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[Picture of Dark Matter]
Real Name: Fred Fleming
Known Relatives: Unnamed parents (deceased)
Occupation: CEO of Curfew Cosmetics
Base of Operations: Central City, Missouri
First Appearance: Legends of the DC Universe #15 (1999)

[Portrait of Fleming] The Englewood Project was a top-secret effort, based at Central City’s Lannister Labs, to harness the energy of dark matter*. Two researchers, a married couple, were caught in an energy leak. They survived, and their son was born normal... but both died of a rare disease a few years later, leaving Frederick an orphan.

25 years later, Fred Fleming developed the power to generate intense heat. Still blaming his parents’ fellow researchers for their death, he began tracking them down and killing them with his new-found power. The first killing attracted the attention of police scientist Barry Allen, who spotted unusual signs of melting at the site of what looked at first like a car accident. He was able to keep Allen off the case by buying off chief Hinchman, but Allen pursued him another way—as the Flash. Dark Matter killed three more people before the Flash caught up with him. He has not been seen since, and can be assumed to be in prison.

Text by Kelson Vibber. Do not copy without permission.

Top of Page Art

  • Costumed: Legends of the DC Universe #16 (May 1999) - Richard Case
  • Unmasked: Legends of the DC Universe #15 (April 1999) - Richard Case

Appearances

  • Legends of the DC Universe #15–17 (April–June 1999): “Dark Matters,” Michael Jan Friedman

Notes

* Actually, dark matter refers to matter that does not give off or reflect enough light for us to see it, but its presence (or rather its gravity) would explain the interaction of distant stars and galaxies. Wikipedia: Dark matter

What Friedman described here, “virtual particles...detected in seemingly empty spots in space,” sounds more like Hawking radiation. Quantum theory suggests that particles of matter can appear temporarily, often in matter/antimatter pairs, then annihilate each other. If these particles appeared near a black hole, they might be separated, avoid annihilating each other, and become “real” particles. Wikipedia: Hawking radiation

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