Thom Kallor

Thom Kallor is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics, spanning many incarnations, all connected to the various incarnations of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The character has assumed the names Star Boy and Starman.

Fictional character biography

Legion of Super-Heroes

The Bronze Age version of Star Boy, on the cover of Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2, #306 (December 1983). Art by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt.

Star Boy is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a group of young heroes existing 1,000 years in the future. He was born with the superhuman ability to temporarily increase the mass of an object, up to the mass of a star. He was born on an observatory satellite orbiting the planet Xanthu, to astronomer parents.^[1] He temporarily gained Kryptonian-level powers like those of Superboy when he was caught in the tail of a comet, but in time those faded leaving only his original density power. Early in his Legion career, he travelled to the 20th century to meet Superboy. While there, Lana Lang threatened to expose his identity (which was still a secret on Xanthu) if he did not pretend to be her boyfriend in order to make Superboy jealous. However, the Boy of Steel overheard her talking to Star Boy, so the plot failed.^[2]

Star Boy was expelled from the Legion for killing in self-defense his girlfriend Dream Girl's ex-boyfriend, Kenz Nuhor, thus breaking the Legion's non-killing rule. After this, he and Dream Girl joined the Legion of Substitute Heroes for a time before returning to the Legion. Star Boy originally wore a purple uniform with a white cape and five-pointed yellow star on his chest, but his best known costume was a full-body starfield suit with white gloves and boots.

Post-Zero Hour

Following the events of Zero Hour, Star Boy joined the Legion following the death of Kid Quantum, Xanthu's original Legion representative. He did not get along with Leviathan, partly because Leviathan blamed himself for Kid Quantum's death and saw his replacement as a reminder of his failure as a leader.

In addition to his mass increasing powers, Star Boy temporarily gained several new powers following spaceship accidents including Kryptonian-like powers (as in pre-Crisis history) and fire-breathing. However, he found these abilities difficult to control.

When Xanthu left the United Planets, Star Boy and his fellow Xanthian Legionnaires (Kid Quantum and Monstress) worked hard to reveal that their home planet's government had been deceived, and were astonished when they subsequently decided to remain with the Affiliated Planets.

As in previous continuity, Star Boy had a relationship with Nura Nal (Dream Girl).

Starman vol. 2

During a storyline in Starman, the post-Zero Hour Thom Kallor discovered that his apparent destiny is to travel back in time to the 21st century to take on the mantle of Starman (under the alias of "Danny Blaine") with the full knowledge that he will lose his life there. It was also suggested that he was the reincarnation of both Opal City police officer Matt O'Dare and the western hero Scalphunter.

The Danny Blaine/Thom Kallor version was inspired by the Kingdom Come depiction of the character, designed by Alex Ross.

Legion's 2005 reboot

Kallor as per the Legion's 2005 reboot. Art by Barry Kitson.

Originally, Star Boy was depicted as a Caucasian. The 2005 reboot of the Legion by Mark Waid recasts the character as black, making him the third black hero from Xanthu to join the Legion (after the first and second Kid Quantum). He is described as Cosmic Boy's right-hand man, and remains loyal to him throughout the Legion's infighting, and his disappearance at the end of the Dominators storyline.

Ultimately, it is revealed that this version of Star Boy (and his version of the Legion) inhabits Earth-Prime, the home of hero-turned-villain Superboy-Prime.^[3]

One Year Later

The Starman presented in the pages of Justice Society of America vol. 3 is revealed to be a Thom Kallor who appears similar to his original pre-Crisis incarnation (including the Starman history detailed above), rather than the Star Boy that had most recently appeared in Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5, raising questions of co-existing timelines. He traveled from his future to the Kingdom Come universe (recently re-created as Earth-22 at the conclusion of 52), and then to the present day.^[4] Kallor claims to hear voices in his head and has been diagnosed as a borderline schizophrenic. When not performing his superheroic duties, he resides at the Sunshine Sanitarium (a mental hospital) and takes medications for his illness (both of which he does voluntarily); his favorite day at the hospital is Wednesday as that is the day sloppy joes are served. It is revealed that his schizophrenia was brought about soon after he acquired his abilities, which resulted in him spending several years in a mental asylum. His condition was brought under control with 31st century technology. However, medication in the present day (which Dream Girl views as barbaric) failed to keep it in check.^[4] Still incapacitated and in a sanitarium, he adopts a civilian identity, Danny Blaine, the name of his favorite pulp hero on Xanthu.^[5] Soon after, the god-like Gog restores Thom's sanity, something Thom believes is a bad thing.^[6] Not long after Starman leaves the sanitarium, and takes a job as a gravedigger, which he believes will help him in carrying out a mysterious mission in the present that he has been charged with.^[7] During a battle with the Justice Society Infinity of Earth-2, it is revealed that his starfield suit was designed by three Brainiac 5's and in actuality is a map of the recreated multiverse.^[8]

