main image

BLIND FAITH

Real Name: Travis (last name unrevealed)

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-93060/Ultraverse) human mutate

Occupation: Mercenary

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Backlash, Mr. Kearns (loose) (all Earth-93060);
   formerly Xanadu Amalgamated (Mr. Kyle, others)

Enemies: Brotherhood (Alan Kline, Mr. Kyle, others), Prototype (Jimmy Ruiz), Prototype drone, Warstrike, Xanadu Amalgamated (Mr. Kyle, others) (all Earth-93060)

Known Relatives: mother (name unrevealed, deceased), Davey (brother)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Los Angeles, USA (Earth-93060)

First Appearance: Warstrike#1 (May, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: Blind Faith has belief-based powers, which include emanating healing energies and self-regenerative abilities. Other abilities include basic self-powered gliding flight, although he cannot lift others. He can instantly call up a personal defense shield that protects him from falls and short range gunfire and grenade explosions, although he can be knocked unconscious. He can shoot purple lasers from his fingers up to large destructive blasts from his fists. However, all his powers are dependent on faith in him. Arrogant, Blind Faith's basic powers are from self-belief but his powers are significantly augmented the more other people believe in him; as such, it is unknown if there is a limit to his powers. Although initially considering himself blind, he is able to "see", potentially similar to a "radar sense." He has athlete-level fitness and excellent hand-to-hand combat skills.

Height: 6' (by approximation)
Weight: 200 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: White (formerly green)
Hair: Black

 

History:

(Giant Size Warstrike#1 (fb)) - Travis grew up with his brother Davey and single mother, who was devoted to her Christian faith and made her children follow, despite their being bullied for it. However, ignoring doctors, she succumbed to cancer before her helpless sons, her faith proving useless. Angered, Travis lost his faith and had to raise his brother alone. Travis became a knife-wielding mugger, but one scuffle resulted i the accidental death of a victim. Bloody-handed and shocked, Travis stumbled into a nearby church, seeking forgiveness before the empty altar when a "Jumpstart" bolt hit, triggering his superhuman ("ultra") powers, but also shattering the stained glass and seemingly blinding him. He became an arrogant blindfolded mercenary who sought fame to bolster his faith-based powers.

(Warstrike#1) - Keen to wipe out the self-perceived threat the rising number of ultras, Mr. Kyle from nefarious organization Xanadu Amalgamated (and secret leader of the Brotherhood cabal) hired Blind Faith to eliminate ultras, beginning with Warstrike. Blind Faith was introduced to the "Brothers" of the Board.

(Warstrike#2) - Blind Faith used fellow mercenary Backlash to lure Warstrike to a warehouse to rescue a girl he had been hired to rescue (but since left a corpse by perverted Senator Alan Kline). Blind Faith used this to test Warstrike's abilities and methods, then left quickly before his bomb detonated.

(Warstrike#3) - Blind Faith surveyed the rain-swept L.A. cityscape, waiting to pounce on Warstrike.

(Warstrike#4) - Blind Faith attacked Warstrike at a show baseball match at Yankee Stadium. Dodging the mercenary's blasts, Warstrike eventually shot him down. Elsewhere, Kyle and Kline saw the televised melee. Eager to use ultras as pawns that destroyed each other, Kyle sent an armored Prototype drone to kill the battling duo. Meanwhile, Blind Faith told Warstrike that he only wanted to humiliate Warstrike to harvest people's faith and augment his powers. But Blind Faith momentarily lost control; Warstrike's precognitive powers guided him to nobly block the merc's blast, saving civilians, but knocking him out. Blind Faith cut off Warstrike's ponytail as a trophy, only to be confronted by the Prototype drone.

(Prototype#13) - Having also seen the Yankee Stadium battle with the Prototype drone, the real Prototype (Jimmy Ruiz) rocketed in and fought the drone. This allowed Blind Faith to escape so he could speak to Kyle as he was concerned by Warstrike's self-sacrifice, no longer considering him a menace.

(Warstrike#5) - Blind Faith returned to Kyle's offices, but Kyle fobbed him off and had a giant blue android toss the mercenary out the skyscraper window. He landed in an alleyway, having lost his blindfold.

(Warstrike#6) - Recovering, Blind Faith crawled out of the garbage, determined to kill Kyle in hate-filled revenge.

(Giant Size Warstrike#1) - A short time passed and Blind Faith continued his mercenary work, notably for Mr. Kearns, and now had a blanket "no kill" policy. His powers slightly diminished, he glided into the air and chose to ignore a woman being mugged. Passing nearby, Warstrike rescued the woman and attacked Blind Faith, the brutal fight coincidentally ending up in the church where Travis gained his powers with the fray damaging the interior and altar crucifix. Fearing he would lose his powers if defeated by Warstrike, whose telepathic powers momentarily disoriented him (having revealed elements of the imminent Godwheel event). Blind Faith savagely pounded at the now unconscious Warstrike until the revelation hit him that his powers could heal. He reassembled the broken crucifix and left.

 

Comments: Created by Dan Danko, Hoang Nyguen, Bob Downs.

Blind Faith's story wrapped up too quickly; we don't hear any more about Xanadu Amalgamated or the Brotherhood, but Blind Faith has a "no kill" policy in his last appearance despite wanting to kill his mysterious former employer. But at least we have his origin story; kudos to Malibu for letting Danko wrap this up.

I guess the final allegory is that just as he reassembled the broken crucifix bearing the life-size representation of Jesus, Blind Faith may have helped heal Warstrike's head injuries (adding to Warstrike's heightened healing factor). Perhaps comparing the resurrections of Warstrike to Jesus was too controversial.

This profile was completed 5/20/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Blind Faith has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Warstrike#4, p4 (main image)
Giant Size Warstrike, p10, pan3 (headshot as teenager)
Giant Size Warstrike, p3 (hit by lightning Jumpstart)
Warstrike#4, p7, pan1 (blasting)

Appearances:
Warstrike#1 (May, 1994) - Dan Danko (writer), Hoang Nyguen (pencils), Bob Downs (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Warstrike#2 (July, 1994) - Dan Danko (writer), Hoang Nyguen (pencils), Bob Downs & Larry Welch (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Warstrike#3 (July, 1994) - Dan Danko (writer), Hoang Nyguen (pencils), Alex Dialy (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Warstrike#4 (August, 1994) - Dan Danko (writer), Hoang Nyguen & Roger Robinson (pencils), Kelly Krantz (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Prototype#13 (August, 1994) - Len Strazewski (writer), Dean Zachary (pencils), John Livesay (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Warstrike#5 (September, 1994) - Dan Danko (writer), David Wong (pencils), Howard Shum (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Warstrike#6 (October, 1994) - Dan Danko (writer), Hoang Nyguen (pencils), Bob Downs (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Giant Size Warstrike#1 (December, 1994) - Dan Danko (writer), Keith Conroy & Hoang Nyguen (pencils), Larry Welch (inks), Roland Mann (editor)

First posted: 09/14/2021
Last updated: 09/11/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters