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Scatterbrain (comics)
Encyclopedia
Gage Reinhart is a fictional comic book
superhero
, a member of the superhero team Dynamo 5
, which appears in the monthly series of the same name from Image Comics
. Created by writer Jay Faerber
and artist Mahmud A. Asrar
, he first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1 (January 2007).
For the first 24 issues of the series, the character possessed telepathy
, and went by the codename Scatterbrain. In issue #25 of the series (October 2009), the character, whose powers had been erased in the previous issue, obtained different powers. Now possessing the power of flight, he goes by the codename Ramjet.
, the much-beloved superhero protector of Tower City, his widow, former government agent posing as a now-retired investigative reporter Maddie Warner
, discovered from his personal effects that he had been unfaithful to her countless times. Despite her devastation at this discovery, Warner realized that without a full-time protector, Tower City would be vulnerable to Captain Dynamo’s legion of super-villain enemies. She used her skills and the information she discovered to track down five people who could be Dynamo’s illegitimate children.
Gage Reinhart was the fifth of Captain Dynamo’s children Warner contacted. Gage is a 17-year-old Eastbridge, Texas high school football star who led his division in tackles for the entire season, and is the darling of both his female schoolmates and college scouts. Faerber has described Scatterbrain as “a popular, arrogant jock who never gave a damn about what anyone thought - until he can literally hear those thoughts. And he may not like what he hears.” Scatterbrain’s name may also be a reference to his obtuseness or absentmindedness, as he made a pass at Scrap
during their first meeting, requiring her to remind him that they were half-siblings. Gathering all five of the children together, Warner exposed them to the same unidentified radiation that gave Captain Dynamo his powers forty years earlier, unlocking their powers. Gage inherited his father’s telepathy
. Gage takes the codename Scatterbrain, and works to protect Tower City with his newly discovered brothers and sisters.
Scatterbrain is often instrumental in the team's confrontations with its adversaries. One month after gaining his abilities, Scatterbrain and his siblings fought the paramilitary organization known as The Veil. Although he and the team acquitted themselves well against that foe, Visionary
was kidnapped during the fracas, and brought to The Veil’s base. It fell upon Scatterbrain to use his telepathy to track Visionary via his brainwave pattern, which led to Visionary’s rescue. Scatterbrain was subsequently crucial to the team's victories against Voltage, and a thief using the Winterbourne Institute's strength-amplifying Strong-Suit.
Despite his telepathy's usefulness, however, Gage has laments the adverse side-effects that his powers and his involvement in the team has had on his life. His inability to fully control his telepathy, his tendency to pick up the thoughts of others that he finds hurtful, and the manner in which new aspects of it may suddenly evolve unexpectedly, have been a source of irritation to him, often causing him to long for a more empowering ability like his sister Olivia
's flight. The difficulty in finding time for both his high school career and his superheroics leads to some sleeplessness, and tension between him and Maddie Warner. Gage also comes to blows with his brother Spencer (Myriad
) over Spencer engaging in a romantic embrace with a schoolmate of Gage's while Spencer, a shape-shifter
, was impersonating Gage when Gage was in a coma. Spencer was given this mission by Maddie Warner in order to quell suspicion on the part of Gage's family, who are unaware of his life as a superhero, but Gage saw this act as an invasion of privacy on Spencer's part, though Spencer wonders if it is motivated by racism
because the girl in question was black. Spencer apologizes to Gage, and confesses that, having grown up in foster homes, and having never had a real family or popularity in school, his experience with Gage's family opened his eyes to what he had missed all his life, and got carried away. Sympathetic to Spencer's feelings, Gage forgave him.
In Dynamo 5 #24 and 25 of the series, the team was attacked by their other half-sibling, the supervillain
Synergy, who used a weapon to erase the team's abilities and capture them. The team freed themselves, and used the weapon to restore their powers, but they manifested different abilities than the ones they previously had, and took on new code names. Gage, who gained the power of flight, donned an armored suit and took the name Ramjet.
Dynamo 5 Holiday Special 2010 established that Gage began a romantic relationship with War Chest, a reformed supervillain turned government agent, whom Gage had first battled in Dynamo 5 #0.
, from which his current codename is derived. Maddie Warner
's ally, Tank, who built the armor, indicated to Gage that it could allow him to smash right through a building. He can reach hypersonic
speeds when flying.
