Keeper of Infinite Earths - Northern Light
Created by Matt Parmenter
Swift
Alter Ego: Rich Bartel
Occupation: Super Hero
Known Relatives: none living
Group Affiliation: Northern Light
Base of Operations: Toronto, Ontario Canada
Background/History:
Rich was a normal guy who joined the Army as soon as he graduated high school.
He was offered the chance to participate in a super-soldier experiment and
accepted. During one of the experiments, the base was attacked by the villanous
Element Master which caused an explosion, mixing the various experimental
chemicals and such. Rich, who previously had shown no sign of any powers, leapt
in to action to aid in the battle. Either due the rush of adrenaline or some
effect from the cloud of chemicals, he started moving faster and even faster.
The base commander was being interviewed by a TV news team about reports of
human experimentation when the attack began and they caught Rich racing around,
as well as the subsequent battle with Element Master on video. Rich beat him
because the villian simply could not hit him at the rate of speed he was moving.
Due to the publicity, they released Rich from the Army and he turned his
training as an engineer into a successful business. He married, had two kids,
and, as Swift, was a superhero, too. His reputation grew and, after teaming with
Screamer, they founded a group known as the Protectors of America with Mastodon.
Swift was summoned to check a strange light in the sky and as he approached it,
it took on a human shape. When the light faded, Swift was stunned to see a man
who physically resembled his teammate, Mastodon, but wore a red, white, and blue
costume and introduced himself as Mammoth. After comparing notes, he realized
that Mammoth was from a parallel world, similar to his own. The two heroes were
drawn together by Lord Chaos and Master Order to stop Element Master from
completing an evil plan that would have ripped open the barrier between the two
worlds. Once that was done, Mammoth returned to the Prime Universe. Within days
of becoming aware of parallel universes, the Protectors of America faced the
greatest threat they had ever seen, a dimension hopping creature of pure evil
and mental energy known as Gremlin. He had traveled from dimension to dimension
destroying everything in his path and absorbing the mental energies of those he
had slain. Being the only true opposition, the Protectors of America valiantly
fought Gremlin, but he was too powerful. He destroyed them all, except Swift.
Swift had annoyed him, so Gremlin left him alive on the barren earth to die
alone. When Gremlin attacked the Prime Universe, Chaos and Order were prepared.
They gathered heroes from many dimensions to unite with the Prime Universe
heroes and rescued Swift who proved to be an incredibly valuable ally having
faced Gremlin once. After defeating Gremlin, Swift remained in the Prime
Universe and settled in Canada. It was similar to his home without the
counterparts he would encounter had he moved to New York. His experience made
him perfect to lead the Northern Light team with the assistance of Canuck.
Personality/Motivations:
An all around good guy, instead of being brought down by the death of his family
and friends, he uses their memory as motivation to keep going and make them
proud.
Quote: "I’ll be there in less than a second."