Anti-Christ Lad

Anti-Christ Lad is a diabolic offspring created by Arthur Spitzer.
Alter Ego:	Unknown
Aliases:	Ole Scratch, Vice
Primary Writer:	None
Status:	Secret leader of the East Coast Brotherhood of Net.Villains, time-traveling member of the Legion of Net.Hippies
Usability:	Free For Use

History

Anti-Christ Lad was the son of the Devil (or, at least, a Devil, superhero universes being what they are). His early history is mostly unrevealed, although he seems to have been raised at least partially as a human.

Early in his career as leader of the Legion of Net.Hippies, he was a Byronic antihero, struggling against his father's legacy. It is this version which went through the Time Door to visit the modern-day LNH, as seen below.

Later, he seems to have lost that struggle:

   Once this man had been a good man. A man that had dreams and hopes for a better world. But he made a deal. And now something horrible and ancient swam through his body.

  —Bride of C'thulhu #666

By the 1970s, he was working with the Elder Chipmunks, building golden idols of them to worship, and calling himself Ole Scratch. This ended when Self-Righteous Preacher joined the Net.Hippies and exorcised him back to Net.Hell.

However, he would get his revenge on the Preacher. From Net.Hell, he slowly chipped away at the Preacher's soul, whispering dark things to him at night. It took decades, but when the Preacher saw a tape of what his alternate self had done out of desperation in a dying universe [Legion of Occult Heroes #4], it created a crack that let Anti-Christ Lad get a hold. And when the Preacher was assassinated during Saviors of the Net, Anti-Christ Lad possessed his body, transforming him into Vice and unleashing chaos on Net.ropolis.

Thankfully, Very-Disturbed-Scary-Creature Man solved this problem as he does most problems: by beating Vice up. Anti-Christ Lad left the Preacher's body (somehow restoring it to living, though very bruised, condition) and exited the storyline.

At the end of the Infinite Leadership Crisis, he returned, this time in the body of Zombie President Taft. Backed up by Solid Gold Dancers, he took part in the battle between the LNH and the Legion of Net.Villains. But possessing an American president made him vulnerable to Canadian magicks, and Occultism Kid and Gothic Gorilla, together with the power of the band Rush, defeated him.

After the Time Door was established, the still-heroic (or antiheroic, anyway) Anti-Christ Lad of the 1960s came through. During Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have an Ending, he beheld the wonders of the future, helped defeat LAN.os, and grew closer to Dr. Turn On-Tune In-Drop Out. But would this be enough to avert his fearful future?

The present-day Anti-Christ Lad wanted to make sure it wasn't. He possessed Mister Homage and took control of the East Coast Brotherhood of Net.Villains, plotting to destroy his past self's new home in the Legion and show him there's no escape from despair. But said past self took on the challenge – by joining the West Coast Brotherhood of Net.Villains!

Personality

In his Byronic period, full of woe and heroic struggling. After he fell, a callous, smooth-talking manipulator who clung fiercely to power and delighted in cruelty.

Powers and Abilities

Standard Satan stuff – corruption, possession, manipulation, making deals. Probably has some form of mystical skills.

As Vice, caused Net.ropolis citizens to riot by bringing out their repressed sides. Also, wielded a giant flaming upside-down cross.

Appearance

In his Byronic period, a man whose face is covered in demonic-looking face paint, wearing a helmet with enormous and unwieldy horns. Later, a man with the number 666 constantly burning on his forehead and giant horns coming out of his skull.

As Vice, like Self-Righteous Preacher, but with the horns and 666 and unshaven. Wears a black leather jacket and a T-shirt with a red-splattered V on it, and constantly smokes cigarettes.

As a hero, he spoke in an overdramatic, constantly pronouncing manner. After giving in to the dark side, he became a smooth talker who constantly spouted slang, but turned jokingly cruel when his deceptions were revealed.

Appearances

• First Appearance: JONG #4
• Malingerer Lad and Teenfactor #20
• Saviors of the Net #6, Pi, 8, 16-17
• Bride of C'thulhu #666
• LNH Comics Presents #501 (Infinite Leadership Crisis Episode 466)
• Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have an Ending #4, 9, 12-13
• System Corruptors #34-36
• Cover Gallery #1009i
• Hungry, Hungry Sabertooths! #4, 2pi