CAPTAIN MANHATTAN

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-148611 / "New Universe") human paranormal;

Occupation: Vigilante

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Partnered with Jenny Swensen (aka Chrome); worked with an unidentified priest;
    formerly worked in loose alliance with Captain Brooklyn;
    All-American (Jack Magniconte), Kayla Ballantine (originally of Earth-616), Chris Barret (Metallurge), Charlotte Beck (aka Friction), Ben Harrington, Emily Harrington, Jill Harrington, Stephanie Harrington (aka Glitter), Justice (John Tensen), Dave Landers (aka Mastodon), Nightmask (Keith Remsen), Randy O'Brien (aka Antibody), Overshadow (Philip Voigt), Pit Bull (Gaylord Picaro), Psi-Hawk, Jeff Walters (Blur);
    people of Manhattan in general
    presumably Merriam Sorenson (aka Sponge);
    Quasar (Wendell Vaughn) of Earth-616;
    the Stranger of Reality-616 saved Earth-148611 from Skeletron, but I don't know that Captain Manhattan or any of the others understood what he did or considered him an ally; plus, without the Living Tribunal's involvement, they would have all become his test subjects;
    the Living Tribunal returned him and the other paranormals to Earth-148611 and prevented them from becoming the Stranger's test subjects

Enemies: Louie-Louie, Para-Troop (Acid Queen, Aqualung, Helter Skelter, Purple Haze, Space Oddity, Wild Thing/George Mullaney/aka Mutator, Wipeout/Martin, Wooly Bully), Skeletron (originally from Reality-616), unidentified group of criminals including Boner and Moe; drug-dealers including Arturo, Elgin, Maynard, Ramon;
    indirectly the Starblasters;
    he briefly fought Black Bolt (Blackagar Boltagon) directly, and his allies fought Binary (Carol Danvers, now Captain Marvel), Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau, now Photon), Ikaris of the Eternals, Lockjaw, Moondancer (Myla), Perun, Solar Wind, Voyager (Divad), all of whom were mind-controlled by the Stranger;
    his vigilante activities were not looked upon favorably by the New York Police Department;
    he considered the Cure (William Wexler) to be a threat, although Wexler only used his powers on those who wished to remove their abilities

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Cap'n Creep," "Mr. Tights"

Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York, USA

First Appearance: D.P. 7#30 (April, 1989)

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History:

(D.P. 7#30 (fb) - BTS) - The man who would become Captain Manhattan got his powers in the summer of 1988. At some point around September, 1988, his sense of social responsibility led him to adopt the identity of Captain Manhattan to use his superhuman powers to protect the innocent while protecting his identity. He initially felt a little ridiculous in the costume but swiftly got used to it.

    Captain Manhattan printed up cards and, seeking to organize a citizens' coalition of paranormals, he was able to recruit his buddy, Captain Brooklyn.

(D.P. 7#30 - BTS) <December 15, 1988> - A group of gas mask-wearing men attempted to mug Stephanie Harrington and Jenny Swensen. The paranormal women easily fought off their attackers until one of them (Moe) captured and threatened Stephanie's daughter Emily.

(D.P. 7#30) - Captain Manhattan confronted the pair and ordered them to stop, but as soon as they got close, Wooly Bully pushed him back; the unexpected punch weakened Manhattan's grip on his force field, and he landed on the ice, deflecting the tree thrown at him. As the Para-Troop descended on Manhattan, Jenny led her roommates and fellow paranormals Dave Landers and Randy O'Brien to come to his aid (while her other roommates Steph, Merriam and Charlotte worked to get the kids and crowd to safety).     The others' involvement allowed Manhattan to telekinetically drive away Purple Haze, whose vapors had been choking him. When Jenny picked up the clawed Helter Skelter and asked Manhattan where she should dispose of him, he told her anywhere she liked, referring to her as "Chrome," and she hurled him into Acid Queen, both knocking her out and causing her corrosive hands to burn and incapacitate him.     Captain Manhattan subsequently created a telekinetic shield into which Space Oddity crashed while fleeing from Randy, and Manhattan told Randy (who introduced himself as Antibody) that they couldn't have done that better if they had practiced. After Dave used the tree to drop Wooly Bully and Aqualung, the crowd applauded the heroes who had saved the tree and them. As the people rushed them, Manhattan, noting that a mob's love could be as bad as its hate, levitated himself, Dave, Jenny and Randy into the air. Acknowledging that he was not sure that the police could handle the paranormals, Manhattan admitted that he knew the police would love to have him in custody.     Although Dave declined Manhattan's offer of joining him on a regular basis, Jenny convinced Manhattan to come by their place for a little "paranormal Christmas party."     As Manhattan explained to the kids how he controlled his flight, Charlotte appreciated that Jenny seemed to have a crush on him, and Jenny wondered when he would feel comfortable enough around them to take off his silly mask.     After Dave posed as Santa Claus and delivered presents to Steph and her children, Captain Manhattan wished everyone "Merry Christmas." (D.P. 7#31/2) - Adopting the alias of Chrome, Jenny joined Captain Manhattan as they crashed through the roof of a crack house in Harlem, New York. Manhattan's shield and Chrome's metal-like skin protected them from bullets the drug-dealers fired at them, while at least one of the criminals was hit by one of the ricochets. Ignoring all officers for many or drugs, Manhattan used a telekinetic thrust to knock Elgin back and then took their drugs and money. As they left, Manhattan warned them to get out of the drug business or they would be back and not go easy on them.

