Pantheon

**Pantheon** (real name **Gabriel Temple**) is a famous and powerful superhero that draws his power from several deities across the universe. He originally served as the sidekick to Captain Marvel, under the name of **Cadet Marvel**, gaining his own host of deities that empowered him and would eventually begin to strangely absorb their powers into his very being. Because of this, Pantheon would separate from his mentor after he began to master the absorbed powers within him and absorbing the powers of other gods. Despite this, he maintains good relationships with his former mentor and his allies. Pantheon currently worked as a solo hero for some time, before ultimately joining the Justice Force. He currently is acting as its leader.

While he was raised in religious faith, a young Pantheon began to put more faith into the heroes that put their lives on the line daily. Becoming the sidekick of Captain Marvel meant he was now empowered by the very beings he was unsure existed. In time, as he began to become the very thing he once doubted, Pantheon has come to understand he must learn what the role of a hero is and what the role of a god is in a world he fights to defend. Due to his great usage of the power of lightning and his godly essence, Pantheon has been called the **"God of Lightning"** by several. Pantheon has also been called **"Adamantine"** by Superman when training with him due to his invulnerability, in a manner akin to Superman's own title of **"Man of Steel"** that he has become well known as.

## Appearance

Pantheon is often described as both a handsome young man and an imposing one. Pantheon is quite tall, allowing him to look over many. Combined with his muscular build, it leaves many to think he is intimidating. Pantheon has deep blue eyes that hold a twinge of sadness in the, for fear of his fate. He has dark blonde hair and keeps his face clean shaven.

For his hero costume, Pantheon's looks much like that of his mentor's, Captain Marvel. From the neck and shoulders down to his pelvic region and on part of his arms, the costume is red. Black lining forms various shapes on the costume. This is mirrored on his back, but ends right above his behind. Also, there are red shapes on each of his thighs. On the under parts of his arm and the majority of his legs, the costume is black. Golden lines form on part of the neck and golden braces cover his forearms. Finally, on his chest is a white thunderbolt with a yellow outline. Unlike his mentor, Pantheon doesn't wear a cape.

While he is outside of duty, Pantheon tends with wear gym shorts and a t-shirt of various colors. He prefers comfort over style, which has led to some calling him lazy, for which they are not too far off in terms of how he is outside of missions. He tends to wear black tennis shoes. In the winter, he will alternate between sweatpants and jeans, and will often wear a black jacket with red lining.

## Personality

Pantheon was born as a sweet and curious child. He minded his parents and teachers, got along well with his friends and classmates, and got good grades in school. He was a happy child who enjoyed learning. This applied to both school and church lessons. He ultimately just liked improving himself and making those around him happy.

He proved to be impressionable, as he was influenced by his parents suddenly stopping their church attendance and by growing to view superheroes as being more of an actively, god-like force than the gods of the mythologies he enjoyed reading so much. He admiration for heroes and desire to help others began to merge into him wanting to become a hero like several children around him.

His personality remained consistent up until he finally gained powers and became **Cadet Marvel**. When he finally gained his powers, he proved to be humble with them and desired to learn from the likes of his mentor, Captain Marvel, and those with similar abilities as theirs. This humbleness, however, was solely directed towards those he felt he could learn from and to the average citizen he would save. To both villains and heroes he felt were "on his rank" in terms of experience, Pantheon displayed a level of cockiness for his assorted mix of powers and comparableness to the likes of the most iconic superpowered being, Superman. This would show in his taunting of his peers and villains.

However, as he began to absorb his godly powers into his very being, Pantheon began to grow afraid of himself. He began to become reclusive in a way and stoic in his dealings with others. He is unsure of what it means to change from what he is, a mere man, into being similar to figures who inspired him but that be began to doubt, to become a god. Even as he began to master his powers, he remained unsure of what it truly means to be a hero and to be a god as his perceptions of what was real began to shift. He does, however, begin to show more signs of his kind, inquisitive, and cocky nature at times he feels secure.

