Invisible Kid
Encyclopedia
Lyle Norg is a fictional character
, a comic book
superhero
in the DC Comics
universe
, and a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes
in the 30th and 31st centuries. He was the first to assume the name Invisible Kid.
#267. His scientific aptitude meant he got along well with the super-intelligent Brainiac 5
. His abilities made him a valuable asset to the Legion Espionage Squad, of which he was a permanent member. Norg also served one term as Legion Leader. He was killed by the monster Validus
of the Fatal Five
in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #203 (July/August 1974).
Many years later, during the "Five Year Gap" following the Magic Wars, Earth fell under the covert control of the Dominators
, and withdrew from the United Planets
. A few years later, the members of the Dominators' highly classified "Batch SW6" escaped captivity. Originally, Batch SW6 appeared to be a group of teenage Legionnaire clones, created from samples apparently taken just prior to Ferro Lad
's death at the hands of the Sun-Eater
(Since Lyle was Legion leader at that time, the members of Batch SW6 were led by the teenage Lyle). Later, they were revealed to be time-paradox duplicates, every bit as legitimate as their older counterparts. After Earth was destroyed in a disaster reminiscent of the destruction of Krypton
over a millennium earlier, a few dozen surviving cities and their inhabitants reconstituted their world as New Earth. The SW6 Legionnaires - including their version of Invisible Kid - remained.
Following the Zero Hour
Legion reboot, Lyle Norg was still alive and serving with the Legion. As well as a brilliant chemist, he was also a professional spy at a very young age. He invented the invisibility serum while in Earthgov Intelligence's spy school. Rather than his scientific aptitude resulting in his getting on well with Brainiac 5, they had more of a rivalry going on. While Querl was more intelligent, Lyle had more imagination, being quicker to see unexpected applications for discoveries.
He was the de facto leader of the Legion Espionage Squad, consisting of himself, Chameleon, Apparition, Triad, & Shrinking Violet and was instrumental in bringing down the corrupt administration of United Planets President Chu.
Lyle served one term as Legion Leader; during his tenure, this version of the Legion defeated Mordru
in their first and only battle with the sorcerer.
According to The Definitive Guide to The Characters of the DC Universe (2004), he was in a homosexual relationship with Condo Arlik
. This, however, was never stated explicitly in the comic book itself and a follow up creative team never went through with this storyline.
officer father used to bring him alien cell samples nearly every night to experiment with. By the time he had successfully created a serum, he discovered that his father promised to hand over Lyle’s research to the Science Police all along. So he injected the only existing serum into himself and lied about it before contacting Brainiac 5
for help. Brainy invited Lyle to join the Legion. Eventually his father discovered the truth and tried to get Lyle to quit and hand over the serum. After the Legion was outlawed, Lyle reneged and produced a blood sample for his father to use. The sample was encoded with a monitoring virus allowing Legion access to the United Planets systemworks. Because of his relationship to Brainiac 5 his teammates have snarlingly nicknamed him “Brainiac 6.”
When Lyle betrayed Cosmic Boy
's trust by revealing to Brainiac 5 that several members had broken into Brainy's lab, he lied to the team by blaming everything on Shrinking Violet. He and Violet, who prefers the moniker Atom Girl, have since made a deal to continue the ruse, but his teammates still have a hard time trusting him. When Supergirl
mysteriously appeared in the 31st Century, Lyle, along with half the male Legionnaires vied for her attention. However, Lyle convinced Cosmic Boy that he did not have a crush on Supergirl in order to remove the competition for her affections. He recently had his arm torn off when his flight ring exploded, and was given an alien arm to replace it by a member of the Wanderers
. He is left in Metropolis, the doctors reproducing his DNA to give him another arm.
