Statesman

"In 1929, a young explorer named Marcus Cole drank deeply from the legendary fountain of Zeus and was exposed to power of the Greek Gods. It was his...it was MY last day as a moral man. Those waters imbued me with Zeus' strength, power and spirit."

- Statesman: City of Heroes issue #1

Statesman was the main hero of the online game City of Heroes. Statesman lives in Paragon City a fictitious city in Rhode Island. Statesman is over one-hundred years old and has been fighting crime for the better half of his life and in modern times has come to lead Paragon City's main superhero organization, the Freedom Phalanx.

Becoming Statesman
Marcus Cole was orphaned at a fairly young age, shortly after his mother died his father became alcoholic and abusive and drank himself to death but Marcus was taken in by a man called Rudolf Richter. Marcus grew-up with Rudolf's son, Stefan and daughter, Monica and became good friends with both of them. Eventually Marcus and Stefan enlisted in the army during World War I. During their tour of Europe Marcus and Stefan heard tales of the legendary Well of the Furies. The Well was said to be the repository for the powers of the gods of old when they left the world so very long ago and Marcus's fascination with the myth lead Stefan to do much research on the Well. Stefan's research compiled until evidence seemed to point to it being more than a myth. Marcus and Stefan would go on to become mercenaries gathering resources and information for an expedition to find the Well of the Furies. They would eventually find the Well but not before Stefan was exposed to mustard gas during their tour, luckily the Well cured Stefan when he drank from it and the two gained super powers. When they drank of the Well both Marcus and Stefan became Incarnates, (Beings with super powers of divine origin, effectively high-end demi-gods), The powers of Zeus were reconstituted into Marcus and the powers of Tartarus were reconstituted into Stefan and each gained half of a divine constitution: For Marcus he gained the physical half of divinity, gaining the strength, endurance and speed of a god; While Marcus gained the intellect, insight and charisma of a god, both also became ageless and near-immortal. The powers had a side-effect however both men became inclined towards, though not completely slaves to, the behaviors of their powers' previous incarnations, for Marcus this meant he became inclined to become more inquisitive and self-righteous like Zeus, for Stefan this meant he was more inclined toward havoc like Tartarus. Before they left they covered their tracks to make sure no-one else found the Well of the Furies but as they left noticed a box, it was Pandora's Box. Upon opening it they soon found the hope locked within it freed, the box contained the built up potential of humanity over the past thousand years and released a new level of potential into the world, this event would be what triggered the various forms of serendipity that would lead to a new age of superpowers the likes of which had not been seen since ancient Greece.

When they returned to the US Stefan proposed they put their powers to optimal use and become even greater mercenaries now that they had their powers. Marcus helped Stefan for a while however soon Marcus saw that his friend was becoming more and impossible for him to ignore as the people they were incidentally harming in their quest for wealth and prosperity grew. By the1930s Marcus abandon his friend and took up the name "Statesman" as a costumed hero dedicated to protecting Paragon City against crime. Stefan was outraged that Marcus had not only abandon him after all they had been through but was actively fighting him and with the powers he had helped track down for Marcus. Stefan ceased his activities in Paragon City and moved on to other pastures but he would never forget Marcus's ingratitude or egomania.

Protecting Paragon
By World War II many heroes had been born of the released potential of Pandora's Box and Statesman lead most of them in the fight for freedom against the Axis. While they were away though the capital was attacked by a madman calling himself "Lord Nemesis". Nemesis was a mad inventor who had an army of mechanized minions and a deadly plague that he launched across the entire US simultaneously. Statesman, Monica Richter (under her super-heroine name "Maiden Justice"), and his close friend Sister Psyche' lead the charge back to the US to make battle with the madman. By the time they arrived though Nemesis was already holding Congress hostage until such time as he was declared Emperor of the United States. Sister Psyche used her psychic powers to read Nemesis's mind and find the antidote then broadcast the formula to the main areas hit by the plague, with Nemesis's main leverage gone an epic battle ensued on the steps of the Capital Building. There were many casualties but in the end Statesman and his forces brought in Nemesis, however as they soon discovered after the battle the "Nemesis" they had been fighting was a fake, an empty power-suit standing in for Nemesis who had long since fled the scene. Statesman was hailed as a hero and soon after the event he and Maiden Justice were married but Statesman' outlook on what he had unleashed to the world changed. Statesman considered that along with giving the world a new age of superheroes he had also given it a new age of super-villains and from that point on would spent his time patrolling his home and campaigning against super-villainy.

