Ethan Crane

Name: Ethan Allen Crane Occupation: Student, adventurer, school paper artist Legal status: U.S. citizen with no criminal record Known Relatives: Joseph Crane (father), Joanne Crane (mother), Sally Crane (sister) Hometown: Littlehaven, Illinois

History: Six years ago, a meteor shower of red rocks burst from the heavens, raining destruction on the unsuspecting citizens of Littlehaven, Illinois. Unknown to anyone, an inter-dimensional aperture between this universe and another had briefly opened up near the Earth. This aperture was caused by an astronomical explosion in that other universe, a realm where physical laws as we know them do not pertain.

Nine year old Ethan Crane was in the woods when he found a meteor, which he went down to play with. Radiation from the meteor, however, later made him sick. But he got well again after a while. Since the meteor rocks were from another universe, its radiation is not governed by the same laws of physics that radiation native to this universe is. The meteor, dubbed Supremium by Ethan's father, had granted Ethan a variety of formidable abilities including incredible strength, invulnerability, super-senses, the ability to project heat beams from his eyes, and super-speed.

The calamity of the meteor shower left the town's inhabitants with scars and secrets; some even with unusual traits inherited as a direct result of exposure to the meteor rocks and therefore its radiation. From the ashes of the tragedy, Ethan grew into a teenager. While being a teen always brings challenges, Ethan's transition from boyhood to adulthood is particularly difficult. He must cope with his superpowers while protecting this idyllic Midwest hamlet from the strange occurrences that have plagued it since the meteor shower.

The guardians of Ethan's secret identity are his parents, Joanne and Dr. Joseph Crane; and his little sister, Sally. Aware that their son is possessed of awesome powers far beyond those of mortal men, Joanne and Joseph have raised Ethan in virtual isolation, prohibiting him from participating in contact sports. As a result, Ethan has the reputation of a gawky nerd, and is extremely self-conscious and full of trepidation about his place in the world. Because of his supranormal abilities, Ethan often feels truly alone, like an outsider looking in. Even his classmates Diana Dane - the intrepid investigative reporter for the Littlehaven High Citadel - and straight-talking Erwin Wells have long been in the dark about Ethan's powers.

Meanwhile, Ethan struggles with his feelings for the beautiful girl next door, Judy Jordan, and the more receptive Diana. Although Judy feels a strange kinship with Clark, she doesn't know much about him. Ethan also forges a remarkable new friendship with Darius Dax. Darius moved to Littlehaven after college to manage the Dax Inc. fertilizer plant. After Ethan saved Darius's life in a death-defying rescue, the two became fast friends. Now, Ethan looks up to Darius as the big brother he never had, and Darius is surprised that this small-town boy is someone he can actually trust. But the ill-fated friendship causes tension in the close-knit Crane family, as Joseph fears Darius may take after his ruthless tycoon father, Zachary Dax. Darius's complex relationship with Zach becomes more difficult as his formerly aloof father draws closer, while Darius strives to set out on his own and make a name for himself.

Ethan must deal with a variety of individuals given powers by the meteor rocks, keep his powers a secret, cope with his friendship with a young Darius Dax, and balance the two girls in his life, Diana and Judy.

Height: 5'11" Weight: 170 Hair: Black Eyes: Blue

Powers: The organelles of Ethan's cells, now being suffused with the particles of an extra-dimensional energy, permanently radiates that energy in the form of a bioelectric forcefield. Because of the field, Ethan's cells have become reinforced in such a way that they are not only protected from external harm, but internal forces as well. It is this last which is key to Ethan's great powers. Since the individual cells are wholly invulnerable, they are capable of operating at levels of efficiency that would destroy normal human cells. These "super-cells" lend an enhancing effect to all bodily systems...muscular, metabolic, nervous, and so forth. Thus, Ethan Crane is capable of incredible superhuman feats.

Naturally, the basic forcefield effect renders him invulnerable to large amounts of damage. Unlike a normal human, Ethan's body has more than simple cohesion and adhesion holding his tissues together. The bioelectric forcefield has a set tolerance for how much stress occurs before it reacts energetically in opposition to the external force. The tolerance for how much stress occurs before Ethan's tissues counteract it varies according to tissue type. His bones allow virtually no compressional or tensional strain (deformation in shape) and his fleshy tissues remain supple under soft pressure, but under stress react to restrict any further deformation in shape. Since the strength of Ethan's cellular forcefields greatly exceeds the cohesive force of any substance, no ordinary object can puncture his skin.

