Galatea Future
"You deserved better than non-existence. You are here to do the one thing you haven't been able to do... you are here to live."
- "The Editor" from The Lost Adventures of Galatea Future #1
| Galatea Future | |||||
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| Galatea Future (as she is currently seen in "Future's Guardian") | |||||
| Creator: | David 2/BattlerockX | ||||
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| First Appearance: | Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight | ||||
| Game: | City of Heroes / Champions Online | ||||
| Personal Data | |||||
| Real Name: | Karen Powers | ||||
| Known Aliases: | Galatea Powers, Galatea, Athena Rose Fairmore | ||||
| Species: | "human-prime" | ||||
| Age: | unknown (est. over 1000) | ||||
| Height: | 5'11" | ||||
| Weight: | ' | ||||
| Eye Color: | blue | ||||
| Hair Color: | brown w/white | ||||
| Biographical Data | |||||
| Nationality: | American | ||||
| Occupation: | adventurer, writer | ||||
| Place of Birth: | Universe XHT-S7 | ||||
| Base of Operations: | Millennium City | ||||
| Marital Status: | single | ||||
| Known Relatives: | Kent Powers (cousin/adopted father), Jonathan Powers (uncle/genetic father - deceased), Lionel Powers (birth father - deceased) | ||||
| Appearances | |||||
| "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight", "The Guardian Powers" #15 (flashback only), "The Lost Adventures of Galatea Future", "Future's Guardian", "The Crucible" | |||||
| Known Powers | |||||
| flight, super-strength, invulnerability, enhanced senses | |||||
| Known Abilities | |||||
| ' | |||||
| Equipment | |||||
| ' | |||||
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Galatea Future is an alternate-future version of Galatea Powers, initially seen in the world of the "City of Heroes" but was later transitioned into "Champions Online".
Origins
Universe XHT-S7
In the world Galatea was born in, she was the daughter of the world's most infamous villain.
Raised by her famous superhero cousin, she worked hard to live down her father's many crimes and created a name for herself as an iconic hero on the same caliber as her cousin's side of the family. Her youth, beauty, and determination allowed her to build her own heroic reputation completely divorced from her father's; even though many of her peers would still be hesitant to treat her similar to her cousin.
There was much of her past that would be kept secret, and much that would have consequences for her later on, but she firmly believed that she could overcome any adversity put to her and become a valuable member of their premiere superhero organization.
Sadly, her time in that world's sun was not for very long, as the mechanization of a power-mad being from outside her universe would erase everything she ever knew. The nihilistic actions of Alor, the self-professed "Alpha and Omega of the Original Gods", would arrive in her universe and destroy it in a matter of minutes. Though she and the other heroes tried their best, their powers were completely ineffective against the wave of universal destruction that estinguised everything they knew and everyone they loved.
City of Heroes Universe
For reasons she did not understand at the time, she was rescued from certain oblivion along with three others and transported to another Earth in another universe.
Initially without any memory of her prior life, she renamed herself "Galatea Powers" and made a name for herself in that world. She quickly developed a fan-following because of her perfect body and her eagerness to help others. She then joined a group of other "Guardians" that helped to defend their home-city from all threats.
But as the years progressed, the challenges became more and more monumental. In a moment she could not comprehend, the group was disbanded, and she was eventually inducted into the premiere super-team for that city.
Then, the intrusion of an extra-dimensional god devastated the world that she called home. Although the deity was eventually defeated, the damage was done and the Earth was rendered incapable of supporting life. As one of the few heroes that survived, she served as the "Last Guardian" of Earth, helping the last vestiges of humanity flee the dying planet to a new home in a nearby solar system. Humanity would survive, but the Earth would not.
During this time, she was also recruited by a group of time agents to help watch over humanity as they adjust to that new world. These time agents saw potential in her that they considered to be dangerous outside of their supervision, so they offered her a position in their organization, located in a time bubble near the literal end of time itself.
