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POWERHOUSE

Real Name: Kenneth A. Sinclair

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-93060/Ultraverse) human mutate (ultra)

Occupation: Adventurer;
   formerly radio station assistant & reporter;
   formerly mental health asylum patient

Group Membership: Pilgrim's army (Brazen, Byter, Gangsta, Generator X, Lightshow, Pilgrim (Bob Hardin), Rodent, Zara);
   formerly KIHN radio station

Affiliations: KIHN staff ("Chief", Lola)

Enemies: county asylum doctors, Raiders (Centipede, Gecko, Jolly Roger, Sandblast, Sangre, Scar, Yardarm), Strangers (Atom Bob, ElectroCute, Grenade, Lady Killer, Spectral, Yrial, Zip-Zap), Teknight

Known Relatives: father, mother (both, names unrevealed)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile in California, USA

First Appearance: The Strangers#14 (July, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: As an adult, Kenneth Sinclair has superhuman strength, being able to lift up to 60 tons. This strength permits him to leap high into the air, up to about 100'. He prefers close combat fist fights and can punch extremely fast. He also has sharp hearing. Powerhouse has, at minimum, enhanced durability; while he can shrug off small projectiles, he is susceptible to blunt impacts. His eyes are impervious to impact or gas, but he can be sedated via oral means (tablets). His vitalizing mutation has enlarged his muscles and reduced the effects of aging. He has limited education, and heavy sedation with strict confinement has resulted in mental trauma and instability with a violent drive to prove himself. He has conservative sexist values, having been excluded from witnessing societal development for decades.

Height: 6'0.5"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond

History:

(The Strangers#14 (fb)) - Born in 1923, Kenneth Sinclair grew up on a farm with his parents. Aged 15, while driving a tractor, he was hit by "lightning" (actually a Jumpstart jolt triggering superpowers) that energized him and gave him incredible strength. He immediately had hopes of stopping the foreign dictator Adolf Hitler and tried to show his parents his newfound powers by effortlessly jumping onto the barn roof. But this instead scared his parents and his father knocked him out using a blunt weather vane. Kenneth was taken to the county asylum, sedated and restrained in a straitjacket where he could gain no leverage. He refused to accept he was a normal boy and they kept him locked up in a padded cell for 55 years until funds ran dry and he had to be released.

(The Strangers#14 (fb) - BTS) - He was hired as an assistant and occasional reporter at Berkeley's local KIHN radio station, which had a no-discrimination policy. Now aged 71, he was keen to unveil his personally devised superhuman persona.

(The Strangers#14) - Kenneth secretly tested his destructive strength in his new costume at an empty excavation site. Later, the radio station chief respected Kenneth and tasked him to cover the public appearance at Moe's Books of two members of the Strangers superhero group, Atom Bob and Grenade. Arriving at the event, Kenneth thought the duo braggarts. He slipped into a nearby alley and changed into Powerhouse, then challenged the heroes, who responded, trying to protect bystanders. Atom Bob was apparently knocked out (actually replaced with a duplicate by the super-powerful matter-transforming Atom Bob while he invisibly changed into his malevolent Pilgrim personality and discovered Powerhouse's civilian identity from the hidden clothes; Pilgrim hoped to use him later as an ally against the Strangers). Meanwhile, Grenade fought Powerhouse to a standstill by asking him his origins, but the fracas was renewed. Unused to fighting at the superhuman level, Powerhouse fled, swearing to return.

(The Strangers#18) - Powerhouse was frustrated at not finding any vigilante action for himself. He was suddenly visited by Pilgrim (and lackey Byter) and invited to join his army to destroy the Strangers. Perplexed at the notion, Powerhouse challenged Pilgrim to a duel with the loser to join the other's cause.

(The Strangers#18 (fb) - BTS) - Pilgrim defeated Powerhouse, who then joined the rest of Pilgrim's small army of super-powered beings (Brazen, Byter, Gangsta, Generator X, Lightshow, Rodent, Zara), composed largely of foes of the Strangers).

(The Strangers#18) - Strangers member ElectroCute saw Pilgrim and his army leave a warehouse, but she was too far away to warn her teammates. Meanwhile, the villainous superhuman Raiders, keen for revenge, attacked and knocked out the rest of the Strangers on the docks, at which point Pilgrim and his army teleported in and fought them off, mercifully letting them escape. Pilgrim and his army left the still-unconscious Strangers so that they could each be killed the next day by a member of Pilgrim's squad as part of his elaborate plan to destroy the Strangers.

(Night Man I#14) - Pilgrim, backed by his small army, invited Teknight (Theodoric) to join him in destroying the Strangers, but he declined.

(Night Man: The Pilgrim Conundrum Saga) - Expecting Teknight would inform the Strangers, Pilgrim (watched by his army) told Teknight of his plans to spread bombs around San Francisco to separate the Strangers. Later, with Night Man's help, the Strangers identified the bomb landmark locations and split up to eliminate them, but each was confronted by a member of Pilgrim's army. The magic-wielding Yrial faced Powerhouse, who leapt high up and punched her in a surprise assault. Back on the ground, he shrugged off her magic attacks until Teknight arrived, whose fusion of unique magic and spirit-infused techno-organic armor finally proved enough to overpower Powerhouse. The villain quickly disappeared as the other Strangers arrived.

Comments: Created by Steve Englehart & Rick Hoberg.

Sinclair's exact physical stats are shown on his driver's license.

The revelation that big villain Pilgrim was actually the Strangers hero Atom Bob was shown in Strangers Annual#1 (with a brief one-panel flashback to the battle with Powerhouse).

This profile was completed 2/28/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Powerhouse has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Strangers#14, p18, pan1 (main image)
  p8, pan5 (headshot)
  p3, pan3 (changing outfit)

Appearances:
The Strangers#14 (July, 1994) - Steve Englehart (writer), Rick Hoberg (pencils), Tim Eldred (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
The Strangers#18 (November, 1994) - Steve Englehart (writer), Rick Hoberg (pencils), Tim Eldred (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Night Man I#14 (November, 1994) - James Robinson & Steve Englehart (writer), Dean Zachary (pencils), Bruce McCorkindale (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Night Man: The Pilgrim Conundrum Saga (January, 1995) - Steve Englehart (writer), Rick Hoberg (pencils), Jack Keefer (inks), Roland Mann & Kara Lamb (editors)
The Strangers: The Pilgrim Conundrum Saga (January, 1995) - Steve Englehart (writer), Rick Hoberg (pencils), Barb Kaalberg, Scott Reed, John Strangeland (inks), Roland Mann & Kara Lamb (editors)

First posted: 09/30/2021
Last updated: 09/29/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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