Levitating himself and Chrome back up through the hole in the roof, Manhattan explained how he had a priest who served as his "fence," making sure the money went to various drug rehabilitation centers. Chrome was impressed with his nobility, but Manhattan assured her that it was actually outrage at what was happening in the world and that he was doing what he could to straighten out his tiny corner of it.     After they had dumped the crack they had confiscated into a large factory smokestack, Manhattan offered to take Chrome out for a little celebration with some malted milkshakes. Attracted to Manhattan, Chrome agreed, hoping this meant that he noticed that she was a woman. (D.P.7 #32 (fb) - BTS) - While Chrome was on a bathroom break, Captain Manhattan spoke to one of his informants, who gave him the whereabouts of William Wexler, the paranormal calling himself the Cure, who could apparently remove paranormal abilities. (D.P.7 #32) - Captain Manhattan levitated Chrome to investigate Wexler at his hotel room. Wishing for minimal property damage, Manhattan gently pushed the window glass in and gently set it down before introducing himself and Chrome. When Wexler's bodyguards Irwin and Ronald rushed in, Manhattan abruptly stopped them with his force field. After Wexler excused his bodyguards, feeling himself to be in no danger, Captain Manhattan asked if he was legitimate or some charlatan looking to cash in on people's suffering. When he offered to demonstrate on them, Manhattan refused, needing his parabilities to carry out his calling in life; Chrome hesitated (conflicted by her desire to regain a normal form and sensations and her fear that Manhattan would lose interest in her if she could not accompany him on missions), and Wexler appreciated her uncertainty and told her that she was not yet ready to receive his gift.     Wexler asked Manhattan to inform the city's paranormals that he was indeed genuine and that he would be curing anyone who desired it that Saturday at a site to be announced. Departing, Manhattan warned him that he would be punished if he turned out to be a fraud, although he subsequently admitted to Chrome that he would be surprised if Wexler turned out to be a fake.     That Saturday, Captain Manhattan watched from a distance, initially considering that this was due to enemies who could be lying in wait before admitting that he was afraid that the Cure would take from him the one thing that gave his life meaning. (Quasar#30 - BTS) - Blasted by the immensely powerful Maelstrom of Reality-92130, Quasar-616 (Wendell Vaughn), was shunted out of the Multiverse and... (Quasar#31 - BTS) - into Reality-148611, the "New Universe." (Quasar#31 (fb) - BTS) - Captain Manhattan encountered Louie-Louie, who had obtained a weapon despite the Starchild having destroyed all mechanical weapons. (Quasar#31) - Captain Manhattan held Louie-Louie in the air over a trash dumpster and questioned him about who had found a way to manufacture weaponry anew and how they were doing it, advising him that it was his civic duty to tell him. Louie-Louie insisted that he had found it, but Manhattan believed he was lying. However, as Manhattan told him so, one of Randy O'Brien's Antibodies advised him of a glow burning through the eastern haze, and Manhattan dropped Louie-Louie to investigate, at which he was joined by Randy himself. They speculated the source of the approaching focal light to be a meteorite (it was actually Quasar).      Desperate to protect his borough, Captain Manhattan asked Antibody to hold him up so that he could use every bit of his power to form a force field to stop the approaching meteorite. Uncertain of whether his power would be enough, Captain Manhattan prayed to God. The terminal velocity Quasar tore through the force shield, briefly causing Captain Manhattan to faint. Upon recovering, he was frustrated with his failure, but O'Brien advised him that although the impact had left a small crater, it probably would have been much worse.      Manhattan and O'Brien further considered that they hoped that no one was underneath when it hit, that the people left in the town did not need more reasons to evacuate the least inhabitable city east of the Pitt, and...what if this was not a meteorite.      Descending to the ground, they swiftly appreciated the costumed man; although he was still smoking, Captain Manhattan approached, confident that his screen would protect him. He then told O'Brien to send one of his "little fellows" to the clinic to fetch Stephanie. Manhattan appreciated that the man was still alive and breathing but did not recognize him; O'Brien speculated that he might be the Starchild who had ended the war a few years ago. Jeff Walters swiftly delivered Stephanie, who used her powers to heal Quasar's injuries.      As Quasar began to recover, Manhattan advised the others to watch it, as there was not telling what he might do. Dazed, Quasar introduced himself, and Manhattan introduced himself and allies, using their codenames Antibody, Blur and Glitter. Not recognizing them, Quasar asked if they were mutants, and Captain Manhattan clarified that they were paranormals.      Referencing the circumstances that had sent them there, Quasar was astonished to find that there were no casualties, but Captain Manhattan told him that the borough's population was 1/20 of what it was pre-Pitt. Presumably having dismissed Quasar's previous notation that he was from another dimension, Captain Manhattan was surprised that he did not know about the Pitt. Assuring Manhattan and the others that he was a good guy, Quasar formed a large shovel to clear the debris, impressing Manhattan, who considered that his force couldn't do anything like that.      After Quasar took off, Manhattan noted him to be one powerful paranormal, and Randy added that he was nutty as a fruitcake, thinking he was from another dimension (to which Jeff replied, "like that Justice character in Queens used to believe"). (Quasar#31 - BTS) - Searching and finding no trace of Uatu the Watcher, whose portal he had used on the mission that led him to Maelstrom-92130, and unable to trace his cosmic mentor, Epoch, Quasar realized that he was outside of the Multiverse and unable to access the Quantum Zone to power his Quantum Bands. (Quasar#31) - After Quasar formed a giant message in the sky for him, telling him to meet him at the Empire State Building, Captain Manhattan met Quasar, who explained that he had no way to get home, and Manhattan invited him to his home. Back at his place, Manhattan introduced Quasar to Jennifer (Chrome), Charlotte ("Friction"), Chris ("Metallurge") and "Big Dave." Chris recognized the Watcher from Marvel Comics he used to read, and the others discussed the White Event as the source of their powers. Manhattan discussed how nobody knew for sure what caused it and how some, like the White Eventists, said if was an act of God. After Jeff discussed the Starbrand, Quasar became interested, and Manhattan asked him if they could rule out the possibility that he was Starbrand, and Quasar realized that none of them believed that he was from another world.      When Quasar asked for more information on the Star Brand, Captain Manhattan noted that no one was sure if still existed, or ever did, for that matter; he further noted that some believed Starbrand to have been a hoax and that it was a group of paranormals who had pooled their parabilities to end the war. Scanning the energies of Captain Manhattan and all of the paranormals in the room, Quasar told them of his plan to scan for the biggest source of that energy he could find. Thanking them for their hospitality, Quasar told them, "If my plan works, you'll never see me again." (Quasar#31 - BTS) - That led Quasar to Jim Hanrahan, the last recipient of the Star Brand, and Quasar eventually convinced Jim to give him the Star Brand power, which he used to return to Earth-616 via the Nexus of Realities in the Man-Thing's swamp.