In the 1950s Paragon was attacked by a group calling itself, Arachnos. Arachnos was a shadowy Italian assassins' association that had been sponsored by a super-villain calling himself Recluse, a spider themed mad genius, who had bought his way into the organization and was quickly able to persuade them to form an assault on Paragon City. During the raid Statesman finally came face to face with Recluse after fighting back most of the Arachnos soldiers. In the battle Recluse revealed himself to be Stefan Richter. Stefan had come to bring a new age to the world with his intellect and was using Arachnos as a means of influence in his campaign. It was no coincidence that Arachnos attacked Paragon though, Recluse had encouraged the leader of Arachnos, Weaver-One, to attack there to deal with Statesman. Stefan never forgave Marcus for his betrayal or for his self-righteousness and wanted Statesman to be the first to witness the new age under his influence, it had also not helped matters that Marcus had married Stefan's sister and turned her against him as well. Statesman fought off most of the Arachnos troops and with his army in retreat Recluse himself withdrew from Paragon City but swore he would not rest until the world was his and that Paragon would be the first to fall. Statesman saw there was no reasoning with his friend and with the influence of Zeus his dedication was that much stronger to being a superhero in-spite of his friendship with Stefan. Statesman did not know how much things would change after that though. For some time, Recluse blamed the failed assault on Arachnos' current high-command and Weaver-One in particular. Recluse organized an assassination with the help of his lover, Red Widow, to kill Weaver-One. After the assassination Recluse inserted himself as the new leader of Arachnos and took on the new title "Lord Recluse". Over the next decade Lord Recluse would focus on building Arachnos from a base army into an empire of super-villainy until the day they were strong enough to take Paragon City and destroy Statesman. To combat the new prospect of super-villain groups Statesman urged Paragon to form a super-hero group to patrol the street against super-villains as a team and soon the Freedom Phalanx was formed.

The Freedom Phalanx
Statesman was made head of the Freedom Phalanx, Maiden Justice joined soon after and when she retired her and Stateman's daughter took up her mother's mantle and fought as Statesman's side-kick in the Phalanx. Sister Psyche's also joined as a veteran hero who helped defend against the attack on the Capital. By 2004 The Freedom Phalanx had become a time tested superhero group under Statesman's leadership. Statesman kept it going strong trying to protect the world from the evil's he had inadvertently unleashed upon it.

As of 2004 the leading member of the Freedom Phalanx were
 * Statesman- as it's leader
 * Sister Psyche'- It's psychic superheroine veteran
 * Positron- A super genius with a power-suit and the ability to generate radiation
 * Manticore- A billionaire who put his money to use stylizing himself as a master archer with high-tech arrows
 * Back Alley Brawler- A cybernetic civil liberties crusader from the late 70s turned full-time hero
 * Synapse- A super-speedster with the power to generate electrical blasts


 * Numina- The ghost of a mage, dedicated to protecting the city from mystical threats


 * Citadel- A super-strong super-advanced android who had achieved sentience

Personality
Statesman often takes it upon himself to solve any and all problems he comes across, while this seems selfless his teammates have noted that this means everything seems to be about him and view him as an egocentric blow-hard. Statesman was also an infamous perfectionist, telling his team-mates what to do, chastising them for being less than perfect and generally being overprotective of them to the point of demeaning their abilities. Each of the Freedom Phalanx takes Statesman's perfectionism differently, While Positron viewed Statesman's attitude as just personality quirk he acknowledged Statesman as the most decorated and experienced one among them and followed orders to the best of his abilities. Sister Psyche'  views Statesman as a blowhard she humors but frequently snipes at when he starts sounding too full of himself. Manticore is perhaps the least willing to tolerate Statesman and sees him as a self-centered control-freak who frequently steals everyone-else's thunder. Statesman has been criticized many times but is so deadest on cleaning up Paragon City he sees himself as having little time to worry about character flaws or being best friends with his own team-mates. Though there is no sentimentality left between Marcus and Stefan Marcus still holds out a small sliver of hope that one day his friend will give up his mad goals and the two can rekindle their friendship, he however is not naive to this effect and knows such a day will likely never come despite wishes for it. In Statesman's mind all that matters is that he puts his powers to use to save and protect as many people as he possibly can.