Starman (Will Payton)

[Matt Lazorwitz]

Starman VI

Real Name: Will Payton
First appearance: Starman (Vol.1) #1
Know relatives: Raymond Payton (father, deceased), Marie Payton (mother), Jayne Sadie Payton (sister)
Known allies: Superman, Batman, Rampage, Starman VII (Jack Knight), Starman III (Mikaal Tomas)
Major enemies: Eclipso, Bolt, Blockbuster, Power Elite, the Bodines, Jediah Rikane
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 400 lbs.
Eyes: White
Hair: Black

Will Payton was just a normal guy living out in Arizona, doing his own thing. He was a normal guy with parents and a sister he loved. Then one day he was struck by a bolt of energy from space, and he woke up with super powers. He could fly, he was super strong, fire bolts of energy, and even change his appearance. And for no other reason then it was the right thing to do, Payton became a hero, and took up the name Starman.

For much of his heroic career, Payton believed his power came from an accident with a satellite that was supposed to grant super powers. A group called the Power Elite, who had planned on using the satellite came after Will, and became his first real nemeses.

Payton cut himself a nice niche as a hero. Nothing big and flashy, but he did what was right. He helped Batman take out Roland Desmond, the Blockbuster. He fought against the Alien Alliance during the Invasion. He stood in for Superman when the Man of Steel lost his powers. He also developed something of a relationship with Kitty Faulkner, the S.T.A.R. Labs scientist who sometimes would become the hulking Rampage.

He was nearly seduced into serving the manipulative Hart Trust, but remained true to himself and remained a hero. At one point, while battling Nimbus (a new alias of the Mist, the first Starman’s arch foe), he was confronted by David Knight, the son of the first Starman, who wanted to reclaim the mantle for the Knight family. After sharing an adventure, David said Payton was noble enough to carry the name.

Toward the end of Payton’s time as Starman, he chased after husband and wife serial killers Aaron and Lupe Bodine. They escaped, and Will tried to track them down intermittently throughout the remainder of his time as Starman. At the end of his fought Eclipso, initially when it was till believed he was the dark side of Bruce Gordon, and then after it was revealed he was much more then that. It seemed that Payton sacrificed himself to bring down the Vengeance God’s palace.

But Will had not died. Instead he was transported to Kranaltine, the Throneworld of the Crown Imperial and home of the alien Starman Prince Gavyn, where he was imprisoned for years. Eventually salvation came, though, in the form of Jack Knight, the younger son of the original Starman, and Mikaal Tomas, the alien who had once called himself Starman. Jack and Payton’s sister Jayne had fallen in love, and she had asked Jack to go into space to find her brother, who she was alive. Jack arrived, and he freed Will. But the news that waited for Will was the most shocking of all.

The being who had served as the teacher to Gavyn, M’Ntorr, revealed that the day Will had been struck by the energy beam, he had died. The soul of Will Payton had moved on, and the soul of Prince Gavyn, discorporated by the great Crisis, took up residence there. He had no memories, and had thus taken on the personality of his host. Payton could not handle this, but did take on Gavyn’s form to rally the people of Throneworld against the oppressive leadership Jediah Rikane, who he bested in single combat.

After the battle, Payton was unsure of his place, and of the truth of M’Ntorr’s words. But when he met Lady Merria, the wife of Gavyn, bits of his past began to come back to him. He decided to stay on Throneworld, to try to peace together his life. That didn’t stop him from leading an army to the aid of Opal City’s heroes during the battle with Simon Culp. He had a tearful reunion with Jayne, and then returned to Throneworld, where he remains now, trying to be a monarch and a hero.

As Starman, Will Payton had a myriad of abilities. He was incredibly strong, and could fly. He could cast bolts of energy. He could change shape at will. When the part of him that was Gavyn was reawakened, he found he had even greater control of cosmic energy, and could channel it through Gavyn’s old staff.

Appearances:
Action Comcis #644-645,659,675
Adventures of Superman #488
Adventures of Superman Annual #4
Eclipso: The Darkness Within #2
Invasion! #2-3
Justice League International (Vol. 1) #24
Starman (Vol.1) #1-45
Starman (Vol.2) #3,36,58-60,71-73
Superman (Vol. 2) #65-66
Superman: The Man of Steel #10
Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #1
War of the Gods #1-4