(Quasar#56 (fb) - BTS) - Captain Manhattan and Chrome answered the summons to meet with Nightmask, who dream-powers had informed him of a threat from beings beyond the universe. (Quasar#56) - Captain Manhattan was present -- alongside All-American, Chrome, Justice, Metallurge, Overshadow (Philip Voigt), Pit Bull, Psi-Hawk -- in a Pennsylvania barn as Nightmask related this threat, which Captain Manhattan noted reminded him of a man who had said he was from another universe (Quasar). The meeting was then disrupted by the arrival of Kayla Ballantine, who had previously absorbed the Star Brand power from Quasar and then been transported there after the cosmic Stranger had convinced her to give the Star Brand to him; the interaction of the Stranger's cosmic powers and the alien Star Brand energies had transported Kayla there (following her subconscious desire to be somewhere safe) and had transported half of the Stranger's laboratory world into Reality-148611.      Upon recovering, Kayla recognized Nightmask from her dreams and explained that she had previously had the Star Brand and that she had gotten it from her boyfriend, whom Captain Manhattan correctly identified as Quasar, noting that they had been the ones to tell him about the Star Brand. (Quasar#56 - BTS) - Overshadow and Psi-Hawk flew up into space to investigate the alien threat and instead encountered and captured Quasar. (Starblast#4) - Captain Manhattan and the others were present as Overshadow arrived with and released Quasar, after which he asked Quasar if he remembered him and asked whether this alien invasion was his fault. Deflecting, Quasar offered to bring the others into space where they could defend their planet. (Starblast#4 (fb) - BTS) - A heated discussion about Quasar's trustworthiness ensued. (Starblast#4) - Forming an energy field around Manhattan and the other paranormals, Quasar transported them to Skeletron's ship, the Dark Seed, where they were joined by Psi-Hawk. They were initially assaulted by the ship, which attempted to place skullhuggers to take mental control of them. Protected by his "psychomaterial field," Captain Manhattan was able to easily tear his skullhugger off, and Quasar helped free those who were vulnerable to their control.      However, just then, unaware that Skeletron had expelled the rest of the organic Starblasters from the Dark Seed, the Stranger mentally commanded a group of superhumans present -- Binary, Black Bolt, Captain Marvel, Ikaris, Lockjaw, Moondancer, Perun, Solar Wind, Voyager -- to enter the ship and subdue everyone inside. As a result, they attacked Quasar and the paranormals present. Assaulted by Black Bolt's quasi-sonic blast, Manhattan considered that he didn't know what this fellow was doing but that he prayed his force field was strong enough to withstand it.      After siphoning the Star Brand's power from the Stranger, he expelled all of the organic beings within the Dark Seed, which Skeletron restructured into a 2000' version of his own form. Those who had been within his ship ended up on the Stranger's laboratory world.      However, when the Star Brand left the Stranger, its affects of having shunted the Stranger's laboratory world halfway into the New Universe were reversed. Additionally, the Stranger, brought Earth-148611 into Earth-616's universe, leaving Skeletron stranded in the otherwise uninhabited Universe-148611 (except, of course, Randy Kellog). (Quasar#57) - From the Stranger's lab world, Captain Manhattan questioned whether it was their world his was seeing above them or an illusion, and Psi-Hawk told him that it had the psychic resonance of their world. Overshadow and a few others attempted to confront the Stranger, but then the Living Tribunal appeared and sent the various adventurers back to their own worlds, while he conferred with the Stranger. (Quasar#57 - BTS) - Captain Manhattan and the other paranormals were returned to Earth-148611.      Unwillingly to allow the Star Brand energy to contaminate Universe-616 but appreciating the Stranger's warning that opening a portal to Universe-148611 risked allowing the immensely-powerful, Star Brand-powered Skeletron to re-enter Universe-616, the Living Tribunal formed an impenetrable barrier around Earth-148611, which otherwise was unaffected, with unrevealed factors providing normal heat, light, etc.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Ryan.

