The Praetorian (anime)

*This article is for the anime version of the character. For the comic character, see: The Praetorian.*

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

**The Praetorian** is a shamed superhero. He used to be one of the most powerful superheroes in the Union of Justice. However, when he was filed with murder and misdemeanor for having killed and worked for The Bastard, he went to work for him full time as his bodyguard.

## History

The SFPF call The Praetorian when Johnny Bolt and his friends started stealing from jewelery stores and running from the cops.

Johnny tells Frostbite that that was exactly how he wanted to live his life and they say that bad luck worked in their favor. Johnny thanks them for opening his eyes as they cross the Golden State Bridge. However, as they celebrated, they were suddenly teleported out of their bikes and in front of The Praetorian, who tells them it was time to seize the day.

The supercrooks are shocked at Praetorian, who simply smiles at them. The Union of Justice broadcasts everything, describing Praetorian as very powerful.

Praetorian tells the crooks that they should prepare to die. The villains scatter, but Praetorian uses spark division in order to chase them.

Praetorian approaches Frostbite, as he uses an ice blast. However, this does not stop Praetorian for long and uses his fire breath, which consumes the crook entirely. After that, Praetorian kicks him high into the air and back onto the ground, leaving moveless. After that, Praetorian steps on his head and kicks him until he dies, ignoring Frostbites plead at negotiating.

Praetorian approaches Kismet, who uses his powers to give him bad luck. However, Praetorian reflects it back. Fish start falling from the sky on top of him, inclding a huge shark which tries to swallow him. Praetorian crushes the shark and says that Kismet had been crushed to death.

Transmit and Johnny try escaping, but they are found by Praetorian, who kicks Transmit and sends him high above ground. He then kicks him repeatedly against a car until he kills him.

Johnny is approaches by Praetorian as well, who punches him in the face. Johnny uses his tries to electrocute him by shocking the ground, which just makes Praetorian chuckle. Johnny says that he would not be going back to prison and tries running away, but sees that all his friends had been brought back defeated by the other Praetorians. Johnny complains that four against one was cowardly, so Praetorian agrees to fight him one on one.

Johnny asks him what he wants and Praetorian asks how long it had been since he had gotten out of Supermax, and hugs him with one arm until Johnny admits that he had been released the day before. Preatorian says that that was pitiful and understands that it would not be fair to send him back to prison. Praetorian says that he cares more about the sin than the sinner and knows that he has somebody who cares for him. Praetorian tells him to not go around doing things that would make her sad and tells him and his gang that they would never get a chance like that again.

At the Union of Justice headquarters, Praetorian lands at the helipad. He is congratulated for his act of mercy in San Francisco, which he says he does not know why he had done.

At the Union of Justice, The Utopian arrives, followed by Paragon and Ruby Red. Almost every superhero was there in order to join a meeting. Praetorian is the last one to make it and he walks in.

Praetorian says he is not feeling well and is told that the rest of the heroes were handling the Necromancer. A janitor asks him if he had a good power in order to fight the Necromancer, and he says that he has the ability to hear people even if they were far away. Using his ability, he hears Carmine telling the group that they should leave before The Utopian realized that the zombies were fake.

Praetorian gets on an elevator and reaches floor G, where he sees Count Orlok's helmet floating. He wonders if he is hallucinating and tells Ghost, who was carrying the helmet that there was no use in hiding. He hits Ghost with a fire attack, which breaks the helmet. The villains are in shock, while Praetorian tells them that they are idiots because they would never display the real thing there and only replicas. He reveals that all the real objects were in a vault underground. They were being kept invisible by Kasey's power.

Carmine exclaims that it is underground and yells at Ghost to phase all the way there. Ghost goes underground while Praetorian starts throwing columns from the building at them. Praetorian recognizes that there was something in his head like in San Francisco. Hitting Kasey, he is able to reveal all the villains. He looks at Johnny and tells him that he feels like they had met before.

At the Union of Justice, people run out as The Praetorian approaches Johnny, who says that he had never met The Praetorian before, and complains that it had been him who had found them. Praetorian realizes what their plan had been all along and wants to take care of things. Praetorian shoots water at Kasey, but Johnny protects her. Carmine tells them they should run while they can, so he picks Kasey up and they run. Praetorian throws a large rock at the villains as Johnny tells Carmine to leave. The Diesel Brothers complain that Praetorian has too many powers and did not even know which one would be next.

