Baron Midnight

Back to Supervillains

By his real name Thomas Chichester, the man who would become Baron Midnight originally hailed from an old money British family. While brilliant and charismatic, Thomas was often bored by nearly all aspects of his life. Even in college, he seemed less interested by his studies than his stage magic hobby.

Then, at one point, mysterious thefts began. They became more and more ambitious, targeting some of the best-defended museums in the area; the thief, resembling a masked Arsène Lupin, would display great cleverness both at bypassing security, and setting things up so that the theft would go unnoticed for surprisingly long periods of time. The self-styled "Baron Midnight" seemed to emphasize style over safety, and appeared more interested in the challenge of the theft than the theft itself.

For a while, the public actually liked him. There was something endearing about the classy gentleman thief. But over time, it became obvious that Baron Midnight was entirely devoid of compassion and mercy - killing those who stood in his way did not bother him in the least.

Eventually, the criminal encountered a superhero in the middle of his latest heist. Through superior cleverness and skill, the non-powered villain managed to kill the hero. This time, the public began to consider him as a major threat who needed to be dealt with immediately. Measures were taken. The arrest of Baron Midnight was made a priority. Some thought the Baron would lay low; instead, he did the very opposite. As the minor aristocrat Thomas Chichester, he attended a fundraiser event organized by one of his main political detractors. The event was held on the politician's private yacht; by the end of the night, through deceit, illusion, and psychological manipulation, Chichester had gotten half the attendees to slaughter the other half. He then revealed himself as Baron Midnight, and disappeared with the fundraising money.

In the years that followed, Baron Midnight became an international criminal. He tends to work alone, though he does occasionally get hired by others for specific jobs. As a general rule, the Baron only organizes operations that entertain him.

While he is particularly cruel, to the point even other supervillains often fear him, Baron Midnight affects gentlemanly manners, and seems to value class and style, as well as a rather old-fashioned esthetics. With his cape, top hat and mustache, he could pass for either a stage magician or a silent movie villain...which suits him just fine.

The Baron is an intellectual sort of villain; to him, a large part of the pleasure comes from the planning of the heist. That said, heroes who expect him to be a pushover in a direct confrontation are in for a nasty surprise: The villain has taken the time to become an excellent hand-to-hand fighter, and one of the objects he has stolen is a magical dagger that can bypass many superhuman protections...

Midnight's arch-nemesis is Tracer Pulse, the Global Champions' detective; the two have had several confrontations in recent years. While Tracer Pulse hasn't arrested the Baron yet, he has foiled several of his schemes, and is always closer on his trail than anyone else.