Creation

Power Boy is a character created by Steve Lightle as a part of the DC Comics published comic series the Legion of Superheroes. Power Boys first appearance was in Superboy & the Legion #240, June 1978.

Origin

Jed Rikane always hoped he would become a Legionnaire and so he entered the Legion Academy and remained there as a student for many years.

Character Evolution

Original Continuity: New Earth

In the 30th century, Jedediah Rikane was a student in the Legion Academy, a training program developed and financed by the United Planets super-team - the Legion of Super-Heroes, based on Earth. Jed was born with control over his body's density, an ability that gives him super-strength, partial invulnerability, and purple skin.

He remained at the Academy for many years, taking part in several training missions and waiting patiently for a chance to tryout for the Legion of Super-Heroes. Jed would even stand ready to back up the Legion when necessary, helping friends in need, and pestering whomever necessary to get a tryout with the Legion.

He finally got his shot in 2986, but he was rejected, and though he stayed at the Academy, he lost any hope of being a Legionnaire at that time. He decided to stay at the Academy anyway, participating in many more training missions and sessions.

Five-Years Gap

In post-Crisis continuity, Jed Rikane went on to fulfill the ominous destiny of Power Boy. When the Legion Academy became the United Planets Militia Academy, Rikane joined Chuck and Luornu Taine on Xolnar.

Jed decided to continue on with the changes in the Academy. He soon became an instructor in the United Planets Militia Academy on Xolnar where eventually he was killed by a Khund warrior commando while defending its pluridium mines.

Retroboot: New Earth

When the continuity that followed the Infinite Crisis, which had restored the original multiverse and its timelines, Power Boy had stayed with the Academy. Along with fellow alumni Nightwind, Lamprey, Crystal Kid, Mandalla all took their final exams together as a graduating class.

At some point in the past he had dated fellow alumni Lamprey for a short time, staying very close as friends. Now Jed had been in long-term serious relationship with another Academy student Gravity Kid.

After graduating the Academy and failing to get a spot in the Legion after various tryouts he decided a change in his life was needed. Jed decided to seek assignment as a call to duty with the Science Police on Takron-Galtos. Instead of staying at the Academy, Gravity Kid chose to take advantage of the S.P.'s "trailing spouse" provision to go with his partner Power Boy. The two now work shifts mostly together in a unit of the S.P on Takron-Galtos.

Other Versions

A version of Jedediah is later seen in a group of Legionnaires pulled from alternate worlds to fight the Time Trapper. In the altered continuity that results from that Crisis, Power Boy reappears as a living member of the Academy, and begins a relationship with fellow student Gravity Kid.

Powers and Abilities

Jed was born a mutant with particular control over his body's density which as he gains mass his physical attributes increase dynamically. This mass altering property to his powers causes a few specific effects including the ability of superhuman strength, a moderate amount of invulnerability, and a purple skin tone. The increase in his mass also changes his physical appearance causing Jed to have a massively muscled body and a stocky appearance.

Like all Academy students Jed has received years of training in extensive unarmed combat.

Equipment

When Jed was a student of the Legion Academy/United Planets Military Academy, Power Boy had been allowed the use of a Legion Flight Ring. The ring gives its wearer the ability to fly, the speed and range of which is determined by the wearer's willpower. It also acts as a long-range communicator (enabling constant vocal contact with other Legionnaires, even across vast distances of space), a signal device, and a navigational compass, all powered by a micro-computer built inside the ring.