Earth-Man

“	It's time for the next stage of our crusade - find and execute every extra-terrestrial still on Earth, we head planetside in two hours.. long live humans!	„
	~ Earth-Man

Earth-Man, real name Kirt Niedrigh, is a powerful supervillain from DC comics.

He held a grudge against the Legion of Super-Heroes after being rejected and would resurface as a major threat to world security.

History[]

In his youth, Kirt Niedrigh applied for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes and called himself "Absorbancy Boy". Kirt had the power to absorb the powers of any metahuman being, but was rejected because his powers were limited. Further, Saturn Girl had analyzed his mind, and discovered his tendencies toward evil.

Angered by being rejected, Kirt found the "Zoraz" costume, which the Legionnaires used as a test for new Legionnaires. As "Zoraz", Kirt attacked the Legionnaires. After defeating them, Kirt revealed his identity, believing he had earned his place.

The Legion didn't agree, and Superboy attempted to take the suit from him. Kirt used the suit to project red sun radiation at Superboy, and absorbed his powers. He defeated Superboy, but Kirt himself was beaten by Legion applicant Tyroc.

Later, Kirt became known as Earth-Man, and he claimed to have discovered the crystal artifact in the Arctic which proved that Superman was not an alien, but a human who was given abilities to protect Earth from alien invaders.

Earth-Man tricked the world into believing that Superman was not an alien but a human given powers to protect humanity from aliens - using this lie Earth-Man began to turn humanity extremely xenophobic towards all aliens and even leaving the United Planets. Earth-Man used this information to cause distrust against aliens amongst the people of Earth.

Earth-Man was successful, as Earth seceded from the United Planets. All remaining aliens living on Earth were deported or sent to prison camps. Other human Legion rejects joined Earth-Man's cause.

Taking full advantage of the situation, Earth-Man had all aliens of Earth violently captured and deported before gathering like-minded villains to form the Justice League of Earth: who upheld "Superman's beliefs" (in reality Earth-Man's destructive xenophobia).

Many Legionnaires went on the run or captured by the Justice League. Earth-Man kept many Legionnaires held prisoner in the Justice League's satellite headquarters, and he absorbed their powers for himself. Using Sun Boy, he turned Earth's yellow sun into a red one.

Brainiac 5 sent for Superman, and brought him to the 31st century through the use of a Time Bubble. Together, with other freed Legionnaires, and the Legion of Substitute Heroes, they attacked the Justice League's satellite headquarters.

Earth-Man took on Superman one-on-one, and with Superman powerless, he beat him easily. However, Brainiac 5 freed Sun Boy, and with Earth's sun yellow, Superman could fight Earth-Man on equal footing again.

With Superman's powers returned, and the people of Earth viewing Earth-Man's actions, it convinced the people of Metropolis that they had been fooled. Earth-Man was doing well against Superman, but when all the freed Legionnaires arrived, he did not have a chance. Earth-Man and the Justice League of Earth were sent to Takron-Galtos.

The JLE, along with Earth-Man, later joined forces with the Legion of Super-Villains, Fatal Five, Universo and Mordru. Since they had the same goal of destroying the Legion, Earth-Man agreed to join with them temporarily but the villains were once again defeated and so Earth-Man was sent back to prison again.

Notes[]

Earth-Man's rise to power and use of xenophobia to gain power is similar to the early career of the infamous German dictator: Adolf Hitler.
Despite his hatred of aliens, Earth-Man is himself far from a "normal" human, making him a hypocrite - he is even more of a hypocrite when history shows that many aliens (such as Superman) have existed on Earth for a majority of their lives and are thus considered citizens of the planet... by gathering like-minded individuals (who are all super-powered to some extent) to enforce his will Earth-Man acted no different from the heroes he claimed to be against.

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