Negative Man
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 Negative Man. Art by Bruno Premiani |
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Negative Man is a fictional superhero from DC Comics. He first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80.
[edit] Character history
The original Negative Man, Larry Trainor, was exposed to a radioactive belt while piloting a test rocket. This experience left him radioactive himself but gave him the ability to release his soul out of his body, which can fly at high speed and pass through solid materials when desired, and control it. Unfortunately, Trainor found that he was barely conscious while the being is released leaving his body defenseless in the process. Furthermore, he could only risk sending it out for 60 seconds at a time or face certain death.
While Negative Man appears to be a costumed mummy, his bandages cover his entire body to protect innocent bystanders from his hazardous body condition and bind his soul and body together. He joined the Doom Patrol along with Elasti-Girl, Mento, Robotman, and The Chief.
After being seriously injured and (apparently) stricken of his powers, Trainor was hospitalized. The Negative Spirit possessed a Russian cosmonaut, Colonel Valentina Vostok, who became the Negative Woman. The Spirit later left her and merged Trainor to Dr. Eleanor Poole, a black woman. Together they formed Rebis, a divine hermaphrodite. Rebis anticipated hir mating ceremony, the Aenigma Regis, where sie would impregnate hirself. Rebis temporarily left the Doom Patrol to do this. At some point during this absence, Rebis had intercourse with Coagula, giving her superpowers. Upon returning, Rebis was killed by the Candlemaker. Rebis's egg hatched revealing a fully grown new Rebis. According to the DC Comics Encyclopedia, this Rebis is currently involved with Checkmate.
The fourth incarnation of the Doom Patrol included Ted Bruder, a character with the ability to see sixty seconds into the future. He took the codename Fast Forward, but his incessantly pessimistic outlook led to him being nicknamed Negative Man II by his team-mates.
In 2004, the Doom Patrol was rebooted in a JLA storyline and new Doom Patrol series, both written and illustrated by John Byrne. In this version of the Doom Patrol, which ignored previous continuity, Larry Trainor was once again Negative Man (although his negative-energy form now had the appearance of a black skeleton instead of a shadowy humanoid shape). After this series was cancelled, the miniseries Infinite Crisis explained that this alteration had been caused by Superboy-Prime's attempts to escape from the extradimensional "haven" he shared with Alexander Luthor and the Superman and Lois Lane of Earth-Two. When the Doom Patrol joined other heroes in fighting Superboy-Prime, Negative Man and the other Doom Patrol members (including former member Beast Boy) began recalling their previous lives; all previous incarnations of the Doom Patrol are now in continuity, although the exact details of what this means are not yet clear.
Negative Man is once again a member of the sixth and current incarnation of the Doom Patrol. It is not clear what relationship he has to Negative Man's history as the joined entity Rebis; however, the negative energy can now exist apart from Trainor's body for much longer than 60 seconds. But it looks like Trainor becomes unconscious whenever the negative-energy being leaves his body.
[edit] Other media
On the fifth season of Teen Titans, Negative Man appeared along with the other Doom Patrol members. He has a sarcastic matter-of-fact attitude similar to Raven's. His 60 second "soul separation" time limit is absent in the series. He did state that he shouldn't spend too much time separated from his body, but didn't give a specific time limit. However, it is shown that his soul has spent time, caged, outside his body for 5 months. He is performed by Judge Reinhold.
Though it was not specifically stated how long the Negative Spirit could remain separated from his body in this appearance, Negative Man's comment upon being released, "You could have at least thawed me out first.", implies that his physical body may have been frozen, or in some sort of suspended animation. This may explain how he was able to stay separated for so long without ill effect, especially since this method was occasionally employed during other incarnations of Doom Patrol when, for whatever reason, the Negative Spirit was unable to return to Larry Trainor's body.
