Andrew Pulaski

### Powers

Blast Power, Energy Absorption, Flight, Healing, Heat Vision, Immortal, Invulnerability, Light Projection, Stamina, Super Speed, Super Strength, Unarmed Combat

A solar-powered member of The Authority. He is extremely powerful, and is also known for his relationship with fellow Authority member, The Midnighter.

## Origin

Formerly a U.S. soldier, Apollo was a member of a secret experimental academy team created by the insane former Stormwatch Weatherman, Henry Bendix. Bendix's extensive alterations made Apollo almost a Sun God, with flight, superhuman strength and invulnerability, and heat vision. However, he needs frequent exposure to full sunlight to recharge his powers and his health. Unlike his lover, the Midnighter, Apollo may have volunteered willingly for the implant procedures that gave him his powers. Apollo has also lost all memory of who he was before his recruitment into the team. Apollo, alongside Midnighter, Lamplight, Crow Jane, Amaze, Impetus, and Stalker, formed the ill-fated team that would be sent to their deaths by Bendix on their first mission. Apollo served as team leader, but proved ineffective when he witnessed the death of his peers and became paralyzed with traumatic shock, leaving Midnighter to get them both out alive. However, when Midnighter and Apollo sought extraction, it was only to discover that Bendix had no intention of wasting time or resources to save them when he could so easily replace them with more "super soldiers."

Betrayed, Apollo and Midnighter used their abilities to escape with their lives, but would spend the next five years hiding on the streets, attempting to remain invisible to the Weatherman's ever-watchful eye from the Stormwatch headquarters orbiting the Earth. During this time, the team members fought to better the world on a smaller scale, and came together as lovers. Because of their self imposed exile, both Midnighter and Apollo were ignorant of Stormwatch's battle against Henry Bendix, and of his supposed death at the hands of Jenny Sparks. Only when Jackson King, the new Weatherman, discovered them on radar and brought them in for questioning (ultimately testing their loyalties by sending them on a mission) did the pair realize they were free to live in the open again as normal human beings. All files related to whom both Midnighter and Apollo were before their introduction into the team were believed to be lost, and since neither man could remember, Jackson King instead gave them new identities with which to retire from the super soldier business.

## Creation

Apollo was created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch

## Character Evolution

### Wildstorm Universe

A member of The Authority, Apollo is one of the most powerful metahumans in the Wildstorm Universe.

Apollo is married to Midnighter, and they have adopted Jenny Quantum.

## Major Story Arcs

### The Authority

Apollo's brief vacation into normalcy was to be short-lived. Less than a year after Apollo and Midnighter's retirement, the majority of the Stormwatch team was slaughtered in an Aliens/Stormwatch Crossover. Jenny Sparks used her vision for a new team, known as The Authority and she approached Apollo and Midnighter about joining. Jenny originally only asked Apollo to join because she knew that Midnighter would reluctantly accompany Apollo anywhere (part of the reason they were nicknamed "Bert" and "Ernie"). Apollo would then take the place of "The Sun God," on a team consisting of Midnighter, Swift, Jack Hawksmoor, Engineer, Doctor, and Jenny Sparks. His relationship with the Midnighter would only be hinted at until the Sliding Albion Story Arc, in which it was confirmed they were a couple.

### Violation

The Authority battled for possession of Baby Jenny, the reincarnation of Jenny Sparks who would eventually grow up to be Jenny Quantum. During this battle, Apollo faces off with a character known as The Commander, an overly-macho testosterone driven meta-human who sexually assaults innocent people in the hospitals that he searches. Apollo is beaten badly by The Commander and his two companions, with the implication that he was also raped. His badly beaten body was left for Midnighter to discover. However, the next time Apollo came face to face with The Commander, his enemy suggested that he wouldn't kill him as he gave Apollo pleasurable feelings. Unfortunately for The Commander, he was next seen with Midnighter standing over his paraplegic body, holding a large jackhammer.

The political powers of Earth attempted to overpower The Authority and replace them with The New Authority (consisting of Surgeon, Teuton, Machine, Last Call, Rush, Street, and Union Jack), they captured Apollo and gave him to Last Call, who kept him chained in a dark lower level of the Carrier. During his time in captivity, Apollo's powers were reduced to that of a regular human being, though he still did not require food or water to survive. Last Call beat him severely, breaking his nose and many of his bones, as well as burning him with cigarettes and drawing blood from his weakened skin. During Apollo's imprisonment, his would-be replacement, Teuton, expressed an interest in exploring his sexuality with Apollo's bound body. He is unable to go through with his contemplation of rape, however, due to the Midnighter's timely arrival and murder of the character. After gaining some strength, Apollo then killed Last Call and Machine. Once the rest of the members were freed, Apollo and Midnighter decided to get married and adopt Jenny.

