Lawrence Trainor (New Earth)

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Contents 1 History 1.1 Pre-Crisis 1.2 Post-Crisis-Pre Infinite Crisis 2 Powers and Abilities 2.1 Powers 2.2 Abilities 2.3 Strength level 2.4 Weaknesses 3 Notes 4 Trivia 5 See Also 6 Recommended Reading 7 Links and References 7.1 Footnotes

History

Pre-Crisis

Larry Trainor was a civilan test pilot and flew many different jets, and a friend of contemporary Hal Jordan.

One day Larry had to fly the experimental X-19 a suborbital jet aircraft. Larry put the plane through its paces and successfully broke Earth's atmosphere. However, increased solar flare activity affected the jet's guidance systems sending Larry into a field of deadly radiation. Falling unconscious, Larry drifted through the stratospheric wave belts for several hours. Earth's gravity eventually pulled the X-19 back into the atmosphere where it began spiraling back down to Earth. Larry awakened in time to prevent the X-19 from crashing into the ground.

Upon landing the jet, Trainor noticed a nearby search plane coming into view. It attempted to land near the X-19, but suffered from a malfunctioning landing strut. An intense desire to aid the beleaguered craft passed through Larry's mind when suddenly, a bizarre radioactive energy being flew outward from his body. Obeying Larry's subconscious desires, the energy guided the search plane to safety.

Shortly after the strange incident, Larry checked into a hospital. The exposure to the deadly radiation left him hideously deformed, with glowing, translucent skin. Physicians placed him into quarantine inside of a lead-lined contamination cell. A specialist named Dr. Niles Caulder met with Larry and provided him special radiation-proof plastic bandages. In order to leave the quarantine and operate in human society again – Larry had to wear the bandages from head to tall at all times.

Trainor became bitter and despondent at the thought of living the remainder of his life as some grotesque mummy. Shunned by society, he kept to himself and took to living inside of a meager rooming house. During this time, he learned more about the strange energy creature that lived inside of him – a creature he referred to as the Negative Man.

Before long, a physician known only as Doctor Drew offered Larry a job as his assistant. Inwardly, Larry referred to Dr. Drew as "Doctor Death". Trainor learned about Doctor Drew's true identity and his covert attempt to take control of the world. He rebelled against the maniacal genius and briefly thwarted his plans for global domination. Death escaped and swore revenge against the Negative Man.

Some time later, Larry accepted a commission to fly a plane towards a dangerous, volcanic island. Doctor Death learned of the charter and arranged to sabotage Trainor's plane, stranding him on the island. He manipulated Negative Man into becoming his pawn in an effort to destabilize the American government by driving several political figureheads irrevocably insane. Negative Man fought against Doctor Death's efforts, but Death captured him and secured Trainor inside of a lead-lined cell.

Meanwhile, Niles Caulder, now calling himself the Chief, discovered Trainor's predicament and helped to rescue him from Doctor Death's clutches. With Caulder’s aid, the Negative Man once again foiled Doctor Death's efforts to create widespread anarchy.

Caulder recognized that Trainor was not only a man of strong integrity, but a man of great power as well. He invited the Negative Man to become a member of a small collection of misfit heroes known as the Doom Patrol.

The team supposedly perished in an explosion, Larry survived it but the fate of the other members of the Doom Patrol remained unknown to him. He was separated from the radio energy being, but still radioactive, bandaged, and weak in its absence. The Negative Spirit possessed a Russian cosmonaut, Colonel Valentina Vostok, who becomes Negative Woman. Initially, Vostok could transform herself into a radio-energy form, possessing the same capabilities as Trainor's "partner." Later, as with Trainor, it would emerge from her, leaving her physically weak but in control of it, and requiring her to wear special bandages, just as Trainor had.

The Negative Spirit later leaves Vostok and returns to Trainor, where it reveals itself to be amoral, intelligent, and capable of speech. Trainor pleads with it to leave him alone, but it forcefully merges itself with both Trainor, a white man, and his physician, Dr. Eleanor Poole, a black woman. Together the three entities form Rebis, a divine hermaphrodite, who, again, must wear special bandages. Rebis has all of the memories of all three beings, and is as such a compound being, frequently using "we" when speaking of itself. Rebis has a larger range of powers than those of either Trainor or Vostok; Rebis can fly, is psychic, is extraordinarily intelligent, and, most significantly, is immortal. Rebis' unique life cycle is based on an event called the Aenigma Regis, in which it throws off its old body and gives birth to a new version of itself; in describing its paradoxical existence, Rebis often likens itself to Russian dolls, and to an ouroboros.

Rebis temporarily leaves the Doom Patrol to mate with itself and complete the Aenigma Regis; part of this process involves working through the significant trauma and inner turmoil caused by the death of Trainor and Poole's separate identities. At some point during this absence, Rebis also has intercourse with Coagula, giving her superpowers. Rebis's old body is killed by the Candlemaker, but Rebis' new, presumably harmonized body soon returns to see the Candlemaker defeated. ^[1]

Post-Crisis-Pre Infinite Crisis

Trainor is once again Negative Man (although his negative-energy form now has the appearance of a black skeleton instead of a shadowy humanoid shape). ^[2] It was revealed in Infinite Crisis that this alteration had been caused by Superboy-Prime's attempts to escape from the extradimensional "haven" he shared with Alexander Luthor and the Superman and Lois Lane of Earth-Two.

