelling to singular, yet key moments. The final battle took place in Szczecin, 1945, when John was supported by Mr. Time from the alternate timeline. Team Y, joined by Nature-Man during the fight, managed to defeat them both however and turn over to the Time Police.

## Biography

### Early life

Philip Turner was born on 7 July 1991 in an average Polish family as the first-born son of Tobias and Marianne Turner. On 28 December 1996 his sister Kate was born. On 1 September 1998, beginning the education in primary school, he met his best friend, Steve. Their friendship lasted long. They went to the same middle school together, although were disconnected by high school. Despite that, they tried to remain in touch and met again in their first year of college.

Over his childhood, Philip fell a love with many popculture classics, such as the *Star Wars* saga at the age of 7 or *Back to the Future* trilogy and all the Batman films of the past decade at the age of 9.

At the age of 10 Phil got his first computer and it was then when he grew interest in them. Soon after, he created his first simple game and after two years, a program, which counted numbers until sextillion, to eventually, being fifteen years old, modify his computer on his own. At the age of 16 his geek aspect grew even more, as he discovered the revival of the *Doctor Who* series.

In 2010 he began studying at the humanistic department of University of Szczecin. There, he met professor Oscar Froster, a renowned archealogist and writer of several books. He also befriended Olivia Fridayton, with whom he joined the Daily Szczecin newspaper a few years later. Since the beginning, the girl was in love with him, but Phil wasn't aware of that and didn't reflect her feelings.

The same year he reunited with his friend Steve and renewed the friendship. Soon, they moved in together as roommates in the house number 9 on Krasickiego Street. Since then the two buddies became inseparable.

In June of 2013, along with Olivia, he started the internship for Stephen Dudzik in Daily Szczecin and became a full-fledged journalist at the end of the same year.

### Acrobat's origins

#### Discovering powers

The adventure of his life began on 27 October 2014, when coming back from work, he spotted a thug taking a weapon out in an alleway. He quickly responded and notified the police, but the officer nearby wouldn't even care. Out of his pure heart, he decided to jump into action himself and defend a certain couple. During the fight with the thief, he got hurt, but managed to get up and throw a dumpster at him. It was at this moment when his superstrength power was unlocked.

When he returned home, he stumbled upon Steve and his college friend, Igor. Exactly on this day they discovered that Philip most likely had Gene Y and they wanted to reveal it. In the coincidence, they explained him some things regarding superpowers, using the information gathered throughout the last seventy years. In the end, they decided that Philip had to be trained and they went to Tokyo instantly on the next day. In Japan, he would learn from Master Cheng, who would help him in controlling his powers.

After a few obstacles, Philip was able to begin his training and return to Poland shortly, on 22 November. At that time he started the construction of his secret base, along with Steve and Igor and himself began to modify his car for Acrobat's Flying Car. After a few days he had a homemade sewed suit already and a moniker - The Acrobat.

#### Hard beginnings

On 26 November, he went on an evening patrol. It coincided with his boss, Stephen Dudzik, being attacked by a thug armed in a knife. It was then when Acrobat landed on the roof of the Widok apartment block and saved his boss from death. When he tied up the criminal, the police had arrived with Igor on the lead. Thanks to Stephen, the superhero gained a huge popularity in the city and the next day every citizen of Szczecin had already heard of the masked vigilante. The same day, The Unity's portal to other universes was completed. Unfortunately, it created a breach between their world and a universe, in which the Transforming Robots had killed most of humanity. They got out to the other side of the portal and began a destruction in The Unity building. This meant another job for The Acrobat.

When he got to the place, he had a brief fight with them, which ended in him losing. The Robots had killed two evil scientists - Leonard Ame and Steven Upid, kidnapped John Smith and burnt the hair of Edmond Unary, as well as ripped out his arm. It was then when Edmond's hate towards Acrobat was born for not being able to save John and causing serious damage. He became his first enemy. Because of all that Philip felt guilty and considered putting The Acrobat suit off, but was prevented by Steve, who motivated him to move forward.

After a few days Edmond began his career as a villain called One-Armed Man. Armed in a metal arm and an arsenal of futuristic weapons and supported by several henchmen, he attacked a number of banks at once to get Acrobat's attention. He obviously showed up and forced to stop Edmond, he had a huge battle with him on the Kościuszko square. That time, he had won, but One-Armed Man managed to run away the last minute. After the fight he met Commisioner Albert Oaksley, Steve and Igor's boss, with whom he immediately began a collaboration. Almost a week later One-Armed Man came back and threatened to kill the City Council by blowing up a bomb. The condition to prevent it was that The Acrobat would show up, which happened, but the villain, in spite of letting the Council go, decided to detonate the bomb anyway. When Acrobat attempted to stop him, he was attacked by another villain - Wolf-Man, controlled by One-Armed Man. The new adversary was a difficult challenge for the hero, which he eventually took care of, as well as prevented the explosion. Unfortunately the werewolf managed to hurt him, making him walk on crutches for the next few weeks.

