Characters: Buffalo Soldier
Real name: Dwayne "Hercules" Quintrell
Occupation: Career soldier
Identity: Unknown to the public
Legal Status: Citizen of The United States
Place of Birth: James City, North Carolina
Known relatives: Rev. Ezekiel Quintrell (father), Anna Mae Quinterll (mother), Rev. Sanford Quintrell (brother), Mae Quintrell (sister), Isaiah Quintrell (uncle)
Group Affiliation: The Buffalo Soldier Corps. T.A.S.K. (special reserve member)
Powers and Abilities:
Hercules Quintrell is a former US Navy SEAL and is among the premier special operations warfighters in the world. He is highly proficient in the use and maintenance of specialized firearms and explosive ordnance and has been trained in infiltration into enemy controlled territories and structures. He is a master of camouflage and stealth and has been trained in multiple forms of martial arts. He is resolute, unflinching and adapts to situational changes on the field of battle at a moment's notice.
Equipment and Weapons: The Buffalo Soldier carries specialized equipment developed and manufactured by the R&D division of the Tuskegee Institute. The Buffalo Soldier battlesuit can withstand impacts from armor piercing rounds, concussion and shrapnel grenades. The battlesuit is also outfitted with muscular enhancing exoskeletal elements that increase the wearer's strength and speed. Dwayne Quintrell's most recent suit has been upgraded with the Baker Chameleontech Nanite Adaptive Camouflage System allowing the Buffalo Soldier to disappear into his surroundings.
The headgear won by the present Buffalo Soldier is a communications hub and includes a telescopic sight which enables night vision, infrared vision and certain types of energy detection. Dwayne Quintrell has been outfitted with the Douglass 1 implant which allows him to "telepathically" communicate with Buffalo Soldier Operational Command. In reality Quintrell's thoughts are converted to high intensity digital signals and relayed via communications network. The implant is housed in the Buffalo Soldier insignia grafted onto Quintrell's forehead.
Dwayne Quintrell has access to all the Tuskegee Institute's advanced weaponry but has shown affinity for the Tubman 300 Pulse Concussion Carbine and a modified Colt Walker Pistol.
Brief Personal History: Dwayne Quintrell was born into a religious family in the small North Carolina town of James City and was expected to follow his father into the ministry at the local A.M.E. Zion Church. Reverend Ezekiel Quintrell was not only a man of God but also a pillar of North Carolina Civil Rights organizations. As a child Dwayne's diminutive stature and small frame made him a frequent target of bullies and his father's advice of turning the other cheek enraged him. It was his uncle, a former Navy chaplain, who secretly taught the boy self-defense techniques. When Dwayne used those skills to defend himself against four bullies (seriously injuring one) he earned the nickname "Hercules." He also earned the disappointment of his father -- who believed his son too eager to embrace violence over the Word of God.
Dwayne experienced a dramatic growth spurt in his junior year of high school and by the time graduation approached he had grown to an imposing six feet six inches tall and weighed well over 230 pounds, most of it solid muscle. The week before graduation, the town's long simmering racial tensions ignited and one of Dwayne's black classmates was attacked by a group of white assailants. This in turn sparked angry protests and days of civil unrest, with many of the town's young people, including Dwayne, taking to the streets. The elder Quintrell and his church's congregation also organized marches seeking justice through non-violent means. The clash of ideologies threw the Quintrell house into tumult, with neither son nor father relenting their stance. On the third night of unrest, father and son led their opposing groups into a tense face-off that descended into chaos when a single shot rang out ... and Bishop Ezekiel Quintrell fell to the ground with a bullet in his back.
In the ensuing confusion Dwayne was separated from his father by police, broke free and pursued the shooter -- the white son of a prominent local politician. The two young men fought and Quintrell critically injured the shooter. Dwayne's uncle arrived just as he was about to end the would be assassin's life and stopped the youth, telling him his father was alive. Realizing that Dwayne probably wouldn't make it to a cell if he surrendered, his uncle gave him the name and number of his old Navy commanding officer and his car keys. Dwayne was headed to the Navy.
His uncle's former commanding officer was a regional Naval Special Warfare/Special Operations Mentor, who saw great potential in the young man. Dwayne was in exceptional physical condition and possessed a high IQ. He was perfect SEAL material. Although initially reluctant, Dwayne decided that at this point in his life it was as good an option as any. Two and half years later Dwayne Quintrell was a deployed to his first combat mission.
Over the next several years Quintrell saw action in missions in Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya and Antarctica. He was perfectly suited to military life even though it would forever be a point of disagreement between he and his now handicapped father. On a mission in the Sudan to rescue US and international students who had been kidnapped by militants, he became involved with Warifa Nazer, a teacher/bodyguard and former agent of the Tuskegee Institute. The mission was compromised by members of a white supremacist group that had infiltrated JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) in order to assassinate the children of high ranking foreign dignitaries. Many members of Dwayne's team were wounded in an ambush and it was only through Nazer's aid and Quintrell's calm under fire that the SEALs were able to be safely extracted. Quintrell and Nazer stayed on the ground in order to protect the departing helicopter and went on to complete the mission, although they were both wounded in the process.
The investigation into the traitorous elements within JSOC demoralized the recuperating Quintrell, who had found structure and a home in the military. The fact that the racism that had chased him from James City had poisoned his new life and almost taken the lives of fellow SEALs infuriated him.
Enter Warifa Nazer and the Tuskegee Institute.
On orders from her former superiors, Warifa informed Dwayne of the existence of the Buffalo Soldier Corps; an organization that had been formed in the 1800s to defend Black Americans from White supremacist attacks. Intrigued by the idea of a Black paramilitary organization supported by a Black R&D science division, he agreed to meet with Buffalo Soldier Corps and Tuskegee Institute leadership.
While Dwayne and Warifa were visiting the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, intelligence reports came in of a plot to assassinate a prominent Civil Right activist in North Carolina -- Dwayne Quintrell's father, the Reverend Ezekiel Quintrell. The defense of his own father's life and the pursuit of his would-be killers became Dwayne's first action under Buffalo Soldier command.
After a complicated discharge from the Navy, Dwayne Quintrell became the new Buffalo Soldier -- an agent behind the scenes, protecting African Americans and the citizens of the African diaspora from the next generation of white supremacists (superhuman and otherwise).
Note: As part of a long standing agreement between the Buffalo Soldier Corps. and T.A.S.K., the Buffalo Soldier is granted special reserve status.
Written by Damion Gonzales
Character design by Sean Isaakse