    See the New Universe primer.

    Re-reading the D.P.7 stories for this profile was a real walk down memory lane. It reminded me of everything I loved about the New Universe and specifically the DP7 characters and stories. Soooooo good!

    You don't pick up accents in reading the stories (writers like to harp on Southern accents, but they rarely focus on how...distinctive...a New York City accent is).

    In reviewing the Starblast story, I'm reminded of how the Stranger pulled Earth-148611 into Earth-616's universe and set it into orbit around his laboratory world  How the heck does that work? I don't see that the Stranger's world had the mass, light or heat to support an Earth orbiting it. The Stranger could have used some of the Star Brand power initially, and then the Living Tribunal could have replaced that with another power source after quarantining Earth-148611.
    And then the Living Tribunal's barrier still allowed heat and light into the atmosphere, so it would seem possible that someone could take energy form could find a way in. I think Captain Marvel did something like that to get through the null field surrounding a portion of Manhattan around Avengers I#233 or so...but, it is certainly possible that the massively powerful

    I would really love it if the likes of Kurt Busiek, Mark Waid, Fabian Nicieza, or Saladin Ahmed would do a story that stayed true to continuity and followed the New Universe forward in real time over the last 30+ years.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Captain Manhattan should be distinguished from:

• CAPTAIN BROOKLYN of Earth-148611 ( ) - costumed hero, killed by Seraph--Justice (nu)#31
• MANHATTAN PROJECT of Earth-93060 - android developed to fight-crime, went rogue--Prototype#7
• other Captain or Manhattan characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

First posted: 06/18/2025
Last updated: 06/18/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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