Noble Causes

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Noble Caues #3, cover art by Tyler Kirkman.

Noble Causes is a comic book series created and written by Jay Faerber and published by Image Comics. Often described as "a super-hero soap opera", the series follows the lives of the Nobles, a wealthy superhero family. The stories focus less on the Nobles fighting supervillains and more on their personal lives. Originally intended to be an ongoing title, it was downgraded into a series of miniseries and one-shots. It finally became an ongoing title in 2004.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Cast of characters
2 Graphic Novels
3 External links

[edit] Cast of characters

[edit] The Nobles

Dr. Dudley "Doc" Noble: Patriarch of the Noble family. A two-fisted scientist seemingly more at ease with machines than with other people, Doc will nevertheless go to any lengths he deems necessary to defend his family. He has access to a vast supply of advanced weaponry and equipment, which he can access with simple verbal commands (e.g. "Gun" brings him an energy gun; "Jet Pack" brings him a jet pack, etc.)
Gaia Noble: The family matriarch. A sorceress from another dimension who can command the natural elements, Gaia is also gifted with incredible media savvy and is responsible for positioning the Noble family into the public spotlight. She’s extremely concerned with how things look to the public and goes to great lengths to ensure that the family's image remains intact.
Russell "Rusty" Noble: Doc and Gaia's first-born, whose brain was placed in a powerful robotic body when he was nearly killed in a battle with a robotic assassin. Rusty’s rather shy, and hates being in the spotlight. Living inside a mechanical husk has made him even more so. He’s also known for his short temper, and a tendency to think with his fists. After his robotic body was heavily damaged during a mission, Doc built him a newer synthetic body similar to his original.
Frost: Gaia's son from an extramarital affair and the black sheep of the family. Aside from Gaia, each member of the family treats him with varying degrees of scorn. To the general public, Frost is something of an urban legend. He lives in seclusion in a large ice castle near the Aurora Borealis. Gifted with the power of cryokinesis as well as the ability to transform into a cool mist, Frost always has an agenda when it comes to the Nobles (except for Gaia, whom he's extremely loyal to). He even went so far as to have an affair with Celeste while she was married to Rusty. He often hires himself out as a troubleshooter, even doing jobs for the U.S and Canadian governments. It was revealed that his father was actually a parallel universe version of "Doc".
Race Noble: Doc and Gaia's second-born son. Smart, handsome and charming, super-fast Race is considered the "golden boy" of the family. In the original mini-series, he was killed off while on his honeymoon. At the end of Noble Causes: Distant Relatives #4, he was returned to life in a twist similar to Bobby Ewing's resurrection. Now, he is the target of a revenge plot formulated by the Blackthornes, the Nobles' criminal counterparts. Years ago, during a fight between the two families, Race was battling Pierce Blackthorne when a misstep caused Pierce to fall to his death. Race failed to save Pierce and therefore was blamed by Hunter Blackthorne. The event haunts Race to this day. A recent attack by the super-powered assassin Widowmaker has robbed him of his super-speed abilities. He is now secretly enlisting Celeste's help in regaining his powers.
Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly-Noble: Race's wife and the only normal member of the family. An ordinary Georgetown bookseller, she met Race when he disrupted a signing at her bookstore. Possessing no super-powers or exotic background, Liz is the proverbial stranger in a strange land. Her only special gifts are common sense and a willingness to speak her mind. On more than one occasion, she has shown that she can go toe-to-toe verbally with any member of the family, particularly Celeste. Liz was recently the assumed target of the Blackthorne family's revenge plot. A mishap occurred in the experiment intended to restore Race's powers, causing her to be hit with a tachyon stream and vanish.
Zephyr Noble: Doc and Gaia's only daughter, and their youngest child. Gifted with the power of aerokinesis, Zephyr can be considered the wild child of the family. A party-girl and serial dater, she eventually became pregnant as the result of a tryst with her family's arch-nemesis Draconis. Such behavior was her way of getting attention from her parents. Recently, she gave birth, but the baby was stillborn...or so she was led to believe. In reality, the doctor was paid by Necrona Blackthorne to help kidnap the baby. To escape from pressure caused by her public life, she has adopted an alternate persona (ironically enough, the prostitute that dressed up as her for Krennick). Zephyr often hangs out with Invincible,Shadowhawk and Firebreather.
Celeste Noble: Rusty's ex-wife, a publicity-hungry diva who possesses stellar energy-based powers. Undergoing extensive cosmetic surgery and receiving her powers from a think tank known as the Winterbourne Institute, Celeste attracted Rusty's attention by staging fights with supervillains she herself hired. Celeste seems to have married into the family more for the status than for love. She even dallied with Frost behind Rusty's back. It's been revealed that Celeste, much to her own surprise, has genuinely fallen in love with Dawn Blackthorne, with whom she's been pursuing a clandestine lesbian relationship.

