The Gladiator (anime)

**The Gladiator** is one of the most powerful superheroes in the Union of Justice. His power is superstrength which allows him to defeat even the most powerful supervillains.

## History

A woman relaxes at a beach when TK McCabe brings her a drink she ordered. She asks him what he would be doing later as he steals one of her keys. He thanks her for the offer, but leaves with the key. Another man sees him using the keys to steal cars and tells his partner. As the man reaches the woman's sports car, he is called by Carmine and approached by The Gladiator, who wants to stop him.

On a Supermax plane, security taunts TK, who is trapped and being tortured. However, Gladiator reaches the guards and tells them that he would be going with them on the plane because he needed to go back to HQ, riding on the top part. A guard tells TK that he has the worst luck ever, getting caught by the most powerful superhero in he Union of Justice.

On the plane, a Supermax guard feels a small power surge as Carmine flew above their plane. Carmine asks Johnny if he could deactivate the restraint device TK was in, but Johnny says it was impossible. The crew prepares for Plan B. While the Supermax plane tried communicating, Johnny deactivated their comms as Ghost and the Diesel Brothers throw themselves onto the Supermax plane. Their shouting alerts The Gladiator, who watches in shock as one of the brothers throws himself at a propeller. The bigger brother tries attacking The Gladiator, but receives a punch to the face which dislocates his jaw, but he tells Ghost that he had gotten rid of The Gladiator. Ghost flies down to the Supermax plane and prepares to attack the guards inside the plane.

The Gladiator reaches the top part of the plane again and punches Roddy. The Gladiator asks who he is and punches him relentlessly, but the brother manages to swing away and heals automatically. The Gladiator says that he hates that kind of power and both of them run towards each other.

Roddy fights The Gladiator, but is taken down, while told that people like him were nothing without their powers because they had no discipline. Ghost was trying to open the lock, while being laughed at by the guards. However, Carmine tells Johnny that Ghost was a famous safecracker.

The Gladiator tells Roddy that he was always letting his powers use him and only living a life of scum because it was easy. He also tells Roddy that he did not deserve to live and steps on him. The Gladiator reaches for Roddy's arm and rips it off as they drove into a big cloud. After that, The Gladiator tells him that he would sqash his head, but Roddy uses his newly healed arm to throw them both off the plane. They fight in mid air until they crash into the ocean.

Underwater, The Gladiator awakens when a few fish start talking to him; two mermen approach him and ask him to save them, which he reluctantly accepts. He is dragged away by all the fish and moves forward with them.

Roddy reaches Kasey's boat, where his brother was waiting for him. Looking to his side, he sees that The Gladiator was asleep, dreaming about saving an underwater kingdom thanks to her powers. Kasey tells Carmine that everything was alright with them, but does not get an answer.

In Pittsburgh, The Flare II arrives along with Ruby Red and other heroes, who prepare to defeat the zombies. The Utopian and Lady Liberty make it as well, defeating many zombies as well.The Gladiator makes it there as well as the heroes realize that the zombies were not really fighting. All of a sudden, the zombies drop since Molecule Master had changed their clothes to steal. The Utopian believes somebody was controlling the zombies, and Necromancer reveals himself. The Utopian chases after him and threatens to kill him.

As Forecast and TK prepared to spice things up, they are approached by The Gladiator, who shocks them. However, he believes they are civilians and tells them to get out of there. TK has his back to the Gladiator, who asks him if they had met before; TK turns around and runs, telling Forecast that The Gladiator had arrested him in Florida.

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.

Johnny greets Glenda, who tells him that he could not decide what to wear for their date. Johnny tells him that he thinks he looks better when he wears a suit that is tighter. Glenda asks what he means by that and Johnny tells him to have a seat, calling him Gladiator. Ghost mentions that Johnny is insane, but Johnny tells him that he knew who he was thanks to Supermax and also knew that he spent time cheating on his husband after coming out of the closet as gay and getting married, which angers Gladiator, but Johnny threatens to publish an intimate photo of his on a dating site globally if he did anything to him. Gladiator asks what he wants and Johnny asks for help with a heist, which angers him even more, saying that working for him would never be meaningful to him. Johnny tells him that the heist was on an island south of Japan, which was off limits for the Union of Justice and The Network.

Gladiator, and all of Johnny's friends wonder if he really wanted to attack The Bastard, but Johnny mentions that Praetorian was also there, which sparked Gladiator's interest. Johnny tells him that The Bastard was enjoying his retirement, having opened Casino Grand Granite. Ghost counts himself out, but Kasey tells him that it could work as long as they got in unnoticed. Johnny tells Gladiator that it was a good chance to get back at Praetorian and also says that he could donate his share to an LGBTQ charity of his choice, also promising to delete those photos.