It was during her "lessons" with this organization that she discovered the timeline she experienced was not supposed to happen the way that it did. She learned that time had been altered, and the "Guardian" group that was disbanded in the 21st century was supposed to be instrumental in Earth's continued survival. She kept that knowledge to herself while she gathered more information.
As time had no meaning at their location, she spent what would be several centuries determining when and where time needed to be changed. She forged a nearby bunker using Tesseract technology where she could store the necessary equipment and devices to privately observe time to plan her course of action outside of the watching eyes of her "fellow agents".
Finally, armed with the knowledge that she acquired, and the special Aegis Armor that gave her all the powers of the time agency itself, she violated the basic laws of time and space to change the history that she knew, turning herself in the process into a temporal anomaly.
Returning to the time agents, she admitted to her violations, knowing that the consequences of her action would be her eventual obliteration. The time agents did not disappoint, as they further altered time so that her very existence as she knew it would not be a possibility. She then retreated to her "bunker" and prepared herself for what she believed would be the inevitable oblivion.
Champions Online Universe
Instead of facing oblivion, however, an Omniverse being known as "The Editor" brought Galatea over to the world of the Champions in the midst of a surprise Qularr Invasion. Even stripped of her Aegis Armor and possessing limited abilities (partially because of the Qularr), she was able to work with Defender and launch an effective counter-attack to defeat the Qularr invasion and the supervillain behind it.
After receiving a hero's welcome and the key to the city, Galatea discovered from "The Editor" that the reason why she was brought to the world of the Champions was to do something she was not able to do for a long while... she was brought there not just to "exist", as she had been doing as a time agent, but instead to "live"; as an individual, as a woman, as a part of something larger than just herself.
Her status as an other-world being is known only by Doctor Silverback, whom she initially entrusted with a sample of her hair to determine her actual age, and with Agent Sidestep, an Omniverse agent that confronted Galatea to supposedly "measure" her abilities before determining that she was no longer as powerful as she was previously.
With literally nothing but the clothes on her back, Galatea got to work building her name and reputation in Millennium City. She helped stop a prison riot, took on criminal gangs in Westside, and single-handedly shut down a VIPER base in Africa.
"Apollo City"
To explain her origins to the public, Galatea came up with a story of her coming from the far-future, millions of eons after the Earth and the Sol System were gone.
In her explanation, she was one of many "human-prime" beings living in Apollo City, a floating city-state over the planet Paragonna. Much of her experiences in this city matched what little she remembered of "Guardian World".
In this fictional account, they discovered that the universe was undergoing its natural end by entropy. In order to survive, they created the "Ouroboros Project", a way to travel to the distant past. The portal was supposedly undergoing its first test when entropy reached Apollo City. Galatea was sent through, and arrived in Millennium City in the midst of the Qularr invasion.
Coming up with the idea that she simply came from a distant future instead of from another world entirely was necessary since she quickly discovered that the world of the Champions have a blatant distrust of anyone from another reality. She believed that eventually the truth would come out, but that by then she would have developed a reputation that would overwhelm any inherent bigotry of those from other worlds.
She also came to the realization that the longer she stayed in this world, the more her mind and body became acclimated to it, and she began to lose some of the memories she had of the other worlds.
Brief Exile
While Galatea was in the Canadian Wilderness in 2011, her name and her likeness were legally taken over by the manipulative Markman Gold and his Gold Standard Agency.
When Galatea returned to Millennium City in January of 2012, she discovered that her personal bank accounts were closed and her money pilfered. She also found out that Gold was making agreements in her name, such as agreeing that she would pose for the risqué "Capes and Boots" magazine. Upon confronting Gold, the self-professed "hero-agent" made it quite clear that everything he did was legal. This was further complicated by the fact that she came from another time period, which meant that there was no physical proof that "Galatea Future" is in fact her real name.
She attempted to get a legal restraining order to stop Gold, but the courts would not help her barring a full trial, which she could not afford. Surprisingly, help came from Agent Sidestep, and a plan to dispute Gold's legal hold on her name and likeness was launched.
