When I first met Gideon March, she looked like any six-year old. She wouldn\u2019t make eye contact, instead looking at her feet like she\u2019d found them for the first time as she kicked them back and forth on the sofa. You knew she was listening, though, by the way she smiled and looked at you out of the corners of her eyes. And sometimes, just sometimes, you\u2019d catch a flicker of her power as her pupils narrowed into cat-like slits. I was told she could see pheromones, much like her mother Storm Tiger, and both friends and family were dreading the day her father\u2019s explosive powers manifested. He isn\u2019t called Volatile without reason.<\/p>\n
Not all prodigies take after both parents, but many do. They are also the least understood and the best kept secret among the superhero community, perhaps more so than one\u2019s own secret identity. Many heroes who are parents to prodigies are terrified of the public scrutiny their children might receive, or the threat posed by the metas they\u2019ve arrested. Gideon March is no exception. While Gideon is famous thanks to the paparazzi who captured photos of her and her slitted eyes last year, both Storm Tiger and Volatile want their daughter to have a well-adjusted childhood.<\/p>\n
The first official prodigy was Trevor Endicott, son of British WWII hero Hooded Crow and the German-born Gewrum who defected to the Allies in the middle of the war. Trevor inherited his mother\u2019s shapeshifting abilities and reputedly went on to work for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) as a spy. There\u2019s very little information about Trevor\u2019s life except for some pieces in The Times about \u201cthe lad with superpowers.\u201d The Times called him \u201ca prodigy\u201d and the name stuck for all powered offspring.<\/p>\n
Because an active Crisis Gene (CG-1) is a recessive gene, a single metahuman parent will rarely pass on his or her abilities to their children. Both parents must be metahuman for a prodigy to be born and exhibit powers. At what age that child shows powers is another matter, and seems to range anywhere from five years to the onset of puberty. Beyond that, it\u2019s unlikely the child of two metahumans will generate abilities, and it has happened that a prodigy develops no powers at all.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, there are so few prodigies out there and meta-parents are so protective of their children that there\u2019s no studies to establish any sort of baseline. It also means that prodigies have become a goldmine of inaccuracies and conspiracy theorists. The most popular of the latter, and the most sexist and troubling in my opinion, is the belief that women who trigger are \u201cartificially inseminated by multiple meta donors to act as superbaby factories to create as many metahumans as it takes to eventually replace humanity.\u201d If you think this assertion just comes from the lunatic fringe, then you\u2019d have to include Congressman Wheeler of Oregon and Chief Judge Madison of the Maryland Court of Appeals in that list. Not only have they unabashedly stated their beliefs on the matter, but they\u2019ve gone so far as to suggest that metahumans can\u2019t marry or have children for \u201cthe sanctity of the human gene pool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other people worry about metahuman children for a simpler and perhaps more practical reason. The ability to control their powers, especially with the onset of puberty. Although never officially verified, there are stories within the industry of prodigies undergoing power fluxes and even power shifts during the hormonal turbulence of puberty. It\u2019s no secret that some prodigies end up refining on their parent\u2019s powers or pushing them further. Trevor Endicott was said to be able to take on different human appearances, while his mother was restricted to animal forms.<\/p>\n
That said, many metahumans home-school their children and a few even use tutors with powers. Despite a wish to \u201cnormalize\u201d their children, metahumans are afraid of accidents or their children getting into fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cProdigy or not, they are still children,\u201d Storm Tiger told me once. \u201cThey learn by making mistakes.\u201d It\u2019s those mistakes that terrify parents into thinking metahumans should never have children, and that thinking that forces powered parents to home-school their children.<\/p>\n
Regardless, current estimates put the number of prodigies at around 45 worldwide and there rumors that some countries encourage metas to marry one another and have multiple children through incentives like stipends, homes, and state support. The world has yet to see, however, what happens when two prodigies marry and have children of their own. Will it be the beginning of superpowered dynasties? Will it distill power into more powerful metahumans? Nobody knows because as it stands now, we barely understand what being a prodigy actually means, much less what happens to their DNA when they’re steeped in powers from nearly the time of their foundation years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first met Gideon March, she looked like any six-year old. She wouldn\u2019t make eye contact, instead looking at her feet like she\u2019d found them for the first time as she kicked them back and forth on the sofa. 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Roadkill Inc. isn\u2019t a name that inspires confidence, Donna Bartlet will be the first to admit with a broad grin, but nobody\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Beat","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-beat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":174,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2015\/12\/03\/hero-beat-a-day-in-the-life-of-the-tour\/","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":1},"title":"HERO BEAT: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF \u201cTHE TOUR\u201d","author":"Lucien","date":"December 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s called \u201cThe Tour,\u201d and only a handful know how grueling, how exhausting, and how heartbreaking it can be. The Tour is the two-year average of most heroes who hit the streets before injury or PTSD or burnout bring their careers to a sudden halt. The ones who get back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Beat","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-beat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":208,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2015\/12\/10\/hero-beat-talking-with-riot-act\/","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":2},"title":"HERO BEAT: TALKING WITH RIOT ACT","author":"Lucien","date":"December 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s Friday night at the end of a long shift, and Harry\u2019s is packed. Obviously, Harrys\u2019 isn\u2019t the bar\u2019s real name, the officers of the Armored Mobile Police (A.M.P.) and the investigative arm better known as Amplitude Squad like to keep their favorite watering hole a secret. So I\u2019m here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Beat","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-beat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":402,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2016\/05\/05\/hero-beat-street-angels-network-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":3},"title":"HERO BEAT: STREET ANGELS NETWORK PART I","author":"Lucien","date":"May 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you first become a crime fighter, there's a lot you don't know. The first lesson is that it's not a clubhouse out there; metahumans are either territorial about protecting their opportunities for fame and fortune, or they're the diehard vets suspicious of your motives. Then there's the stuff nobody\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Beat","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-beat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":336,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2016\/02\/17\/superhero-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":4},"title":"SUPERHERO MUSIC","author":"Lucien","date":"February 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent cold savaging me has me laid out for a few days, so instead of a Hero Beat article, which required way too much thought for my mucus drenched brain, I decided to go with something different this week around. I have two main inspirations for superheroes. The first\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":261,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2016\/01\/14\/hero-beat-storm-chasers-part-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":5},"title":"HERO BEAT: STORM CHASERS PART II","author":"Lucien","date":"January 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing our conversation with Jake Simmons, star reporter and blogger for stormchasers.com and his experiences covering the exploits of Storm Chasers: The men and women who dive into natural disasters, hoping to trigger their transformation into metahumans. You can read Part I of the interview (here). 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