[edit] The Blackthornes

Hunter Blackthorne: A dark sorcerer, and patriarch of the Blackthorne family. Just released on parole, Hunter is plotting an elaborate revenge scheme against Race, whom he blames for the death of his son Pierce. That plan resulted in Race losing his super-speed and the public now viewing the Blackthornes as being reformed.
Katherine "Kitty" Blackthorne: The matriarch of the Blackthorne family. In order to bolster her natural feral abilities, she drinks a special elixir of Hunter's creation. If she takes too much, she mutates into a savage cat-like beast. Unfortunately, she has developed an addiction to it.
Mercury Blackthorne: The oldest of the Blackthorne children. After Pierce died, he became mute. Mercury can alter his body's density from diamond-hard to intangible. He is the first member of the Blackthorne family to actually appear in the comic (issue #4 of the ongoing).
Necrona Blackthorne: Krennick's long-lost half-sister, current ruler of the Underworld and Mercury's wife. It was revealed that Draconis had often ordered any daughters he had sired to be immediately put to death. Necrona's mother managed to spirit her away to a distant part of the Underworld. She made herself known when Krennick was suspected of murdering Gretchen Lewis. She kidnapped Zephyr's baby under the pretense that it was stillborn, raising it as her own.
Dusk and Dawn Blackthorne: Twins who can manipulate shadows and light, respectively. Dusk resents Dawn, who, in her eyes, is the family favorite. She has also shown rather impulsive behavior, such as when she ambushed Zephyr Noble in the neighborhood she recently moved into. Dawn on the other hand, values her family and her love life and keeps them very close to the vest. She works hard to keep her family together although she sometimes struggles to protect her secret lesbian relationship with Celeste Noble.
Slate Blackthorne: The youngest of the Blackthorne family. Able to transform into a super-strong rock-like form with incredible resistance to harm, Slate has no real desire to follow in his family's footsteps, so he secretly performs good deeds (e.g. hiding Widowmaker in a safehouse under the pretense that he killed her). He is Zephyr's next door neighbor (both are unware of each other's alter-ego).

[edit] Supporting cast

Krennick: Son of Draconis, ruler of the Underworld, a subterranean realm. Once an enemy of the Nobles alongside his father, he and Race became friends after both men were trapped in an alternate dimension for a year. Krennick became a surrogate member of the Noble family. Infatuated with Zephyr to the point of obsession, he often hired prostitutes to impersonate her. Recently, Krennick was the prime suspect in the murder of Gretchen Lewis, one of the prostitutes Krennick employed. The revelation of Krennick's predilections has strained his friendships with both Zephyr and Race. After the discovery of the true murderer, Krennick turned rulership of the Underworld over to his newfound sister Necrona.
Clarion: Gaia's friend and confidant. Seen in a number of back-up stories, it was Clarion who raised Frost alongside her own son. Very little is known about Clarion, including whatever powers she may possess. It is possible that she may hail from the same dimension as Gaia.
Cosmic Rae: An African-American superheroine Rusty begins dating soon after his divorce from Celeste. Rae can control magnetism, including manipulating metals which are susceptible to that force. While on a mission in space, it is discovered by Frost that Rae is actually a robot. Frost keeps her secret in exchange for her doing him a favor in the future. Rusty recently assaulted Rae upon discovering this, ripping one of her arms off in the process. Doc secretly revealed to Gaia that he created Rae so that Rusty could have someone to love.
Detective Ryan O'Mega: A detective in the superhuman crimes division of the Crowns Pointe police department. O'Mega has various forms of superhuman vision (infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, etc.). The downside is he needs special glasses to keep his vision powers in check, or they overwhelm him. After investigating the murder of Gretchen Lewis, he becomes romantically involved with Zephyr.