To disrupt Gold's access to Galatea, she announced her "resignation" as a hero and returned to the Canadian Wilderness, while her legal team would take the fight to the courts. She isolated herself from human contact, accepting supplies only from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and her only communication would be with her attorney and through a teleconference with the courts.
Return in 2013
During the year she was "absent", Galatea's attorney won their court case against Gold and his agency, declaring his "legal control" of her name and likeness to be the legal equivalent of slavery, which is outlawed under the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. With her legal victory firmly in place, she was able to return to Millennium City.
During that time away, she discovered that her hair had not only grown, but it took on a distinctly brown color, which was contrary to her original blond. Originally seen through brown highlights in her otherwise white hair, her continual adaptation to this universe has further changed her hair and turned her into a brunette.
She initially covered up the brown hair either through a wig (which she wore in her secret identity as Athena Rose Fairmore) or through a hooded overcoat to conceal her identity. But this overcoat was destroyed by a terrorist named Foreclosure, forcing her to show the world how much she had changed before she was ready.
Not long after this, Galatea changed her costume and had her hair cut and re-styled.
Abilities and Skills
Pre-Champions
Prior to her transition to the world of the Champions, Galatea was considered a nigh-Omega-level being. This partially came from countless centuries of experience and training, but also because, in her birth-world, she was considered the best of the "advanced humans". These factors allowed her to possess cosmic-level strength, invulnerability, near-light-speed flight, and being able to sense things well beyond the normal spectrum, as well as to emit beam energy through her eyes. In addition to her physical abilities, she also possessed centuries of knowledge of technology from countless alien worlds as well as knowledge of time and multiverse travel.
As a time agent, she was given the Aegis Armor; a special bodysuit designed exclusively for her that would give her the full power of the time agency at her command. Wearing this armor, she would be able to pull people and objects out of time and space at any time, as well as be able to manipulate quantum forces of time itself. With her own nigh-Omega powers enhanced by this armor and with the help of an extra-dimensional deity from the same alternate future she came from, she was able to defeat the Omniverse threat known as Alor, which placed her combined power levels either at Omega or Omega-plus.
Post-Champions
Following her transition into the world of the Champions, she discovered that her abilities and her body were "reset". Even though she is at least a thousand years old, she is physically in her mid-thirties, with her abilities once again just starting. She still possesses some measure of invulnerability, strength, and flight, as well as enhanced senses.
While she cannot "see through" objects, she can see with the clarity and range equal to the best digital cameras, as well as see slightly into the ultra-violent and infrared frequencies. (Doing so, however, does give her a bit of a migraine.) She can also hear beyond the normal audio spectrum and from greater distances. These enhanced senses can also become a liability if one were to employ high frequencies or extremely bright lights. The other senses - taste, smell, and touch - are also greatly enhanced, although these are not as exploitable as with sight and sound.
Much of her knowledge of the universe is also now moot, since the world of the Champions have certain elements that are not compatible with the various multiverse elements that she is familiar with.
Dr. Silverback also speculates that Galatea's body may be continuing to physically regress as she continues to adapt to this universe. While it doesn't necessarily mean she will devolve into a lesser being or be reduced to infancy, it is believed that she is returning to her physical age from when she last existed on her birth-world. This was certainly the case with her hair, which changed from blond to white during her time in "Guardian World", and then to white with brown highlights when she first arrived in the world of the Champions, to the current dark brown with white highlights.
In terms of her intelligence, Dr. Silverback reports that Galatea retains a genius-level IQ, although he suspects it could be potentially much higher.
Personality
Much of who she was had been previously defined by her abilities and her responsibilities as the "Last Guardian of Earth". With that part of her life completed, she found herself unable to contemplate a new task, which was why she was initially prepared for oblivion after becoming a temporal anomaly.
Being brought over to the world of the Champions has given her a new opportunity to start life fresh. She is eager to prove herself to the Champions and is trying to fit in, however she still mentally keeps much of what she knows of her previous life a secret. While she doesn't remember too much of the things that went on in those "other worlds", she does know that heroic qualities are one of the constants in any universe and she tries to exude those qualities at every opportunity.
