| Northstar | |
 |
|
| Portrayed By | Hernan Drago |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Date of Birth | 15 September |
| Age | 30 |
| Zodiac Sign | Virgo |
| Aliases | Northstar |
| Place of Birth | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Current Location | Salem Center, NY, USA |
| Occupation | Teacher, Author, Superhero |
| Known Relatives | Jeanne-Marie - Sister |
| Significant Other | none |
| Identity | Public |
| Known Abilities | Superspeed, Light Generation, Prettiness |
| First Appearance | Uncanny X-Men #120 |
"'Tired' is for other people!"
History
Jean-Paul was born at the same time as his sister Jeanne-Marie, giving them the special bond that all twins are often believed to have. The bond, however, went deeper than anyone could have known; not only were the twins both mutants with significant superhuman abilities, their powers were enhanced by a contact that was denied for literally years. Their original parents died in a car accident, and although they were both taken in by a foster family soon after, the family found it impossible for them to take care of both at once. They sent Jeanne-Marie off to a Catholic boarding school and kept Jean-Paul at home.
However, they soon bit the dust as well, leaving Jean-Paul in limbo and a foster home, where he grew to a teenager. Increasingly disenchanted and disenfranchised from mainstream society, he began to use his unique abilities for his own benefit, mainly by petty crime such as thievery. However, when Raymonde Belmonde, a shopkeeper, miraculously caught him stealing, Jean-Paul was impressed and somewhat awed. Belmonde introduced Jean-Paul to skiing, as a discipline of choice to help hone his abilities, and the young man was soon after also introduced to a Quebecois Separatist movement, both of which would shape his coming years.
Jean-Paul became embroiled in the separatist activities, and his involvement grew more and more intense, and more and more violent, until eventually he drew the line when innocents were endangered. Using his abilities, he managed to save them all and to stand against those he once called comrades. Calling it even, they parted ways. Jean-Paul tried to belong to a circus for a while, as an acrobat, and he came to regard this group as the family he never had. However, it could not last, and in time he found himself returning to skiing, his first real passion. After becoming a world champion and quite famous
and wealthy, he also became bored and became very aware how unfulfilled he was in life.
When James Hudson, later Guardian, intended to form a Canadian super-group, he looked to Jean-Paul and reunited him with Jeanne-Marie. It was easy to persuade Jean-Paul to join thanks to Jeanne-Marie's presence, but even though they discovered a new power effect with physical contact, it was also discovered that Jeanne-Marie had sometimes deeply problematic issues with multiple personalities thanks to her traumatic experiences in boarding school. After failing to defeat Wolverine, Alpha Flight — the super-group — disbanded. However, soon after, Hudson resurrected Alpha Flight and Jean-Paul was able to persuade his sister to return with him to the group, though her personalities tended to clash with Jean-Paul's, causing no end of drama for the group.
He lost Belmonde, his first real mentor, to a would-be foe of the group, and he felt as if he were losing his sister as well, and so soon after being reunited with her. The effects of their powers and physical contact on each other seemed to shift constantly: at one point they couldn't touch each other without cancelling each other's powers out, and eventually they were able to generate intense light effects without the necessity of physical contact. Eventually Alpha Flight's adventures ended up with Jean-Paul having to confront the separatist group that he had cut ties with, as well as a killer trying to frame him for several members' deaths. He was later officially pardoned for all of his past involvement with the group.
After a brief period of problematic involvement with Asgard and a few other particularly embarrassing things Jean-Paul prefers not to discuss (such as the headline 'Jean-Paul Beaubier Proclaims Homosexuality, World Proclaims Complete Lack of Surprise'), Alpha Flight was disbanded again and Jean-Paul decided to officially do his own thing. He published a very successful book and then was approached to teach at Xavier's school, a position which he accepted with optimism.
Timeline
- What's happened since you've been approved?
Quotes
- "I — have always found it difficult… to express myself, to… admit that I care. But I do! If anything, this ordeal has taught me to treasure friendship, embrace it. I hope maybe, when all this is over… we can start afresh."
Trivia
- Jean-Paul only sometimes wears underpants beneath his suit.
Powers
Super-Speed - Jean-Paul can tap into kinetic energy and use it to direct his atomic motion. What this basically means is that he has a type of super-speed due to atomic acceleration, directly proportional to the energy to which he has access. Because of the technically unlimited nature of this potential, it is conceivable that he could even approach light speed. However, his body is not built to withstand speeds of much greater than mach 10 without damage to both his body and his surroundings. With passengers, Jean-Paul only rarely exceeds typical vehicle speed (usually under 60 mph) because others tend to be able to withstand less than him.
His super-speed is not limited to simple movement, and in fact everything about him can be accelerated, and to most any extent: he can move his hand at a very quick speed even if the rest of him remains still. His thought processes can be accelerated even if the rest of him seems to be at rest. This makes Jean-Paul very special indeed, intellectually. However, it does require concentration depending on how specifically and how quickly he is acting. Generally speaking, Jean-Paul can move about 1000 times faster than an average, unpowered human with no training.
This ability can be channelled into singular, extremely forceful blows or smaller, quicker ones, depending on opponents. The first tactic leaves him vulnerable due to his concentration of energy, since he must stop to use it, whereas the second is relatively weaker but also more versatile since he can continue to move at accelerated speeds.
Flight - Jean-Paul can fly. Since he cannot breathe in a vacuum, he rarely ever gets too high and always stays within the atmosphere. He also tends not to exceed mach 10, as a rule, because his body cannot safely or reliably withstand higher speeds.
Enhanced Physiology - Jean-Paul's powers have gifted him with an enhanced system that is built to withstand speeds of up to and including mach 10. Much faster than that will challenge him considerably; approach of mach 11 will potentially even cause a blackout, which can be serious at that speed. His increased hardiness enables him to withstand actions at high speeds, including but not limited to punches, kicks, and acrobatic manoeuvres.
A handy application of his atomic energy manipulation is to direct it to his natural recuperative abilities, accelerating them and allowing him to recover faster than others. While not at the level of one such as Wolverine, Jean-Paul can, if he is conscious and able to focus, heal minor enough damage quickly. He must be careful not to accelerate unintended substances or organisms, however, as this can make the application of power exceptionally dangerous.
Naturally, because of his super-speed abilities, Jean-Paul possesses superhuman reflexes that allow him to manoeuvre himself in ways far superior to most human-made vehicles, for example. He is able to dodge at a higher level of proficiency than most, and although some things are harder to dodge than others, he is more likely than an average person to be able to accomplish it. In fact, he's about 1000 times more likely, given his accelerated abilities.
Light Generation - Jean-Paul is able, when concentrating his energy power, to generate blinding flashes of light. They are able to light up pitch blackness bright as noon, though they tend to be relatively short-lived. He can concentrate them into a beam and direct them at a target, although typically he simply uses this power as a flash bomb. The brilliance is equivalent to a half-million candles in potency, and the flash may be emitted from any part of his body that he so wishes. He can only employ this ability occasionally, using relatively small bursts every few seconds at most frequent; most of the time he will emit a blinding burst only once during any encounter, if even that much. Naturally, he is immune to the dazzling effects of his own flashes.
Prettiness - Jean-Paul has cute little pointy ears and has hair coloured like hematite. These distinctive physical characteristics admittedly make it difficult for him to do anything or go anywhere incognito, but they also are charming and even comforting to many.
Gallery
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
