Caitlin Fairchild

Superherobox|

caption=Art by J. Scott Campbell and Alex Garner
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Fairchild
real_name=Caitlin Fairchild
publisher=DC Comics
Image Comics (previously)
Wildstorm
debut= "Deathmate Black" (February 1994)
creators=Jim Lee
Brandon Choi
J. Scott Campbell.
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=Gen¹³ International Operations
aliases=
powers=Superhuman strength, endurance and durability.|

Caitlin Fairchild is a fictional character from the Wildstorm comic book series Gen¹³, created by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell.

Character biography

Early life

Fairchild is the daughter of Alex Fairchild of Team 7. The identity of her mother is unknown and Caitlin has never mentioned her.

When he was forced to go underground to escape International Operations, Alex Fairchild left Caitlin in the care of relatives in Portland, Oregon. Raised by her aunt and uncle alongside her cousin Karen, Caitlin grew into a brilliant, but rather mousy young woman. Her academic skill led to her being accepted to Princeton University where she double-majored in computer science and electrical engineering.

Gen¹³

In her sophomore year, Caitlin was recruited into Project: Genesis which she believed to be some sort of government internship. One night, Caitlin began to feel ill (due to secretly being fed drugs designed to activate latent Gen-Active abilities) and she staggered out of her room to try to find a bathroom. She inadvertently stumbled into a computer room where her future teammates Grunge and Roxy were hanging out. Caitlin convinced them to go back to their rooms and was about to leave when she spotted her father's name on a computer screen.

Caitlin, investigating this, was interrupted by a security guard who clubbed her with his rifle when she tried to explain herself. The guard was about to turn on Grunge and Roxy, but was interrupted by Caitlin’s anger activating her latent gen-active abilities. Fairchild’s clothing was shredded in the process, but within seconds she was transformed from a mousy computer geek to a powerful, towering amazon.

Borrowing Grunge's shirt, Caitlin, Roxy and Grunge decided to escape Project: Genesis. Along the way, they were joined by Bobby Lane and Sarah Rainmaker. Despite their best efforts the team’s escape from Project: Genesis would have failed if not for the intervention of International Operations director John Lynch.

Deciding that I/O had to be opposed, Lynch turned on the organization and helped the teens flee to San Diego, California where he set up a luxurious safe house in the La Jolla area. Lynch promised to teach the fledgling superheroes how to make a difference in the world and to help them uncover the mysteries of who their parents were.

Because of her responsible and mature attitude, Caitlin was universally elected field leader of the team. Though uncertain of her abilities, Fairchild accepted the role and her cool thinking got the team out of more than a few tight situations. Some time later, John Lynch disappeared. But Alex Fairchild, who Caitlin was reunited with during the Fire From Heaven crossover, took up the role of mentor. It was during this period that the team relocated to the Florida Keys and Roxy and Caitlin discovered that they were half-sisters.

But the family reunion was short-lived as Alex was killed protecting his daughters and the rest of the team from the villain Tindalos. With her father dead and John Lynch still missing, Caitlin took full leadership of the team.

Though sometimes frustrated by her comrades' personal eccentricities, Caitlin cares deeply for all of them. They are all the family she has now. In return, the rest of Gen¹³ look to Caitlin as both a friend and leader. Also, an accident resulted in a case of amnesia that made her believe she was Supergirl for a time, an issue that was quickly resolved.

Worldstorm

In the limited series "Captain Atom: Armageddon", Captain Atom comes to the Wildstorm universe and has several encounters with the characters of that world. After his departure, the entire Wildstorm line had a "soft reset" with significant and subtle continuity changes.

"Gen¹³" and the entire Wildstorm line was rebooted. Caitlin is still living with her adoptive parents when she mysteriously wakes up with a version of her familiar green uniform. Her parents take this as a cue that their apparent mission to raise her is over. Soldiers enter her home, kill her parents and kidnap Caitlin. She meets up with other familiar Gen¹³ characters, Freefall, Burnout, Rainmaker, and Grunge, for apparently the first time.