She was able to make a few friends, including Champions member Sapphire, who was the first hero she met when she arrived in the midst of the Qularr Invasion in 2011, and also Lieutenants Robert and Douglas McKenzie of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
During her time "away", she became close friends with Candace Sinclair, her attorney, and who has been instrumental in developing her secret identity of "Athena Rose Fairmore". Candace is one of a select few people that know that Galatea is really from another universe.
Connection to Galatea Powers
Galatea Future's past is identical to that of the current Galatea Powers until the events near the end of the "Time and Changes" storyline. Because of this, and because of her extended "stay" at Ouroboros by the Menders, her historical events are different from her current counterpart.
Different Events
| Galatea Future (Alternate Future) | Galatea Powers (Current Incarnation) |
| Daybright is reported "dead" and never returns (she sacrifices her life in 2007 to stop Alor). | Daybright is reported "dead", but is sent back home by the Omega Incarnate Galatea Future. |
| Guardians of the Dawn are permanently disbanded in 2011 with the very public murder of the Libertarian Avenger by renegade police officers. | Guardians of the Dawn are "disbanded" (only on paper) after the attempted assassination of Alex Wentworth as he campaigns for District Attorney. Several Guardians continue to operate as a "Ghost Group". (See "The Guardian Powers") |
| Galatea does not return to Paragon City until 2013, her alter-ego is pronounced missing and presumed dead. She never picks up another civilian identity afterward, choosing to remain as Galatea 24/7. | Galatea returns in 2011 and experiences a genetic crisis that splits her into two women, herself and Leona Powers. Her alter-ego is exposed on live television as being Leona Powers and is reported killed. (From the "Galatea Dawning" storyline) |
| Galatea joins the Freedom Phalanx at the invitation of Statesman. | Galatea is given a new identity of "Faith Karl" by the Vanguard. She later agrees to work with the "ghost group" of Guardians. Statesman is killed by Darrin Wade in 2012. |
| Rularuu the Ravager invades the Primal Universe in 2018. His crossover causes catastrophic damage to the Earth. Most heroes are killed in the battle, including Statesman, before Rularuu is sent back to the Shadow Shard prison. | Galaxy City is destroyed by Shivan meteors in 2011. Although they are officially disbanded, the Guardians of the Dawn are blamed by some for the disaster. |
| Following Rualruu's defeat in 2018, Lord Recluse takes over what is left of Earth and rules it for two decades. Earth's remaining heroes rally to stop him. John Cole, the illegitimate son of Marcus Cole, becomes the second Statesman. Galatea becomes an Alpha Incarnate and Earth is finally liberated just in time for people to discover that it can no longer support human life. | Galatea discovers in 2012 that Doc Tor has attempted to "save" the people of Galaxy City in a time echo. She works with the exiled Utopian to rescue over 2000 survivors and realizes her awakened hyper-intelligence. The Guardians of the Dawn are officially credited and are "re-activated". |
| Galatea helps save a small number of survivors and watches over them as they are relocated to other worlds. In the 1000 years of her life, she continues to get more and more powerful and she develops her physical powers to eventually become an Omega Incarnate as well as a Mender of Ouroboros. She becomes aware of her role as a mender and Omega Incarnate and travels back in time to save Daybright and personally end the threat of Alor using the full power of Ouroboros. She becomes a time anomaly and is sent to the world of The Champions. | Galatea continues to develop her hyper-intelligence with the help of several artifacts she has acquired from the Shadow Shard Universe. She also develops a relationship with John Cole. A cosmic crisis hastens her natural ascent into becoming an incarnate. |
Related Information
Galatea Future first appeared in the "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" series and played a key role in the five-part "Time and Changes" storyline. She would later appear in flashback in Issue #15 of "The Guardian Powers" to explain her role in the changes in the City of Heroes timeline.
She is the central character in "The Lost Adventures of Galatea Future" comic series as well as "Future's Guardian".