Outside of battle, Pantheon has shown he can be quite lazy. While he does enjoy helping others and training, he equally enjoys kicking back with a book or video game and ignoring his other responsibilities. This may be a way to cope with his internal struggles, as to focus his mind on meaningless, fun, external stimuli. He also does possess a childish nature in thinking certain powers are "awesome", and this often comes about when he encounters telekinetic individuals. This leads to a conundrum in which he both fears progressing his level of godhood, but also desires to gain more "awesome" powers to master and use by stealing them from godly beings. After converting to a full deity, he forget about these childish desires but continues to worry about what it means to be a god.

## History

A baby boy was born to a pair of parents named the Temples some years ago. They named their beloved child Gabriel. Gabriel Temple was raised in a loving home with a middle-class father and a stay-at-home mother until he started elementary school. Gabriel did well in school and got along with his classmates for the most part.

As he grew up, one thing remained pretty consistent, church attendance. Gabriel would attend church service every week. His church mentors helped him learn the stories, which Gabriel loved to hear over and over again. These stories inspired Gabriel to be better than he could. His love of his faith caused him to branch out into other religions and mythologies, to read the likes fo their heroes and gods. Among them, he come to enjoy the stories of Greek mythology greatly.

However, as time went on, his family stopped attending church. Gabriel didn't know why personally, but he could see the world around him. Villains of large caliber, villains of causal annoyance, the likes became more and more abundant. Life seemed to become more chaotic. However, at the helm of all of this, the Justice League fought to maintain justice and a sense of order. For many, including Gabriel, it became easier to put one's faith in these modern day gods who were an active, everyday force. This didn't deter Gabriel from trying to better himself based on the stories of religion and mythology however, and he kept trying to better himself.

As he entered high school, he witnessed a fellow classmate being mugged by a few gang members. Gabriel, in a act of bravery, called out to the gang members to leave his classmate alone. The gang members laughed and they focused their attention to him. They began to attack him, and while Gabriel tried to fight back, they overwhelmed the boy and began to beat him. In this process, Gabriel had dropped his bag and his stuff flew out. In a flash of lightning, however, Captain Marvel appeared, having just stopped a rogue of the Justice League a few blocks over. The gang members ran off in fear of the superhero. Captain Marvel then looked down at the beaten and bloodied Gabriel. The classmate he had saved explained what had happened to Gabriel before running off to get home. Captain Marvel commended his bravery but told him to not be irrational as he began to hand Gabriel back his back and help pick up his stuff. As he did, Captain Marvel saw that one of the books in Gabriel's bag was over Greco-Roman mythology. Combined with his bravery and interest in the beings that powered him, Captain Marvel, truly just a twelve year old Billy, thought about how cool it would be to have his very own sidekick like several of his league cohorts.

Captain Marvel began to ask Gabriel a series of questions, ones of what he would do in certain situations and of the feats and stories of gods and heroes of ancient times. As Gabriel began to answer several of the questions correct or satisfactory, Captain Marvel became ecstatic. Gabriel thought how he was acting was a bit strange, thinking the hero was acting like a kid, but Captain Marvel lifted up the bloody Gabriel by grabbing both of his arms and asked him a simple question. "Do you want to be my sidekick!?"

Gabriel was shocked by this question, but in even greater excitement said yes. He toned down, however, and asked how would he be a hero like Captain Marve, he lacked his abilities. With that, Captain Marvel teleported both of them to the wizard Shazam. Captain Marvel explained everything that he had been told. The great Shazam, though annoyed by the antics of his champion, agreed of the nobility found in Gabriel. After examining him himself, the wizard decided the boy had a heart of good intention and would serve as a strong companion to Captain Marvel. The wizard gave Gabriel the power of his magic, granting him the ability to call upon "SHAZAM!" With this, Gabriel gained several powers: the drive of **Saturn**, the strength of **Hercules**, the stamina of **Atlas**, the power of **Zeus**, the knowledge of **Apollo**, and the speed of **Mercury**. At first, Shazam was surprised to see that not all of the same divine beings clung to the boy, but passed it off as nothing important. Captain Marvel looked over his new sidekick, and decided to give Gabriel the name **Cadet Marvel**.

While serving as Cadet Marvel, Gabriel went on several adventures with both Captain Marvel and with the Team, which he had eventually joined. However, about two years after he had received his powers, something strange began to happen. Transforming into Cadet Marvel to help the Captain with a burglary, Gabriel felt an immense pain. Captain Marvel rushed him to the wizard to see what was wrong, and the great Shazam was baffled. The drive of Saturn within Gabriel had begun to act differently. The deity was the Roman form of the Greek Titan Kronos, who famously ate his children (except for Zeus). The power within Gabriel began to fully merge with its host and it began to consume to powers of the other gods that powered Gabriel. This ultimately meant that Gabriel was gaining the power of the gods in his natural body and becoming more akin to a demigod with supernatural abilities as opposed to a magic using human. Cadet Marvel feared what this could mean for his possible future, but continued to work diligently as a hero.

Soon after this revelation, Darkseid began an invasion on Earth. Both the Justice League and the Team joined together to fight off Darkseid's forces and protect the Earth. In a struggle against the mighty New God, the forces of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel began to use their combined might to force him back into a trap that would send him back to Apokolips set up by Batman. When Darkseid seemed to begin overwhelming the three mighty heroes, Gabriel flew in to assist them with his similar godly powers. In the resulting struggle, Darkseid mercilessly beat into the young hero. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel rejoined the far and separated them again, but Gabriel's stubbornness led him to help push him into the trap. As he made contact with Darkseid again, the power of Saturn activated again. Cadet Marvel roared in pain as Darkseid, in a moment of shock of what he had just felt, was pushed into the trap that made a boom tube send him far away from Earth.

When the three mighty heroes and Batman checked on the unmoving sidekick, Gabriel violently awakened and fired Omega Beams from his eyes. Covering them in pain, the League looked in shock. After resting for a long period of time, Gabriel awoke to discover what had happened from his mentor. Captain Marvel told Gabriel that the power of Saturn is no longer just absorbing the power of the gods that made him into Cadet Marvel, but were beginning to absorb the power of other gods he came into contact with. Gabriel was horrified to learn that part of Darkseid's essence was merged into him, giving him part of the dark god's abilities.

While Gabriel continued to work with Captain Marvel for a bit after he fully recovered, he decided to go his own way as he began to fear what would happen if he stayed to close to his mentor. "What if I consumed the powers out of Captain Marvel?" is what the young hero thought to himself. He believed he could ruin the hero or even kill him if it happened in battle. For the power of the several gods within him, Gabriel abandoned his sidekick and Team days of being Cadet Marvel and became the solo hero known as **Pantheon**. He would also gain brief training from Superman to control his Omega Beams.

During his final meeting with Captain Marvel, Pantheon learned of a plan to make a new team. While Pantheon took time to think on it, they met with Shazam one final time. To prevent Pantheon from becoming to powerful by steal the power of several gods, the wizard supercharged Pantheon with power from the great yet simple watchman Heimdall, as well as a bit from the other gods that already empowered him. This made Pantheon a full god.

Pantheon would go on to join the Justice Force after the likes of Captain Marvel, Superman, and the rest of the Justice League disappeared.

## Powers and Abilities

Originally, by shouting "SHAZAM", Pantheon gained the powers of several deities from Greco-Roman mythology. These include several of the same gods who empower Captain Marvel.

* Drive of **Saturn**
* Strength of **Hercules**
* Stamina of **Atlas**
* Power of **Zeus**
* Knowledge of **Apollo**
* Speed of **Mercury**

However, the more Pantheon used his powers and abilities, the more unintended events happened. The powers he gained from **Saturn**, the Roman name for the Titan King Kronos who ate his own godly children, eventually led to his own body metabolizing his other godly abilities directly into his own being, effectively making him a demigod. He would use this power to combat other deities he could find as well, drawing in just a fragment of their essence to gain their power and further increase his own divinity. However, he would still use the phrase "SHAZAM!" to call down massive, powerful bolts of lightning, as well as to instantly change into his hero costume. This, however, has no real bearing on his abilities. Even over time, it seems Pantheon can just will his costume on and summon such lightning on his own, further disassociating him with his former mentor and mantle.

