Outsiders #35 (2011) The Origin of Freight Train Revealed! (Who now?)

[pyrotwilight]

So it's come to my attention that many folks haven't ever heard of Freight Train who is acting as the muscle for the current Outsiders team bringing in some new blood to the team.

He debuted in issue 30 of the series but his origin story wasn't explained until issue 35 where we discovered how he received his powers.

When he first showed up he was explicitly stated as working for Simon Stagg. Simon Stagg is the father of Sapphire Stagg, Rex Mason/Metamorpho's ex-wife. Java, one of Simon Stagg's workers was also in love with Sapphire and hated Rex for taking "his" girl from him. Sapphire of course loved Rex and so on and since then Sapphire has somehow died very recently. (If anybody knows how that'd be nice to know)

Some issues ago Java even tried killing Metamorpho knocking him out while holding the Orb of Ra (the orb that gave Rex his powers but also hurts Rex if he's near it) and dumping him into Chemo.

Now in the present Metamorpho's been saved by his team mates Owlman and Freight Train and the three go to find Simon Stagg (or Java technically since he's always with Simon) but Freight Train apparently betrays them and lets Simon Stagg and group capture the two.

(Whoo boy, hope that made sense to you folks)

The big plan Simon has is to use Black Lightning as a power source and with research he based off of the Black Rings from Blackest Night to resurrect Sapphire.


 

 

Freight Train then proceeds to hit Owlman with his stick, no I mean his weapon...you know what I mean.



Why yes, he's trying to help the two but not get detected by Simon... and yes the big tough Freight Train's first name is Cecil. XD



And so Java transforms into the Shaggy Man (a different one than the invulnerable one we've seen battle the JLA other times) and we see the interesting and rather amusing origin sequence of Freight Train.

 



Wait, what? Someone (Dan Didio, the writer, in fact) in 2011 remembered Bloodlines!? (Well, I knew of course but it was a neat surprise for many I assume).

 

And well we then have everyone fight and the battle has Java and Freight Train damage the life transference device.

The plan was apparently working but interrupted and Black Lightning survives it but Sapphire...



"We won right?" says Freight Train as Owlman is picking up the heavily drained Black Lightning, Rex holds his dead wife and a knocked out Java lies on the floor. 

Admittedly it makes him sound like a bit of a douche but he has no emotional connections to the folks and as far as he can tell he DID just help save Black Lightning and Sapphire was already dead...

I can't say he's particularly special but I do like that even now DC was willing to reference the event though how he existed boggles my mind a bit. After all Parasite attacks never apparently happened in Canada where he was bitten. Which was the reason Sparx had gone to Metropolis so that she could get powers. Still it was interesting that Dan Didio helped create a Black Canadian superhero for the Outsiders and as you've seen in Batman Incorporated he seems like he'll be sticking around with the Outsiders.                                                                                    

Comments

[silverzeo]

Wait.. they actually made a reference to that New Blood event? How long has it been>

[pyrotwilight]

Well the event was in 1993 and this was in 2011, so18 years give or take?

[silverzeo]

I meant in between... after a while of not talking about it, it's like it maybe retcon... why are some of the lesser "books" of the time are the ones who are forgotten...

[pyrotwilight]

Well, they never really mention the event itself though the New Bloods do pop up here and there, in the last years generally to be killed. But the event itself doesn't usually get mentioned, no.

[thokstar]

Sadly, this means Freight Train has a reasonable chance to be the second most popular New Blood.

[pyrotwilight]

Yep, it's rather possible.

Dan also hinted on his facebook before closing it that he might use the New Bloods in the future so the chances of a Bloodlines revival are out there, Wish I screen capped it before he closed his account though.

[arbre_rieur]

Why exactly does Roy Raymond, Jr. use the identity of the evil Batman of a parallel Earth?

[icon_uk]

Why does Dick Grayson use the name of a Kandorian hero? Because it's a cool name that no one on his own Earth would have heard of.

[arbre_rieur]

The similarity's a little beyond that, isn't it? He's even wearing a similar costume.

[icon_uk]

Costume analogues are a staple in the multiverse, and the Owlman costume is basically Batman's outfit modified to match another flying night creature, so some similarities are natural. Batman might actually have thought it was a great piece of design if it didn't have the lunatic Owlman in it, so used it with someone who wasn't a psycho.

[featheredserpent]

Will somebody please, please, just decapitate Simon Stagg already? I will happily pay Deathstroke for Stagg's head on a pike.

[espanolbot]

Yeah, even the guys over in the DCAU thought that his fixation on his daughter was... more than a little on the unhealthy side.

[espanolbot]

Pure oxygen? I dunno Rex, you might have hastened her death rather than helped her. And with all that flame about it probably didn't do her that much good.

[icon_uk]

Was unaware of Sapphire being dead, which is a shame, and so where's Rex's son, the Element Baby in the midst of all this?

[eyz]

I'm not a big fan of Freight Train, be it his design, powers or personality.
But the "idea" behind wasn't that bad. (making a black canadian superhero+a character linked to a previous DC event)

Can't we have some Outsiders members back instead? Roy, Jade, GeoForce, etc..?

[ilmari]

I don't really know anything about the character, but just based on these scans he seems like a character that's hitting a lot of the bad 90's Image Comics cliches - badass attitude, shades, giant upper body, propensity for violence and talking about the same.

Given his origin, I suppose that's appropriate.

[icon_uk]

he seems like a character that's hitting a lot of the bad 90's Image Comics cliche

Yeah, that was my impression too.

[eyz]

That's not an impression, he clearly his an homage of 90s Image character :P
Did we really need one of those in the DCU??

[pyrotwilight]

Aww. I think he's kinda generic thus far but I never felt any of the New Bloods were 90's cliches (Freight Train included). Just what it'd be like if normal folks got super powers.

[tsunamiwombat]

I now would like to see a Freight Train movie starring Dwayne Johnson.

[tsunamiwombat]

By the way, what does it mean he can turn kinetic energy into pure power? He gets stronger when you hit him?

[pyrotwilight]

Near as I can tell yes, he hasn't been too explained power wise. He can also make himself larger the more and more he fights though it hurts him to do and it's a slow action.

[icon_uk]

Isn't that more or less Strong Guy's power too?

[pyrotwilight]

*Looks Strong Guy up*

Yeah, sounds fairly similar. Or even like the Black King/Sebastian Shaw I suppose.

[icon_uk]

That and from the looks of his Batman Inc appearance, is able to take kinetic energy and turn it into thermal and/or radiant energy for heat blasts too.

[pyrotwilight]

So far he seems to purely be a brawler and hasn't shown any energy projecting attributes as of yet though it's possible. I think it's just the artists way of showing Freight Train using his powers since he glows like that and turns reddish when using his powers.

[magus_69]

More fridging. Great.

[pyrotwilight]

Well, she was ALREADY dead. The alternative in this case would've been killing Black Lightning.