In his former identity of Scatterbrain, Gage was a telepath who could read other people’s minds. His power was both voluntary and passive; While he could use his power to deliberately read someone's mind, he could also involuntarily pick up the thoughts of those around him, even when he did not wish it. He could also use his telepathy to remotely track people whose minds he has read, by sifting through the brainwave patterns he could sense, which are apparently unique to each individual. During an electrical attack by the villain Voltage, Gage developed the ability to cease the attack by merely thinking about it, and rendered Voltage unconscious. It also briefly knocked Scatterbrain into semi-consciousness. Gage also had the ability to completely wipe out a person's memories, giving them total amnesia
, as he did with his half-sister Synergy, though this act left him in a coma for a day or two, and the effect on Synergy (who possesses superhuman invulnerability) was reversed with the impact of a bullet to her head. During is coma, Gage discovered that he was also capable of astral projection
, and was able to instantly transport his astral self to familiar locations by willing it. He appeared at his high school, where he was attacked the villainess Brains, another telepath. Brains claimed that that location was "her space" and "her private place", and engaged Scatterbrain in what was depicted as a physical altercation between their astral forms, but when Scatterbrain responded in kind, he inadvertently transported them to a featureless white location that he speculated was "his place", and was able to manifest his abilities according to his own imagination, multiplying his form several times, and attacking Brains en masse, forcing her to flee the astral plane, and bringing him out of his coma. His telepathy rendered him immune to the illusions created by the villain Doctor Chimera. It also enabled him to affect technology keyed to a specific person's brainwaves, as when he disabled the Jessup-Poole Strong-Suit, which was keyed to its user's brainwaves, though the suit was later modified to prevent Gage from doing this.
There were some limits on Gage's telepathy. He could not read someone’s mind if they were unconscious, although he was able to enter Maddie Warner
's mind when she was in a coma in order to communicate with her consciousness and pull her out of that state. When Gage attempted to telepathically probe the mind of the psychotic Lipinski (aka Slaughterhouse), the experience was so emotionally traumatic for Gage that it briefly incapacitated him in the heat of battle. The government superhuman-monitoring agency F.L.A.G. has a manual and a course it requires for its agents who interrogate telepaths like Gage, in order to prevent the compromise of sensitive information, but its exact protocols are unknown. Gage’s telepathy operated within a certain reception radius, but that radius has not been specified.
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 —...
, a member of the superhero team Dynamo 5
Dynamo 5
Dynamo 5 is a fictional comic book superhero team created by writer Jay Faerber and artist Mahmud A. Asrar, which appears in an eponymous series published by Image Comics. The team first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1 . The monthly series ended with issue #25...
, which appears in the monthly series of the same name from Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
. Created by writer Jay Faerber
Jay Faerber
Jay Faerber is an American comic book and television writer. Faerber is known for his work on Generation X and New Warriors for Marvel Comics, and The Titans and Connor: Spotlight for DC Comics. He later wrote his own creator-owned titles for Image Comics, including Noble Causes, Dynamo 5 and Near...
and artist Mahmud A. Asrar
Mahmud A. Asrar
Mahmud Anjum Asrar is a Turkish-born comic book artist of Pakistani and Austrian ethnicity, who is known for his work on American and non-American comic books....
, he first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1 (January 2007).
For the first 24 issues of the series, the character possessed telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, and went by the codename Scatterbrain. In issue #25 of the series (October 2009), the character, whose powers had been erased in the previous issue, obtained different powers. Now possessing the power of flight, he goes by the codename Ramjet.
Publication history
Following the assassination of Captain DynamoCaptain Dynamo (comics)
Captain Dynamo is a fictional comic book superhero, created by writer Jay Faerber and artist Fran Bueno, who first appeared as a supporting character in Noble Causes: Extended Family #2 by Image Comics....
, the much-beloved superhero protector of Tower City, his widow, former government agent posing as a now-retired investigative reporter Maddie Warner
Maddie Warner
Madeline “Maddie” Warner is a fictional comic book character, the mentor and leader of the superhero team Dynamo 5, who appears in the monthly series of the same name by Image Comics. Created by writer Jay Faerber, Warner first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1 .-Character history:Madeline Warner was born...
