Real
Name: John Colton CAPTAIN JOHN COLTON
Real
Name: John Colton
Identity/Class: Human (UK citizen)
Occupation: Soldier
Group Membership: S.A.S. (Special Air Service:
Simon Holmes, Martin Phillips, others), MI13 (Black Knight/Dane Whitman,
Blade/Eric Brooks, Captain Britain/Brian Braddock, Dark Angel/Shevaun
Haldane, Digitek/Jonathan Bryant, Excalibur/Faiza Hussain,
Glorianna/Meggan Braddock, Killpower/Julius Mullarkey, Motormouth/Harley
Davidson, O/Oliver Orwell, Spitfire/Jacqueline Falsworth-Crichton,
Alistaire Stuart, Tangerine, Pete Wisdom)
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Baron Blood (Kenneth Crichton), Vlad Tepes Dracula, Lilith Kiskilla, Mindless Ones, Plokta
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: MI13 base, London
First Appearance: (unidentified) Captain Britain
and MI13#5 (November 2008);
(named) Captain Britain and MI13#6 (December 2008)
Powers/Abilities: John Colton is a highly trained special operations soldier, an expert in hand-to-hand combat and with multiple different types of weapons, both standard military ordinance and advanced MI13 weapons including laser blasters. He is also an expert in SAS space armor, which includes flight capabilities via an in-built jetpack (likely only fully functional in lower gravity settings). He is trained to survive in a variety of types of climates and wildernesses.
Height:
5'9" (by approximation)
Weight: 165 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Red
History:
(Captain Britain and MI13#5
(fb) - BTS) - A member of the elite Special Air Service, Captain John
Colton was the commanding officer of an SAS unit seconded to provide
combat support to the Extraordinary Intelligence Service (colloquially
MI13), which had the remit of dealing with all manner of superhuman,
supernatural and otherwise paranormal threats to the United Kingdom.
(Captain Britain and MI13#8 (fb) - BTS) - He had been attached to MI13 since before the agency's scientific advisor Alistaire Stuart had been cursed with a changing appearance following an encounter with the sorceress Morgan Le Fay.
(Captain Britain and MI13#10 (fb) - BTS) -
The superhero Spitfire, who had been active since World War II and had
often fought alongside the British military, was a darling of Colton's
SAS regiment, nicknamed by them "Lady J" (as her real name was Lady
Jacqueline Falsworth-Crichton).
(Captain Britain and MI13#5) - When a report came in of an emergent supernatural outbreak in Birmingham, MI13 forces were scrambled to deal with it. Colton and his men joined MI13's commanding officer, Pete Wisdom, Alistaire Stuart, and the newly recruited vampire hunter Blade, on a transport plane flying to the incident. As they neared their destination Spitfire boarded the plane in mid-air, but when Wisdom introduced Blade to her, the rest of the plane, Colton included, watched in stunned horror as Blade skewered her with a wooden stake.
(Captain Britain and MI13#6) - As a screaming Spitfire
tried to pull the stake out and Wisdom went to aid her, Colton and
another SAS men struggled to restrain Blade, each grabbing and
attempting to pin one arm. Throwing himself backwards, Blade smashed
both men into the side of the aircraft, shaking them loose, and leapt
out the plane. Though presumably surprised to learn that Spitfire was
now a vampire, Colton quickly adjusted to this revelation, and as soon
as the transport landed he and his men began trying to evacuate
civilians away from the area surrounding the danger zone, a tower block
that had become engulfed in mystic Hellfire. When an explosion from the
block shook everyone, Wisdom asked Colton for a sitrep on the evacuation
and Colton informed him it was an uphill struggle, as many of the locals
in neighboring buildings had barricaded themselves in and were refusing
to move.
(Captain Britain and MI13#6 - BTS) - Colton
and his men maintained the perimeter outside as Wisdom led the
superpowered operatives into the building.
(Captain Britain and MI13#7) - Detecting a mystical power surge via his scanners, Alistaire Stuart shouted to Colton to get everyone back from the block, but before he could even complete his warning several of the soldiers closest to the building were caught by the blast of another massive explosion. As Stuart noted that the mystic energy was rapidly expanding to engulf additional buildings, Colton took charge of his men, ordering the transport planes to withdraw to a safer distance. Once everyone had pulled back to the new perimeter, both Colton and Stuart scanned the infected zone through binoculars. Stuart noted that the Hellfire had now encompassed six tower blocks, but Colton's attention was caught by monocular stone creatures smashing out of the original incident site. Unable to identify them he asked Stuart's opinion, and the stunned advisor identified them as Mindless Ones from the Dark Dimension. Seeing how worried Stuart looked, Colton wryly responded as if this news had reassured him: "For a moment there, I was worried." Stuart however fully grasped how dangerous the new arrivals were, and informed Colton they would need all the heavy ordinance they had, and ordered him to contact the RAF (Royal Air Force) in anticipation of needing air support.