Praetorian reveals his next power was laser eyes and starts shooting around, killing many civilians in the process. Roddy and Sammy try to attack him, but even as Sammy sticks his finger into Praetorian's eye, it gets shattered. Praetorian crushes Sammy's arm and throws him towards Johnny, who had just shot at him.

Johnny gets out from being buried under rubble as Ghost coughs confused. He sees that The Praetorian was chasing after Johnny and miraculously is able to find Count Orlok's helmet.

Praetorian tells Johnny that he is pathetic, while Johnny asks if he does not think he's doing a but much. He asks Praetorian how he could do that to his own HQ, but the latter does not care, telling him he never goes easy. Praetorian tells Johnny to prepare to die as he lights up two fireballs in his hands; however, Johnny turns on the fire sprinklers and manages to turn him off for a bit.

Johnny and Ghost reunite, also seeing Carmine above them. He tells Ghost to put on the helmet and say the magic words, but Ghost refuses because of the helmet's reputation of being cursed. After a bit of convincing, Ghost agrees to do it, but nobody knows the spell. However, inside the helmet "supercalifragilistic expialidocious" was written, which made Ghost realize that must be the spell. As they argue who has to put it on, Praetorian wakes up and gets ready to face them. Ghost says the spell, puts the helmet on and it turns on. He wishes to be taken somewhere far away and safe, and they vanish from The Praetorian's sight. TK and Forecast are also taken to safety.

Kasey gets out of the tub, but is being watched by someone who likes her body. Kasey walks into the room, where she sees that everybody was already wasted. The doorbell rings and the Diesel Brothers get very excited about the pizza getting there. However, as Roddy opens the door, he gets punched in the face by Praetorian, who stops all of them from moving. He laughs and tells his boss everything was clear. The Bastard, his boss, walks in and wants to know if he had interrupted a celebration. He tells Carmine he could not believe his hideout and Praetorian says that they probably could not believe that a superhero like him was with a villain like him and reveals that he was a double agent.

The Bastard says that he would have never thought that The Heat would gang up with Count Orlok again and tells them that their behavior needs to be rectified. Praetorian says that they knew where they were because Carmine had shouted "The Rock" right before they disappeared. Praetorian is impressed with the power Count Orlok's helmet has, but The Bastard says it is not to be underestimated and adds that even if he was just about to retire, he needed to protect The Network. Praetorian tells them that they needed to give them more than the usual 30% because they could not operate from behind The Network's back.

The Bastard tells them that he would take everything and adds that betrayal also warranted paying extra in blood as well. He says that normally he would kill a family member, a friend, or a lover, but he was not in the mood. While, they were being watched, The Bastard makes the butler's head explode. The pizza makes its way to the front door and Orlok reveals himself, saying he had been hiding in the attic. He does not see The Bastard standing behind him and asks where his helmet is. He turns around and sees The Bastard, who tells him he hates surprises; he is in shock that The Bastard is there and starts yelling, but The Bastard makes his head explode as well. Praetorian and The Bastard walk away with all the money, but before he leaves Praetorian tells them to not tell anyone what happened or they would kill them.

The day of Johnny's wedding, The cops go to the scene of the crime and Johnny, Transmit, Frostbite, and Kismet start running. Praetorian joins the cops as well and wonders where the villaisn are. The cops tell him that they are on a train, so they go to the station, where he gets on a train and finds the group of villains. Johnny starts running away from Praetorian who shifts his focus from his friends to him instead. When Johnny believes he had escaped, he turns around and finds The Gladiator looking at him and gets punched in the face.

Gladiator and Praetorian shake hands, saying that it was a good thing that justice had prevailed.

### Five years later

Five years later, Praetorian, who was now a former superhero, has been acquitted after having abused his position as a superhero. Gladiator also exits the court room, where they tell him that most of the internet thought he had been Praetorian's accomplice since they were friends. However, Gladiator says that that is ridiculous and stomps his foot on the ground.

Roddy Diesel and Kasey walk into The Bastard's house, who wanted to invest. They introduce themselves as professors from Princeton to the butler, who could not stop eyeing Kasey's breasts. As they approach another door, they reach Praetorian, who asks who they are. The butler tells him that they are scientists and they walk right past him. They are told they have 20 minutes to make their pitch as The Bastard waits for them at his desk.

