Killowat
Killowat is a fictional character from the DC Comics series Teen Titans.
Killowat | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Team Titans #1 (Sep. '92) |
Created by | Dan Jurgens |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Charlie Watkins |
Species | Human |
Team affiliations | Teen Titans |
Abilities | Electric based powers Flight |
Publication history
Killowat first appeared in Team Titans #1 and was created by Dan Jurgens.
Fictional character biography
Killowat's story began 10 years in the future; or, rather, the false future where Lord Chaos reigned and a force known as the Team Titans struggled to overthrow his tyranny. Lord Chaos sought to destroy the rebels known as the Team Titans.
Charlie Watkins was an ambitious young man that yearned to join Lord Chaos' Force Elite. Believing Chaos a god, Charlie could think of no greater honor. He was accepted and after much training, he attained the rank of corporal. As he served the Force Elite, he became increasingly aware of Lord Chaos' true nature. Now disgusted at the master he served, he approached the Team Titans and offered to become a double agent. On a routine mission, things went awry. Charlie was exposed as a spy, and he fell into one of the energy converters. Instead of killing him, it transformed him into a being of electricity. He could now alter his body from normal human, Charlie Watkins, to an electrical avenger, Killowat. During that same mission, Team Titan Silver Shield died in battle. Now exposed as a traitor to Lord Chaos, Killowat offered to become a member of the Team Titans (in Silver Shield's honor) and was accepted. Shortly thereafter, the Team Titans leader gave the team a mission: travel 10 years into the past to stop Chaos from ever being born. To accomplish this, the Teamers were assigned to kill Donna Troy before she would give birth to the child who would become Lord Chaos. The team successfully traveled to the past and came into conflict with the New Titans. Donna gave birth to her son before the team could intervene. However, the Titans and the Team Titans were able to stop Chaos and spare Donna's life at the same time. After this, Killowat along with his colleagues found themselves stranded in the past, unable to return to their future. They bonded with the current Titans via a trip to Hollywood and a possible cartoon deal.[1]
Later, with nowhere else to go, they resided at Donna Troy's New Jersey farmhouse. The Teamers tried to find a place in this new world. At one time, the Teamers searched for their counterparts in this timeline. Killowat found the counterparts to the aunt and uncle that raised him – but discovered they were African-American; it seemed unlikely he existed in this timeline at all. Charlie had an especially hard time adjusting to his new life. Complicating matters, he was very much in love with Mirage, who had no romantic feelings for him. Shortly after this, the Team Titans' lives were disrupted by the time crisis known as Zero Hour. It was then revealed that the Team Titans leader in the future was the villainous Monarch - who created a false future world so he could train metahumans (The Team Titans) to act as sleeper agent assassins. He knew of the impending time crisis, and wanted a super-powered army at his command. The time-villain Extant commanded all the Team Titans to attack the heroes who were trying to unravel this time crisis. His plan was thwarted; the heroes contained the Team Titans. Time continued to collapse, erasing the false timelines that had emerged. As a result, all the Team Titans were erased from existence. Strangely enough, three people remained unscathed from Monarch's false timeline: Tara Markov (Terra II), Miriam Delgado (Mirage) and Deathwing (who was believed to be a future Dick Grayson). The Time Trapper revealed that Mirage, Deathwing and Terra were from this timeline, not an alternate timeline, as they had thought. All three had been implanted with false memories by the Time Trapper and turned into "sleeper agents" who would fight the villainous Monarch in the coming Zero Hour event.
The rest of the Team Titans, including Killowat, ceased to exist altogether. It is unknown whether some version of Killowat has or will exist in this timeline.
Other versions
Elseworlds
- In an Elseworlds story, Killowat is the heroic protector of a refugee camp full of aliens.[2]
In other media
Television
- Killowat appears in the Teen Titans episode "Calling All Titans". He fought off Control Freak and his TV minions, but was ambushed by Puppet King. He was then captured and flash-frozen. Apparently, he nullified the powers of Control Freak's remote and images. He also has the power to absorb electricity which was used in "Titans Together" against Overload. This left nothing but Overload's circuit board.
Miscellaneous
- Killowat also appeared in Teen Titans Go! #48, but through the episode his name was spelled Kilowatt. In this issue, Killowat's origin is revealed. He came from an alternate universe where he was part of the Team Titans. However, one day, he found himself in grave danger. Just as his opponent was going to finish him off, he called for help and from a different universe, Raven heard him. She pulled him into her universe and Killowat became a part of that team of titans. Raven then thought she found a way to bring Killowat back to his universe, but she sent him to another universe. There, he was ambushed by the Teen Tyrants and taken to their base. However, Raven, realizing her mistake, took the Teen Titans to that universe and tried to rescue him. However, the Tyrants defeated them and held them hostage. At that moment, the Brotherhood of Justice (good versions of the Brotherhood of Evil) came and defeated the Tyrants. Killowat, back at the Titans universe, was happy to be home, but Raven claimed that he wasn't yet. Raven brought the Herald and together, they opened multiple doors leading to different parallel universes. Killowat saw his friends fighting Slade's army, and urgently, he jumped into the portal, but not before thanking the Titans. Killowat was finally at home.
References
- "Teen Titans Sell Out" One-Shot (November 1992)
- Team Titans Annual #2 (1994)