I was just channel surfing when I caught this cartoon on of a young version of DC Comics' The Legion of Heroes (or whatever it's called) where the episode focused on this team of rejected loser-type heroes. They all basically had either worthless powers (like some dude could change the color of an object o.o?) or they weren't much help (another could grow giant plants, but they'd tend to turn on him). Anyway, one of these "heroes" when she talked sounded kinda nasally and then you soon see that her power is giving people colds. And that, in a nutshell, is what gave me the idea for this.

This alien "super" (i.e. superpowers, as in anyone who has them) also reminded me of Marvel Comics' short-lived character Microbe from 'The New Warriors', who had the power to communicate with microscopic organisms and sometimes persuade them to do what he asked (apparently these microbes were intelligent enough to choose for themselves o.o?). Anyway, these two gave me the idea for a "super" of my own. Originally, the concept for his character and origin was fairly light-hearted, like the cartoons, but the more I wrote down my ideas and such (I've got just a whole page of notes that I jotted down, I figured you guys wouldn't be all that interested in reading them anyway) the darker or more "realistic" it became. (I say "realistic" in that its story settings seem more believable than something on a Saturday morning cartoon, like 'Heroes' vs. 'Justice League Unlimited')

Anyway, my current idea goes as follows. Job (as in the Biblical name) Petri was born with an incredible, paradoxal biology. In a nutshell, his body becomes host to any microorganism that enters his own (keeping them alive and coexistent with eachother inside himself, like a living incubator) and he can also become extremely contagious and spread them. So when he was born in a city hospital, because he had no control of his powers (which were incredibly strong even then), he quickly "absorbed" the different germs and such in the facility and unintentionally spread the diseases, killing everyone save himself (hey, hospitals are a breeding ground for illness, am I right?).

Fortunately, the hospital was quarantined by a special govt. medical team before the epidemic could spread. They found the orphaned infant inside and essentially the government confiscated him in secret, telling the general public & media that everyone had died and blamed it on a terrorist act. Job was taken away and kept in a secret, Area 51-like facility (which may possibly contain other govt. confiscated "supers") controlled by a secret-ops branch of the government. He was raised in an extremely sterile, sealed living unit and was under the constant care and supervision of medical scientists.

One of the scientists, the head of the team left in charge of him perhaps, became emotionally attached and came to be the boy's "mother". It was she who named him Job (since his biological parents had died) after Job of the Bible, which seemed appropriate since this child lost his family and suffered from illness. (On top of everything else going on with his powers, he also suffers constantly from many of the symptoms but not to the point of dying. As he gets older, he's gotten better at suppressing them, but when he was a boy, he was in a constant state of extreme illness but wouldn't die.)

After many years, Job was deemed safe enough to leave the facility, but to be under the care and supervision of the same govt. medical team, still. Now, as a young adult (I'm thinking his mid-twenties), he can turn his contagiousness on and off, but is still monitored just in case. He wears and protective suit just as a precaution, mostly, which is also hooked up to portable gear that monitors his bodily functions and the data constantly fed to the team back at Job's new HQ or wherever. I'm thinking he's probably decided to join a team, since he's not very independent, though he's trying to become that more.

He basically wears a suit that seals him up so he doesn't inadvertently infect anyone. Also, the outfit is a special thermal suit, which cools or warms with his body temperature (he's in a constant flux between fevers and chills among other symptoms, but that being one of the primary things that afflicts him). There are other things about the outfit and his equipment, but I won't bother getting into that any further.

I still haven't figured out a superhero name for him, which is why this deviation is just called "superhero concept". "Germ" sounds too simple, "Pathogen" and "Pestilence" are rather negative, "Incubator" reminds me too much of "Terminator", "the Colony" makes me think of ants or bees, so my best bet so far is "the Carrier". His real name I got the idea from the Biblical Job for his first and for his last from Julius Richard Petri, the man that created the petri dish (though he won't have any real relation with his namesake).

He won't have a traditional superhero "emblem" that's usually stuck on the chest. But I still wanted something, which would serve more as a warning to others of his hazardousness. So I'm thinking of something that includes the biohazard symbol and the number four, which stands for his potential threat level (read the bit next to the symbols about the CDC). It's still rather rough, just like the outfit and this character.

Funny how something you just catch on TV can give you an idea, huh?