Invented Marvel Characters: Featherweight

Growing up my dream job was to be a comic book artist/writer. But with very little artistic talent that dream died pretty quickly. Now I do my best to bring my characters to life using apps like swordmaker, armormaker, you doodle and cut me in. They don't always turn out looking very good but I get more excited about the concepts and stories behind the characters than how well I can make the character look good. Sometimes my characters are from cultures I am not a part of because I think it fits their story or other aspects about them. I am not a cultural expert but at the very least I hope no one is upset by me using aspects of cultures I'm not a part of and find interesting. That said below is my marvel inspired character Featherweight.

As a child and young teenager, Tom Casper had a love of sports but never had the frame for it. Pushed around in hockey, football and basketball he eventually felt he found his calling with volleyball. The net sparing him physical contact with his opponents and his impressive vertical for his size made him a fierce Outside Hitter. However Professor Xavier intervened in Tom's life when he sensed that Tom was a mutant rather than a typical star athlete and would be vilified sooner or later if he wasn't discreet with his abilities. Once recruited to Xavier's School For Gifted Youngster's tests showed that Tom's jumping was made easier by his surprisingly low body weight. It was concluded the every part of Tom -hair, skin, bones, teeth, organs etcetera- functioned normally but we're about 15 percent lighter than expected. And as Tom matured growing older and stronger he remained virtually the same weight. By age 16 he looked like a lean 150 pound athlete but weighed roughly 75 pounds. As Xavier predicted his abilities would no longer pass as athleticism at this point. Soon as a young man, Tom could keep up with most of Nightcrawler's acrobatics aside from the teleporting. Early on Tom wanted to be out in the field with the X-Men but Xavier refused to allow it. Incredible as his feats were Tom seemed too light and fragile to be on dangerous missions. Xavier thought that training him in the danger room would be enough of a consolation for Tom, but it was not enough. Calling himself Spirit, Tom donned a costume and snuck out in an attempt to fight crime in the small towns around Xavier's mansion. Aside from ending occasional drunken brawls and saving a women from domestic abuse these ventures were usually uneventful. Eventually Tom left the institute and relocated to New York City to fight mostly street-level crime. But when he was nearly killed by Bullseye, Spirit was rescued by members of the X-Men. Concerned for Tom's well being and admiring Tom's desire to do good he offered Tom a limited role on the X-Men for specific missions. He also let Tom know he knew all about his time as Spirit despite never using his telepathy on him. Tom accepted, received a new costume and took on the alias Featherweight.

Tom's Spirit costume is a black bodysuit with a white upside down triangular shape going from his neck down to his waist. It also has grey wingsuit material extending from his arms to the side of his torso so he can glide through the air for long distances. The mask for that costume covers Tom's whole face and is white with two black dots for eyes and a black thin cartoonish smirk. The Featherweight costume is similar except has no mask. Is yellow and blue where the other is white and black and has an X-Men logo on the chest.

Tom's fighting style is unique due to his low weight to strength ratio. It allows him to sneak, flip, and maneuver around enemies. Because of this he can utilize unique submissions and holds. Due to his low weight typical strikes are not very effective because landing a hard punch or kick will push him backwards. To counter this he tends to throw hockey style punches where one hand holds his enemy and the other strikes. He uses the same idea when anchoring himself to part of the environment before throwing a kick. On the other hand, when he can't avoid taking a hit he tries to make sure there is a lot of space behind him so he can block and get knocked backwards but take minimal damage. Since joining the X-Men Featherweight has had inconsistent moments where he can manipulate his weight. He can't always pull it of but at times he can jump or take an uppercut when weighing almost nothing so he's launched high in the air, then once he starts falling he makes himself extremely heavy and crashes down on his enemies with both fists and a lot of momentum. Tom believes that if he can figure out how to use this ability more often and more reliably he would be immensely more powerful and would secure himself a more consistent spot in the xmen lineup.