Tom Cypress

No one knows for sure how the hulking swamp creature called Tom Cypress came to be. Some say he’s the result of an unholy union between a woman and a so-called “skunk ape” from the Arkansas bayous. Others say he’s the cursed spirit of a man who committed some great sin, now doomed to walk the earth as a monster Whatever its nature, its intentions were clear enough from the day it first shambled out of the South River Swamp back in 1939. Cypress’ bloody rampage left dozens dead or wounded, thousands of dollars worth of property damaged, and all of Freedom City in a panic once the Army failed to halt it. Only The Centurion's arrival prevented things from falling completely apart, as the legendary hero demolished the monster in a scene destined for reenactment many times after each of Cypress’ regular rebirths. While Cypress’ rampages seemed random, the costumed villains who founded The Crime League noticed they were at least vaguely criminal in nature. Needing at least one member who could stand toe-to-toe with Centurion, the supervillains took a gamble and ventured into the South River Swamp in search of the monster. With a little help from Marionette, the simple-minded Cypress was persuaded to join the League. For generations, he remained a fixture as the team’s designated muscle and dupe. Tom Cypress remained a threat to Freedom for decades until being destroyed—seemingly for the last time—by Centurion in 1991. Since his remains were not cremated, however, there was nothing preventing his eventual return. When The Crime League found themselves in need of additional muscle, Medea summoned Tom Cypress up out of the South River Swamp once again, and has had the man-monster wrapped around her little finger ever since. Medea’s influence is primarily guile and her presence rather than any mystical power (as some of her allies believe it turns out that Cypress is surprisingly resistant to mental influence, in spite of his fairly limited intellect. What even Medea does not know is that the Tom Cypress who worked with the previous incarnations of the Crime League was truly destroyed. The one she summoned up from the waters of the swamp is a duplicate from a parallel reality. His fragmentary memories are of another Earth, with other heroes and villains, which may no longer exist. The Crime League passes any confusion their hulking compatriot has with the modern world on his long absence and general lack of intellect, but Tom remembers something about “another place” in between the world he came from and the one he is on now. In that place, there was a voice, which told Tom he would “serve a useful purpose when the time came.” He doesn’t know what that means, and doesn’t think about it much any more, focusing more on having enemies to smash and bright and shiny things to occupy his attention.

Physical Description

Special abilities

Tom Cypress is a hulking humanoid creature. Although he appears and acts like a living being, he isn’t...precisely. He’s tremendously strong, able to pick up and hurl tanks, and equally resistant to harm, shrugging off the same tanks’ weaponry with relative ease. Cypress is largely immune to living concerns: he doesn’t need to breathe, eat, or sleep, and ignores extremes of heat and cold. He has lain at the bottom of murky pools in the swamp for untold amounts of time, and walked across the bottom of the ocean. He doesn’t appear to age and, if he is killed, his body dissolves and reforms in the depths of the Southside Swamp unless the body is quickly cremated and the ashes scattered. Even then, there may be ways to reform Tom Cypress (probably by returning his remains to the swamp and employing mystical means). Any swamp environment is home to Tom, and his body quickly repairs damage there. He has a feel for such environments, and is an even more cunning and capable foe there. He’s particularly known for lying in wait, almost completely submerged, allowing him to overturn boats or spring out and surprise opponents, who note the swamp hulk is much faster than he appears. Cypress can “swamp walk” at will, standing on the surface of muck, quicksand, or even swamp water without sinking, an ability he has used to evade pursuit in his native swamps. Lastly, Tom Cypress’ limited, inhuman mind is resistant to outside mental powers like telepathy, although his otherwise simple nature and limited intellect make him susceptible to interaction skills and persuasion attempts.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

Tom Cypress has the mind of a violent child and an intellect barely above that of the swamps that spawned him. He can sometimes be soothed and calmed, particularly by Medea’s voice and presence, but he solves problems by hitting them as hard as he possibly can, and fear, frustration, or anger all drive him into a fury that leaves very little standing when it’s done. Throughout most of his existence, Tom was fixated on the Centurion as the object of his anger, perhaps because the hero so often opposed him and was responsible for the creature’s “death” on several occasions. Now Tom Cypress seems equally fixated on Centuria, although this time it appears to be a mix of both anger and fascination. Medea and the Crime League are careful not to let the swamp creature talk with Centuria (or anyone) for too long, and stoke the flames of his anger towards the heroine and anyone else outside of their immediate circle.