, discovered from his personal effects that he had been unfaithful to her countless times. Despite her devastation at this discovery, Warner realized that without a full-time protector, Tower City would be vulnerable to Captain Dynamo’s legion of super-villain enemies. She used her skills and the information she discovered to track down five people who could be Dynamo’s illegitimate children.
Gage Reinhart was the fifth of Captain Dynamo’s children Warner contacted. Gage is a 17-year-old Eastbridge, Texas high school football star who led his division in tackles for the entire season, and is the darling of both his female schoolmates and college scouts. Faerber has described Scatterbrain as “a popular, arrogant jock who never gave a damn about what anyone thought - until he can literally hear those thoughts. And he may not like what he hears.” Scatterbrain’s name may also be a reference to his obtuseness or absentmindedness, as he made a pass at Scrap
Scrap (comics)
Bridget Flynn is a fictional comic book superhero, a member of the superhero team Dynamo 5, which appears in the monthly series of the same name from Image Comics. Created by writer Jay Faerber and artist Mahmud A...
during their first meeting, requiring her to remind him that they were half-siblings. Gathering all five of the children together, Warner exposed them to the same unidentified radiation that gave Captain Dynamo his powers forty years earlier, unlocking their powers. Gage inherited his father’s telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
. Gage takes the codename Scatterbrain, and works to protect Tower City with his newly discovered brothers and sisters.
Visionary (comics)
Hector Chang is a fictional comic book superhero, a member of the superhero team Dynamo 5, which appears in the monthly series of the same name from Image Comics. Created by writer Jay Faerber and artist Mahmud A...
was kidnapped during the fracas, and brought to The Veil’s base. It fell upon Scatterbrain to use his telepathy to track Visionary via his brainwave pattern, which led to Visionary’s rescue. Scatterbrain was subsequently crucial to the team's victories against Voltage, and a thief using the Winterbourne Institute's strength-amplifying Strong-Suit.
Despite his telepathy's usefulness, however, Gage has laments the adverse side-effects that his powers and his involvement in the team has had on his life. His inability to fully control his telepathy, his tendency to pick up the thoughts of others that he finds hurtful, and the manner in which new aspects of it may suddenly evolve unexpectedly, have been a source of irritation to him, often causing him to long for a more empowering ability like his sister Olivia
Slingshot (comics)
Olivia “Livvie” Lewis) is a fictional comic book superhero, a member of the superhero team Dynamo 5, which appears in the monthly series of the same name from Image Comics. Created by writer Jay Faerber and artist Mahmud A...
's flight. The difficulty in finding time for both his high school career and his superheroics leads to some sleeplessness, and tension between him and Maddie Warner. Gage also comes to blows with his brother Spencer (Myriad
Myriad (Image Comics)
Spencer Bridges is a fictional comic book superhero, a member of the superhero team Dynamo 5, which appears in the monthly series of the same name from Image Comics. Created by writer Jay Faerber and artist Mahmud A. Asrar, He first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1...
) over Spencer engaging in a romantic embrace with a schoolmate of Gage's while Spencer, a shape-shifter
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
, was impersonating Gage when Gage was in a coma. Spencer was given this mission by Maddie Warner in order to quell suspicion on the part of Gage's family, who are unaware of his life as a superhero, but Gage saw this act as an invasion of privacy on Spencer's part, though Spencer wonders if it is motivated by racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
because the girl in question was black. Spencer apologizes to Gage, and confesses that, having grown up in foster homes, and having never had a real family or popularity in school, his experience with Gage's family opened his eyes to what he had missed all his life, and got carried away. Sympathetic to Spencer's feelings, Gage forgave him.
In Dynamo 5 #24 and 25 of the series, the team was attacked by their other half-sibling, the supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
Synergy, who used a weapon to erase the team's abilities and capture them. The team freed themselves, and used the weapon to restore their powers, but they manifested different abilities than the ones they previously had, and took on new code names. Gage, who gained the power of flight, donned an armored suit and took the name Ramjet.
Dynamo 5 Holiday Special 2010 established that Gage began a romantic relationship with War Chest, a reformed supervillain turned government agent, whom Gage had first battled in Dynamo 5 #0.
Powers
Gage Reinhart has the superhuman power of flight. Whereas his sister Olivia wore a wingsuit-type outfit to aid her maneuverability, Gage's natural aptitude at maneuvering makes this unnecessary. However, his ability to effect sudden stops and land properly is far inferior to hers, and thus he wears an armored suit that not only protects him from impact, but enables him to act as a human battering ramBattering ram
A battering ram is a siege engine originating in ancient times and designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates...
