The Eclipse (Franklin Bloom)

Origins
Orphaned at birth, Franklin Bloom was disadvantaged from the beginning. But his time in a run-down orphanage staffed by people who didn't have enough money to look after the amount of kids they had taught him to be resourceful and independent, never truly relying on anybody else.

He was never afraid to step up and fight to defend himself, and frequently had to on the dangerous streets of Starkweather. Watching as many of his fellow orphans were abandoned and lost as they turned eighteen, he promised never to end up like them, and started trying to make his own way in the world.

Unfortunately, his version of making his own way involved stealing, and he became a talented pickpocket, eventually graduating to more intricate thefts from houses, offices and warehouses. He was able to make enough money to scrape by, until he was caught and thrown in jail where it was fully expected he would be forgotten about entirely.

But, resourceful as ever, the eighteen year old Franklin managed to escape from imprisonment and returned to find his small stash of money, which he used to buy his way onto a boat sailing to Africa, with no plans but also no commitments. He ended up in Egypt, where he was once again caught stealing and offered a choice between prison and joining the Egyptian Army. Unsurprisingly, the independent Franklin chose conscription, and was soon enrolled in basic training.

He quickly proved himself a competent soldier and learned valuable combat skills on a number of missions within the country. However, in 1915 his squad was ambushed by enemy combatants and his squadmates were brutally murdered. Franklin himself was injured, but managed to play dead until the enemy had cleared the area. Seeing his opportunity to escape, Franklin deserted the army and crossed the border into Libya, where he began his new career as a mercenary, using his military training and natural resourcefulness to charge exorbitant fees for dangerous missions.

The Siberian Expedition
In 1923, while back in the United States for a job, he was hired by a research group led by Professor Soren Magnussen, who worked for the Research and Development department of Geist Industries. He was paid handsomely in advance to join an expedition to find an artifact in Siberia which could hold the key to building a revolutionary new energy source.

Franklin assisted the group in crossing borders inconspicuously and evading the Russian military, and was instrumental in finding and retrieving the artifact from an ancient temple in the middle of the Siberian tundra. However, as the artifact was secured the group was betrayed by Magnussen, who killed the other members and left Franklin for dead in the depths of the tundra before escaping back to Starkweather.

The Eclipse
Little did Magnussen realise that Franklin would eventually bleed out at the very moment a total solar eclipse reached its totality. This confluence of events resulted in the dying mercenary being visited by a manifestation of the Norse moon god Máni, which gave Franklin a choice: either die alone in the cold, or accept the mantle of the Eclipse and dedicate his life to fighting injustice in the world. He was told that this choice had been offered to thousands of people in his position throughout the years, and the Eclipse was a legacy that would give him true purpose for the first time in his life.

Franklin accepted the god's offer, and was resurrected with extraordinary new abilities tied directly into the lunar cycle and phases of the moon. He found he was able to transport himself instantly between shadows, manipulate the silvery light of the moon and had been gifted enhanced strength, speed and stamina. In years to come he would also discover that he was functionally immortal, gifted with a vastly extended lifespan as long as he held the power of the Eclipse.

Upon his return to Starkweather, he cast aside his former identity, letting Franklin Bloom die in the wilderness of Siberia, and took up the mantle of The Eclipse. He became a shadowy vigilante, fighting against various criminal schemes including those perpetrated by his old nemesis, Professor Soren Magnussen.

After operating in isolation for many years, he was ultimately joined in his crusade by a rough and tumble young engineer named Erica McClane, who would become not only his associate but also his closest confidante and the only person to know his former identity; and Robert 'Sparky' Clarke, a two-bit con man who became the Eclipse's major connection to the criminal world, and a valuable informant.

In the years following the Second World War, the Eclipse took steps towards the larger superhuman community after he was visited by the enhanced combatant and national hero known as Agent Apex. The Agent had heard of a superpowered vigilante fighting crime in Starkweather and offered him a chance to become part of a paramilitary operation known as the Superior strategy, one which would be enacted at a time of great danger to the planet. Although the Eclipse preferred to work alone, he accepted the invitation and advised Agent Apex that if the world needed him, he would be there.

Pop Culture Phenomenon
As a hero, the Eclipse was taken to the hearts of the masses, with near universal support of his actions growing over the years. This affection turned into idolatry, as a vast pop culture empire was built around him as a pulp hero, with comics, TV shows and movies being built around the character of 'The Eclipse'. Some of these dramatised exploits were drawn from real life, but a great deal of artistic license was taken with many aspects of his life. For example, the fictitious version of the character was a former family man whose wife and child were murdered in front of him, encouraging him to take up his shadowy alter ego; in later years, the writers even created a romantic relationship between the Eclipse and Erica which did not exist in real life.

Many of the dramatised exploits of the Eclipse have been lost to the years, but there is a dedicated group of obsessives who have managed to collect and archive much of the material created around the character, with new discoveries being made even today.

The Founder Invasion
Although normally content to tackle street-level crime and local threats, the Eclipse became conscious of his larger responsibilities in July 1947 when a full-scale alien invasion visited Earth. He was on one of his regular patrols when he saw giant spacecraft belonging to a race known as The Founders materialise in the skies above Starkweather, and listened in horror as reports came in of similar attacks being carried out around the world.

He quickly took to the streets, fighting off waves of alien footsoldiers until he received a signal that the Superior strategy had been activated. He was able to unleash a defensive strategy of his own, erecting a protective force shield around the city as designed by Erica, and teleported to Roswell, New Mexico where the primary attack force was focused.

He joined Agent Apex and the other superhumans who had been enlisted into the Superior strategy, and was present as the group boarded the Founder mothership to confront the Founder Overlord. As the team fought and ultimately defeated the Overlord, the Eclipse managed to teleport them away from the ship before it exploded.

