Ted Knight

## Background

### 1954 - 1977: Ted Knight

The Knight clan was a successful one to say the least. Full of CEOs, doctors, lawyers and a senator for an uncle, a lot was expected of Ted's future. Since he was a child, Ted Knight was an immensely wealthy heir, whose wealth nearly matched his boredom at the life he lived. Though he could have anything in the world, he did not have much joy. As he got older & entered college, Ted continued his playboy lifestyle until he found something that fascinated him: science. Suddenly, Ted was ditching dates & missing out on parties to devote his time to his true passion with the help of his professor, Abraham Davis. Using vast amounts of his parents' money, Ted focused in on astronomy & fiscovered that stars routinely bombarded Earth with great amounts of energy. Unfortunately, he had no means of harnessing that energy.

While speaking with his cousin Sandra one day, she mentioned one of her father's friend, Professor Abraham Davis, a man who was looking to make a new energy source. With the help of the professor, Knight created a device they called the Gravity Rod, a piece of technology that was far ahead of its time. The rod could be used for flight, energy projection & several other applications. As for the power source, both convened in using the stellar energy that Knight had discovered years prior. When he showed the rod to Sandra & their cousin Rex, they both rambled on about the rod could be used to help people instead of just a science discovert. Inspired by their words, Ted took on the identity of Starman & began to use the gravity rod to fight crime. As Starman, he became the defender of Opal City & joined the Justice Society of America in the late 1970s.

### 1977 - 1984: Starman

Ted's life quicky changed for the better. Along with his new activities, he met the beautiful Adele Drew. She often chastised him for his flirtatious ways & missing late nights, unaware of her boyfriend's secret life. The two dated for some time, with Ted proposing & revealing his costume persona in the same night. Adele accepted both news & the two were married shortly after. The same year, they welcomed a son named David.

After nearly a decade as a superhero, the Justice Society faced supervillain Dr. Ian Karkull, which led to the death of teammate Citizen Steel & many of the others aging at a much slower rate than the average human. Ted decided to take a break from heroics, feeling lost after the death of his doo friend. Though unfortunate, his retirement came at perfect timing as Adele had just given birth to their second son, Jack. He subsequently hung up the costume & concentrated on his original love of science.

### 1984 - 1996: Ted Knight

After the birth of his two sons, Ted decided to focus more on his civilian life. His mentor, Professor Davis, got him a job as an astronomy professor at his alma mater, Bowman College. With his expertise & loads of funding, Ted turned Bowman College into the go-to schools for those wanting to become astronomers. He became particularly close with one of his students, Justin Ballantine.

### 1996 - 2007: Starman

A few years later, Adele passed away suddenly. Doctors discovered she had some sort of slow acting disease with limited symptoms, making it hard for them to predict such a thing. The death of his wife motivated Ted to return to active duty but part-time. While David idolized his father, Jack disdained the silliness of superhero life & his father's perceived focus on costumed adventure over family, after a childhood period of adoration & subsequent disillusionment. Nonetheless, Ted continued on as a full-time professor & part-time crimefighter over the next decade until he decided to officially retire.

### 2007: Ted Knight

Following his retirement, his son David inherited his mantle as Starman. Ted origianlly wanted Jack to take over but his disgust with heroics prevented him from accepting the offer. However, Ted's departure from his second life allowed the two estranged men reforged the bond of father & son, with Jack ultimately understanding his father's heroism.

A few months into his retirement, Ted's longtime enemy Mist decided to enact his revenge plan after noticing that it was different Starman under the mask. David was killed by the Mist's son Kyle, with Jack retaliating by killing kyle with his bare hands. As his sons fought for their lives, Ted confronted the Mist, recognizing he was the one that the villain truly wanted. Ted fought a good fight but it wouldn't e good enough as Mist set off a bomb that killed Ted & badly scarred himself.

With Ted & David both gone, Jack decided to take on the mantle of Starman & become Opal CIty's hero in order to honor his father's wishes.

## Romantic Relationships

* Adele Drew: Girlfriend (1977 - 1979); Fiancée (1979 - 1980); Wife (1980 - 1996)

## Powers & Abilities

* **Genius Level Intellect**: Ted possesses a brilliant intellect, mastery of several sciences, and a gift for invention.
	+ ***Astronomy*:** Ted quickly developed a love & affinity fot astronomy. He graduated at the top of his class then returned as an esteemed professor. With his knowledge & funds, he turned Bowman College into the go-to school for furture astronomers.
	+ ***Gadgetry***: He created the Gravity Rod, the Cosmic Staff & helped with the Cosmic Converter Belt. The former is now in the possession of William Dayton (aka Starman) & the latter two are with Courtney Whitmore (aka Stargirl).
* **Aviation**: Ted was skilled enough to fly planes.
* **Equestrianism**: As a wealthy socialite, he bred & raced horses.
* ***Gravity Rod (formerly):*** The Gravity Rod is a small hand held device that can harness the power of the stars & convert it into energy that enables the wielder to defy the laws of gravity. The staff's abilities include flight, gravity manipulation, magenetic manipulation, deflect, energy projection, energy absorption, heat emission & radiation detection.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** Unknown
* **Strength:** Unknown
* **Speed:** Unknown
* **Occult:** Unknown
* **Weapons:** Unknown
* **Range:** Unknown
* **Strategy:** Unknown
* **Combat:** Unknown
* **TOTAL:** Unknown

## Trivia

* He is an atheist.
* Justin Ballantine attended Bowman College to learn under Ted, his personal idol. Based on Ted's idea that the stars were possessed of boundless energy, Ballantine built a special device designed to create a "cosmic balance," draining half an object's power & transferring it to the wielder of the device. He called the device the "Energy Transmortifier." The two kept in contact for years but when Ted discovered Justin's foundings & that he stole his blueprints from the Gravity Rod, he never spoke to Justin again.
* He was good friends with Billy O'Dare.