Twilighter
Real Name: Tiphon Eridos, First Appearance: Stargazers #56, February 1997
Lieutenant Type: Ally
Die Size: d12
Relation: Frenemy, Approach: Technological
Traits:
- Shadowcasters: Twilighter has +1 to all actions while in the dark.
- Control Circuits: Twilighter takes 2 extra damage from psychic Attacks and increases any psychic penalties taken by 1.
As part of the soft reboot of Venture Comics undertaken in 1996, the Champions of Truth got shaken up; Reverie and Penitent left the team to focus on other situations, and the Champions recruited Flatfoot, Fly Boy, and Hyperstar to replace them, developing a lineup more similar to their classic Silver Age setup and announcing their support for alien immigrants to the world. Part of this shift meant that Hyperstar was no longer part of Stargazers; she intended to help the Champions fight AEGIS, leaving Zeitgeist more able to travel the world without fear of pursuit. In her place, Zeitgeist was joined by Drifter and the Penitent, and the trio began to spend more time helping people who were overlooked by bigger teams, and less avoiding the attention of the government. They still took part in some anti-AEGIS activities, of course, such as their attack on the newest Tartarus facility in Stargazers #56, saving many aliens and powered humans who were being experimented on.
One of those aliens was Twilighter. Like Zeitgeist, Tiphon Eridos had been a refugee to Earth, and like Zeitgeist AEGIS had captured him to turn him into an operative, using their technological to hypercharge his species’ natural camouflage abilities and installing control circuitry to force him to obey. After his release, he swore vengeance against all of humanity, spurning Zeitgeist’s offer of friendship and declaring that he would find wealth and power no matter the cost to those who had imprisoned him.
… or at least, that was the plan. In his very next appearance in Stargazers #59, Twilighter showed up acting as a mercenary in a bank heist, only to abandon the heist to save a child that was about to be hit by a car they had blasted out of the way. He then reluctantly joined forces with the Stargazers to stop the robbers from causing more collateral damage, before vanishing in the aftermath with a dark vow that this was the last time he would help.
It was not. In fact, what became rapidly clear was that every time Twilighter had to choose between vengeance, power, or wealth on the one hand, and an innocent getting hurt on the other, he would abandon whatever plot he was part of to help the innocents. He didn’t want to. He was openly sarcastic about the stupid humans who were too dumb to live. But every time, his actions belied his words. The truth was that for all his resentment, Twilighter was just a good person.
As a result, Twilighter became a frequent backup character for the Stargazers, helping them out regularly and complaining the whole time. He never became a hero; his distrust of human institutions and unwillingness to seek out danger was too great. But against his will, he became a friend of Zeitgeist and a fairly reliable ally.
Behind the Scenes:
I wanted a Stargazers ally to briefly discuss the new setup once Hyperstar leaves; my original idea was for a fellow alien who isn’t much of a fighter but helps out where he can. Then I got a d12 and ‘frenemy’, and this happened instead. I designed a very supervillainy look, drafted up a very annoyed guy and then made him a softie.
Twilighter looks hilariously evil. He looks like Mr. Sinister cloned himself using Apocalypse and Lex Luthor DNA. I started his design trying to go for “bad boy with a heart of gold” and I got “scheming on how best to kick your dog”, and I absolutely could not undo it, it was too perfect. I am absolutely sure that in his first appearance, everyone was convinced he was going to be the new major supervillain that Zeitgeist had to deal with, with all sorts of angst about whether it was right to release him from AEGIS, only for something completely different to happen.