When the Doom Patrol joined other heroes in fighting Superboy-Prime, Negative Man and the other Doom Patrol members (including former member Beast Boy) begin recalling their previous lives. ^[3]

Negative Man is currently a member of the most recent Doom Patrol.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

The Negative: Negative Man has the ability to generate a black, electrical energy being composed of an as of yet unidentifiable radioactive substance from within his own body. Larry can perceive whatever sensations the energy being can see or hear. For a total of sixty seconds, Larry can command the Negative being to obey his instructions, and can summon it back inside of his body at will.

• Flight: being can fly at speeds nearly equal to the speed of light

• Phasing: can alter its density allowing it to pass through solid objects. Phasing itself through biological material causes immense pain to the affected target. The only substance that is proof against the Negative Man's abilities is lead.

• Heat Waves: has also demonstrated the ability to generate waves of intense heat, and explosive, concussive blasts of energy. It can likewise absorb thermal energy and convert it into an electrical discharge.

  Abilities

Larry Trainor is a skilled airplane pilot and hand-to-hand combatant.

Strength level

Larry Trainor posses the strength level of an older man of moderate size and weight who engages in intensive regular exercise. The strength levels of the Negative being have never been fully tested, but have been shown to reach superhuman levels.

Weaknesses

Larry's continued use of the Negative Man however, is hampered by a potentially fatal restriction. If Trainor is ever separated from the energy being for more than one minute, he would lapse into a coma and eventually die. Trainor is always careful to recall the entity back to his person before the sixty-second time limit expires.

Notes

• The character of Negative Man was created by Arnold Drake and Bob Haney.

• The name Negative Man could refer to either Larry Trainor himself, or the radioactive energy being he produces.

• The Negative being takes on the physical properties of its host body. When bonded to Larry Trainor, it assumes the gender attributes of an adult male. When it was bonded to Valentina Vostok, it took on the appearance of an adult female.

Trivia

• In his test aviation days, Larry Trainor became a colleague of famed west coast test pilot, Hal Jordan.

• Negative Man was secretly in love with fellow Doom Patrol member, Elasti-Girl.

• According to the timeline provided in Zero Hour #0, the Doom Patrol were one of the earliest super-hero teams active during the Silver Age era of comics. JLA: Year One #6 shows the Doom Patrol as experienced heroes working alongside the neophyte Justice League of America.

• In 2005, Negative Man and the rest of the Doom Patrol appeared in the two-part "Homecoming" episode of the Teen Titans animated television series. Actor Judge Reinhold provided the voice for Negative Man.

See Also

• Discuss Lawrence Trainor (New Earth) on the forums
• Appearances of Lawrence Trainor (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Lawrence Trainor (New Earth)
• Quotations by Lawrence Trainor (New Earth)
• Images featuring Lawrence Trainor (New Earth)

Recommended Reading

• The Private World of Negative Man series:
  • "The Private Life of Negative Man"
  • "The Race Against Dr. Death"
  • "Flight Into Fear"
  • "Neg Man's Last Road!"
• My Greatest Adventure #80 (1st appearance)
• My Greatest Adventure #83 (1st time that Larry loses control of the N-Man entity)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 1) #107 (origin highlights)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 1) #109 (origin highlights)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 1) #111 (origin highlights)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 1) #121 (alleged death)
• Showcase (Volume 1) #94 (energy being transfers to Valentina Vostok)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 2) #2 (revival)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 2) #19 (merges with Rebus)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 4) #1 (returns to active status)
• The Official Doom Patrol Index #1
• The Official Doom Patrol Index #2
• Secret Origins (Volume 2) Annual #1
• Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe VII
• Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe XVI

Links and References

• Negative Man article at Wikipedia
• Doom Patrol article at Wikipedia
• Negative Man biography page at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
• Negative Energy Being biography page at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
• Negative Woman biography page at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
• Rebus biography page at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
• Doom Patrol I team page at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
• Doom Patrol II team page at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
  

Footnotes

1. ↑ According to the DC Comics Encyclopedia, this Rebis is currently involved with Checkmate.
2. ↑ In 2004, the Doom Patrol was rebooted in a JLA storyline and new Doom Patrol series, both written and illustrated by John Byrne. This version of the Doom Patrol largely ignored previous continuity.
3. ↑ All previous incarnations of the Doom Patrol are now in continuity, although the exact details of what this means are not yet clear.

Doom Patrol member This character was at some point primarily a member of the Doom Patrol. A long-running team of rag-tag misfit heroes who work together for the common good, fighting evil against all odds. This template will categorize any article that includes it into the Doom Patrol members category.