The Gentleman

The Gentleman © Juke Box Productions AstroFacts Status: Active Earliest Appearance: 1946 Affiliation: Honor Guard Base of Operations: Romeyn Falls/Astro City Personal Data InfoDump Appearances (in Publication Order): Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol.2 #1, 9, 13, 20 Astro City: The Dark Age Book One #4 Astro City: The Dark Age Book Two #4 Astro City: Silver Agent #2 Astro City #2, 26, 27 Event Timeline 1946     Flashback Professor Borzoi's Belief Ray Inadvertantly Brings Loony Leo to Life. 1996/09     Current Heroes of Astro City battle Thunderhead. 1996/09     Current During Thunderhead's Epic Tantrum, the Hanged Man guards Shadow Hill.. 2013/??/??     Current Honor Guard Stops Lord Volcanus' Plot to Conquer the Surface World. 2015/08     Current Someone Reanimated the Destructiods. The Gentleman A powerful, immaculate, apparently non-aging, and unfailingly-polite tuxedo-clad hero. He has a charming personality, displaying wholesome, old fashioned sensibilities, and extremely good manners. In short, a perfect Gentleman. History The Gentleman has been active in Astro City since the early 1940s. In 1942, Daniel Armstrong protected his daughter, Matilda "Tillie" Armstrong, from a terrorist attack by Nazi sympathizers. This activated Tillie's reality-warping psychic powers, where she created the Gentleman in her father's image and stopped her own aging process. Doctor Borzoi later captured Tillie and forced her to confront the reality of her father's death, but she rejected his words and summoned the Gentleman to defeat Doctor Borzoi. Only on later reflection did she realize that Doctor Borzoi had told her the truth and that a part of her had known all along. Like The Broken Man, Tillie can break the 4th wall and speak directly to him when he is narrating. In the late 1940s, during a battle with his arch-nemesis, Professor Borzoi, a peculiar incident occurred in which one of the the Professor's most awesomely dangerous inventions, the Belief Ray, brought to life a gorilla from the feature movie, along with the cartoon character Loony Leo. In a consciousness streamed awareness, somehow derived from his cartoon developed personality, Leo gave the Gentleman assistance during the battle. The Gentleman returned the favor, convincing the people in attendance to believe in Leo as he was starting to fade from existence after Professor Borzoi's Belief Ray was destroyed. Loony Leo hung around as The Gentleman's sidekick for awhile before wandering off into adventures on his own. Shortly thereafter, the Gentleman seemingly acquired another sidekick, the Young Gentleman. That specific nature of their relationship a mystery that ended at an unknown time, and for unknown reasons. Through the years, The Gentleman has been an active defender against the ongoing forces of evil and destruction. Some of the more notable incidents include Madame Majestrix's Invasion of the surface world, the Dark Age period related to Black Velvet's madness overpowering the city in early 1977, the Enelsian Invasion attempt to conqueror all of earth, and the Conquistador's Plot of revenge and redemption. In recent years, he has taken a more active role as a member of Honor Guard. Given his powers, and his impeccable reputation for over seven decades, it is a bit surprising that it took so long for him to be included. Perhaps, like the heroine Winged Victory, he has declined invitations in the past. Powers He possesses the powers of flight and super-strength. He exhibited both quite dramatically, while stabilizing an out-of-control helicopter during a battle with the cosmic entity Thunderhead. The Gentleman's aging process is quite slow, possibly nonexistent. His appearance, stamina, and metabolism seem to be performing at the same levels that he displayed when he made his first public appearances over seventy years ago. Observations He serves as a spokesman for the Stay-In-School Foundation, the March of Dimes, and UNICEF. His friendly yet rugged good looks show some creative visual influences derived from the actor Fred MacMurray. The Gentleman is not actually a living entity, but a manifestation formed from the tremendous psychic powers of Matilda "Tessie" Armstrong. Speculations, Theories There is some speculation that his powers derive from some kind of mystical or magic source. He, along with other mystically powered entities like the original Confessor and The Hanged Man, were strangely not apprehended by authorities during the Enelsian Invasion. Interestingly, the Gentleman exhibited a considerable amount of emotional concern, and an elevated level of fear towards Professor Borzoi's Belief Ray. A hint perhaps to some back-story history about the Gentleman's powers, weaknesses, and maybe even his origin. Issues of Interest