DC Database
Register
Advertisement

Rikkard Rynders, the Flying Dutchman of Time, was an enemy of Firestorm.

Rikkard Rynders was a Dutch professor of applied sciences. During the 1960s, he came to the United States where he accepted a teaching position at Vandermeer University. Rynders staged many protests in defiance to armed authoritative figures, particularly military personnel on college campuses. He inspired many students to act in defiance to the known establishment.

At this time, Rikkard also believed he could pierce the barriers of the fourth dimension through astral projection and psychedelic drugs. His lover and assistant Emily Littela Rice helped him to create a device designed to record his neural impulses so that others could witness what Rynders experienced. The experiment met with horrible results, and Rynders' consciousness was thrust into the timestream. Forced to travel the tributaries of his own timeline, Rynders adopted the name the Flying Dutchman. He explored branches of time outside his own lifespan and even witnessed the creation of the Multiverse.

Several decades later, Rynders astral visage began making appearances at Vandermeer University. One of the witnesses, student reporter Bree Daniels, contacted Emily Rice who had since the Dean of Arts and Sciences. Rice told Daniels about her involvement in Rikkard's experiments during the sixties.

Rynders' essence meanwhile managed to make contact with the Firestorm matrix. The core of the Firestorm entity at this time was the former professor Martin Stein, though Stein no longer had any memory of his former life. Rikkard wanted Firestorm to use his powers to alter the past, thus saving him from the experiments that cast him into the timestream. He brought Firestorm back to the 1960s on the day that he performed the experiment. Blocked from re-entering his own body, he needed Firestorm to take possession of his corporeal being to set it free. Firestorm refused, but Rikkard forced him to inhabit his old body.

Powers

  • Chronokinesis: The Flying Dutchman possesses the ability to travel astrally throughout the Fourth Dimension. He is restricted from physically interacting with events from the past or future as he no longer possesses a corporeal form.

Related

Footnotes


Deathstorm (New Earth)
Firestorm Villain(s)
DC Rebirth Logo

This character, team or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of Firestorm and any of his supporting cast or members of the Firestorm Matrix. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Firestorm Villains category."

Advertisement