Chapter 232 Star Spangled Brief Backstory (8k Collection Special)
The symbol of America and its top hero, Star-Spangled.
Born and hailing in, of course, America, Jack S. Michael awakened his superpower at the tender age of five— one of the early bloomers when it comes to superpowers. It had been a major controversy back then since he was one of the few young people who awakened their superpowers before their teenage years. And with hall the buzz that social media had in America, he instantly became famous.
In an instant, he was thrown into stardom, invited to many interviews at such a young age and he used that as leverage to become even more famous. Back then, his superpower was the simple augment-type superpower. It was nothing flashy, to say the least.
However, as the years go by, and with his popularity and identity on the line, he felt a huge pressure on his shoulders and that pressure made him strive to become a better superhero even more. In his teenage years, while everyone was just discovering their superpowers, he was already pushing himself to the bone— surviving the jungle all by himself and training his mental strength through a series of death-defying tests.
He was getting more and more frustrated at himself since his superpower wasn't improving. Sure he got stronger but his growth was pretty normal for someone who awakened early. At this point, those who have awakened earlier had already shown great potential, and then there was him who never did.
Even though the other early-awakened superheroes didn't do half as much work as he put in, he still wasn't better than them. Still, that just lit a fire within him and he continued to train, and train, and train, and train some more. He became obsessed with training to the point that a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, and a hundred squats were just warm up for him. He heard from someone that doing so every day would make him the most powerful superhero to ever exist but it didn't work, unfortunately.
Then, when he turned thirteen, things started looking up. Of course, when everything seemed bleak, all that one could do was look up and hope for the best and that's what he did. Day by day, he continued training. Nothing seemed to work? He'd just continue training.
When that clock struck twelve and he turned thirteen, he found a newfound superpower that changed everything there is to know when it comes to superpowers.
He didn't even know it was possible but it was!
That's right, he awakened his second superpower.
While he was sleeping, his body started to float and it was the 'paranormal activity buzz' all over again. He didn't even know that it was a superpower but apparently it was. All he knew was that he was possessed since his mother, Katherine, found out that he was floating and then his dad found out he was floating and then they started screaming their lungs out.
In any case, it was a crazy night and the priest was called. But a couple of days later he'd found out that it was actually just his second superpower acting up.
He was back in the limelight again with lots of experts turning their heads to the aberrant he had become.
The new wave of interviews and shows came flooding in, which motivated him even more to work hard and train. At that time he was introduced to youtube and he started vlogging his daily training and his overall day. He also went into gaming and he'd usually play gacha games just so he could whale for characters. At this point, he was living the life.
But he wasn't contented with just living the life. More than ever, he wanted to become a superhero, and a full-fledged one at that.
He continued training.
Autumn came and while he was out in the woods training his physical strength, he noticed that he could make his body lighter and heavier with his new superpower which he called 'Anti-Gravity'. He wondered if it was just his superpower playing tricks on him but it made him ask questions. He decided to explore his 'Float' superpower, applying it to different parts of his body, trying to strengthen it, combine it with his augment-type superpower, and whatnot.
As it turned out, the name he gave his superpower was actually the opposite of what his superpower could do. At first he thought it was just a simple superpower of making himself weightless, but who would've thought that he could actually affect the pull of gravity on himself?
That may seem like a useless superpower since he could only alter the gravity pull on himself but to Jack, it wasn't. And that's because he had his augment-type superpower.
"What if I put more gravity before I unleashed a physical move?" He wondered and that's what he started trying to do.
The few attempts didn't work out well since he had a hard time synchronizing both his superpowers. But after a couple of weeks of training, he managed to pull it off, and the results were impressive.
Way too impressive, in fact, that he became a licensed superhero at the tender age of fourteen— something that never happened in the history of America and the overall history of professional superheroes combined. His physical attacks, powered up by his self-gravity, were too powerful that they became considered a national weapon. Even his slap alone could wipe out an entire city if his output was at a hundred percent (and yes, it was tested out on a city before so they know how powerful it was. As to which city it's [REDACTED])
And then the rest was history. After becoming America's National Weapon, it was only fitting for him to be named the Number One Superhero of America. He achieved his life-long dream of becoming a superhero at such an early age, had gone on countless missions, and saved millions of lives. He was the epitome of a superhero, or at least to America he is, of course.
And yes, his middle name is 'Son'.