watchtower_fans | Apr. 7th, 2005

Like so many other children, Tad Ryerstad grew up reading comic books and dreaming of being a hero. His own childhood was far from heroic. His parents fought, and his father was a small-time fence who had a sideline of being a police informant. Not fully understanding the situation, and hating his abusive father, young Tad informed his father's customers of his dealings with the police, and his father was subsequently murdered for being a squealer. His mother, whose record was far from spotless, was unable to keep Tad from being made a ward of the state.

Unfortunately, Tad became a victim of the system, bouncing from foster home to foster home until he finally took to the streets of his hometown of Bludhaven. Still dreaming of becoming a hero, he began his life as a vigilante, using his fists and improvised weapons to get rid of what he saw as the scum of the streets. Lacking a sense of proportion as well as a moral compass, Tad was as much a menace as any of the criminals he thought he was fighting. Before long he ran into Nightwing, recently arrived in Bludhaven and determined to watch over the town as his mentor the Batman watched over Gotham. Recognizing his need for assistance, Nightwing tried to teach Tad (who'd started out with the code name "Nite-Wing") in the tradition of the Bat-clan. But Nightwing was years too late, and he ended Tad's apprenticeship when Tad killed an undercover federal agent.

In the

jla_watchtower 'verse, Tad eventually broke out of prison and decided he needed a little something extra to become a hero. He therefore visited a clinic that purported to improve athletic ability. But there was more going on than Tad had realized; the clinic was a front for the Children of the Sun, who were attempting to create new metahumans. Unlike many of their other subjects, Tad survived the process, gaining the ability to throw fire. Intoxicated by his new powers, he went to Gotham City and inadvertently ignited a brief Mafia war when he burned down the house of a major organized crime leader. Shortly thereafter he was captured by the federal government again and Amanda Waller took an interest in his case, assigning him to the newly revived and even more secret Suicide Squad.

I personally find Tad an extremely creepy character to play. He's decided that he's a hero, and that therefore everything he does is right. He has extremely poor insight and judgment, has a superficial understanding of right and wrong, and has a contemptuous hatred for Nightwing, his one-time mentor. Give him a strong authority figure who can provide him a framework, and who is willing to keep him on a very short leash, and Tad might just do all right. On the other hand, he might get himself killed one of these days for rushing into yet another situation he doesn't understand.