His arm apparently healed, he returns to the active roster to save a young Tritonian mutant, Gazelle, for whom he carries a torch from then on. During an invasion of aliens hailing from cyberspace
, a small squad of legionnaires, including him and the recently appointed Gazelle, are digitized and sent into their homebase: Invisible Lad has a customized avatar issued by Brainac 5, with a bulkier and more handsome physique that greatly impresses Gazelle (who, despite being saved by him, had never seen his face due to his invisibility powers). However, his idealized body is shown to be a trojan horse
able to give Brainiac 5 complete mastery over the alien, digital universe. Invisible Kid, Gazelle and the other legionnaries spend some time trapped in cyberspace, while Brainiac 5 restores their physical bodies, damaged in a skirmish between the Coluan and some physical avatars of the invading aliens: in that week, Invisible Kid admits his feelings for Gazelle who happily reciprocates. Upon returning to the physical world, they both witness Brainiac 5 and Nura Nal exchanging their nuptial vows and inviting them to their marriage.
miniseries have apparently restored a close analogue of the Pre-Crisis
Legion to continuity, as seen in "The Lightning Saga
" story arc in Justice League of America and Justice Society of America
, and in the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc in Action Comics
. Lyle is depicted as a member of this version of the team in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #5 (June 2007), and Action Comics #858 (Late December 2007). However, this incarnation of the Legion shares roughly the same history as the original Legion up to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Therefore, this version of Lyle is presumably deceased.
nation of Côte d'Ivoire
. Following Brainiac 5
's advice, Jacques drank Lyle Norg's serum and gained the original Kid's powers (and later developed the ability to teleport) in order to save Earth from Computo
, who had taken over the mind of his younger sister Danielle
. He first appeared in Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 (1982). He later served as President of Earth, and as co-leader of the Legion along with an adult Cosmic Boy. His sister Danielle joined the SW6 Legionnaires, having acquired the ability to communicate with computers. With deliberate irony, she adopted the name Computo.
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, a comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
in the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
, and a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes
Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
in the 30th and 31st centuries. He was the first to assume the name Invisible Kid.
Lyle Norg
The first Invisible Kid was Lyle Norg, an early member of the Legion who gained his powers from a chemical serum he invented. He first appeared in Action ComicsAction Comics
Action Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined...
#267. His scientific aptitude meant he got along well with the super-intelligent Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5 is a fictional character who exists in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Universe. He is a long standing member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Brainiac 5 is from the planet Colu...
. His abilities made him a valuable asset to the Legion Espionage Squad, of which he was a permanent member. Norg also served one term as Legion Leader. He was killed by the monster Validus
Validus
Validus is a fictional DC Comics supervillain, an enemy of the Legion of Super-Heroes and a member of the Fatal Five.-Fictional character biography:...
of the Fatal Five
Fatal Five
The Fatal Five are fictional characters, a supervillain team of the 30th century in the DC Comics universe. They were created by Jim Shooter and first appeared in Adventure Comics #352 as enemies of the Legion of Super-Heroes....
in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #203 (July/August 1974).
Many years later, during the "Five Year Gap" following the Magic Wars, Earth fell under the covert control of the Dominators
Dominators
The Dominators, collectively known as the Dominion, are a fictional alien race from the outer cosmos of the DC Universe. They are highly technologically advanced, and live in a rigid hierarchical society, in which one's caste is determined by the size of a red circle on one's forehead...
, and withdrew from the United Planets
United Planets
In the , the United Planets is a fictional governing body, traditionally depicted as active in the 30th and 31st century.-History of the published versions of the United Planets:...
. A few years later, the members of the Dominators' highly classified "Batch SW6" escaped captivity. Originally, Batch SW6 appeared to be a group of teenage Legionnaire clones, created from samples apparently taken just prior to Ferro Lad
Ferro Lad
Ferro Lad is a fictional character, a comic book superhero and member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century of the . He is Andrew Nolan of Earth...
's death at the hands of the Sun-Eater
Sun-Eater
A Sun-Eater is a fictional, artificially created living weapon in the DC Comics universe. It has played an important role in various storylines.-History:...
