Mister Terrific (Character)

Publisher: DC Comics

Created by: John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

1st appearance: Spectre (vol. 3) # 54,  1997

Real Name: Michael Holt

Team Affiliations: JSA – Justice Society of America, Checkmate

Legal Status: U.S citizen with no criminal record

Height: 6’2              Weight: 215 lbs

Eyes: Brown                   Hair: Black

Relatives: Paula Holt (wife, deceased), unnamed child (deceased), Jeffrey Holt (brother, deceased)

Powers:  Nanotechnology in his mask and costume grant a variety of sensory, communication and database retrieval functions and immunity to technological detection.

T-Spheres that function as computers, holographic projection units, projectile weapons etc.

Biography

Born to Mr. and Mrs Holt after his brother Jeffrey who had a mental disability while also being sickly and weak [52 #39]. Michael Holt proved to be a prodigious mind almost immediately after birth. By age six he had assimilated the works of Bohr, Einstein, Planck and Feynman; the pantheon of theoretical physicists [JSA #13]. While other children struggled through sesame street he learned that time and space are merely a series of shifting coordinates in a grander continuum and they are relative to the observer [JSA #13]. By the time he was a teenager his older brother died [52 #39]  but he went on to gain 14 Ph.D’s; two in engineering and physics—including doctorates and masters degrees in law, psychology, chemistry, political science, and mathematics among others [JSA #28 & JSA #53]. After this he made his own company ‘Cyberwear’ [JSA #28] which made him a self-made millionaire many times over [JSA #13]. He eventually sold the company to WayneTech and retired from the corporate world [JSA #28]. At some undisclosed point in time he also became an Olympic decathlon gold medal winner [JSA #28].

After marrying the love of his life he devoted everything to her and their unborn child. Both lost their lives in a tragic accident which left him on the verge of suicide. Visited by the Specter he was inspired by the golden age Mr. Terrific/Terry Sloan and decided to take up the mantle [Spectre v3. #54, 1997]. While working for Tylerco in exchange for them funding a youth center he founded he met the JSA [JSA #5].

JSA and Checkmate

As Mister Terrific he joined the JSA when they battled Cobra. He was instrumental in defeating them and ending their latest threat [JSA #11-12]. He rose to the rank of chairman of the team [JSA #27] and is regarded as the third smartest man on earth [Infinite Crisis #5]. When the team was restructured he kept his seat as chairman [JSA 52 #39]. During ‘Infinite Crisis’ he met Black Lightning and was instrumental in defeating brother eye due to his invisibility to technology [Infinite Crisis #6].

During ‘One year Later’ he joined Checkmate and rose to a leadership position and had to abdicate his chairman seat in the JSA to Power Girl [Justice Society of America v3. #4]. When ‘Final Crisis’ occurs he is forced to activate new OMACs to protect the last survivors of the human race when Darkseid uses the anti-life equation [Final Crisis #1-7]. when the earth is restored he is fatally wounded while in his lab [Justice Society of America v3. #29]. Dr. Midnight tries to save his life [Justice Society of America v3. #30] but he later dies [Justice Society of America v3. #31]. Alan Scott/Green Lantern working swiftly uses his powers to slow down time around Michael before he can experience ‘brain death’ in hopes that they can heal his body [Justice Society of America v3. #32]. Dr. Fate eventually manages to heal his body and his life is saved [Justice Society of America v3. #33]
though he is wheelchair bound for awhile  [Justice Society of America v3. #34].

DC Comics New 52

After the reboot his origin still included the death of his wife and unborn child but he became a solo superhero operating out of Los Angeles while also being a billionaire operating his own company. Here he dated and fell in love with Karen Star who was secretly the Supergirl of Earth-2. After discovering that Star had created a Quantum Tunnel he traveled through it witnessing glimpses of his past and future. Over the course of his adventures he was stranded on Earth-2 and later brainwashed before being rescued by the world army.