Editing Prometheus (section)

== Fifties: America-razy ==
              
   The 1950's were a pressure cooker of American psychoses. 
While the costumed hero fad had been recognized by the rest of the world as an attempt at Propaganda, some stressed and harassed Americans took to the streets at night in outrageous get ups all to assuage a sense of guilt over not being good enough to match the image conscious 1950's. Few of these costumed crimefighters had any abilities, but they searched out and found foes, foes usually tainted red.McCarthy's reign had been tempered by the outrageous use of Posthumans in the last war, thus he managed to stay on top for longer. Horribly opposed to the McCarthyism that was sweeping the nation several costumed heroes stood up to be counted against McCarthy.

Being branded a criminal by the senator often turned these delicate psychological cases from potential do-gooders into lethal "supervillains." The biggest of which was the '''Red Scare''' who had developed a potent fear toxin and kept it on hand for occasional Terror strikes.

McCarthy was chosen to pick the next lineup of the Courage team, which he dubbed '''Courage America'''. Immediately Gibraltar, Iron American, and Jack Quick were signed on (Rose, the Torch of Freedom, had stayed in England with the Beadle whom she had had an affair with during the war. One of the few things the Journeyman couldn't figure out), as well as reincarnations of Manpower and Liberty Eagle. New faces like '''Crackerjack''', '''Major Victory''', the '''Red-Blooded Defender''' were included in Courage America. The main American scourge was one Professor Nevin Perl, the main scientific authority within the ranks of Prometheus. His scientific genius allowed Gibraltar's type O blood to be turned into a superserum codenamed J-12.

He was outraged at the use of atomic weaponry and McCarthy's reign. He also felt like the Prometheus board was just assigning him busy work while all the budget went to Courage America. On ''June 12, 1953'' '''Professor Peril''' revealed himself to the world, hijacking all radio and television signals in America for 24 seconds and unleashing a subliminal wavelength that incited tremendous riots for a week-long period. Riots that resulted in tremendous loss of life and property damage.
Professor Peril became known as the Grandfather of Supervillainy. His plots usually succeeded and he struck hard and fast. His first true success came in 1960 when he was able to detonate a nuclear warhead on the Arizona and New Mexico border, forever turning a section of America into a nuclear nightmare, a land of horribly mutated attrocities.

However, it was through these birthing pains that Earth's greatest champion arose.

Professor Peril, in his hubris, had altered the bomb. It was his belief that if he matrixed the energy the effects would be more devastating. And it was, to the reality of the region.
Vincent Wagner was arguably the closest person to the ground zero of the bomb. His recount is sketchy though he remembers his greatest pain he had ever experienced. "A blinding light coming from behind my eyes. Heat so intense I believed it was shattering me. And a Center of gravity in every one of my fingers..."

The government discovered the man that was to usher in the next age of humanity... the Atomic Age.
The government's only survivor was Vince Wagner, a high school music teacher, in his early twenties. His abilities in every way equalled Blitzkrieg. He had tremendous strength, speed, flight, and the ability to throw radioactive bolts. The radiation that bathed the region was dubbed Bios, as its effect upon organic material wasn't immediately deadly. With a champion of this magnitude, Prometheus decided to cash in on the Journeyman's legacy, deigning the Man Atomic: '''Journeyman'''.