Brother Nature

Mark Diering was a forest ranger in Washington who became Brother Nature after developers’ men attacked him and left him for dead while he tried to protect the forest. He said Gaea awakened him, gave him power over nature, and charged him with defending the Earth. He later used those powers against property developers destroying forest land, which brought him into conflict with the Captain. During their fight, Brother Nature caused an earthquake that trapped them both in a fissure, and after they escaped, he saw that his own actions had damaged the forest he meant to protect.

After the Superhuman Registration Act, Brother Nature was listed as a possible Initiative recruit, but he refused to register and was later hunted by the Thunderbolts. He held them off until Radioactive Man tricked him into surrendering by claiming his damaged containment suit would poison Brother Nature’s forest. Brother Nature was taken into custody but still refused to give up his cause.

Appearance: Brother Nature has warm tan skin and a very tall, massively muscular build with broad shoulders, huge arms, a thick chest, sharply defined abs, powerful thighs, and large hands. He has long dark brown hair falling around his shoulders, pale eyes, and a full dark beard with a heavy mustache.

He wears almost no fabric clothing, with green leaves and twisting brown vines wrapped across his body. The vines cross over his chest, waist, arms, wrists, thighs, calves, and ankles, forming rough natural straps. Large green leaves cluster over his shoulders, back, hips, wrists, and lower legs, with smaller leaf pieces layered along the vine wrappings.

His feet are covered by vine-and-leaf coverings that resemble natural boots, with thick brown stems winding around the ankles and shins.

Personality: Brother Nature is intense, wounded, and completely devoted to protecting the land he believes Gaea charged him to defend. He begins from genuine environmental concern, but after the attack that nearly kills him, that concern turns into militant anger against developers and anyone he sees as helping them destroy the forest. His remorse after seeing the damage caused by his own earthquake shows that he is not indifferent to destruction; he can recognize when his rage has harmed the same nature he meant to protect.

His main conflict is with the Captain, who stops his attacks against the developers in Washington and becomes the person Brother Nature explains his origin to while they are trapped underground. Gaea is the divine figure Brother Nature claims awakened him and gave him his mission, making her the center of his belief even when others may question what really happened. Radioactive Man later exploits Brother Nature’s protectiveness by pretending his damaged containment suit will poison the forest, tricking him into surrendering to the Thunderbolts.

Brother Nature can command parts of the natural world around him, including animals, earth, rock, wind, and lightning. He can call animals to obey him, tear open the ground, trigger earthquakes, and turn the forest itself against enemies. His power is strongest in wild terrain, where there is more living nature for him to direct.