The Bastard is surprised that they want him to invest in a time machine, also mentioning that it sounds expensive. Kasey and Roddy Diesel agree that it will be expensive, but with their projections, he would be able to become the greatest supervillain of all time. However, The Bastard tells him that he already was the greatest supervillain ever. Praetorian tells them that their time is up, but Roddy wants to use the bathroom.

As The Bastard and Kasey walk, she sees that there was a corner set up for painting. She asks him if he does it, to which he replies that sometimes. He tells her that he appreciates that they wanted to investigate, but tells her that she was too late since he had no use for a time machine. He says he chose retirement because he had lost his hunger. The butler tries groping Kasey, but she removes his hand and asks The Bastard if he would prefer to invest in art, but he says that his new art was a method for expressing sensitivity that defies space and time. He shows her a Mondrian painting as Roddy Diesel joins them again. Roddy does not understand the painting, but Kasey is able to make The Bastard agree with what she says about it. The Bastard says that like Mondrian, he had moved from the US because it does not have a past or future that requires rewriting, which is why he does not need a time machine. Praetorian tells The Bastard that his guests from the Middle East would be there soon, so he suggests that they pitch the time machine to Salamander.

At the casino, Carmine and Johnny walk in, with the former excited that all of it could be theirs. Ghost says that he did not know there were casinos like that in Japan. TK tries a game, but tries moving it when he lost. However Ghost stops him from using his powers. The Bastard looks out at the casino with Praetorian and both of them head to the VIP room to meet their guests from the middle east.

Kasey asks how much longer her flight would be delayed, but is told that it was unkown. Praetorian approaches her and tells her to not move a muscle or she would burn. The Bastard reaches her and says that he was disappointed because she was only there to make him look like a fool.

The Bastard, Praetorian and the butler Miguel have Kasey tied up, telling her they could not believe they thought they could outsmart him. He tells her that people with superpowers were not allowed on the island on purpose. Praetorian notices that Miguel liked Kasey and tells The Bastard to let him have Kasey when they were done, but he refuses because he would rather kill her right then and there. Miguel approaches Kasey and tells her that her body would still be beautiful even when she was dead.

Kasey is injected with sodium thiopental, which was a truth serum. The Bastard asks her what her superpower is, but Kasey simply asks him in return what he was so afraid of, telling him that he was surrounded by art in order to look sophisticated, but he is just a douchebag that is empty inside. The Bastard does not allow Praetorian to shut her up yet because he wants to know everything while the drug still worked. He asks her why she is there and she tells him that they are there to steal from him, which her friends were doing right at that moment. The Bastard gets angry and has Miguel bring up the cameras. There, they see that the superpower suppression unit was rebooting and all the guards were taken out. They look at the underground facility and see the villains with the briefcase, so The Bastard tells Praetorian to teleport down there.

TK tells Johnny that with the money he would take his family to Asia. The Diesel Brothers, Ghost, Carmine, Forecast, and Gladiator run with them as well when Praetorian shows up, telling them that they were as stupid as they looked. The Bastard talks through a PA system, asking if they really thought they could get away with it and asks why they would try to steal from him if they knew who he was. Johnny makes fun of him, telling him that was now too old to stop them. That makes The Bastard very angry, but the power suppression system reboots.

The Bastard tells Praetorian that he could now kill the group. Johnny tells Gladiator that it was now his turn to handle Praetorian. However, Gladiator takes his time while Praetorian punches Johnny in the face. Gladiator tells Johnny that he had been waiting to see him get hit. Even without powers, Praetorian seems to be taking his time defeating the villains.

Praetorian defeats all the villains, telling them that they were all worthless without their powers. Gladiator finally thinks that that had been enough and tells Praetorian that he could not believe how he had fallen, seeing that he was The Bastard's bodyguard. Praetorian tries punching him, but Gladiator grabs his wrist and reveals his face, which frightens Praetorian. Praetorian tries defending himself, but Gladiator is clearly much stronger and sends him flying back and slams him into the ground. Once Praetorian was defeated by Gladiator, Carmine asks if he was dead. Johnny tells Gladiator that he was not supposed to kill him since they never did that, but Gladiator says that he had only left him with some brain damage. Johnny says they should now leave.

The Bastard asks Praetorian to bring him the villains, but gets no answer. Suddenly, he gets a call saying that Praetorian was down, as well as his mansion. He says that that was impossible, since he had been in his mansion the whole time. However, The Bastard turns around and sees that the brush strokes on his painting were different and sees that he had made Miguel's head explode.