Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Who/What do you want the Time Trapper to be?

Darn it I'm back and forth. I guess if the Trapper is to be a major villain (which he is). He needs motivation/goals. Why? And all of that goes to who he is.

I agree with EDE that the Time Trapper should have a clear motivation. But I think you can have a clear motivation without making it crystal clear who/what the Trapper really is. In fact, I think it's imperative the Trapper have some clear motivation and ground rules, otherwise, how is it he never wins!?!?! He has all of eternity at his control, and he can't defeat a bunch of teenagers? I mean, c'mon, talk about a loser! (This is my general critique of all time travel villains, btw.)

What if the Time Trapper was of the same family/species/whatever that the Spectre is - an entity that can take a host of some sort? Would that idea get shot down?

Well, after Kent and EDE's posts, now I have something to think about. Too bad this discussion was never had at DC...I think fleshing out what makes the Trapper and his story 'work' here is helping convince me whats right for the character.

I generally think that up until TMK, the character, while visually appealing, never really worked for me, despite being a terribly interesting background/referred-to character in the early Silver Age.

Novelty, well that might well be what he is now. He the personification of entropy. The Spectre of vengeance?

If the Trapper needs a human host? Dynamo Boy? Maybe that explains his weaknesses'?

This thread got me to thinking about the Time Trapper's changing importance as a Legion villain over the years. In "The Legion Sourcebook" reference work in Amazing World of DC Comics # 9, in 1975, he is accorded only three paragraphs and no drawing. Of course his latest encounter with the Legion was in Adventure # 338, a full decade earlier. Clearly, he wasn't that significant a villain, even though his identity was still a mystery.

In the years afterwards, Legion writers explored and exceeded the Trapper's potential. He became a convenient villain, one who was easily relied upon for anniversary issues (v.3, # 45) and mini-series (Legionnaires 3) I think all of this attention and his nebulous origins have watered down the character. He's become too easy to use since his powers and motivations are ill-defined, as proven by the revelation that he's Rokk Krinn!

For this reason, I would rather see his mystery solved one way or another. This would not ruin his potential for further use as a villain, but it might curtail writers' willingness to do anything they want with him.

Jorg, I don't mean to make the TT as a spirit of Vengence... but to share characteristics - strengths, weaknesses, powers, etc. with the Spectre. That would immediately make the TT more defined since quite a bit is known about the Spectre, but it would also mean a link to the current 20th Century universe...

Geez, some good points. I have to say I'm now more in Kent's camp. Drop some hints at who the TT is, but not actual 'reveal,' leave it as something for the reader individually to decide if he's so-and-so or such-and-such, or maybe hint that he is a former Legionnaire, but never show which...

I agree that making him too vague makes it too easy for writers to use him poorly and to water him down. but I also like the idea of not knowing who he really is, I want him to be a clearly defined character but where you are kept guessing about his true identity.

Novelty, I understand. Both characters are personifications of an unrelated force that need a host.

I know i'm in the minority here but I'd really like TT to be the Legions' version of Kang. I'm not saying he needs to be a decendant of a Legionnnaire or even Dyanmo boy, but It would be nice if all 52 new Earths or mulitverses ended at one point an "all roads end here" kinda thing with the Trapper being the master of that domain.

With that done I would agree with Ducks' rule tho, that TT should be vauge and his origins only hinted at. Could he be Dynamo boy from the Pre Crisis? Why does he only attack the Legion? What was up with playing Chess with the Pre crisis Brainiac, Does he also play solitary with Vandal Savage?

We could speculate on who he really is and various writers could add to the mythos. Or As I've said before The Legion could go the way of Avengers Forever and define what the Trapper intentions were over the years. how the crisies affected him, drop the hints at who he could be, and lay the ground work for future plots with him.

Ah to dream.

Are you using the comparison to Kang to include the Council of Crosstime Kangs, or not? Because what I was seeing as an origin is that each timeline has its own being seeking to rule time, and they're all fighting it out for who will rule the last timeline that exists before entropy takes its toll. Because whoever is present at the end of the multiverse would take a role in the next cycle of existence. Sort of like Galan of Taa having the willpower to endure through the Big Crunch of the previous universe, to come out of the Big Bang as Galactus... if that makes any sense?

No multiple Trappers. I like the idea of 52 multiverses and just one Trapper.

He toys with the 52 different Legions. It would be neat to see a mini where a team of Legionnaires from different timelines...all the ones we know and a few more go up against the Trapper. Like Avengers Forever.

No council Seth, just a mini that ties all the Trapper stories together. From the Controller Trapper to the Rokk as Trapper story line. It should define the Trapper, making him THE Legion Villain.

I agree with Jorge that the mini should use Legionnaires from the various Earths with maybe the Infinite Man or The Last Monitor Gathering them together.

For some reason I just had this vision of the trapper as a multiple-entity representation of Legion fandom, each trying to "trap" the Legion in his/her favorite era and destroy the others.

Still meta, but slightly less so, I like the idea of 1 trapper/multiple trappers testing/eliminating versions of the Legion for some ultimate, secret purpose.

You may have something there. The Trapper created the legion anyways. Maybe he wins...and after destroying them he tries to bring them back. maybe the multiverse are all attempts by the trapper to recreate the Legion.

I do like the idea of just one Trapper in the multiverse. That would be a rocking mini!

Yeah, that's what I like too. He can have as many different origins in different universes as writers want, but the final entity should be aware of all of them.

Just about the only thing I liked from the Trapper's reboot appearance was the fact that he knew about his origins in previous timelines, and didn't particularly seem to value one over the others.