Statesman is the leader of the Freedom Phalanx in the game City of Heroes. He is played by the games co-founder and lead designer, Jack Emmert.
History
Statesman served alongside Lord Recluse (Stefan Richter) in World War I under his real name Marcus Cole. They traveled together after the war attempting to cure himself of a possibly fatal exposure to mustard gas. The two stole a scroll containing the location of the fabled Fountain of Zeus, which they believed would offer him a cure. They discovered the fountain in Greece and drank from it. Not only did the fountain offer a cure for the exposure to mustard gas, but it gave both of them superhuman powers. While at the fountain, they opened the lid to Pandora’s Box, which caused a dramatic increase in the number of superhumans worldwide and is responsible for their proliferation to this day.
Marcus sold many of the island’s treasures and built up a small fortune in Europe before returning to the United States in Paragon City. In order to avenge the death of his brother and step father, Marcus became the first costumed superhero and named himself Statesman.
Powers
Statesman is known to have invulnerability, super strength, and flight. Although these power sets are common to the archetype of Tanker in the game, posts by the developers in the City of Heroes forums reveal that both Statesman and Lord Recluse have a separate archetype not available to players: Incarnate. A lesser known power that he possesses is the power over lightning. This power has not manifested itself in-game or in the comics about the game, though was confirmed to be true by the developers in the game’s forums. It also appears in Statesman’s Hero Clix game piece and in the City of Heroes trading card game.
In addition to these powers, he has powers from the fitness and leadership pools, as well as an exclusive power pool named ‘Statesman’, containing several electric-themed powers.