RANDY O'BRIEN RANDY O'BRIEN
Real Name: Randall "Randy" Lawrence O'Brien
Identity/Class: Human Paranormal
Occupation: Delivery man, former medical intern
Group Membership: Formerly Displaced Paranormals-7 AKA Group C AKA Test Group III AKA Therapy Group C, defunct--see comments
Affiliations: Charlotte Beck, Lenore Fenzl, Stephanie Harrington, Dave Landers, Scuzz, Jeff Walters (all formerly known as part of the Displaced Paranormals-7); Captain Manhattan, Chrome, Dr. Jane Semple, Interface, Keso, Metallurge, Mutator, Merriam Sorenson, Squirm; former patient at The Clinic for Paranormal Research (defunct)
Enemies: The Black Powers (Indigo), Bloodhound, CIA, Deadweight, Famileech, Overshadow, the Para-Troop, Receptor, Regulator, Reinforcer, Seka, Shrapnel, Vice Versa
Known Relatives: John O'Brien (father), Rebecca O'Brien (mother)
Aliases: Anti-Body, Randy O'Connell, O'Conner
Place of Birth: DePere, Wisconsin
Base of Operations: New York City; formerly The Clinic (for Paranormal Research), Wisconsin; formerly Fort Benning, Georgia; formerly The Pitt, Pennsylvania (formerly known as Pittsburgh)
Hobbies and Interests: Racquetball, tennis, skiing, movies
Religion: Catholic (practicing)
First Appearance: DP7#1 (November, 1986)
Height: 5'11" ...Weight: 175 pounds ...Eyes: Blue (in his natural human state, white with no visible pupils or irises in Antibody form) ...Hair: Brown (in his natural human state, black as in Antibody form)
Unusual Physical Characteristics: When O'Brien's body is covered by an Antibody, his entire body is colored black and freckled with white spots that give his body a stellar appearance.
Powers/Abilities: O'Brien is able to create
multiple negative-image versions of himself out of an unknown
substance dubbed "psychoplasm." These duplicates can
fly, become solid or immaterial at will, and are as strong as
their human original. They are also immune to attacks that affect the mind
or the central nervous system. Although they lack vocal apparatus, they
can confer their experiences upon living beings by touching them
and willing such an information-transfer.
The number of
Anti-bodies O'Brien can manifest at one time is unknown. Each
Anti-Body develops its own personality, apparently based on some
facet of O'Brien's personality. Each of them, once created, are
capable of independent activity, and respond to O'Brien's verbal
or mental commands to varying degrees. The Anti-Bodies apparently
need to rest inside O'Brien's body for at least an hour every 24
hours or else their psychoplasm begins to deteriorate (an
Anti-Body once spent 78 hours out of O'Brien's body before
totally dissipating). The demoses of his Anti-Bodies apparently
has no physical effects on O'Brien. O'Brien is able to prevent
Anti-Bodies from re-entering his body through hypnosis, as he did
when one of his Anti-Bodies went rogue.
Initially, O'Brien
believed he had only one Anti-Body, but later discovered he could
create up to five at a time. Later still, he learned he could
create any number of Anti-Bodies, and enter their bodies, taking
on their physical appearance. On at least one occasion O'Brien created four
Anti-Bodies, and then immediately reabsorbed them, gaining five times his normal
strength in the process.
O'Brien is presently unable to
remove the Anti-Body he resides in, due to a blast of "Pitt
juice." Within the Anti-Body, he possesses the same powers
as any other Anti-Body, except the ability to become intangible.
Also, any additional Anti-Bodies he creates are only one foot in
height.
O'Brien is trained in medicine and is a speed reader. He is also a natural leader and athlete.
History: Randy O'Brien was born on February 4, 1958 in DePere, Wisconsin.
(DP7#8, BTS) - In 1968, he visited New
York City with his father, and went to the top of the Empire
State Building. He was afraid King Kong would get him.
(DP7#5, BTS) - Around
1973, he took a date to see the film The Exorcist, which
really frightened her. Randy earned his bachelor degree at
University of Wisconsin-Madison, after which he went to medical
school at Marquette University. He stayed at Marquette for an
internship, of which he completed in two years and a few months.
(DP7 Annual#1) - On September 24, 1986, his power first began to manifest itself. Another paranormal, known as "the Witness" observed his powers, and attempted to steal Randy's body while the Anti-Body was away. However, when he saw it was killing the Anti-Body, he abandoned O'Brien's body. At this time, Randy was still unaware of his own powers.