[edit] Graphic Novels

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[edit] Vol. 1: In Sickness and In Health (NC #1-4 and NC: First Impressions)

Race introduces Liz to the family for dinner. After a huge skirmish, Liz retreats to the bathroom, shaken by what she witnessed. Some time later, Race and Liz' wedding comes. Soon after, while on their honeymoon, Race is killed by a laser beam from the sky. Meanwhile, Zephyr discovers she's pregnant and Rusty discovers Celeste and Frost's affair when he catches them together in the shower. It is revealed that Icarus, the family’s loyal robot servant, had murdered Race and severely injured Rusty, in order to reshape the family into what he thought Doc wanted it to be.

[edit] Vol. 2: Family Secrets (NC: Family Secrets #1-4)

Picking up the pieces after their ordeal at the hands of Icarus, the Nobles are again rocked by scandal when Zephyr's pregnancy becomes public. Meanwhile, Rusty throws Celeste out of their home for sleeping with Frost. Frost uses information he has concerning Zephyr's baby as leverage for Gaia to reveal who his father is. Rusty goes through a number of superheroes he believes to be the father of Zephyr's baby. The father is revealed to be Draconis, whom Doc kills at the end of the story. Celeste serves Rusty with divorce papers and Gaia finally tells Frost who his father is.

[edit] Vol. 3: Distant Relatives (NC: Distant Relatives #1-4)

Frost goes off on a search for his true father, who turns out to be an alternate-reality version of Doc. In that reality, the Nobles are fugitives from the law. Meanwhile, Rusty, hurting after his divorce, finds love again when he meets Cosmic Rae. Liz has followed Frost on his search, looking for an alternate version of Race, who turns out to be rather amoral. After the death of his father, Krennick has become ruler of the Underworld, quite reluctantly. When Zephyr discovers that Krennick hires prostitutes to impersonate her, she becomes disgusted and tells Krennick to stay away from her. When Frost meets up with Liz, he decides to send her to another alternate reality— one where Race is alive but her own counterpart is dead.

[edit] Vol. 4: Blood & Water (NC (ongoing)#1-6)

A prostitute named Gretchen Lewis is discovered lying dead in an alley, dressed as Zephyr. Det. Omega is heading the investigation and Krennick is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Rusty and Cosmic Rae embark on a government-sponsored mission to rescue a team of scientists from another planet. Unfortunately, Celeste and Frost are part of the mission as well. Gretchen's killer turns out to be Diakun, Krennick's advisor. Doc goes to visit Steven Dockerty, a man so obsessed with Gaia that he once tried to assassinate the president of the United States in order to impress her. He returns a different man.

[edit] Vol. 5: Betrayals (NC (ongoing)#7-12, plus The Pact #2)

Rusty, Celeste, Frost, Rae and the other heroes are still stranded on the alien world, which is later revealed to be the dimension Gaia hails from. Steven Dockerty escapes from the mental institution where he was being kept and heads straight for Noble Manor. But things are not as they appear. As it turns out, Dockerty switched bodies with Doc with the cooperation of a warlock. When the entire family arrives in Gaia's home dimension, the spell is reversed and the heroes return home. As a consolation, Gaia's father, the ruler of the dimension, is given Dockerty as a prisoner. Zephyr finally gives birth to her baby. Unfortunately, what should be a time of great joy becomes a tragedy when the baby is stillborn...or so the Nobles are led to believe.