Alter Ego: Jack Castle
Origin: Jack was born in New York City in 1912. Growing up, he earned a Ph. D and became a licensed physician who often consulted with the NYPD. One night, sometime in the 1930s, Jack was driving home when he witnessed a crashed and burning car on the side of the road. Upon further examination to check for someone in need, Jack noticed two dead notorious gangsters and one was still alive yet with a serious gunshot wound. Closer to his house than the hospital, Jack brought the survivor home to see what he could do. Coming back to consciousness, the wounded stranger revealed he had magical powers as a result of being the host of a force called the Mystic Flame. The man informed Jack that, lest he transfer the power to someone else, the power would be lost when he died. Jack went to call an ambulance but then decided not to, coveting the Mystic Flame for himself. Disregarding his oath to “do no harm”, Jack lied and said that there were no ambulances close by to make it in time. Accepting his fate, the stranger touched Jack’s hand and transferred his powers into Jack, then passed away. Though initially happy to become a superhuman, Jack later became plagued by horrible guilt as well as paranoia that someone would find out about his misdeed. He concocted an elaborate fake origin story: he’d been kidnapped (by zombies) while helping the NYPD investigate mysterious kidnappings, experimented on by a giant villain called the Zombie Master, and gained super powers as a result. Taking up a costumed identity as the Fiery Mask, Jack earned quite a reputation as a masked vigilante by 1939. When the US entered World War 2 in 1941, Fiery Mask enlisted in the war effort becoming one of a large number of wartime vigilantes fighting the Nazis.
Powers/Abilities: The Mystic Flame granted Fiery Mask a number of superhuman attributes, the most obvious being the generation and manipulation of fire and heat. He could use his powers to create a protective force field of heat energy or project devastating bursts of flames. Fiery Mask was invulnerable to heat and any type of fire. He also exhibited an undefined amount of superhuman strength (able to at least lift 2 tons as he was seen holding a car over his head), hurricane force breath, leaping great distances (similar to the Hulk), and flight. Jack Castle was a formidable hand to hand combatant with a Ph. D in medicine. He often carried a mace into battle.
Random Trivia: On Wednesday April 25th, 1945 the Fiery Mask participated in a massive Allied super hero assault on Berlin. He and eleven others were ambushed, captured by German forces, and placed in suspended animation for decades. Wednesday August 2nd, 2008 the twelve heroes were discovered and revived by the US government. One of the Twelve, Dynamic Man, went rogue and committed several murders (including using Twelve member Electro the Robot to slay their ally Blue Blade). It was Fiery Mask who helped expose Dynamic Man’s true nature to the rest of the team. During the final battle with Dynamic Man, Fiery Mask was fatally wounded when the fallen hero crushed his windpipe. Jack died but not before transferring his powers to the Phantom Reporter who unleashed the full might of the Mystic Flame to destroy Dynamic Man. The Reporter afterwards attended Fiery Mask’s funeral and decides to continue using the power of the Mystic Flame to fight crime. Fellow Twelve member the Black Widow confirmed that (despite the shady way in which he’d gained his powers) Jack Castle ended up going to Heaven due to his heroism and sacrifice earning redemption for his past sins. Though Jack perpetuated a false origin to everyone and few people knew the real truth, it’s possible he did in fact have a battle with the Zombie Master.
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