THE BANTAM

 

THE BANTAM

Real Name: Roberto Velasquez

First Appearance: Captain America Annual (Vol. 1) #12, May 1993

Powers: Roberto Velasquez was a boxer who underwent the Power Broker process and gained superhuman strength (Class 10), speed, endurance, reflexes, and resilience. However, unlike most Power Broker process participants, his body mass did not increase significantly, leaving him at only 120 pounds. His body also developed a unique reaction to injury: His enhanced physical powers dramatically increase themselves in response to pain and physical assault, especially his strength, reaction time, and recuperative powers. The Bantam was not bulletproof, but the shock and pain of being shot would boost his physical power, causing the bullets to pop out, the wounds to heal up momentarily, and him to return with even more speed, strength, and durability than before he was shot. Over-stimulation of his pain-reactive strength would send Roberto into a berserker rage, though, making him an unthinking fighting machine until the initial power boost wears off.

Roberto Velasquez was a talented boxer in the bantamweight division who engaged in intensive regular exercise.