(Captain
Britain and MI13#8) - As the Mindless Ones advanced Colton and his men
blasted away to no effect, so Stuart instructed him to cease fire and
deploy one of his devices, a pentagram tesseract which produced a
cage-like intrusion of magical fields into another dimension. As the
Mindless Ones pressed their attack, Colton prepared to have his forces
fall back if the device failed, but when Stuart activated it the
weapon blasted out an energy pulse in all directions, momentarily
stunning the Mindless Ones. Captured in the tesseract's energy field
and lifted towards it, Colton and his men swiftly loaded one of the
creatures inside the cage, and seeing the other Mindless Ones
beginning to advance again, Stuart instructed Colton to attempt to
withdraw now. However, the press of the Mindless Ones made this all
but impossible. As Colton and his men fired away with their heaviest
weapons, slowing the Mindless Ones as best they could, Stuart analyzed
readings procured from scans of their captive. Forgetting momentarily
that Colton lacked his scientific expertise even had his attention not
been focused on survival, Stuart explained the findings; hearing
Stuart explain that the Mindless Ones were "a particular vibration of
the intersection between the membranes of magical dimensions," Colton
sardonically responded "Obviously." Colton's attention returned to the
battle, until Stuart shocked him by climbing into the tesseract with
the captive Mindless One, stating that his curse did provide some
opportunities.
(Captain Britain and MI13#9) - As the battle continued to rage around them, Colton watched incredulously as Stuart pulled at the Mindless One's eye slit, widening the energy-filled maw until it was big enough for Stuart to climb into...
(Captain Britain and MI13#9 - BTS) and thus
using its connection to its power source located inside the original
tower block to transport himself inside, where he was able to help
Wisdom's team confront the source of the trouble, the Mindless One's
demon creator, Plokta.
(Captain Britain and MI13#9) - To Colton's
surprise Stuart reappeared inside the tesseract, pulling Plokta into
the cage behind him. Colton watched as Stuart swiftly exited the
device and activated it again, trapping the demon. With Plokta's power
broadcast abruptly cut off, the Mindless Ones faded away within
seconds. Wisdom's team exited the block moments later, accompanied by
Blade, who had reunited with them inside the infected zone; despite
his helping against Plokta, Wisdom now ordered Blade's arrest for his
actions on the transport plane, and Colton and his men all turned
their guns on the vampire hunter. However Spitfire, who had reconciled
her differences with Blade while inside the building, convinced Wisdom
to stand down.
(Captain Britain and MI13#10 (fb) - BTS) - With some of the regiment flying out on missions the next day, Colton joined his men giving them a send-off at an SAS social club near Hyde Park. Spitfire attended too, dragging Blade along as her date.
(Captain Britain and MI13 Annual#1/2) -
Colton joined MI13's senior operatives for a game of cricket at
Braddock Manor, Captain Britain's ancestral home, and took his turn
batting after the hero's turn at the stumps.
(Captain
Britain and MI13#10) - As Spitfire attempted to down a yard of ale in
one go, Colton shouted encouragement, adding that he had bet a tenner
(£10) on her. When she succeeded, Colton and the others carried her
round the bar on their shoulders in a victory celebration. After Blade
helped her down, Colton asked the stand-offish vampire slayer if he
was going to join in with the revelry. When Blade responded that he
didn't drink beer, Colton pointed out that he didn't need to; some of
the SAS men were also staying sober, since they were deploying the
next day to "sort the messes you lot leave us with." Bristling
slightly at this last, Blade queried what Colton meant by "his lot,"
but calmed again as Colton clarified that he meant Americans (see
comments). Colton calmly pointed out that Blade had been
standing in the corner with his arms folded, sunglasses on and not
saying a word to anyone, as if he was trying to come across as a tough
guy, and informed Blade that the SAS men didn't appreciate the posing.