Catilin, forced to pose for prurient shoots in stereotypical hypersexualized situations, helps the other Gens to escape from Tabula Rasa, the I/O offshot project responsible for their empowerment, protecting them and caring as a sort of rational and mother-like "hen mother" for the group. However, her time with Tabula Rasa leaves her badly traumatized and unsure about her prettier appearance, due to the motives leading them to give it to her in the first place.

As the natural "leader" of the group she leads them during throughout their escape, helping Rainmaker into copying with her homosexuality and reassure her that they still could be friends even if they'll never be lovers as she hoped to, caring for Grunge when, forced to kill in self-defence, is left shattered and falls in a deep depression, warding off further plans of Tabula Rasa's men to control the Gen¹³ members life, and, ultimately taking care of Freefall, blinded during the "World's End" event.

Caitlin's role in the postatomic ruins which Earth has become is now caring for the safety of her friends: when the other Gens suppose that Caitlin may be developing the Florence Nightingale Effect, Grunge dismissed it, claiming that helping friends in need is a facet of her personality, and pressures her into being more carefree for a while. Caitlin complies, sharing with her friends her "funny" idea of a postatomic world: a fantasy in which she acts as a teenaged, yet more bookish, Shanna the She-Devil, walking her pet dinosaur and reading books in a peaceful, idyllic prehistoric world.

Another Caitlin clone, this time a superintelligent toddler, roams the Earth in a truck with a baby version of Doctor Cross, with a still unknown agenda.

It has been surmised by an alternate version of the Doctor that the teenaged iteration of Caitlin Fairchild may share the soul of the pre-reboot version of the character, but changed due to their differences in nurture: this Caitlin is less a tease and a bombshell, and more of a quiet, peaceful hen-mother whose quiet and collected manners stride heavily with her pin-up body.

Alternate versions

During the storyline entitled "Bleed" on Stormwatch v2, an alternate world was showed in which Caitlin had joined this version of Stormwatch (which had 20 superhumans working for Stormwatch, divided in five squads of four members), becoming a team leader. She was apparently killed along with the rest of Stormwatch, including Jack Hawksmoor and Roxy Spaulding when they tried to stop a Kherubin invasion.

Another set in the Alan Moore WildeC.A.T.s/Spawn crossover,where a satan powered Spawn calling himself the Ipissimus forced superheroines into his concubines for his underlings. Fairchild became morbidly obese in order to be overlooked. She was present when the past WildC.A.T.s stormed the Ipissimus stronghold.

Powers and abilities

Caitlin was affected by her gen-factor causing her mass to increase and her muscle density to grow exponentially. This gives her incredible strength and durability as well as increased stamina and agility. She has confronted and been able to hold her own against some of the strongest heroes and villains in the Wildstorm universe.

In Gen 13 v3, Caitlin absorbed the shapeshifting powers of another "genie" (that reality's nickname for those with gen-factor powers). She gained the ability to melt into a purple liquid and reform in various shapes, somewhat similar in concept to the T-1000's abilities in "Terminator 2". After expressing these powers, Caitlin's hair and lips turned purple. It is unknown whether she retained these new powers after the events of Gen 13 v3 #16.

In the current relaunch by author Gail Simone, Caitlin Fairchild's origins are slightly different. The activation of her gen-factor (and subsequent physical appearance) were all the result of bald-faced manipulation since birth by Tabula Rasa, an offshoot of I.O., to create an attractive Gen-Active teen. The limits and changes to her traditional abilities of superstrength and invulnerability are unknown (she is able to best a saber-tooth tiger, for instance, but a blow to the head from a fall causes her to bleed and concuss). Cailtin retains her notable traits of intelligence and attractiveness but is continually suspicious and unhappy about her appearance, given the prurient nature of her creators.

Trivia

*In the Gen¹³ animated movie, Fairchild's voice was provided by Alicia Witt
*Caitlin is a fan of the bands Massive Attack, Elastica, and The Beastie Boys.
*In the "Gen¹³ Zine" published by Wildstorm, it is revealed that Fairchild has the same measurements as supermodel Elle Macpherson.

External links

* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/f/fairchil.htm International Hero entry for Fairchild]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119185/ Gen13 movie on IMDB.com]