| Avery Clarkson | |
|---|---|
| |
Gallery
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| Real Name | Avery Clarkson |
| Aliases | None |
| Relatives | Harvey Clarkson (brother, deceased) |
| Affiliations | G.E.N.E.S.I.S. |
| Base of Operations | Mobile |
Status
| |
| Alignment | Good |
| Identity | Public |
| Citizenship | American |
| Marital Status | Single |
| Occupation | Researcher in bio-engineering, current director of B.R.A.I.N. (Bio-engineering Research & Artificial Intelligence Network) a subdivision of G.E.N.E.S.I.S. |
| Education | PhD in Medicine from John Hopkins, PhD's in bio-chemistry and bio-physics from Caltech (California Institute of Technology) |
Characteristics
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| Gender | Male |
| Height | 5'10" |
| Weight | 175 lbs |
| Eyes | Blue |
| Hair | Dirty Blond with streaks of gray |
| Place of Birth | Unknown |
| Status | Active |
| Creator | John F. Allen |
| First Appearance | Codename: Knight Ranger |
History[]
Dr. Avery Clarkson is a genius level, gifted scientist and a pioneer in bio-engineering, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland in the year 1940. His older brother, Harvey Clarkson, was eight years his senior. In 1950, Harvey was drafted into the Korean War, where he fought with distinction and bravery. However, in the course of his tour, he lost both legs and an arm to a landmine.
Avery was devastated by Harvey's injuries and the effect it had on him mentally and emotionally. Despite the near decade difference in their ages, Avery and Harvey shared a special bond, as their father, George Clarkson died shortly after Avery's birth. Harvey in turn, took on the responsibility of helping to guide and care for Avery.
Because of his injuries, Harvey died shortly after returning from the war. This inspired Avery to pursue medicne in an effort to make life better for those wounded as a result of war. It was also what prompted him to take the stance he did against war to begin with.
In 1959 at age 19, Avery earned his first PhD in medicine from John Hopkins University, before receiving two more in bio-chemistry and bio-physics from Caltech. In the late 1960's, he and Caltech classmate, Dr. Victor Shelley, founded a research laboratory calledBioTech, located in Southern California. Shelley came from a very wealthy family and bank rolled the lion's share of initial operating expenses, while Clarkson provided most of the company's patents.
Clarkson and Shelley worked together for nearly two decades before Shelley's ambiton to expand and accept more military contracts, much to Clarkson's disaproval, created a rift between them. Shelley returned to his native Germany and built an international research facilty there, which left Clarkson in dire straits.
Unable to sustain BioTech without Shelley's financial support, the company nearly went bankrupt. Clarkson exhausted any means available to him for funding and had resigned to losing his company. He was approached by Elijah Bishop, Director ofG.E.N.E.S.I.S. shortly afterwards, who offered to fund BioTech, in return for first dibs on the very few innovations which could be weaponized. Because he was very close to a revolutionary breakthrough and couldn't achieve it without funding, Clarkson reluctantly agreed. BioTech essentially became a division of G.E.N.E.S.I.S. called B.R.A.I.N., of which Clarkson was made Director.
At some point, Clarkson develops a bio-engineering technique which would potentially grow limbs for soldiers who lost them in combat. First trials proved to be unsuccessful, as the limbs eventually grew necrotic and poisoned the surrounding tissue, which led to death. Bishop had been keeping close tabs on Shelley's work with nanite technology and proposed a means of combining that with Clarkson's to perfect the technique.
Both Clarkson and Shelley eventually agreed, when a perfect candidate in US Army Captain Alexandre Neal Du Bois was presented to them. Du Bois had lost all four limbs and all sensory perception when his unit was ambushed by terrorists. The procedure was successful, although at the time Clarkson was unaware that Du Bois had not given consent for any experimental or resuccitative actions of any kind.
LIvid, Clarkson nearly walked away from everything, but had developed a sense of guilt and responsiblity for Du Bois' future welfare and reluctantly stayed on. Du Bois was slowly acclimated back into life, but was forever cut off from his wife and children, for service as a special operative codenamed "Knight Ranger ", working for G.E.N.E.S.I.S. on a full-time basis. Clarkson not only serves as Du Bois' personal physician, but also as his mentor and friend.
Personality[]
Dr. Avery Clarkson is very passionate about his work and compassionate about others. He has a very altruistic nature about himself and is fiercely protective of his work and patients. While generally a very easy going and friendly man, he does harbor a distinct disdain for G.E.N.E.S.I.S. Director Elijah Bishop and is extremely suspicious of the government as an entity. Clarkson is not a full blown conspiracy theorist, but because of his peace loving disposition, he is inclined to be anti-war and was very active in the Vietnam War Protests and Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Harvey Clarkson - Brother (deceased)
Allies[]
G.E.N.E.S.I.S.
- Elijah Bishop - Director
- Veronica Gispaldi - Deputy Director
- Sebastian Gilliard - Superior Officer
- Dr. Jaziri Franklin - Colleague
- Captain Alexandre Neal Du Bois - G.E.N.E.S.I.S. Operative/Friend
Enemies[]
CABAL
- Dr. Victor Shelley - Former Colleague