(Since Lyle was Legion leader at that time, the members of Batch SW6 were led by the teenage Lyle). Later, they were revealed to be time-paradox duplicates, every bit as legitimate as their older counterparts. After Earth was destroyed in a disaster reminiscent of the destruction of Krypton
Krypton (comics)
Krypton is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe, and the native world of the super-heroes Superman and, in some tellings, Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog. Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of...
over a millennium earlier, a few dozen surviving cities and their inhabitants reconstituted their world as New Earth. The SW6 Legionnaires - including their version of Invisible Kid - remained.
Reboot
Zero Hour (comics)
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time is a five-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by DC Comics in 1994. In it, the former hero Hal Jordan, who had until then been a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, mad with grief after the destruction of...
Legion reboot, Lyle Norg was still alive and serving with the Legion. As well as a brilliant chemist, he was also a professional spy at a very young age. He invented the invisibility serum while in Earthgov Intelligence's spy school. Rather than his scientific aptitude resulting in his getting on well with Brainiac 5, they had more of a rivalry going on. While Querl was more intelligent, Lyle had more imagination, being quicker to see unexpected applications for discoveries.
He was the de facto leader of the Legion Espionage Squad, consisting of himself, Chameleon, Apparition, Triad, & Shrinking Violet and was instrumental in bringing down the corrupt administration of United Planets President Chu.
Lyle served one term as Legion Leader; during his tenure, this version of the Legion defeated Mordru
Mordru
Mordru is a fictional character, a supervillain in the DC Comics' main shared universe.Mordru is the most prominent Lord of Chaos who is fated to survive even after the end of the universe, although he is usually shown as a powerful wizard...
in their first and only battle with the sorcerer.
According to The Definitive Guide to The Characters of the DC Universe (2004), he was in a homosexual relationship with Condo Arlik
Chemical King
Chemical King is the name of two fictional characters in the DC Comics universe. The first was Mr. Lambert, who was murdered by Alfred Stryker in Detective Comics #27...
. This, however, was never stated explicitly in the comic book itself and a follow up creative team never went through with this storyline.
"Threeboot" Continuity (2004-2009)
Lyle Norg is a genius with a skill for xenochemistry who was used by his father to develop an invisibility serum. His Science PoliceScience Police
Science Police is a fictional law enforcement agency in the . They were referred to as "World-Wide Police" in their first appearance in the 30th century. They were featured in a four issue limited series titled Legion Science Police. In the 30th and 31st centuries, the Science Police serves the...
officer father used to bring him alien cell samples nearly every night to experiment with. By the time he had successfully created a serum, he discovered that his father promised to hand over Lyle’s research to the Science Police all along. So he injected the only existing serum into himself and lied about it before contacting Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5 is a fictional character who exists in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Universe. He is a long standing member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Brainiac 5 is from the planet Colu...
for help. Brainy invited Lyle to join the Legion. Eventually his father discovered the truth and tried to get Lyle to quit and hand over the serum. After the Legion was outlawed, Lyle reneged and produced a blood sample for his father to use. The sample was encoded with a monitoring virus allowing Legion access to the United Planets systemworks. Because of his relationship to Brainiac 5 his teammates have snarlingly nicknamed him “Brainiac 6.”
When Lyle betrayed Cosmic Boy
Cosmic Boy
Cosmic Boy is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 . He is a founding member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and was the original leader in all incarnations of the Legion...
