Manchester Black

Manchester Black
Manchester Black in Action Comics #775, art by Doug Mahnke.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Action Comics #775 (March 2001)
Created by	Joe Kelly Doug Mahnke
In-story information
Alter ego	Manchester Black
Team affiliations	The Elite Suicide Squad
Abilities	Telekinetic and Telepath.

Manchester Black is a fictional character, and an antihero in the DC Comics universe. He was created by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke in Action Comics #775, (March 2001).

Fictional character biography

He was English, as shown by his accent and his omnipresent Union Flag T-shirt. Very little is known about his background; what little that is known include insinuations that he was abused both physically and sexually by his parents while growing up. Manchester later says that he grew up hating traditional heroes, especially those who believed in high moral concepts such as never killing under any circumstances, personally feeling that the only way to truly stop the villains was to kill them.

Elite

Black first appears as the leader of a team of super-powered antiheroes known as The Elite, who gained worldwide popularity for viciously killing their foes and thus preventing them coming back to cause more problems. Superman opposed this wanton violence, leading to a showdown on Jupiter's moon Io that was videotaped for the Earth's media. Black used his powers to give Superman a stroke, and his teammates (Coldcast, Menagerie, and the Hat) apparently were able to destroy Superman in a giant explosion. While the Elite were gloating, however, Superman used his superspeed to seemingly kill all the team members, except for Black; Superman then disabled the Englishman by using his x-ray vision to locate an unusual growth on Black's brain. He identified the growth as the source of Black's powers, and then carefully fired a thin burst of heat vision through Black's retinas and told Black that he had cut out the growth.

Faced with the apparent loss of his powers, Black actually wept, hypocritically appalled that Superman had seemingly adopted the lethal tactics he and the Elite had spent so much time advocating, especially given that he was being taped at the time. After stating that he was certain his 'demonstration' had frightened those watching with the ugliness of it, Superman then revealed to the powerless Black that the rest of the Elite were only unconscious, he had not removed anything from Black's brain- instead merely causing a micro-concussion that temporarily shut down Black's powers-, and that murdering opponents makes a hero no better than his enemies. Furious, Black declared that by not killing him, Superman had guaranteed that as long as Black was alive, he would come after Superman again and again, but Superman calmly replied that he wouldn't want it any other way, and that dreams like the ones he gave to Earth were what made life worth living until the example he and other heroes provided created a better tomorrow.

Suicide Squad

A temporarily beaten Black was taken into custody, and his mental powers restored themselves over the next few months. His next appearance was part of the Our Worlds At War storyline in Adventures of Superman #593. Black was hired by the American government and President Lex Luthor to lead a new Suicide Squad featuring Chemo, Plasmus, Shrapnel, and Steel (John Henry Irons). The Squad's mission was to release the monster Doomsday against the threat of the galactic conqueror Imperiex. However, Doomsday apparently killed the Squad upon his release, with the exception of Black- although Steel was later saved thanks to the actions of the Black Racer and Darkseid-, who escaped after 'reprogramming' Doomsday's mind so that Doomsday's hatred for Superman was redirected towards the Imperiex probes for a time.

Suicide

Black's final appearance was in the Ending Battle storyline running through the Superman titles in November and December 2002. This storyline featured Black mentally controlling dozens of supervillains by revealing Superman's secret identity and sending them en masse after the Man of Steel, targeting everyone in his life- ranging from Clark's old football coach to his current dentist- before launching a mass assault. Despite the odds against him, Superman manages to hold the villains back, and then finds Black in his apartment, apparently having killed Superman's wife Lois Lane while Superman was occupied. Black taunts Superman and goads him into killing him, but Superman puts Lois' body first and resolves to give her a proper burial. Despite fantasizing about killing Black, Superman resists temptation and tells Black that he will devote the rest of his life to keeping the villain behind bars, not in the morgue, as vengeance isn't justice.

Black is stunned at Superman's fortitude, and as his spirit wavers, his mental spell crumbles, and it is revealed that Lois is still alive; Black was trying to force Superman into a position where he would have to kill a man, intending for Superman to learn after Black's demise that he had broken his moral code for nothing and leaving him truly broken, but his plan failed, forcing him to recognise that Superman genuinely believed everything he said. Distraught at the revelation that he had become a villain himself, Black made the supervillains forget that Superman is really Clark Kent, and then used his telekinetic powers to take his own life by sending a telepathic pulse at his own head.^[1]

Manchester's sister Vera Black is the leader of the Justice League Elite team of superheroes.^[2] For a time, her mind was taken over by what appeared to be the disembodied spirit of Black- although it was later revealed to be a form of multiple personality disorder caused by her traumatic upbringing and exaggerated by her contact with the near-infinite power of the Worlogog-, thus nearly driving her to destroy London, but the other members of the Elite helped her recover.

Powers and abilities

Black was a skilled telekinetic and telepath and was capable of precise use of his telekinesis. He was able to give Superman the equivalent of a stroke, for example, by telekinetically pinching blood vessels in Superman's brain. He was also able to create very detailed illusions on a vast scale, and telepathically control thousands of people at the same time. While controlling Bizarro and Silver Banshee, he rendered them temporarily sane, able to communicate and form plans.

Collected editions

Some of Black's appearances have been reprinted in trade paperbacks:

• Justice League Elite (reprints: Action Comics #775, JLA #100, JLA Secret Files 2004 (lead story), and Justice League Elite #1-4, tpb, 208 pages, 2005, Titan ISBN 1-84576-191-X DC, ISBN 1-4012-0481-3)
• Superman: Ending Battle (reprints 2002's Superman (1986 series) #186-87, Adventures Of Superman #608-09, Superman: Man Of Steel #130-31, and Action Comics #795-96, tpb, 192 pages, 2009, DC, ISBN 1-4012-2259-5)

External links

• Manchester Black at the Comic Book DB
• DCU Guide entry
• The Captain's unofficial JLA Homepage entry
• Superman homepage
• GCD Project: Action Comics #775
• Comparisons between Manchester Black and The Mad Mod

References

1. ^ Action Comics #796 (December 2002)
2. ^ Justice League Elite #1-8 (2004-2005)

• The DC Comics Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley Limited. 2004. p. 194. ISBN 0-7566-0592-X.