(DP7#1)-<9/26/1986> - Two days later, Randy met Dave Landers, another paranormal. After learning of his own powers, Randy and Dave journeyed together to the Clinic, a facility set up to treat those with parabilities, and were assigned to Therapy Group C. Although Randy appreciated the environment, he felt uneasy. At last, his Anti-Body revealed to him that the powers behind the Clinic had sinister plans for the paranormals, and, on October 19, with the rest of Therapy Group C, decided to go on the run.
(DP7#2)- <10/20/1986> - On the way to Dave's trailer home, Randy and the others were attacked by Shrapnel, Vice Versa and Bloodhound, paranormals working for the Clinic. By combining their powers, they are able to defeat the trio.
(DP7#3)-<10/21/1986> - Traveling across Wisconsin, Randy and the others were again attacked by the Clinic's paranormals. Randy sent his Anti-Body to stop their car, but it accidentally made them flip over. Randy wanted to aid them, but the others voted against it, and threatened to leave Randy behind if he stopped to treat them. Randy bowed to their wills, but his Anti-Body stayed behind and aided them.
(DP7#4)-<10/25-27/1986> - Stopping in a small town, Dave was captured by the police, who believed him to be "the Wompus", a creature mutilating cattle. Randy and the others created an elaborate deception to prove Dave's innocence, only for Jeff Walters to find the true mutilators himself.
(Untold Tales of the New Universe: DP7#1) - The group came to a Menominee reservation at Keshena, Wisconsin, and befriended a paranormal named Keso, aiding him against his paranormal sister Seka, who was raising the dead with her powers.
(Kickers Inc.#5)- <11/2/1986> - Attacked by Kickers Inc., who were being controlled by Philip Nolan Voigt, Randy released his Anti-Body to aid the others, but Dave struck it aside, preferring to fight by himself.
(DP7#5)-<11/7/1986>- Randy and the others decided to try an exorcist to see if their powers were the result of demonic possession, but this proved to be a false lead.
(DP7#6)-<11/13-12/3/1986>- After Scuzz left the others, Randy decided to take Charlotte Beck and Jeff to find him, while Dave, Lenore Fenzl and Stephanie Harrington went to Sheboygan to retrieve her children. Randy started by visiting Scuzz's father, but he hadn't gone home.
(DP7#7)-<12/3-4/1987>- While Randy stopped at a hospital to check in on a man attacked by Scuzz, CIA agents working for the Clinic captured Charlotte.
(DP7#8)-<12/5/1986>- Pursued by CIA agents, Randy made the mistake of separating himself from his Anti-Body, and was captured along with Jeff.
(DP7#9) - Back in the Clinic, Randy was turned over to Regulator, Receptor, and Reinforcer, who created an illusionary world within his mind, attempting to make him believe everything that happened since he left the Clinic was a dream. After the trauma of seeing Dave lying dead in the Clinic's morgue, Randy awoke and saw that he was really in the Clinic's custody, but Regulator quickly returned him to sleep.
(DP7#10)-<12/9/1986>- Randy's Anti-Body met an orphan named Evan Huebner, and took up residence in his body. It told Evan to return him to Randy at the Clinic, but just as Evan arrived there, it disintegrated.
(DP7#11)-< The Clinic continued in its efforts to brainwash Randy, but he proved to be highly resistant to their efforts, even unconscious.
(DP7#12) - Reunited with Dave at the Clinic, Randy attempted to free the others, but found they had been brainwashed. Confronted by the head of the Clinic, Philip Nolan Voigt, himself a paranormal, Randy fought him, and discovered he could create up to five new Anti-Bodies, a power Voigt could duplicate. Voigt was seemingly destroyed by Dave.
(DP7#13) - Informing the Clinic of Voigt's actions, the remaining staff attempted to reform Voigt's corruption. However, Reinforcer and Receptor tried to seize control of the Clinic and kill Dave. Dave nearly killed Reinforcer, but one of Randy's Anti-Bodies beat him to it, shocking Randy by its behavior.
(DP7#14) - Randy found out that Charlotte had a crush on him, but being concerned about interracial dating, he thought it would be a mistake for them to get together. When Charlotte told "the Black Powers" about this, they assaulted him, and he had to fight them off.
