Dreadnaught (WH)

History
Michael Hunt is the son of two Pfizer chemists and grew up in South Eastern Connecticut. He spent alternate summers with his maternal grandparents in England or his paternal grandparents who traveled the world. A minor genius, Michael skipped two grades in school and is enrolled as the youngest senior student at St. Bernard's High School in Montville, CT.

During the summer before his senior year Michael traveled to various historical sites throughout South America. Due to confusion and an outbreak of Montezuma's Revenge, Michael was accidentally abandoned at the former headquarters of the original Baron Zemo. Michael saw a man, Peter Ilvento about to be crushed and sacrificed himself, tossing the man out of the way and prepared to be crushed himself.

Michael had misinterpreted the events. Peter Ilvento was attempting to give himself superpowers, specifically the combined powers of Wonder Man and the Martian Manhunter. Michael received the powers instead.

After a conversation with Peter Ilvento, Michael was convinced that his powers were killing him and that to survive he needed an enzyme pill that only Mr. Ilvento could provide. In exchange for his weekly pill Michael would help Mr. Ilvento gather the materials needed to recreate the process that would give Mr. Ilvento the same powers as Michael.

To this end Michael has become a criminal, stealing whatever Mr. Ilvento requires so he can get his enzyme pill and survive another week.

Paternal Family History
The son of a prominent and successful New England lawyer, Grandfather Hunt was a writer and composer who never achieved fame. Numerous minor rock & roll and rockabilly artists bought his songs in the late 50’s. He wrote jingles for television and radio, making quite a tiny income through the residuals. He also wrote movie scripts for Hollywood, selling over a thousand manuscripts, none of which were ever made into motion pictures. He was a contributor to many literary magazines. As a novelist he preferred science-fiction, and although none of his science-fiction books ever sold more then 50,000 copies they were treasured by intellectuals for their scientific accuracy and insight. Writing under numerous pen names Grandfather Hunt wrote over one-hundred and fifty romance novels, which all sold reasonably well.

Before the days of female executives and CEOs, Grandmother Hunt made her fortune through the stock market. Taking her small inheritance from her father she speculated in the market with the research and diligence needed to grind out a fortune. While she never made huge gains until the end of her career, Grandmother Hunt almost always made a small profit on every trade and kept her eyes on the bottom line. She amassed a decent fortune before she met her first husband, the founder of an airline. When he died, ironically in a plane crash, he left Grandmother Hunt with his debts and with his child. Never one to let diversity get her down she lived on a tidy budget for 8 years before she turned her fortunes back to black. Two years later she met the much younger Grandfather Hunt at a Hellfire Club meeting in New York. They were wed shortly thereafter and had five children of their own, bringing the family to a comfortable size of 8 people.

Michael’s father was the youngest child and ever a dreamer, albeit a practical one. He wanted to cure the world’s diseases and would become first a doctor and then a researcher.

Maternal Family History
Michael’s Grandfather, for whom he is named, is the 31st Duke of the Isle of Kent.1 His Grace has spent his youth in the service of the crown, fighting valiantly in both world wars and advised in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. His Grace owns a number of businesses and family lands throughout the world which keep him occupied. He married young and had two sons. His wife died during childbirth and he would not remarry until the early 50’s, a scandalous marriage to an 18 year old girl who gave birth to a 9 pound baby boy that was officially 4 months premature. The couple had 9 more children, the youngest being his only daughter, Michael’s mother. Grandfather Kent is over 100 years old and still quite spry and lively, his hair quite blonde despite his age. His oldest son’s firstborn boy will inherit through primogeniture when he passes on, is a partner in all of the Kent family businesses and was elected to the House of Commons.

Grandmother Kent is a kindly old woman who does not share her husband’s vitality. She has lived a fairy tale life and loves all of her children, and has a good relationship with her two stepsons who are older then her.

Michael’s mother grew up fascinated by the sciences. Quite a bright girl, she focused in chemistry early on and met her husband while studying abroad in Austria. They were wed shortly thereafter at Kent Castle.

Home life
Ironically two people who had devoted their lives to curing the world’s diseases did not like children. Michael’s parents did not want him and once they learned they were pregnant they had planned on having an abortion. Both sets of grandparents argued vehemently for their children to keep the child, finally offering to adopt the child if they brought it to term. Eventually his parents decided to keep him.

Michael did not have an idyllic childhood. His parents were cold to him and often considered him a burden and had no compunction telling him that. Positive attention was rare and far between. Michael quickly learned to staying quiet and out of their way, instead developing a rich private life, spending a great deal of time by himself. It cut to the quick when other children would taunt him by saying his parents didn’t love him; he feared they were right.

Summers were wonderful. Whether he was traveling the world with the Hunts or running around the castle with the Kents and his maternal cousins, it was during these times that Michael was accepted and loved unconditionally.

The Dukes of the Isle of Kent
The history of the Isle of Kent dates back to the youngest son of an Italian noble who had joined with the Norman army after bearing William Pope Alexander II’s endorsement. The first Duke of the Isle of Kent was granted the Isle by William the Conqueror in 1067. After the shipwreck of Whiteship which killed William Adelin, Prince of Whales, his pregnant widow, Matilda of Anjou was wed to the second Duke of Kent.2 For a short time the son she bore was both Baron of the Isle of Kent and the crown prince of England. A fall while riding in his youth turned the boy into something of a lackwit and unfit to rule, despite being the most legitimate heir. Therefore, during the Anarchy, or Nineteen Year Winter, the Isle of Kent remained neutral. The second Duke of Kent ensured neutrality and royal favor by paying double taxes to both Empress Maud and King Stephen and having his stepson sign a declaration of abdication, expressly forfeiting his right to rule due to injury.

The third Duke of the Isle of Kent was the grandson of the second Duke, succession continuing on through the centuries to the modern day. From 1315-1317, during the great famine, the Isle of Kent suffered immense erosion during the rains and floods of that period. By 1318 almost half of the Isle of Kent had been lost, mostly fertile fields of farmland. Citizens of the Isle of Kent fled to England and the lands the Duke held on the continent. This was the darkest time in the history of the Island of Kent.

It was the great famine that would lead the Dukes of Kent to focus on trade and shipping for their wealth instead of land. The Dukes’ of Kent willingness to engage in common labor, which was beneath their stature, earned the disgust of the nobility while their success and resultant wealth earned their envy. It was these two aspects of the Kent family that made them ideal for intermarriage with the royal family. A large dowry and a life of ease were all but guaranteed to those who married the Kents. The status of the Kents as nigh ignoble kept the other noble families from complaining when a third or fourth born son was married off to one of the Kent’s daughters. The Dukes of Kent were quite prolific and the crown often found it convenient to marry their younger children off in political alliances with other nations.

The Dukes of Kent were deeply involved with the expansion of the British Empire, holding lands and building companies throughout the world, especially in America and Canada. They fought hard against the Revolution, where they lost a great deal of assets. The Dukes of Kent would sue the Colonies for reparations to no avail. Relatives who decided to stay in the Colonies were disinherited. The Dukes of Kent refocused their attention on Canada and India; it was not until after the war of 1812 that they would again deal with the Colonies.

1 While I draw heavily from history I also diverge from it. In our reality the only Isle of Kent is in Maryland. In this reality the Isle of Kent is a dukedom to the British Crown.

2 In our reality Matilda of Anjou was not pregnant when William Adelin died at Whiteship. She never remarried and became a nun and eventually an abbess.

Strength Level
In the Works

Superhuman Powers
In the Works

Limitations
In the works

Special Skills
None.