For a moment Blade seemed unsure how to react to this, then he visibly
relaxed, smiled and removed his glasses to reveal his vampiric eyes,
telling Colton that he was right, and apologizing by saying he'd been
around superheroes for too long.
(Captain Britain and MI13#14 - BTS) - When the vampire lord Dracula launched a vampiric invasion of Britain from his lunar base, Wisdom prepared a plan to counter-attack. As the hour of the vampires' arrival neared, Wisdom ordered a subordinate to get him Colton on the line...
(Captain Britain and MI13#15 (fb) - BTS) -
and informed Colton to get his men suited up for an assault on
Dracula's castle on the moon. Following Wisdom's plan, most of
Dracula's forces were destroyed by a mystical protective barrier
placed around the U.K. and Dracula fled with the remainder back to the
moon, but moments after the vampire lord arrived...
(Captain Britain and MI13#15) - MI13
operatives, including Colton's SAS forces in space armor, teleported
into the vampire's castle. While the superheroes dealt with Dracula
and his demon ally Lilith, Colton's men concentrated on the
remaining vampires, targeting those who were wearing sun protection
suits. Lilith had been protecting the others with a spell blocking the
sun's rays which ended the moment Captain Britain defeated her, and as
the final members of the vampire army erupted into flame, Colton
radioed Wisdom to report the success of their mission.
Comments: Created by Paul Cornell, Pat Oliffe and Paul Neary.
Colton's first name, as well as the first
names of his men Phillips and Holmes, were revealed in MI13's handbook
entry.
Though not named until the next issue, we see
Colton in Captain Britain and MI13#5 at the end of the issue aboard the
MI13 transport plane, watching in shock as Blade drives a stake into the
newly arrived Spitfire. Even absenting the logic that he would be among
the handful of soldiers seen aboard the plane in that issue given that
he's present on the plane at the start of the next issue, he's
recognizable by his hair, both color and cut. It's possible Colton was
also present earlier in the issue, as we see Captain Britain training by
fighting two SAS men who are wearing Mandroid armors.
Re: Colton calling Blade an America. As some
reading this will know, Blade's actually British; however, he's pushing
a hundred thanks to his vampire-tainted nature, and has spent much of
that time in the USA, so his accent has changed, which is why Colton
mistook him for an American. Paul Cornell was well aware of both of
these facts (he has Blade confirm he is British in the first issue of
CB&MI13 he turns up in), so it was an error on Colton's part, not
the writer. This confrontation is actually fairly useful in profiling
terms, as it provides a nice image of Blade facing Colton, both men
standing up straight and on level ground, allowing us to calculate
Colton's height in comparison to Blade's established 6'2".
This profile was completed 09/12/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary's celebratory event.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
John Colton has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Captain Britain and
MI13#5, p22, pan1 (main image)
Captain
Britain and MI13#10, p7, pan4 (headshot)
Captain
Britain and MI13#6, p9, pan4 (at Birmingham
incident)
Captain Britain and MI13#15, p11, pan1 (in space armor)
Captain Britain and MI13#10, p7, pan3 (height
comparison with Blade)
Appearances:
Captain Britain and MI13#5 (November
2008) - Paul Cornell
(writer), Pat Oliffe (pencils), Paul Neary (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Captain Britain and MI13#6 (December
2008) - Paul Cornell
(writer), Leonard Kirk (pencils), Jesse Delperdang, Scott Hanna
(inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Captain Britain and MI13#7-8
(January-February 2009) - Paul Cornell (writer), Leonard
Kirk (pencils), Michael Blair, Jay Leisten, Craig Yeung (inks),
Nick Lowe (editor)
Captain Britain and MI13#9 (March 2009) -
Paul Cornell
(writer), Leonard Kirk, Mike Collins (pencils), Jay Leisten,
Cam Smith (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Captain
Britain and MI13#10 (April 2009) - Paul Cornell (writer),
Leonard Kirk (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks), Nick Lowe
(editor)
Captain Britain and MI13 Annual#1 (August
2009) - Paul Cornell (writer),
Adrian Alphonsa (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Captain Britain and MI13#14 (August
2009) - Paul
Cornell (writer), Leonard Kirk, Ardian Syaf (pencils),
Jay Leisten, Craig Yeung (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Captain Britain and MI13#15
(August 2009) - Paul Cornell (writer), Leonard Kirk (pencils), Jay
Leisten (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
First Posted: 09/13/2021
Last updated: 09/12/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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