(Psi-Force#15) - Randy sent his Anti-Body to aid Scuzz and Jeff in retrieving Mike Crawley, a new arrival at the Clinic, from his kidnappers.
(DP7#15) - Randy finally rid himself of the killer Anti-Body by creating a hypnotic suggestion to keep it from entering his body. However, unknown to him, the killer found a new home in the body of Evan Huebner.
(DP7#16) - Over lunch, Randy discussed the new "super-hero" Star Brand with Dr. Semple and Dave.
(Justice#16) - Along with the others, Dave followed the story of the "Justice Killer".
(DP7#17)-<12/17/1987>- During an assembly at the Clinic, Randy was forced to fight back against fellow paranormals when the Black Powers started a riot.
(DP7#18)-<12/23/1987>- When Jeff ran from the Clinic to Pittsburgh (after learning his family had been killed when the city was destroyed), Randy joined with Lenore, Charlotte, Dave, Mutator, and Merriam Sorenson to find him. As they traveled through the remains of Pittsburgh, they fell into a chasm.
(DP7#19) - Randy
was able to safely remove the others from the chasm using his
Anti-Bodies, except for Dave, who was too heavy. They then
encountered the ex-military agent Spitfire, who destroyed one of
the Anti-Bodies by mistake. To make up for it, she helped save
Dave and Jeff from the Pitt.
(DP7#20) -<12/24/1987>While caring for Dave and Jeff, Randy was attacked by the paranormal Pit Bull, whom Dave had to bring himself to defeat. Randy was then apprehended by the military.
(DP7#22/The Draft)-<3/3-4/12/1988>- Randy, Dave, and Jeff were brought to Fort Benning and drafted into the US military to serve as the country's paranormal fighting force.
(DP7#24)-<6/1988>- While Dave lay within the parahuman solitary confinement unit dubbed "the Black Hole", Randy sent his Anti-Bodies to visit him, but Dave drove them away.
(DP7#25)-<6/1988>- After Dave attempted suicide, Randy had to operate on him, and managed to save his life. Randy was then reunited with the killer Anti-Body, which brought an injured Evan Huebner to him for treatment. When the creature known as "the Famileech" broke free from its containment, the Anti-Body taught Dave how to enter the bodies of his own Anti-Bodies, and with this knowledge, Randy generated multiple Anti-Bodies, entered them simultaneously, and used this new power to defeat the Famileech.
(DP7#26)-<8/4/1988> After releasing Dave back into the military's hands for his court martial, Randy gave one of his new Anti-Bodies to Evan Huebner, to replace the one which the Famileech killed, but in the process of doing this, Bloodhound learned of Randy's new powers, and decided he should be transferred out of the medical facilities, and into the armed forces.
(DP7#27) - Learning that the military had sent Dave to the Pitt, Randy went AWOL to try and save him, but flying over the Pitt, he was struck by "Pitt juice", which rendered him immobile. As a pool of lava inched towards him, he was saved by Dave.
(DP7#28)-<9/19-23> Now AWOL, Dave and
Randy headed to New York City when they learned that Voigt had
re-appeared, and was running for president. 
When they attempted to
confront him, Voigt sent Stephanie, Charlotte, Merriam, and
Chrome (formerly Spitfire), all under his control, to fight them.
Still having difficulty with his powers, unable to shed the
Anti-Body skin he was wearing, and unable to create Anti-Bodies
larger than one-foot tall, Randy was defeated by Charlotte and Chrome.
Voigt warned Dave and Randy that if they did anything to stop
him, he would order their friends to commit suicide.
(DP7#29)-<11/1/1988> The six reunited friends took apartments in New York together, and Randy started taking tips from Chrome on how to disguise his paranormal appearance. Attacked by the paranormal CIA agent Deadweight, Randy was shot, but Stephanie healed his wound.
(Star Brand#18) - Dave and Randy encountered Jake Burnley, current wielder of the Star Brand. They informed him of Voigt's intentions, and Burnley tracked Voigt down, and killed him in battle. However, Dave and Randy wondered if Voigt could truly be killed.
(DP7#30)-<12/15/1988> Randy and the others met a paranormal super-hero, Captain Manhattan, and aided him against his enemies, the Para-Troop.
(DP7#31) -<1/1/1989> Wondering why Charlotte had kept a distance from him, Randy finally confronted her about it, and learned she disliked him because of his new appearance -- an ironic reversal of his problems with interracial dating.
