Overtime

A villainous speedster determined to overcome his limitations

“Your end will come before you can even perceive it.”

New heroes might mistake Overtime for a technologist, since he’s wearing sophisticated power armor. He’s powerfully built, with a commanding presence even behind his mask. His armor is an ominous black, with visible weapons and gadgets, even venting steam from time to time. In truth, the armor is built to allow Overtime to safely use his real power: super-speed via time manipulation.

Overtime can radically speed himself up, relative to the world. But he has no secondary abilities to make that convenient. Moving at ultra-speed, the air is a nearly solid mass of immovable matter - and he must still breathe. If he runs into something at full speed without protection, it’ll do as much damage to him as he’d do in return. Worst, he still ages, and time passes for him.

It would take two months to run across the United States Even if the experience took seconds or minutes from the perspective of everyone else, he’d experience all two months of that time as struggling through a frozen atmosphere. He’d be cut off from all human contact, and still need to eat, sleep, and more. As a result, he regards his speed powers as a curse, or a tool of last resort. He can be nearly invulnerable against non-speedsters if he tries, but at considerable cost.

So why do it? Ultimately, he’s addicted to the idea of super-speed. He could do anything! Go anywhere! Take whatever he wished! The temptation of the power makes him keep experimenting and inventing. Someday, he tells himself, he’ll be free of his restraints. And he’ll chase that dream at any cost.

Playing Overtime

Overtime is obsessed with the potential of his power. He’s a mad scientist cursed with a gift he can’t use. Both his power and obsession have cut him off from human beings who could help him.

Overtime is a villainous speedster along the lines of Reverse-Flash, but who doesn’t have a heroic counterpart to keep him under control. To balance his power potential, he compensates for the secondary effects of super-speed with technology instead of a “Speed Force”. His default portrayal is inspired by the character “Baylan Skoll” from “Ahsoka”.

Plots

Rescue a hero or villain Overtime has kidnapped as a test subject for power modification
Keep Overtime from stealing time- or superpower-related tech to add to his suit
Find a weakness in Overtime’s powers or gadgets to negate his speed advantage

Dialogue

“Stay out of my way. This is the only warning you’ll receive.”
“Have you ever dived in the lightless depths of the ocean? To me, that is what it’s like.”
“Nobody can follow me on this path.”

Comic Book Panels

The heroes are attacking Overtime with everything they have. Energy blasts, projectiles, and punches are en route. Then - he’s simply not there. He’s on the other side of the battlefield, already warming up a devastating counterattack.

Out of the blue, Overtime is on a crime scene. With a few key graceful moves, across a few seconds at most, he enacts some plan of sabotage or theft - then he’s gone, succeeding before his victims can process his presence.

Overtime’s armor seals crack open, revealing a weathered face, a sad frown, and eyes burning with dedication.

Variations

Workarounds

Overtime is essentially defined by how lacking a Speed Force hinders his super-speed. But how hindered is he really?

Does his suit include jets, grapples, atmospheric ionizers, or some way to let him move around easily?
What life support options does he have in the suit, and how long can he stay inside it?

Human Connections

Overtime is written as a lonely villain, but he might have people in his life regardless.

Is there someone who’s trying to reach him, such as a family member or lover?
Has he hurt someone in the past that wants revenge?