William Leather was a member of the Four, an enemy of Planetary.
History
Formerly a daredevil, he seems to be the most active and visible member of the Four, often venturing along with their clean-up crews to take care of any problems. William Leather's mother, Miriam, was the wife of Bret Leather, The Dark Millionaire, one of the Century Babies and son of the Dead Ranger. However, Miriam cheated on Bret with a loan shark, William's biological father. Cheated of the awesome powers Leather would have passed on to his son, William joined Randall Dowling under the alleged promise of gaining incredible power.
For over five decades, Leather served as Dowling's primary field operative. At some point Leather killed someone dear to Elijah Snow. Leather later grew to resent Dowling for treating him as a pawn and keeping the glory to himself and Kim Süskind. Eventually Leather split from The Four and sought to achieve greatness on his own. However, his independence cost him to be captured and placed in Planetary custody. Snow mercilessly tortured and eventually blinded him during an interrogation (Given Leather's regenerative capabilities, it may be assumed that this is temporary). Leather confessed to Snow that he had become more distant from and resentful of Dowling and Kim Süskind in recent years, believing that they only allowed Leather and Jacob Greene to join them because they needed them to do their "dirty work."
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Energy Generation: ability to generate destructive energy bursts and surround himself with an aura of what appears to be blue flame.
- Flight: Leather can fly.
- Phasing: Able to phase through solid matter.
- Superhuman Reflexes: He can react to an attack at incredible speeds.
- Accelerated Healing: He can also regenerate from injuries.
- Superhuman Strength: Appears to possess some degree of superhuman strength, easily besting Jakita Wagner in one encounter.
- Superhuman Durability: He has been able to survive multiple blows from Jakita Wagner, although he was put in critical condition.[1] He once survived a helicopter explosion he was in along with dozens of crates of explosives.[2]
Abilities
Trivia
- William Leather is a parallel to Marvel's Human Torch.
Related
- 10 Appearances of William Leather (Wildstorm Universe)
- 3 Images featuring William Leather (Wildstorm Universe)
- 1 Quotations by or about William Leather (Wildstorm Universe)
- Character Gallery: William Leather (Wildstorm Universe)
Footnotes