#### First successes

When Phil began to heal and feel better, he decided to use his free time and went on a patrol as The Acrobat. He found out from Steve, that for the past few days, there was a mysterious figure hanging around The Unity building. Fearing that it could be someone connected to One-Armed Man, the hero went there. The guards of the building told him that the Reality Crystal, responsible for activating the feral portal weeks prior, was located inside. When Acrobat arrived in the portal room, he came across the hooded man, with whom he had a short fight. After a quick win, to his surprise, the person turned out to be Gregory Enius, who wanted to steal the crystal to keep it safe from One-Armed Man, especially that the artifact became unstable. It was then, when the villain himself arrived in the building alongside his henchmen and Wolf-Man, with an intention of taking the gem. However, it was prevented by the sudden waves of energy, emitted by the crystal. In a while, it opened the portal once again, allowing the exit for Transforming Robots and their new leader - General John.

After having a battle with the incomers and them joining One-Armed Man, Acrobat revealed his identity to Gregory and then offered to live under his roof for some time. Although he had nothing against it, it caused a minor problem, when on one Sunday, Phil was awoken by a welding sound coming from his basement, where the scientist was working. A day later Philip returned to work after his medical leave and due to the upcoming winter holidays, his boss allowed him to leave early. Thanks to that, he could go with Steve on Christmas shopping in the Star Shopping Center, where another attack of John and the others took place. Phil as The Acrobat was able to easily stop them, although they ran away again.

The Christmas of 2014 Phil spent in the company of his friends - Steve, Igor, his brother - Nate, as well as Gregory. However, even their Christmas Eve supper couldn't pass without surprises. After some time, General John, One-Armed Man and Wolf-Man attacked Phil's house after discovering that Acrobat's Cave was located near it underground. Additionally, Phil's neighbour, Curt A. Twitcher, happened to be in the middle of the house storm. Due to that, Phil had to order Steve to take care of John, while he would take the neighbour outside and run to the Cave for his suit. They did so and during the escape with Twitcher, a fight started inside the house. In the meantime, Phil and Igor managed to get to the Cave, where Turner suited up, armed in his staff and went back up by the car drivein, from where they ran back to Krasickiego Street. There, they witnessed the chaos, in which Wolf-Man was shooting random people with the Werewolf Crystal, turning them into lookalike beasts.

A battle between the hero and the villain commenced and got more intense once Steve got shot and turned into one of the beasts. At one point Wolf-Man wanted to shoot Acrobat too, but he was saved by Igor. Both men would continue to fight, if they hadn't noticed One-Armed Man's helicopter, which was being boarded by him and the imprisoned Greg. Thus, Igor left behind and Acrobat had to free the scientist. After calling the Flying Car, he started to chase One-Armed Man, leading to a battle in the sky and Acrobat's daring jump between the car and the chopper, which he barely got through. Ultimately, despite One-Armed Man's attempts, he got inside the vehicle, where he fought the goons and found out that the villain wanted information from Greg about the Reality Crystal. After a while, One-Armed Man jumped out with a parachute, leaving the two. Fortunately, Philip saved himself and the friend, landing safely in the Oder river. When they got out on land, the hero turned Greg in to the nearby ambulance and returned to his neighbourhood, where he ended the fight with John and Wolf-Man, who escaped, but didn't leave any casualties.

On 2 Januray 2015 Philip presented a well described article from the Christmas battle to Stephen Dudzik, who gave him a raise for it. Three days earlier, he also gave the young journalist a brand new task - to interview Acrobat himself. This caused some complications, as the boss wanted to accompany him in the talk, causing Phil to find a substitute, his friend from the elementary school times, Gabriel Gajewski, who was the master of metamorphosis. The interview took place a few days later and turned out good. Only at the end, the villains attacked nearby, causing Gabriel to fight and lose. He barely came out alive and Philip felt guilty for that, as he had to run away with his boss. Despite that, Gabriel wasn't mad and the same afternoon Phil hosted a promotion party, which was attended by his closest friends - Steve, Igor, Nate, Gabriel, Greg, Olivia and Jacek Wróblewski, as well as his parents and sister. The party was first left by Igor, who unfortunately was then beaten by General John, Wolf-Man and One-Armed Man, who demanded The Acrobat's identity from him. Phil found out about it, when he was notified by Curt Twitcher. Following that, he and Steve ran to help Igor and call an ambulance.

