Devil Ray
Carl Mattus never claimed to be a brilliant man, but he knew an opportunity when he saw one and was willing to grab it. When the military began testing an experimental deep-sea diving suit, he was the most qualified diver, despite occasional reprimands on his record. The Marine-Augmenting Naval Test Apparatus (MANTA) suit performed beyond even Carl’s wildest dreams. It gave him power and freedom like he’d never known, and he decided to keep it.
During an extremely deep test dive, he faked an accident and made it appear that he and the prototype were lost at an unrecoverable depth. Carl simply disappeared, taking the suit with him. For some time he worked secretly as a smuggler, pirate, and illegal salvage operator on the black market, using the name Devil-Ray.
His luck ran out when Siren investigated some of his crimes and brought Carl in. He managed to escape execution after a military tribunal judged him a traitor, and deserter, though he landed in prison for smuggling and piracy. He’s broken out of jail many times, always reclaiming “his” armor, and has clashed with Siren several times.
His Crime League allies broke Devil-Ray out of jail so he could help them deal with Siren and the Freedom League, and he has become a regular part of the criminal team since then: powerful enough to be useful, but not ambitious enough to be threatening to anyone else.
The one time Devil Ray got overly ambitious, he ended up regretting it. An attempt to conquer Atlantis using ancient mystical artifacts recovered from sea floor ruins ended in failure, but left Devil Ray with a “gift” from the ancient Deep One known as Dagon: He could mentally commands the creatures of the deep, but was now in the process of slowly transforming into one himself. Devil Ray has become dependent on various treatments to stave off his condition, which usually involve the theft of rare materials or the money to pay for them, and have made him more dependent on his Crime League “allies” than before.
Physical Description
Apparel & Accessories
Devil-Ray’s powers originally all came from his suit of advanced armor, designed as an underwater life-support and exploratory vehicle (with potential military applications). The armor is a shell of advanced alloys and flexible composites that provides the wearer with a recyclable air supply and protection from the intense cold and pressure of the ocean depths. Artificial-fiber “muscles” along the surface enhance the wearer’s strength, while turbines in the legs allow the armor to move quickly through the water or even fly through the air using the foils attached to the arms for lift. The armor’s offensive system—what Mattus calls his “devil rays”—consists of modulated electrical blasters in the gauntlets, able to fire powerful electrical bolts or stunning pulses similar to a taser, both of which conduct well through water.
Mental characteristics
Intellectual Characteristics
Devil-Ray is a cheap thug with just enough power and knowledge to make him dangerous. He enjoys bullying people, while he knuckles under to stronger personalities and follows the order of his superiors. He’s greedy and willing to do anything for money, but shortsighted when it comes to getting and holding on to it. He likes to think of himself as “big time,” but secretly fears he’s in over his head when it comes to dealing with the rest of the Crime League.
More than anything, Devil Ray wants to be rid of the Curse of Dagon that plagues him. He is terrified of turning into a monster or falling under the influence of preternatural powers, but is also unwilling to give up on his powers or go to prison. For now, he’s beholden to allies like Medea and Dr. Simian for their help, and willing to do what it takes to keep his treatments going while looking for a possible cure.
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