's trust by revealing to Brainiac 5 that several members had broken into Brainy's lab, he lied to the team by blaming everything on Shrinking Violet. He and Violet, who prefers the moniker Atom Girl, have since made a deal to continue the ruse, but his teammates still have a hard time trusting him. When Supergirl
Supergirl
Supergirl is a female counterpart to the DC Comics Superman. As his cousin, she shares his super powers and vulnerability to Kryptonite. She was created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino in 1959. She first appeared in the Action Comics comic book series and later branched out...
mysteriously appeared in the 31st Century, Lyle, along with half the male Legionnaires vied for her attention. However, Lyle convinced Cosmic Boy that he did not have a crush on Supergirl in order to remove the competition for her affections. He recently had his arm torn off when his flight ring exploded, and was given an alien arm to replace it by a member of the Wanderers
Wanderers (comics)
The Wanderers are a fictional group of superheroes appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They first appeared as allies of the Legion of Super-Heroes in Adventure Comics #375 written by Jim Shooter, illustrated by Win Mortimer with a cover by Neal Adams...
. He is left in Metropolis, the doctors reproducing his DNA to give him another arm.
His arm apparently healed, he returns to the active roster to save a young Tritonian mutant, Gazelle, for whom he carries a torch from then on. During an invasion of aliens hailing from cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
, a small squad of legionnaires, including him and the recently appointed Gazelle, are digitized and sent into their homebase: Invisible Lad has a customized avatar issued by Brainac 5, with a bulkier and more handsome physique that greatly impresses Gazelle (who, despite being saved by him, had never seen his face due to his invisibility powers). However, his idealized body is shown to be a trojan horse
Trojan horse (computing)
A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is software that appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install, but steals information or harms the system. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology.-Malware:A destructive program that masquerades as a benign...
able to give Brainiac 5 complete mastery over the alien, digital universe. Invisible Kid, Gazelle and the other legionnaries spend some time trapped in cyberspace, while Brainiac 5 restores their physical bodies, damaged in a skirmish between the Coluan and some physical avatars of the invading aliens: in that week, Invisible Kid admits his feelings for Gazelle who happily reciprocates. Upon returning to the physical world, they both witness Brainiac 5 and Nura Nal exchanging their nuptial vows and inviting them to their marriage.
Post-Infinite Crisis (2007- )
The events of the Infinite CrisisInfinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...
miniseries have apparently restored a close analogue of the Pre-Crisis
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
Legion to continuity, as seen in "The Lightning Saga
The Lightning Saga
"The Lightning Saga" is a comic book crossover story arc that took place in DC Comics' two flagship team books: Justice League of America and Justice Society of America. It was written by Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns, and illustrated by Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, and Shane Davis...
" story arc in Justice League of America and Justice Society of America
Justice Society of America
The Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a DC Comics superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history. Conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox, the JSA first appeared in All Star Comics #3 ....
, and in the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc in Action Comics
Action Comics
Action Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined...
. Lyle is depicted as a member of this version of the team in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #5 (June 2007), and Action Comics #858 (Late December 2007). However, this incarnation of the Legion shares roughly the same history as the original Legion up to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Therefore, this version of Lyle is presumably deceased.
Jacques Foccart
The second Invisible Kid was Jacques Foccart, a native of Earth from what was once the francophone AfricanAfrican French
African French is the generic name of the varieties of French spoken by an estimated 115 million African people spread across 31 francophone African countries...
nation of Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
. Following Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5 is a fictional character who exists in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Universe. He is a long standing member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Brainiac 5 is from the planet Colu...
's advice, Jacques drank Lyle Norg's serum and gained the original Kid's powers (and later developed the ability to teleport) in order to save Earth from Computo
Computo (comics)
Computo is a fictional character, a supervillain in the DC Comics universe and a foe of the Legion of Super-Heroes. It first appeared in Adventure Comics #340 , in a story written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Curt Swan.-Pre-Crisis:...
, who had taken over the mind of his younger sister Danielle
Computo (Danielle Foccart)
Computo is the code name for Danielle Foccart, a female fictional character in the DC Universe who became a member of the "Batch SW6" group of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century...
. He first appeared in Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 (1982). He later served as President of Earth, and as co-leader of the Legion along with an adult Cosmic Boy. His sister Danielle joined the SW6 Legionnaires, having acquired the ability to communicate with computers. With deliberate irony, she adopted the name Computo.