* **Electricity Generation:** As part of the power he inherited from Captain Marvel and **Zeus**, Pantheon can create lightning from his hands to be used in various manners. He can blast bolts, create electric spheres, and grapple his foe into a bear hug to lift them into the air and shout "SHAZAM!" to make powerful, magical bolts slam into them over and over. After absorbing the powers of the deities that made him Cadet Marvel, Pantheon can just do this on his will without having to call out a phrase. He often uses lightning to enhance his physical attacks as well, such as a lightning punch. Aside from just summoning bolts of lightning from the sky and himself, he can create shockwaves of lightning, fast moving discs, and several other applications. Other than the abilities that augment his physical abilities, these are perhaps his most used powers.
* **Enhanced Intelligence:** From his gift of the knowledge of **Apollo**, the Greek and Roman god of knowledge, Pantheon has greatly enhanced intelligence in his Cadet Marvel form. After consuming the powers of all the gods that empowered him, Pantheon's natural intelligence grew to levels similar to his Cadet Marvel form. This allows him great insight on the battlefield, which allows him to breakdown what his opponent is doing to figure out their abilities and methods. He is also able to change tactics on the fly to best suit himself for a different kind of battle. Apollo's knowledge also appears to allow Pantheon to understand people speaking in other languages and communicate in turn. Further, his memory has increased to being nearly eidetic in nature.
* **Enhanced Senses:** Having gained powers from the Norse god **Heimdall**, Pantheon is able to access the visual prowess of the watchman deity. This includes the ability to see extremely well in the dark and lets him have telescopic vision to see things from miles away. Further, Pantheon gained access to his enhanced hearing abilities. This allows Pantheon to hear from great distances and to hear at frequencies that humans cannot. However, his senses of taste, touch, and smell seem to be mostly unaltered.
* **Flight:** One of the abilities granted to him by his magic allows him to take flight. He can combine this with his super speed to fly at insane speeds. Pantheon mixes flight into his combat by weaving in and out of attacks with ease.
* **Immortality:** After gaining the full power of being a god, Pantheon became functionally immortal as he no longer ages. However, Pantheon can still be killed in battle by sufficient power and force.
* **Invulnerability:** The magic he possesses enhances his body to be extremely durable, as well as having the stamina of **Atlas**. This allows him to battle the likes of Captain Marvel and Superman without taking too much damage from individual hits. As he absorbed the godly essence that empowered him, his durability grew as well.
* **Omega Beams:** During an evasion by Darkseid, the Justice League and the Team worked together to force him back. In the process, Pantheon was able to strike the dark New God tyrant of Apokolips and absorb part of his essence. This gave Pantheon access to the Omega Beams. He can fire the Omega energy as disintegrating beams from his eyes, but has learned over time how to use the attack to leave localized destruction instead. Pantheon can control the path of these blasts. Pantheon feared the powers for some time, believing he would turn into someone like Darkseid, but has learned to control the powers as his own. As he has gotten used to using this ability, Pantheon has learned he can control the ability of what the attack does to some degree. This allows him to use the beams as a concussive blast to push foes away, or to mimic the effects of Superman's heat vision as to make the beams burn what they come into contact with.
* **Super Speed:** From the gift of **Mercury's** speed, Pantheon can move extremely fast. While he is slower than those who are connected to the Speed Force like the Flash and those sharing his name, Pantheon possesses speed greater than that of Superman and on par, if not faster, than his former mentor in Captain Marvel. However, Pantheon is faster when flying than he is on the ground.
* **Super Strength:** The strength of **Hercules** courses through Pantheon's body, giving Pantheon strength on par with that of his former mentor and those within his realm of power. Pantheon is easily able to shatter massive stones and bend steel. This makes Pantheon one of the physically strongest known heroes.