, from which his current codename is derived. Maddie Warner
Maddie Warner
Madeline “Maddie” Warner is a fictional comic book character, the mentor and leader of the superhero team Dynamo 5, who appears in the monthly series of the same name by Image Comics. Created by writer Jay Faerber, Warner first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1 .-Character history:Madeline Warner was born...
's ally, Tank, who built the armor, indicated to Gage that it could allow him to smash right through a building. He can reach hypersonic
Hypersonic
In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that is highly supersonic. Since the 1970s, the term has generally been assumed to refer to speeds of Mach 5 and above...
speeds when flying.
In his former identity of Scatterbrain, Gage was a telepath who could read other people’s minds. His power was both voluntary and passive; While he could use his power to deliberately read someone's mind, he could also involuntarily pick up the thoughts of those around him, even when he did not wish it. He could also use his telepathy to remotely track people whose minds he has read, by sifting through the brainwave patterns he could sense, which are apparently unique to each individual. During an electrical attack by the villain Voltage, Gage developed the ability to cease the attack by merely thinking about it, and rendered Voltage unconscious. It also briefly knocked Scatterbrain into semi-consciousness. Gage also had the ability to completely wipe out a person's memories, giving them total amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, as he did with his half-sister Synergy, though this act left him in a coma for a day or two, and the effect on Synergy (who possesses superhuman invulnerability) was reversed with the impact of a bullet to her head. During is coma, Gage discovered that he was also capable of astral projection
Astral projection
Astral projection is an interpretation of out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it...
, and was able to instantly transport his astral self to familiar locations by willing it. He appeared at his high school, where he was attacked the villainess Brains, another telepath. Brains claimed that that location was "her space" and "her private place", and engaged Scatterbrain in what was depicted as a physical altercation between their astral forms, but when Scatterbrain responded in kind, he inadvertently transported them to a featureless white location that he speculated was "his place", and was able to manifest his abilities according to his own imagination, multiplying his form several times, and attacking Brains en masse, forcing her to flee the astral plane, and bringing him out of his coma. His telepathy rendered him immune to the illusions created by the villain Doctor Chimera. It also enabled him to affect technology keyed to a specific person's brainwaves, as when he disabled the Jessup-Poole Strong-Suit, which was keyed to its user's brainwaves, though the suit was later modified to prevent Gage from doing this.
There were some limits on Gage's telepathy. He could not read someone’s mind if they were unconscious, although he was able to enter Maddie Warner
Maddie Warner
Madeline “Maddie” Warner is a fictional comic book character, the mentor and leader of the superhero team Dynamo 5, who appears in the monthly series of the same name by Image Comics. Created by writer Jay Faerber, Warner first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1 .-Character history:Madeline Warner was born...
's mind when she was in a coma in order to communicate with her consciousness and pull her out of that state. When Gage attempted to telepathically probe the mind of the psychotic Lipinski (aka Slaughterhouse), the experience was so emotionally traumatic for Gage that it briefly incapacitated him in the heat of battle. The government superhuman-monitoring agency F.L.A.G. has a manual and a course it requires for its agents who interrogate telepaths like Gage, in order to prevent the compromise of sensitive information, but its exact protocols are unknown. Gage’s telepathy operated within a certain reception radius, but that radius has not been specified.
See also
- Dynamo 5Dynamo 5Dynamo 5 is a fictional comic book superhero team created by writer Jay Faerber and artist Mahmud A. Asrar, which appears in an eponymous series published by Image Comics. The team first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1 . The monthly series ended with issue #25...
- Smasher
- Wraith
- Menagerie
- Supervision
- Captain DynamoCaptain DynamoCaptain Dynamo may refer to:* Captain Dynamo , a fictional comic book superhero* Captain Dynamo , a platform game that was released for the Commodore Amiga and other platforms in 1993, developed by Codemasters...
- Maddie WarnerMaddie WarnerMadeline “Maddie” Warner is a fictional comic book character, the mentor and leader of the superhero team Dynamo 5, who appears in the monthly series of the same name by Image Comics. Created by writer Jay Faerber, Warner first appeared in Dynamo 5 #1 .-Character history:Madeline Warner was born...