Power Broker

Curtiss Jackson began his criminal career as a mid-level executive within the international conglomerate known as the Corporation. He eventually branched out to form his own enterprise, Power Broker, Inc., which specialized in the artificial enhancement of human physical capabilities. By partnering with the sociopathic geneticist Dr. Karl Malus, Jackson developed a process that used extreme radiation and chemical grafting to grant ordinary people superhuman strength. This business was not just about the initial fee; it was designed around a predatory model of dependency. The augmentation process was intentionally unstable, requiring a specific, highly addictive stabilizing drug to prevent the subject's body from agonizingly breaking down. This effectively turned his clients into a private army of superhuman addicts who were forced to do his bidding to stay alive.

His most high-profile successes—and eventually his most notable failures—involved the creation of the new Captain America (John Walker) and his partner Battlestar (Lemar Hoskins). Jackson also found a consistent market within the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation (UCWF), where he empowered dozens of athletes who were desperate enough to overlook the side effects for a chance at fame. However, the dangerous nature of his trade eventually caught up with him. During a confrontation with the vigilante known as the Scourge of the Underworld, Jackson was severely injured and subjected to his own augmentation process without the proper stabilizers. This left him as a hulking, hideously mutated mass of muscle that was too large for his own skeleton to support, forcing him to live inside a specialized life-support suit and further fueling his cold, calculating hatred for the heroes who disrupted his bottom line. He eventually would regain his normal body.

Appearance: Jackson has fair skin. He has blue eyes. He has a full, neatly trimmed black beard and mustache. His hair is black, short, and styled back in waves. He wears spectacles with thin silver frames and round, blue-tinted lenses. He wears a black tuxedo jacket with wide peak lapels. Beneath the jacket is a matching black waistcoat with four buttons. He wears a white dress shirt with vertical pleats, black studs, and a black bow tie. The white cuffs of his sleeves are visible at his wrists, and the jacket sleeves feature four small black buttons. He wears matching black trousers.

Personality: Curtiss Jackson is the cold, calculated embodiment of corporate greed applied to the superhuman condition. He doesn't view himself as a supervillain in the traditional sense, but rather as a high-tier service provider who treats human potential as a raw commodity to be bought, sold, and manipulated for profit. He's defined by a ruthless, opportunistic streak and a complete lack of empathy for the "merchandise" he creates. To Jackson, a hero or a villain is simply a customer who hasn't paid their tab yet. He is incredibly arrogant and enjoys the leverage he holds over his subjects, often using addictive chemical stabilizers to ensure that those he empowers remain under his thumb indefinitely.

His relations are almost entirely transactional and exploitative. His most enduring and necessary partnership is with Dr. Karl Malus, the brilliant but amoral scientist who provides the technical expertise for his augmentation processes. Jackson views Malus as a valuable tool, though he's quick to discipline him if the doctor’s curiosity outweighs the company’s bottom line. He has a complicated history with John Walker (U.S. Agent) and Lemar Hoskins (Battlestar), whom he provided with their initial strength, viewing them as some of his most successful, albeit ungrateful, "products." He also maintains a parasitic relationship with the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, using it as a recruiting ground for desperate athletes who are willing to trade their long-term health for a shot at superhuman glory.