Another superthug for hire, this one a fair bit less rotten than most. Might be redeemable if a hero could literally beat some sense into him, but you might also wind up with a rival for life - or at least a frenemy who keeps coming back for another sparring match.
Southpaw
Mark "Southpaw" Mallory always dreamed of being a sports star when he was a kid, playing on his school's basketball, baseball and football teams but never really standing out. It wasn't till his senior year that he first tried boxing and found his real gift. As a southpaw he was hard for many orthodox boxers to deal with, and he had areal natural talent for the science of boxing. By the time he was 20 he was well on his way to a pro career, but it didn't take long before he was approached by a gambling ring about accepting some help making his name in exchange for future favors. The young man made the mistake of agreeing, and within the year he'd fought his first rigged fight, winning one "guaranteed" match after another until his growing rep got him a fight with serious money on the line. That was when he was told to take a dive.
He might have done it (although his story about that changes depending on who he's talking to) but the round before he was due to take a fall the stress triggered his latent mutations. His opponent was suddenly moving in slow motion and couldn't lay a glove on him even when Mark tried to slow down and let the guy connect. And when he threw what should have been a weak left hook, the blow put the poor guy into the third row and Mark dropped to his knees howling as his arm muscles writhed and swelled. The bout was ended on the spot, and the crowd booed him out of the ring as a lousy cheating superfreak. That was the end of his boxing career and he owed his backers several fortunes - but of course there's money to be made for people with powers like his and the right connections.
Six years later he's paid his debts several times over and makes a good living as hired super-muscle with a good reputation for taking his work seriously. He mostly stays in training, doesn't have teh kinds of mental hang-ups many supers display, and doesn't take an interest in things he doesn't need to know. He's been in and out of jail a few times but his employers know a lot of good lawyers and appreciate a useful asset. He uses his old nickname Southpaw as a supranym for obvious reasons, although his looks and past as a boxer means he's well known by his real name as well. So far he's never killed anyone, and he's even been known to send flowers if he puts a hero in the hospital, but he's still a criminal and it's just a matter of time before he gets called on to cross lines he doesn't want to.
Description: Tall, muscular blonde man, his somewhat battered features sporting a crooked nose that's clearly been broken a time or two in the past. His deformed left arm is grotesquely swollen with muscle and nearly a foot longer than his right arm and ends in a fist the size of bowling ball. When working he generally wears dark blue boxing trunks and shoes, accessorized with sleeveless tank top and White Sox baseball cap. Once in a while he'll wear a proper villain costume for an employer, but it costs extra and they have to provide the custom tailoring. He speaks English with a slight Chicago-area accent.
Gender: Male Age: 29 Height: 6'2" Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde, Bearded Skin: Caucasian, Sports Tattoos Build: Asymmetric, Muscular
Approach: Bully Archetype: Predator
Health: 40 + (5 x H)
Powers: Strength d10, Agility d8, Speed d8
Qualities: Close Combat d8, Shady Mutant Ex-Boxer d8, Ranged Combat d8
Status: (# of Enemies Engaged) 0-1 - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 4+ - d6
Abilities:
Fancy Footwork (A) Hinder multiple targets using Speed. Use your Max die. Use your Mid + Min dice to Attack any target that gains a penalty this way that already had a penalty from you.
Strong Left Hand (R) When Attacked, roll your single status die to Hinder the Attack, and deal damage equal to the Attacker equal to the penalty created.
The Sweet Science (A) Attack using Strength. Use your Max die. Use your Mid die to Defend against all Attacks from that target until the start of your next turn.
Trash Talk (I) Whenever you or your nearby allies Hinder, increase the penalty created by one.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health. Increase the die size of each of your qualities except Shady Mutant Ex-Boxer by one step (maximum of d12).
Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.
Tactics
Southpaw is a former boxer and it shows in his fighting style, but he's also enormously stronger and faster than he once was, making him a real threat even to superheroes. He greatly prefers to duke it out in close quarters with another big, tough-looking opponent to prove his own superiority and tends to struggle when dealing with multiple foes at once. His preferred move is striking with The Sweet Science while counterpunching with Strong Left Hand, which is enhanced by constant Trash Talk. If faced with a a mob of enemies he resorts to Fancy Footwork, trying to leverage the initiative order to repeat the move before his initial targets can take their turns to shed their penalties. This actually does a fair bit of damage and stacks serious penalties when he can pull it off even with his reduced status die for engaging multiple foes.
He only has his upgrade when he's been keeping in training, which is a hit-or-miss thing depending on whether he can find decent (powered) sparring partners. When at the top of his form his mastery makes him a reliable work-for-hire heavy - and if you need someone to take a convincing dive he's your man.
If Southpaw is forced to deal with ranged fighters they'll discover his years playing other sports made him pretty good at throwing stuff, and with his strength that "stuff" can include things like manhole covers, mid-size sedans and I-beams. The Sweet Science works as well with Ranged Combat in the die pool as it does with Close Combat, after all. It's really better to give him someone to box with so he doesn't have to get creative. The man's easy to please.
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