On the island, Ghost separates from the group and Johnny and Kasey open up briefcases where The Diesel Brothers were being stored. The rest would be taking a ferry, but they would also jump from the ferry. On the island, Gladiator arrives by swimming butterfly at an incredible speed.

Johnny, TK, Carmine, the Diesel Brothers, Ghost, Kasey, Gladiator and Forecast all take a break on the hot sprinks. Kasey puts on a disguise so that they do not see her naked and Johnny says that he is the only one who could see her like that, but she says that she was just not wasting effort on him. The Diesel Brothers tell Gladiator that they were sorry for how things had gone the last time they had encountered him, but he tells them to not talk to him, as he was only there to destroy Praetorian.

Ghost was quiet because he is nervous about attacking The Bastard, but Johnny tells him that they have a perfect plan. TK, Forecast, and The Diesel Brothers want to know about the plan, saying that the first part would be walking to Matts' front door.

Kasey and Johnny look at a recreation Kasey had made of The Bastard's mansion, while The Diesel Brothers join them. Ghost wonders how she had done it without being detected by the superpower sensors inside, so she says that when she touches someone, she can read minds without the sensors detecting it. Carmine says that he had done his part and tells them that the main floor had standard superpower sensors and security, but Ghost says that the real problem are the underground rooms connected to the VIP rooms at the back. Forecast gets there late from taking a bath, as Gladiator joins them. Carmine tells them they would take The Bastards briefcase, which was actually a big vault on the inside. However, the real problem are all the sensors that can deactivate their powers. Carmine says that normally the unit is switched off, but if the sensors pick up a use of superpowers, then it turns on, so they need to deactivate the whole system. They want Ghost to use his powers in order to reach it, but he tells them that the island was huge, so he would lose track of where he was, so he would die. Gladiator tells them that they should just give up, but Johnny remembers that whenever a new supervillain has to be registered in the database, they update the software, but it also means the system must be rebooted, so they could destroy it then. Carmine tells them that they would split into two groups to enter the facility.

Carmine, Ghost, TK, Forecast, Johnny, the Diesel Brothers, and Kasey all toast. He thanks them and tells them that he liked that they had a sense of duty. Kasey wonders why Matts had made it so even he could not use his powers in his mansion, but Carmine knows that he hated superpowers. Johnny tells them that he had new outfits for their plan, which Gladiator refuses to wear.

The Diesel Brothers, Gladiator, and Ghost climb the ravine and enter the facility via the jetty, later heading towards the backup data on the private server. Sammy mentions that he cannot see Praetorian or Matts anywhere. They start moving through a cave when they start getting shot at. The Diesel Brothers cover for Ghost as he starts to run. THey reach a large vault, which Ghost unlocks using his powers. As soon as he uses them, they are attacked by ninjas. Sammy tries to negotiate with them, but is shot at relentlessly. Roddy throws Ghost a flashdrive, which he plugs into the server. Sammy and Roddy take the ninjas down and realize they had nine minutes left.

Johnny tells Carmine and TK that he believed they were in the right place. They are joined by The Diesel Brothers, Gladiator, and Ghost. Forecast joins them by making it snow, which Johnny believes would be a good idea for the fringes on the door. Once they freeze, Sammy uses metallic arms in order to rip the door off. They look down towards the vault which was all the way down and jump. Ghost looks through a wall in order to see how many guards there were behind a wall and they finally make it through.

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.

Ghost tells Kasey that she really had guts in order to do what she had done, as Gladiator smiles. Carmine also says that she followed the rules needed and calls her a great supervillain. Johnny tells her that she was the only one who had been able to go through all of that with her friends. Both of them hug and tell one another that they love them. Kasey tells him that they could now retire, which Johnny agrees with. Forecast, TK, The Diesel Brothers and the rest celebrate happily.

One year later, in a casino in Manila, Carmine had been able to pay off his 100 million dollar debt and chilled out as told by Johnny. TK took his family on a trip to East Asia, Forecast invested in space exploration, while Ghost used diplomatic pressure on the Greek government and bought a lot of land there while they were in a financial crisis. Roddy put every penny of his money into the development of a four-dimensional transport system, which meant his time machine was not a bluff and he had actually earned a doctorate from Princeton. Sammy spent everything on women and liquor, while The Gladiator made sure he could never get blackmailed again, confessing he had been disloyal to his partner, later marrying him.