Among these abilities, Pantheon also has the ability to survive in the vacuum of space much like Superman. After he began to absorb these powers into his very being, Pantheon gained these abilities as natural extensions of himself as opposed to magically having them from a separate source. This in turn made Pantheon go from being a mage to being a demigod. Pantheon has noted with each power he absorbs from different gods, a small portion of his humanity is sacrificed. While this means he can progressively get more powerful each time he encounters a god he has yet to absorb part of, Pantheon fears what could happen if he goes too far with it. While it is not known exactly how much of him is man and how much is now godly, Pantheon says he is well over half god at this point. Before joining the Justice Force, the wizard supercharged his godly powers with the simple watchman Heimdall to make him into a full god without absorbing too many more. While this made Pantheon a bit more powerful, he still must grow into his complete power.

## Former Abilities

* **Magic:** As **Cadet Marvel**, his powers were all based on magically being made into the champion of several deities. As the powers began to merge with his very being, however, they became more comparable to the abilities of those with the Meta-Gene than as the product of magic. This also severed his connection with the power of the wizard Shazam and **Saturn**, **Hercules**, **Atlas**, **Zeus**, **Apollo**, and **Mercury**, as their powers are now naturally his as opposed to them lending him said powers.
* **Power Absorption:** Due to the drive of **Saturn**, Pantheon possesses the ability to absorb the power of other gods into himself. It started with the powers he had as Cadet Marvel being absorbed into his natural body, changing him from a magic-using human to a demigod with the powers being biological extensions of himself. He later had the power activate against Darkseid, granting him the New God's Omega Beams. Pantheon's power absorption is limited only to beings who are gods, including the likes of the Olympian gods, Norse gods, or even the New Gods. After being supercharged with godly power from the wizard Shazam, Pantheon was rendered fully god. With this, Saturn was deemed "full" from his consumption and thus no longer absorbed anymore godly essence.

## Quotes

* *"Every time I have a run in with a deity, I absorb part of their power. Sometimes consciously, most times not. Every time this happens, I feel part of my humanity burn away as the godly essence replaces it. I'm afraid... what will happen if I ever completely burn out?"*
* *"What makes a monster and what makes a man?"*
* *"I try to avoid basing everything off expectations. To do so would blind me from seeing something out of the ordinary and new before it is too late."*
* *"While I do what I do proudly, to create and preserve the peace of this world, I am merely a conduit for a dream that has existed since the dawn of this world. It is a dream that will outlive me."*
* *"When you try to master something, you will either succeed or fail, but in the attempt, you will find your true value."*
* *"Natural skill and learned skill are both important in combat. If one is born great but has learned nothing, one who has learned to gain the same skills and hone them can over take them. One born untalented, however, must quickly discover that if they do not wish to fall to the prodigies around themselves."*
* *"Life only possesses purpose when you give purpose to it."*

## Trivia

* While Pantheon was Captain Marvel's sidekick, he has always been older than him.
* Pantheon is based on Mazahs, an alternate version of Lex Luthor who stole the powers of his world's Captain Marvel and could absorb the powers of those he killed.
	+ Pantheon is also inspired by Superboy and his dynamic with his mentor and abilities.
* The character's hero name of Pantheon is a reference to the concept of pantheons, which refer to groups of deities in their respective polytheistic religion.
* Pantheon's real name, Gabriel Temple, references religion, much like his hero name. Gabriel's first name comes from the Archangel Gabriel of the Abrahamic religions. His surname, Temple, is the name of a type of holy building.
* Pantheon enjoys relaxing, music, swimming, playing video games, history, mythology, and training.
	+ Pantheon enjoys singing to himself and out loud at times, and possesses a strong baritone voice with a fairly large range. Most who hear him sing note that he sounds quite good.
* Pantheon's favorite foods are steak, cheeseburgers, and salmon smoked on a cedar board. He is also known to enjoy baked potatoes, shrimp and guacamole quite well. He also likes cheesecake and raspberry-flavored candies for sweets. Pantheon is known to dislike eel, kale, tomatoes, and brussel sprouts. Pantheon mostly drinks water but does like some sodas, as well as green tea and Irish whiskey.
* Pantheon is afraid of centipedes, geckos, and frogs. While he usually will just move away from frogs and geckos, he will frequently either use his electricity or Omega Beams on centipedes.
* Pantheon's author has stated that if Pantheon had a voice actor, Jensen Ackles would be his ideal voice actor.