(DP7#32) -<2/23/1989> Learning of a paranormal called "the Cure", who offered to remove parabilities, Randy was tempted to have his powers removed, but when he learned it meant he would have to give up all his Anti-Bodies, he refused treatment.
(The War#4) - At the conclusion of World War III, Randy was among those paranormals informed by the Star Brand that he had removed all lethal weaponry from Earth.
(Quasar#31) - Two years later, Randy met Quasar, a super-hero from Earth-616. Randy and his friends doubted Quasar's claims to be from another dimension. Randy sent one of his Anti-Bodies after Quasar, and it hid within his cape, thus returning with him to Earth-616.
(Quasar#36) - The Anti-Body followed Quasar's girlfriend Kayla Ballantine for awhile, and attempted to defend her from the villain Quagmire, but failed.
(Quasar#37) - Entering Quagmire's body, the Anti-Body began to be slowly corrupted by him.
(Quasar#43-44) - Now as malevolent as Quagmire, the Anti-Body aided him in fighting Quasar. After Quagmire was taken away by the Darkling, it absorbed his darkforce energies, becoming giant-sized.
(Quasar#45) - As Quasar fought the giant Anti-Body, with each blow he struck, it would divide into smaller versions, until he was facing an army of Anti-Bodies.
(Quasar#46) - Joined by the Shock Troop, led by Dr. Druid, it was revealed that the Anti-Bodies were going insane due to being removed from their host body. With the help of Shadowoman, Dr. Druid was able to re-merge the Anti-Bodies into a single entity, which was devoured by the Imperial Guardsman Glom.
Comments: Randy O'Brien was created by Mark Gruenwald (writer) and Paul Ryan (artist).
Randy has an extensive biographical profile in DP7#20.
The original seven escapees of The Clinic were never actually referred to as D.P.7 despite the fact that this was the title for the comic book. "The Official Timeline of the New Universe," which ran throughout all of the latter New U issues, revealed that the escapees were codenamed "Displaced Paranormals-7" (D.P.7#30). They were also known as "Test Group III" and "the third test group" by The Clinic's original director Philip Nolan Voigt AKA Overshadow. They were officially recognized and organized as "Therapy Group C" or simply "Group C" while staying at The Clinic.--Kyle
The New Universe possesses interesting temporal characteristics. The White Event occurred on July 22, 1986, after which events moved in real time, at least up to the War, sometime in later 1989, or early 1990. They interacted with the Marvel Universe in 1991-1992 of real time, and were last seen in 1994, at the conclusion of the Star Blast saga. It's unlikely that the characters of the NU will be seen again (a true shame), but I'd like to think that they should somehow stay in real time. In addition, as the Prime One points out, since the Living Tribunal has isolated them from the rest of the Universe, they should be isolated from Eternity as well, meaning they won't be a part of 'Marvel Time' (or lack thereof).--Snood.
Profile created by Prime Eternal
Clarifications:
Randy O'Brien's Antibodies have no known connection to:
Appearances:
DP7#1-6 (November, 1986 - April, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Romeo Tanghal (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#7 (May, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Romeo Tanghal & Paul Ryan (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#8 (June, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Al Williamson & Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7 Annual#1 (1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Lee Weeks (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#9 (July, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#10 (August, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#11 (September, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
DP7#12-14 (October-December, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#15 (January, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Psi-Force#15 (January, 1988) - Danny Fingeroth (writer), Javier Saltares (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Justice#16 (February, 1988) - Peter David (writer), Lee Weeks (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#16-20 (February-June, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#22 (August, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
The Draft (1988) - Mark Gruenwald & Fabian Nicieza (writers), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Kyle Baker, Mike Gustovich, Klaus Janson, Lee Weeks & Keith Williams (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#24-32 (October, 1988 - June, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Starbrand#18 (May, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Tom Morgan (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
The War#4 (1990) - Doug Murray (writer), Tom Morgan (artist), Howard Mackie (editor)
Quasar#31 (February, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Harry Candelario (inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Quasar#36-37 (July-August, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Harry Candelario (inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Quasar#43-46 (February-May, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Andy Smith & Grant Miehm (#45) (pencils), Ralph Cabrera, David Day (#45) & Dan Day (#45) (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Untold Tales of the New Universe: DP7#1 (May, 2006) - C.B. Cebulski (writer), Mark Bright (penciler), John Stanisci (inker), Mark Paniccia (editor)
First Posted: 04/09/2002
Last updated: 05/28/2006
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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