| “ | If I miss a shot with ONE of my gimmick arrows, there's a few thousand bucks that could have fed and clothed a whole village in Ethiopia. | „ |
| ~ Manticore: City of Heroes Smoke and Mirrors |
Manticore, real name Justin Sinclair was a hero in the super-hero themed MMO City of Heroes. Manticore inherited the title from his father along with the costume and gear. After his parents' deaths at the hands of the villain Protean, Manticore took up his father's mantle to get revenge on Protean and make sure no one else fell victim to similar super villains. Manticore is considerably wealthy and uses his money to buy cutting edge gear and pay for various elite forms of marital training. As a member of the Freedom Phalanx of Paragon City Manticore often works hand in hand with the likes of Statesman and other super-powered heroes. Manticore is the only non-powered member of the Freedom Phalanx's inner-circle and considerably insecure and confrontational because of it.
Background[]
The original Manticore and Back-Alley Brawler.
Justin's father was the original Manticore, a hero who used his wealth to pay for high-tech gear and equipment, most iconic his tech arrows, and patrolled Paragon City each night as the masked vigilante Manticore. Manticore senior eventually payed for his good deeds by earning the wrath of the shape-shifting villain Protean, one of his main foes. Protean broke into the Sinclair estate, ambushed and killed Manticore and his wife right in-front of Justin. Protean left before he had a chance to kill Justin as well in order to evade the authorities. Justin inherited a massive trust-fund after his parent's death and decided to take up his father's mantle as the new Manticore. Through-out his remaining childhood and working into his teenage years Justin trained with his nanny Virginia Bowman. When old enough Justin took to the streets dressed in his father's old outfit and began fighting crime. Manticore had dreamed of getting revenge on Protean but it turned out Protean had been killed years prior so Manticore's rage was unfocused and he would take out his anger on loiterers as easily as muggers or murderers. Manticore was eventually confronted by Micheal White, AKA Back Alley Brawler. Back Alley Brawler came to give Manticore a talking to and encouraged him to find more moderation in what he did, warning him not to become fanatical. Manticore took Back Alley Brawler's words to heart as he not only respected White but considered him a friend as White had been the one to kill Protean
Freedom Phalanx[]
Deciding to seek purpose Manticore went from vigilante to hero and formally registered as such with the Freedom Phalanx, Paragon City's main organization of heroes. The Freedom Phalanx registered all known heroes, affording them leeway with the police and law-enforcers instead of being vigilantes. The organization cooperated with, but did not specifically answer to local politicians and police. Manticore made a name for himself and soon enough was promoted to one of the top lieutenants of the Freedom Phalanx along with the likes of Statesman, Back Alley Brawler, Sister Psyche', Positron and Synapse. With the support of his fellow heroes, Manticore patrols the streets fighting super-villainy wherever he finds it. Manticore is even one of the premier trainers of the Phalanx's main shock-troops, the Longbow. Though most Longbow in-fact use guns Manticore still trains most of the troops to use precision aiming.
Skills and Equipment[]
Manicore's suit is a special polymer not far removed from Kevlar but around thrice as tough. Manticore puts himself through a variety of martial arts and training techniques to run faster, stay stronger and fight better than the average man. Manticore's iconic item though is his weapon the bow and arrows. Manticore's bow is titanium as are most of it's arrows. While some arrows are normal all be it high quality arrows he has a variety of gadgets attached/built into others such as flash-bangs, incendiary devices, poisons, acid containers, napalm caches and net-traps. Justin is considerably wealthy and uses his money to pay for the research and assembly of his arrows. Justin will also frequently employ his vast fortune to repair damages caused during fights with super-villains, items as needed for the Freedom Phalanx and donates to the families of heroes killed in the line of duty. After the events of Hard Crash where all super-powers were removed from Paragon, Manticore received his own personal super-power after restoring them to the city, Manticore's arrows can phase through allies and rematerialized passed them at his original target, this is Manticore's one and only super-power but one he thoroughly enjoys, since it means his shots can not longer be subject to being blocked or causing friendly fire. After receiving his power Manticore was inspired to try a small augmentation and set up a device that tapped him into the city's Mediport grid, used to teleport people and heroes to hospitals when their life-signs go critical, and uses the same signal to teleport over short distances.
Personality[]
Justin Sinclair
While Manticore tries to keep a cool demeanor in the public he is very confrontational and insecure to his team-mates. Manticore thinks he is seen as weaker than the other lieutenants of the Freedom Phalanx since he is the only one among them with no superpowers. Manticore disliked that for all his time training, researching and assembling his arsenal, most of the time his shots were blocked by other supers mid-combat. After the events of Hard Crash Manticore can function in the field much easier and it has let him shine more but he still dislikes being shown-up by super-powered heroes. In-particular Manticore has major problems with Statesman who is a perfectionist that demands the best from his team-mates. Manticore considers Statesman self-important and has called him on such on several occasions but Statesman seems to take such notions in stride. Manticore eventually married his team-mate Sister Psyche' and the two are very much in love although they frequently bicker. A main area where Manticore deviates from the rest of the Freedom Phalanx in policy is Manticore views using lethal methods as necessary when dealing with violent criminals, however Statesman has firmly kept him in-line to assure the Freedom Phalanx do not start leaving a body-count. Manticore wants to help the poor and is disgusted by the living conditions of lower-class citizens but lives by a right-wing ideology that giving out money to the poor does not help them and only creates temporary relief. Manticore does however give money to schools and local businesses in order to encourage economic growth in areas that need it, thus fighting poverty not by giving to the poor but by giving to communities. Even with his conservative outlook on social healing Manticore feels incredibly guilty every time one of his arrows misses or does not take effect saying that with the money he spends on just one arrow he could have fed and clothed an entire village in Ethiopia.
Trivia[]
- Though Justin's father was English-American and his teacher, Virginia Bowman was English, Justin himself is stated to have an American accent.
- Manticore's archery instructer, Virginia Bowman is stated to have been an Olympian archer.
- Manticore was the real-world alias for developer Sean Michael Fish. Manticore's marriage to Sister Psyche' was thrown in-game to honor Fish's marriage to City of Heroes game representative, Jennifer Dornan.