#### Battle on PAZIM

Two weeks later Philip noticed sudden disappearances of his familiar faces over just one day and when he came back home, he came across Dobrawa Twitcher, the wife of Curt Twitcher, who was crying over the supposedly kidnapped husband. When Phil entered his house, he also noticed the absence of Steve and Gregory. He had only found the unconcious Igor, who after being woken up told him about the capturing of his friends. Down in Acrobat's Cave they had found a flash drive with a recording of John admitting that he had kidnapped the people closest to Phil. He ordered The Acrobat to come to the roof of PAZIM, one of the highest buildings in the city, or otherwise his friends would die. The angered young man immediately went to the place, though he had some concerns, as everything was reminding him of Igor's dramatic vision he had after the villains attacked him. Despite that, Acrobat went to finally confront John and his associates. He arrived just as Olivia was about to be led to her death, but when he told to release his friends, he himself ended up in a cage. Meanwhile John broke his promise and decided to throw Steve down from the roof despite everything to make the hero suffer. However his friend used the opportunity and managed to free himself and the others. Additionally Acrobat was joined by Edmond, who had changed the side. Together they began a fight with John, Robots and Wolf-Man in a mecha shaped to his likeness. The former villain told the hero what had to be done to immobilize the powerful robot. Thus, Acrobat took the Reality Crystal, which was the source of machine's energy and then passed it to Edmond. However he found hismelf in trouble, as John targetted him with a giant laser cannon and he couldn't do much.

It was then when Igor arrived on the roof and took the shot for The Acrobat. He gave his life for the friend, which shaped his later adventures and views on the eternal fight with evil. After a brief grief and the return to the fight, the civilians were moved down to the ground, while him, Steve and Greg covered Edmond, as he closed the giant portal exited by the army of Transforming Robots. Although Edmond succeeded, soon the whole four was surrounded by Robots, while John stood on the edge of the roof with a loudspeaker, with the intention to reveal Acrobat's identity to the town. However the hero stopped the cyborg in the last second and then knocked him down and got to his internal memory. He managed to delete all the knowledge of his identity, which briefly weakened the villain. When after a while he returned to his regular state, he ordered them to give away the crystal. Edmond protected it though and had the final fight in his life with one of the robots, which was observed by Phil. That day, he lost two allies and although he wasn't attached to Edmond as a friend, he still grieved after both him and Igor. After the battle ended, he was surrounded by a crowd of journalists on the Rodła Square. Amongst all them, he turned to Olivia and sneakily did her a favour, asking for an exclusive interview, which later gained her a promotion at work.

A few days later he participated in a double funeral of both heroes of Szczecin. There, he gave a speech about the fallen and ceremonially revealed the statues sculpted to their memory. After the reception and returning home, while discussing with Steve and Greg, he found out that Edmond's body was never recovered, making it a possibility for him to still be alive. This gave Phil a spark of hope for the future. After saying goodbye to Enius, who left the city, he went down to the Cave with Steve and temporarily put The Acrobat suit away. He said that the evil in the city had been momentarily stopped, but if another one arises, he shall be ready.

### The forming of Team Y

#### Descendant from the future

Two months forward, Philip was living a quite peaceful life. From time to time, he used to put his hero suit on, but he had moments for himself more frequently. On 14 March, he used the Saturday morning to do some shopping on the city market. At first, everything seemed normal and dull, but at one point, Philip was approached by a certain teenager. He introduced himself as Michael Foot. He said that he knew about his activity as The Acrobat, as he was from the future and travelled back in time, as well as that he was a Superhuman too and was working as a superhero Flare. In addition, he finally revealed that he was Phil's great grandson. After that revelation, Phil passed out, so Michael transported him back home.

#### A heroic duo

He awoke after a few hours and noticing a note from Steve on his desk, he went down to the living room, where he met his friend talking with Michael. He entered the conversation as well. When he found out that Flare came from his times to expand his knowledge on Superhumans and Genes Y, as well as to control his powers, Philip found himself in an awkward situation. Being a superhero himself for just a few months, he had little to no knowledge on his abilities. However, Michael suggested collaboration to him, which he gladly accepted. When Steve asked if he could join too, Phil forbid him to, as he still had Igor's death in mind, having him close as The Acrobat. It was then when the main computer of the Cave notified about a message from commissioner Oaksley about the escape of General John and Wolf-Man. This was a perfect opportunity for the brand new duet of heroes to shine.