Soon the Authority would take over the American government after they caused the deaths of an alien group traveling through the Bleed. The team was able to take power without out any trouble. Keeping that power was far more troublesome, however. Enemies such as Stormwatch: Team Achilles did not approve of the takeover and Midnighter and Apollo were sent on a mission to raid their base which ended with them almost losing their lives in the process. They were then given the task of dismantling the American training camp for SPBs. Soon Midnighter was visited by a future Apollo, warning him that he would become a tyrant and he needed to break up the team to stop this from coming to pass. Meanwhile, a group of former heroes called the Sons of Liberty had caused Americans to become upset with the team's rule and decided to riot. This eventually ended with a nuclear explosion in Washington and the team ultimately disbanded. Midnighter left Apollo to raise Jenny on his own. After three years, however, Jenny decided to speed up her age going from 8 to 14. She then rebuilt the team and discovered this was all a plot made by Henry Bendix and a revived Rose Tattoo. Bendix revealed he had secretly taken control of Midnighter using nanites and forced him to attack and beat the team--including Apollo. He was also able to gain slight control of Apollo, asking him to take his life, but Jenny and Engineer were able to free Apollo, who then in revenge killed Bendix himself.

### Utopian

Along with the rest of the team, he was trapped in an alternate dimension where there were no superheroes or any major power sources. While flying over Afghanistan attempting to recharge, he was shot down. Midnighter showed up and attempted to defeat the soldiers responsible.

### World's End

After the events taking place with the High's clones, the planet had been covered in a smog cloud. The cloud prevented Apollo from absorbing any sunlight and he was forced to remain in the planet's photosphere in order to survive. He was recently seen saving Midnighter from a group of crazed super beings, however he was only able to remain for a few seconds before his body began to wither and develop what Midnighter described as a "*heroin* *chic"* look. During a fight with Incubites, Apollo was infected with the disease known as the Warhol virus. It provided a person with a deformed giant body and super strength but they died 15 minutes later and caused the virus to spread. Apollo went back to the sun in hopes of purging it out of him, but the disease strength was increased by the heat. It become so powerful that it became self aware and took over Apollo. The disease renamed itself The Burn and attacked the carrier, hoping to get into the Bleed to spread. The team couldn't kill Apollo so Engineer froze him fully aware, but with The Burn still active inside him.

Midnighter had a dream where a little girl named Gaia told him to find and help her, and that she knew how to save Apollo. When he traveled to the island, he found that Gaia (one of the Century Babies, much like Jenny) was under attack by a rampaging monster called the Green Man. It was later revealed that the Green Man was actually the former Doctor, Habib, driven insane by the planetary destruction caused by the events of World's End. With the help of the remaining members of the Authority, the Green Man was defeated and Gaia handed Midnighter a magical apple. When he fed a slice of the apple to the frozen Apollo, he was healed of the Burn and restored to full health.

## Powers and Abilities

### Solar Energy

Apollo's abilities are powered by solar energy, which he absorbs from the Sun's UV rays, which he is also able to store limited quantities inside his body. The way in which Apollo absorbs sunlight is similar to photosynthesis. However, with no exposure to sunlight, he will quickly lose his powers, starting with his ability to fly. Apollo is able to quickly regain this ability with about 20 seconds of sunlight exposure, and will be fully charged in 2 hours. When at full power, Apollo can withstand the molten heat of the Earth's core, destroy entire spaceships by flying through them at imperceptible speeds, and practically level entire city blocks. He is also able to survive in the vacuum of space by simply not breathing, and he does not require food or drink to survive, although he enjoys both. Apollo has also demonstrated that he is capable of circling the globe in approximately sixty seconds. While the full range and extent of his powers are astounding, it is possible for his energy stores to become depleted if kept out of the sun long enough. Apollo's main abilities include:

* Vast superhuman strength
* Self propelled flight
* Invulnerability to harm
* Solar blasts which shoot from his eyes

After the events of World's End, Apollo's powers and physiology have changed dramatically. His solar charge now depletes at a much faster rate and leaves him weaker than it ever did before. For this very reason, he constantly stays in the sun, only coming down to Earth when necessary. Because of this, Apollo is only capable of fighting for short periods of time before needing a recharge. His recharging, however, seems much more effective as it has been shown that he can reform bone by basking in the rays of the sun.

## Other Versions

### Pluto

Pluto is an alternate version of Apollo from another universe. He and Daylighter travel to the Wildstorm Universe to stop an idea plague from killing everyone in the world.