The rest of the JSA arrive, having learned from Sandman that Gog is rooting himself into the Earth, and if he remains for one more day, the Earth will die if he ever leaves, leaving them with the one option of killing Gog and separating his head from the Earth, which is the only way to save the planet. The other society members following Gog attempt to protect him, until they see him attempt to attack a society member. All of the followers take up the fight, and Gog punishes them all by taking away his blessings, including Starman's sanity.^[9] The JSA succeed in removing Gog's head, and Starman opens a stargate to the Source Wall, where Superman places the head. Superman requests that Starman returns him to Earth-22, which he obliges to.^[10]

In the Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds mini-series, it is revealed that Starman's long-mysterious mission was given to him by Brainiac 5, as part of a conflict taking place in the 31st century between the Legion and the united forces of Superboy-Prime and the Legion of Super-Villains. Starman's mission was to exhume the body of Superboy (hence his taking a job as a gravedigger) and place it in the regeneration chamber in the Fortress of Solitude used to restore Superman following his own death. The healing process takes 1000 years, but in the 31st century, at the peak of the battle, Superboy is reborn to join the fight.^[11] Starman does not return to the 31st century at the end of the series. He remains in the 21st century to carry on with "a dead man's last wish", and as he says it, a document can be partially seen, on it, written in interlac, the words "Last Will and Testament of R. J. Brande" can be read.^[3]

As revealed in Adventure Comics vol. 2, #8, Starman is part of a secret Legion team sent by the late R.J. Brande to the 21st century to save the future in the "Last Stand of New Krypton" storyline.

The New 52

Kallor reappears on the Legion's roster after the Flashpoint reality-altering event, although he is now a paraplegic and is in a wheelchair (the explanation for when and how this happened has not been revealed since). He later quits the team in order to rescue Dream Girl after she and Brainiac 5 are kidnapped by the Dominators. Star Boy perishes as Legion headquarters collapses ^[12] in the midst of the Fatal Five's latest onslaught. Yet, he is resurrected prior to the "Inifinitus Saga" in Justice League United and joins the rest of the Legion in battle in both the 31st and 21st centuries.^[13]

Powers and abilities

In the first two incarnations of the Legion, Thom has the ability to temporarily increase the mass and density of any object or person. To avoid violating the first law of thermodynamics, this extra mass is usually described as having been "borrowed" from a nearby star. In the post-Zero Hour reboot version, Thom also learned to use his density manipulating powers on himself. He also demonstrated the ability to detect minute discrepancies in mass or density and to exactly determine the mass of any given object or objects even more accurately than the 31st century measuring instruments of Brainiac 5. In the "Threeboot" version of the Legion, his power is changed to warping gravity rather than adding mass. During this run his ability is used for more unusual efforts, such as preventing gravitational effects on Earth from the appearance of a massive fleet of warships in orbit, or working in conjunction with Light Lass and a power amplifier designed by Brainiac 5 to stabilize the solar system after the arrival of a new planet. The version of Thom that is working with the Justice Society of America has demonstrated the ability to travel (or send others) between alternate universes using a combination of his mass controlling powers and his uniform, which was made into a map of the Multiverse by three Brainiac 5's.^[10]

In both the original Legion and the post-Zero Hour reboot Legion, Thom briefly possessed Kryptonian-level powers, but in both cases lost them in short order.

Equipment

As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes he is provided a Legion Flight Ring. It allows him to fly and, in the "Threeboot" incarnation of the series, protects him from the vacuum of space and other dangerous environments.

In other media

Television

• Star Boy has appeared in the Legion of Super Heroes animated series voiced by Bumper Robinson. He is featured in the season one opening sequence, but joined in "The Substitutes". The television series also makes a slight change to his power. He still increases the weight of objects, but can also negate gravity. During the first season, he appeared rarely and without dialogue. In the second, he is seen a bit more often.

References

External links

• Pre-Zero Hour Star Boy Biography
• A Hero History of Star Boy