Acrobat along with Flare soon arrived before the old brick factory, where the villains had apparently ran away. Upon investigating the building, they found an entrance to the underground storage room and found John and his associates there. They had a fight and when they were surrounded by the Transforming Robots, John revealed that he showed up there to get supplies of Fortellum for a special brand of armours. He also added that it was the metal that the shield of Polish Patriot was made of. That gave Acrobat a certain idea, which he later revealed to his ally. After being left for death and an escape from a radioactive slime, the heroes turned John back over to the police. Subsequently, Acrobat told Flare about the Polish Patriot and how he allegedly knew a lot about Superhumans. Due to that, they decided to go back to 1949 to ask the historical hero for an advice. However, due to John's interference and getting out, they landed ten years prior - precisely on 22 August 1939. Additionally, the cyborg used his new weapons, which he installed in himself - a cannon for erasing memory. He used it unscrupulously, which caused Acrobat and Flare to fall into amnesia.

#### Memory loss

The abandoned Phil and Mike in a side alley were found by two soldiers - lieutenant colonel Witold Urbanowicz with corporal Jarowit Crucian, who were patrolling the streets of Bobrowniki. They drove the two to the Dęblin Flight School, where they were living and put them in a separate room. After being put in the school, Jarowit guarded them. Ultimately, impatient, he decided to wake them up himself and met them firsthand. It turned out that the unconcious men had amnesia, but thanks to the documents in their pockets, Jarowit found out their names. Soon, Jarowit's highest supervisor, general Carl Markowski, entered the room, along with Witold, and offered the newcomers to join the school. Philip and Michael gladly agreed to the proposition, as due to their lack of memories about their lives, they had nowhere to go. Leaving the room, Phil noticed the Acrobat and Flare suits on a rack. Later, they went outside, where they met Jarowit's class. Everyone immediately liked the new two. Only Jarowit was unsure of them. Over the next few days, Philip trained with the others to become a great soldier and a pilot. After around a week, the war broke out. The students, including him, found out about it through an unexpected alarm. They were immediately gathered for a surprise briefing, when general Markowski gave a speech. Philip felt slightly afraid, as there was a risk of him dying and he didn't even remember his previous life. Soon, as many people as possible were being sent on the front, including Jarowit's team - The White Eagles, which was joined by Philip as well.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Superstrength -** Philip's gene allows him to plant blows with the usage of a superhuman strength. He can control it the way, so he can knock out any opponent, not killing them at the same time. Despite losing his memory, he was still able to use the power by lifting a few people at once or even a tank, during one battle, throwing it at the enemies. The only thing resistant to Phil's power is Fortellum - the hardest metal in the world. The biggest damage he can do to it is making a slight pit.
* **High and distant jumps -** Phil can jump up and forward even 100 meters, which is also a credit of his gene.
* **Hand-to-hand fight expert -** after a training at Master Cheng's, Philip is a very well-trained fighter. He's not near the top of the best warriors in the world though, as his training lasted only a few weeks, due to him needing only to control his strength. He puts more attention to the hit force, rather than style. Despite that, he still improvisationally learns new tricks during the consecutive battles.
* **Acrobatics -** although not a trained circus acrobat, Phil did adopt his moniker for a reason, learning a few tricks while training. Equipped with a special acrobatic staff, which additionally possesses many other useful functions, the hero uses it to bounce from the walls or doing trapezes on his city's buildings.
* **IT abilities -** already in his youth, Phil had shown interest in computers and after over twelve years of studying, he became one of the best coders in the city. He created a software notyfing him about any crime commited in the city, merely seconds after it happened, using the local security footage, or a platform to communicate with the police without the risk of finding his location by their IT specialists.
* **Polyglot -** Philip can talk in a few languages outside of his own: English, French, German and Spanish.

## Enemies

* **Transforming Robots**
* **Edmond Unary/One-Armed Man** (formerly)
* **Walter Huntsman/Wolf-Man**
* **John Smith/General John**
* **Gideon Timez [A]/Mr. Time**

## Appearances

1. *The Acrobat*
2. *Team Y*

## Trivia

* He is the second character created for the FJM Universe.
* Originally, his superhero moniker was supposed to be The Strongman.
* Despite debuting earlier and being more popular in-universe than Polish Patriot, it's the latter who's the leader of Team Y, despite many seeing The Acrobat as an obvious choice.
* The Acrobat is a part of so called The Great Trinity, which also consists of Polish Patriot and Flare.
* Acrobat is partially based on one of The Philmer's earlier creations - The Brown Lantern. It was the creator's fan-made DC character, connected to the Lantern Corps mythos. However, it also found place in another, original universe of the author.
	+ Actually, when The Philmer's friend firstly proposed creating their own heroes, Brown Lantern was supposed to be his character. Only later the same day, the idea to create Acrobat came up.