Max Castle (New Earth)

Castle
Mainstream Universe‎, 1986‎-2011‎
Gallery
Real Name	Max Castle
Main Alias	Castle
Other Aliases	Roger Castle
Affiliation	Freak Show
Base Of Operations	Hawkes Industries, Chicago
Status
Alignment	Bad
Citizenship	American
Marital Status	Single
Occupation	Scientist · Criminal
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Blond
Origin
Universe	New Earth
Creators	Peter David · Richard Howell
First Appearance	Action Comics #615 (September, 1988)
Appearance of Death	Action Comics #620 (October, 1988)

Kill him, you idiots! What are you fooling around for? Jeez, do I have to do everything for this group?

— Castle

Castle was the scientist who engineered the Freak Show.

History

He was their team leader, taking orders only from Lillian Hawkes.

Dr. Max Castle was a bio-engineer whose research focused on creating super-powers in humans. He was imprisoned after his experimentation led to the deaths of several test subjects. After his release, he applied to Hawkes Industries to continue his research, but Veronica Hawkes was not interested. Her younger sister, Lillian, felt sorry for Castle and gave him and a fellow ex-con menial jobs in one of their lesser facilities. However, Lillian was not as sympathetic and meek as she appeared and secretly instructed Castle to continue his research. Castle gave himself and others superhuman abilities which made up Lillian's personal, secret agents who called themselves the Freak Show.

She assigned them the task of attacking rival company, Hi-Tech, at a Science Expo, where they stole the "Collapser", a military prototype weapon. When Green Lantern intervened, Castle took a woman hostage, but found she could defend herself and threw him into a nearby safe and locked him inside. Lantern congratulated the woman who was really Runaround Sue and Castle used his power to switch places with Jordan, trapping him in a safe with a yellow interior.

Though the Freak Show managed to escape, Green Lantern was determined to find the culprits. After leaving a police station to identify Castle and his associate Siphon, Jordan stopped to help a woman whose laundry had caught fire. Once more it was a set-up, seeing as the woman turned out to be Incinderella who was quickly joined by her teammates in an ambush. They had the upper-hand until the Freak Show let distractions get in the way, and Jordan managed to turn the tables. However, far across town, Castle watched the fight through a telescope and when the Freak Show lost control, he used his teleportation to once more trade places with Green Lantern, giving them the time to slip away again.

When Green Lantern showed up at Hawkes Industires, Veronica permitted the hero to search her facilities, while Lillian secretly planned a final ambush to destroy him. She locked Jordan a in robotics lab and instructed Castle to engage him, telling him to also convey to the others that Plan Omega was in effect. Castle was unaware that this initiative was put in place behind his back should Lillian's operation ever be compromised, and when the Freak Show finally fell to Green Lantern's might, Siphon and the others framed Castle for everything, making him Lillian's patsy. Furious with the betrayal, Castle switched places with a guard, followed by a secretary to confront Lillian alone. With all his research stored on her computers, Lillian no longer had use for Castle and shot him in the chest, claiming self-defence to Green Lantern.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Teleportation: Castle had a unique form of teleportation where he could wilfully trade places with another person. He intentionally locked himself in a yellow safe so he could then switch places with Green Lantern, trapping Jordan inside while he escaped.

Abilities

• Science: Castle was a doctor of some form and specialised in bio-engineering. He presumably engineered the Freak Show.

Weaknesses

• Power Limitation: Castle expended a lot of energy by teleporting and would become fatigued with successive use. He said he was tired after only teleporting two consecutive times within Hawkes Industries alone.

Notes

• Castle's given name was initially "Roger" on his police file in Action Comics #617, but Veronica Hawkes later told Green Lantern that it was "Max" in Action Comics #619.
• Castle's name is possibly derived from the chess term, "castling", where the rook protects the king by taking its space, much like how Castle's teleportation is based on switching places with others.
  

Trivia

• According to his police file, Castle was born 16th of November, 1957. His prison number was 167-671.

Related

• 6 Appearances of Max Castle (New Earth)
• 2 Images featuring Max Castle (New Earth)
• 1 Quotations by or about Max Castle (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Max Castle (New Earth)

Footnotes

Green Lantern Villain(s) This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Green Lantern of Earth, or the Green Lantern Corps as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Green Lantern Villains."