The Superior Squad
In the aftermath of the Founder Invasion, Agent Apex invited the Eclipse to join a team he was putting together to act as a superhuman defense strategy for the planet Earth. Feeling that his place as Starkweather's protector was important, but also limited, he agreed and became a core member of the newly-formed Superior Squad.

As a member of this team, the Eclipse quickly became their covert operations specialist, equipped as he was to remain in the shadows and develop complex battle strategies on the fly. He also worked closely with fellow team member Cinder, with whom he found common ground as they both served as vessels for powerful and ancient elemental beings, to combat supernatural threats as they revealed themselves.

The Siege of Kymeria
The Eclipse was instrumental in preparing his teammates Agent Apex and Skywatch to infiltrate the rogue nation of Kymeria in the 1960s, teaching them how to blend in with locals and not draw attention to themselves. He volunteered to be part of the infiltration himself, but the force shields that had been erected around the country's borders had been designed to prevent any magical forces from passing through, and his connection with the moon spirit of the Eclipse was affected by this.

Instead he remained in position outside the country's borders, monitoring his teammates to ensure they were safe. It was from this position that he was forced to listen as the tyrant ruler of Kymeria Countess Chaos murdered Skywatch and captured Agent Apex. He was similarly helpless as Agent Apex was executed on live television, and as Cinder burned the entire country to ashes and fell into a coma.

Aftermath
As the dust settled and the remaining members of the team returned to the United States, the Eclipse realised how tired he was. Along with Beacon and Doctor Photon, he made the decision to disband the Superior Squad and give new teams a chance to shine. Beacon went on to become an advisor to UNION, while Doctor Photon hung up her superhero costume and became a respected Professor of Physics at the University of Holland City.

But for the Eclipse, retirement meant something very different. Satisfied that he had done more good than bad with his life, he returned home to Starkweather and relinquished his superhuman abilities. As Máni came to take his powers away and congratulate him on his lifetime of achievement, the stresses of his long years were no longer held back by his abilities and he passed away peacefully in 1966.

Legacy
Although he was gone, this incarnation of the Eclipse was not forgotten. Remnants of his pop culture empire were handed down from generation to generation, and a memorial was erected in his honour in his hometown of Starkweather. Even Máni himself chose to honour the legacy of Franklin Bloom, often appearing to future hosts of the Eclipse in the familiar guise of pulp hero The Eclipse.

Many years after his death, he was still idolised by a young man named Teejay Singh, who would go on to become the latest incarnation of the legacy hero known as Eclipse.

Personality
As a young man, Franklin Bloom was made independent yet self-serving by the environment he grew up in. He was reluctant to do anything that didn't help him directly, and grew to become downright ruthless in making sure that he was able to look after number one. As such, he was never really able to make friends and spent his young adult life isolated and alone.

This condition was only exacerbated by his chosen career as a mercenary, working dangerous jobs alone and using his skills and talents to squeeze more and more money out of his clients. He grew colder and more detached, more and more convinced that other humans were only there to get in his way.

However, his near-death experience and the subsequent mystical intervention changed his worldview, and opened his eyes to a larger and much stranger universe. He saw that his prior mindset had been damaging and only served to bring more injustice into an already unjust world, and he emerged a changed man.

He was now dedicated to serving justice to criminals and evil people, at any cost including to himself. To honour this, he cast off his former identity as Franklin Bloom, allowing his old self to die in the snow and being reborn as a force for good. As the Eclipse, he is serious and single-minded in his quest for justice, but also compassionate and accepting of other people, knowing that he can inspire good in them. It's part of the reason he has a relationship with Sparky Clarke, in an effort to help the criminal find redemption for his former crimes.

His comrades in the Superior Squad find his enigmatic persona somewhat alienating, but they respect and admire him as a superhero. However, he has found common ground with teammate Cinder owing to their shared experience of acting as host for a supernatural entity, and sees a lot of his close friend Erica McClane in the young scientist Doctor Photon.

Superhuman Abilities
Bestowed with the power of a moon spirit, the Eclipse has a range of superhuman abilities directly tied to the lunar cycle. As these powers are tied to the lunar cycle, they wax and wane with the moon causing him to become more powerful as the moon gets fuller. During a total eclipse, he is at his most powerful, although this does not come around too frequently.
 * Superhuman Attributes - The Eclipse is far stronger, faster and more resilient than a normal human being, able to lift considerably more than his own body weight, move at incredible speed and remain active for long periods of time without rest or recovery.
 * Moonlight Manipulation - As a host of an ancient moon spirit, the Eclipse is able to control, manipulate and project moonlight for a variety of purposes, from creating blinding flashes of silver light to generating powerful beams of energy with which to attack enemies.
 * Shadow Transport - By utilising the shadow portion of his abilities, the Eclipse is able to transport himself and others between shadows. The maximum distance this ability can cover is unspecified, although he has managed to teleport from Illinois to New Mexico when called upon.
 * Immortality - His connection with an elemental being makes the Eclipse functionally immortal and highly resistant to physical damage, extending his lifespan as long as he is connected to the spirit.

Weapons and Equipment
As a crimefighter, the Eclipse prefers to use his hand-to-hand combat skills and superpowers to get the job done, however he sometimes finds that he needs a little bit of technological help, and this is when he calls on his closest confidante and expert engineer Erica McClane, who has built a multitude of equipment for him.

One of the most commonly used pieces of equipment that she has built is a Moonlight Battery, which captures and stores moonlight for use at later times. This has proven especially helpful on occasions when the Eclipse has expended too much energy and not been able to recharge because the moon is waning.