Ethan's cells provoke one another into releasing their respective energy when one begins to threaten the integrity of the other. Because of a certain degree of constant pressure, there is a continuously emitted radiance of the bioelectric field reaching slightly beyond his body, a sort of aura that protects items near his skin. The aura also protects Ethan's teeth, however his hair and nails are only partially protected due to certain cellular properties they possess; they are invulnerable to fire, however they can still be cut.

Due to the highly charged nature of his extra-dimensional energy storage systems, his immune system deals with most normal poisons and diseases quickly and with no ill effect. Ionizing radiation and similar harmful energies are similarly neutralized.

His physical strength is greatly magnified by the combination of his more-efficient muscular system and the enhancement of his skeletal system's structural integrity, but is primarily augmented by the sheer force of his solar forcefield. When Ethan appears to be lifting a weight, he is actually holding and pushing it with the bioelectric field. His energy stores push not from himself, but from the shielding that surrounds him. So the shielding is controlled on the highest level and simulates strength. He can lift 75 tons with serious effort.

Similarly, Ethan's enhanced metabolic rate, muscular speed, and nervous system grant him incredible speed. The extra-dimensional energy paths that course along and enhance his neurophysical structure allow him to react at many times normal human speed. He can read a complete encyclopedia set in seconds, wash a sink full of dishes in the blink of an eye, or move faster than the human eye can perceive if necessary, but this requires extra effort. His reflexes are quick enough to allow him to dodge incoming automatic laser fire. Ethan's perceptions are similarly rapid, allowing him to see individual bullets fired from high-speed automatic weaponry in flight and outrace them easily.

The augmented intracellular functions of Ethan's sensory organs combined with the increased capacity of his nervous system provides for the greatly enhanced senses. His range of hearing extends from the subsonic through to the point where signal modulation in broadcast communications can be sensed and demodulated into "sounds" if he concentrates.

His visual reception range covers the entirety of the electromagnetic spectrum. The difference between normal human and Ethan's vision is that Ethan has the capability to see a much wider band of the electromagnetic spectrum; while most other people only sense a very narrow band of the spectrum we call visible light. Ethan can change the spectrum he perceives at any given time, by changing the chemical receptors in the rods and cones of his retinas. He can adjust his photovoltaic detection as an act of will to sense longer wavelengths down to the infrared, and higher energy light, up to X-ray and gamma radiation.

Ethan's muscle tissue being super-charged with an energy of non-Einsteinian physics, can generate a powerful gravitational field that defies the conventional laws of physics. He can use these exotic gravitational fields generated by the muscles in his eyes to produce a gravity lens, allowing him to focus far beyond the range of the human eye. Combined with Ethan's sensitivity to light, he can magnify an image a virtually countless number of times. Ethan can see through solids objects by using a combination of these telescopic and microscopic visual abilities to see through the atomic structure of an object and focus past it, as a camera focuses beyond the dust on a lens. Certain dense materials, notably lead, obstruct this ability.

Ethan has the ability to expel stored internal energy in the form of focused beams of radiation from his eyes. He emits light along various frequencies in high energy bursts that flash-melts materials in seconds, weaken structural integrity over a smaller area, such as melting the barrel of a gun but leaving the handle untouched. Ethan can control his heat vision and direct it wherever he wants to. He directs it with his eyes. In actuality, Ethan could not emit the beams directly from his eyes. The energy is actually built up on the surface of the bio-energetic field surrounding his body and emitted from there. This allows his body to be protected from the energy and absorb stray electromagnetic energy back into his body. Ethan's energy reclamation aura is so efficient that any radiation, even those emitted from him, once in the environment are able to be reabsorbed. The heat beams are psionically controlled and that control is reflexive, so he can shut it off without accidentally damaging anything that he does not want to. He can emit the radiation visibly or invisibly at lower settings. His energy has a high visibility profile if emitted at higher levels.