Making MHR Characters: Flying Dutchman's Ghost (ANOHotMU #4)

In grand keeping with the Marvel tradition of getting their source material totally wrong and later attempting to retcon it, the Flying Dutchman's Ghost clearly and obviously originally referred to the ghost itself - a dutch sea captain who was nabbed by Mephisto - and only later was it "made clear" that obviously they meant that he was a ghost from the ship, the Flying Dutchman, just like the legend.

You know the legend, right? No? Okay, it's a pretty quick one. When things are about to go terribly south for a ship, there are various omens one can encounter. Among them is a large seagoing vessel, flying through the air, signalling danger and despair for men lost at see.

Less "terrifying spirit," and
more "ghost who forgets
if he turned off the stove."

It was an ill omen to see the Flying Dutchman, for sure, but it was because . . . well, look at that picture. Do you think that little tiny boat is really looking forward to getting swallowed up in those swells? As a nautical tale, the Dutchman was pretty neutral and it wasn't until landlubbers got a hold of it that they had to people it with malicious ghosts.

What's weird about the Silver Surfer's weird version of the story is that Marvel had already used the actual Flying Dutchman in a previous story.

Anyhow, in Marvel, the here unnamed ship was lost with all hands when her captain took them into a perilous storm when his lust for treasure overwhelmed his sensibility. When they died, Death took her crew into her arms, but sent the captain to Limbo because he was mean, I guess. Look, this is from the timeframe when Stan Lee was creating every other character in the Marvel Universe, and they couldn't all be brilliant gems.

So, Mephisto grabs his ghost out of Limbo, empowers him with his demonic naughtiness, and sets him after the Silver Surfer because Mephisto was in the middle of this really great game of cribbage or something, I guess. They fight for a bit, Silver Surfer has a sad when he finds out the captain's whole story and the ghost is dispelled when the Surfer sheds a tear for him.

Exorcism through emo. Who knew?

Anyway, it's a fairly typically weird Silver Surfer story, but as a bad guy he's kind of cool and compelling. I like the names I gave for his SFX here, and I think I've made someone who could at least contend with Surfer.

Flying Dutchman’s Ghost

Solo 1d8

Buddy 1d6

Team 1d10

Distinctions

Driven By Greed

Slave of Mephisto

Tempter of Souls

Ghostly Form

Flight 1d8

Intangibility 1d10

Invisibility 1d10

SFX: Pass Straight Through - Spend a die from the Doom Pool to avoid taking physical stress or trauma unless caused by a magical source.

Limit: Dishonorable Death - Step up mental stress or trauma when caused by reminders of his mortal life.

Infernal Pact

Claws 1d8

Enhanced Strength 1d8

Eye Blasts 1d10

Godlike Durability 1d12

Sorcery Mastery 1d10

SFX: Burning Hatred - Step up or double an Infernal Pact power against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.

SFX: Reflected Evil - On a reaction against physical attacks, inflict physical stress with your effect die on a success. Spend a die from the Doom Pool to counter on a failure.

SFX: Spite: Add 1d6 and step up your effect die by +1 when inflicting a Possession complication on a target

Limit: Devil-Bound - Add a die to the Doom Pool and step up physical stress by +1 when caused by a holy or divine source.

Crime Expert 1d8

Menace Master 1d10

Mystic Expert 1d8