Titles
The Dead Lucky | Inferno Girl Red | NO/ONE | Radiant Black | Rogue Sun
This page is for the characters of Radiant Black and its associated spinoffs.
WARNING: SPOILERS WILL BE UNMARKED
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The Radiants
As a whole
The Radiants are everyday people who all gained powers after touching different small black holes. They were forced to come together to combat the threats that have come to take their powers.
- Color-Coded Characters: Despite having very similar costumes, the Radiants are all conveniently coloured different primary colours and have their colours in their codenames.
- Five-Token Band: Marshall is white, Satomi is Asian (Japanese) and Eva is Latina (Spanish) and queer.
- Hand Blast: The other power they share — blasting energy from their hands.
- Henshin Hero: They can summon their suits using their black holes.
- Loser Protagonist: Generally speaking, most of them would fall into this trope. Marshall never moved out of home and has no career aspirations, Satomi is secretly borderline destitute thanks to her fiancé, and Wendell is a man pushing 50 who never got credit for his work and is stuck doing basic electronics jobs. The only exception is Eva, who is a successful influencer, albeit one who is desperate to find her purpose in life and is more of a wayward 20-something who just sort of fell into streaming as a default career choice.
- Rag Tag Band Of Misfits: We have a failure to launch grouch, a middle school teacher who robs banks, an influencer who streams her superhero work, and an old guy forced to try to wrangle them together.
- Sentai: The different-colored suits and codenames are a dead give away. Kyle Higgins has openly admitted to drawing inspiration from the Toku genre.
Radiant Black I (Nathan Burnett)
Nathan Burnett
Alias: Radiant Black
First Appearance: Radiant Black #1 (February 2021)
The Struggling Writer
"You know what the worst part about coming home is? It's not the debt. It's not feeling like "I tried and failed," cause that would imply I actually did something. No, the worst part is, feeling like I had a chance to do something meaningful...and I wasted it."
A struggling writer who is forced to move back home after failing to make it big and falling into financial hardship. Nathan was out with his childhood friend Marshall when a mysterious black hole appeared before them, granting him the Radiant Black superpowers when he touched it.
Nathan takes the opportunity to be a superhero, which also coincides with him getting a new lease on life with his writing. Marshall helps him gain an understanding of his powers, and he soon meets someone with a suit similar to his — Radiant Red.
After Radiant Red tracks Nathan down, the two have a brawl that ends in a café. When the building begins to collapse, Nathan and Radiant Red use their powers to hold it up long enough for civilians to evacuate. However, realising it's not going to hold, Nathan tosses Red out of the building right before it collapses on top of him. Nathan sustains brain damage and enters a coma, with the powers passing onto Marshall and Nathan's mind entering "existence." Luckily, Marshall is able to bring Nathan back, but the powers stay with Marshall and Nathan begins physical therapy. When Marshall came under attack from a gang of supervillains and almost killed, the Radiant Black powers returned to Nathan. The two then learned that they could share the powers, and now both operate as Radiant Black.
- Ascended Fanboy: He grew up reading superhero comics, and gets to be a superhero.
- Brought Down to Normal: Once Nathan enters a coma, his powers transfer to Marshall. He's left in a coma, and when he wakes up, the powers are gone.
- Death by Origin Story: Only just averted. Nathan's coma is an integral part to Marshall's origin story, and his family wanted to pull the plug on his life support when it became clear that regular medical science wouldn't be able to help Nathan. However, Marshall manages to save Nathan at great risk, so this is averted.
- Decoy Protagonist: He's the main character for the first 4 issues, which ends with him in a coma. Afterwards, the series focuses on Marshall learning to be Radiant Black. Even the concept art for the series has Marshall as Radiant Black, rather than Nathan, implying that this trope was always in effect. Eventually, the comic shifted to focusing on Nathan and Marshall sharing the protagonist role, especially after they gain the ability to share the powers.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Nathan suffers brain damage when he decides to help people out of a collapsing building despite the danger. He enters a coma because of this.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Nathan is a writer who even comes from the same town as Kyle Higgins. Almost an entire issue is dedicated to his writer's block and him being critical of his own writing.
Radiant Black II (Marshall Ward)
Marshall Ward
Alias: Radiant Black
First Appearance: Radiant Black #1 (February 2021), Radiant Black #5 (as Radiant Black) (June 2021)
Voiced by: Will Friedle
The Failure to Launch
"I hate...what he shows me is possible. What he is. What I'm not. I love Nathan. I hate me."
Nathan's childhood friend who never moved out of town. Grumpy and with a bone to pick against the world, Marshall has more than a few chips on his shoulder.
Marshall was with Nathan when the two discovered the black Radiant. While Nathan touched it and gained the powers, Marshall ends up playing a big role in helping Nathan learn to use his powers and be a superhero.
When Nathan is injured as Radiant Black in a fight with Radiant Red, the powers are unexpectedly bestowed upon Marshall. Marshall quickly acclimates to his powers and finds Radiant Red to avenge his best friend. Their fight is quickly ended when the nature of the Radiants themselves causes more enemies — and Radiants — to appear, and the two are forced to put their fight on hold before burying the hatchet. Marshall is eventually able to wake Nathan from his coma once he comes to terms with his own life, but the Radiant Black powers stay with Marshall... initially. Eventually, when Marshall was in over his head, the Radiant Black powers returned to Nathan. The two realised that they can share the powers, and decided to share both the powers and the mantle of Radiant Black.
- Ascended Fanboy: Marshall grew up reading comics, and was even a fan of the real superhero Rogue Sun. He gets to not only become a superhero himself, but even meet Rogue Sun and have a team-up with him.
- Cop Hater: Marshall doesn't like cops, and the cover for issue 5 implies his beef with cops goes back to his childhood. However, he's usually painted badly for this, because the cops we see him try to argue with are usually just being helpful.
- Everyone Has Standards: Always looks for cash whether its him selling out as a superhero or coming up with ideas as seen in Marshall's School of Business short stories at the end of certain issues. These ideas vary from stupid (an app that spoils movies for you while you watch), messed-up (a service that skins the flesh with your tattoo to be framed as art), and to outright tasteless (a newspaper tailored specifically for kidnappers demanding ransom). He draws the line at non-fungible tokens and groans when he finds out one of the villains is a cryptobro.
- Glory Hound: During the start of his time as Radiant Black, he is very obsessed with his public image. He even just... tells everyone that he saved them and they should thank him.
- Jerkass: His introductory arc as Radiant Black features him using his powers for the glory and being angered when it doesn't take, yelling at passing kids and making everything about him. His one redeeming trait during it is his love for his friend, Nathan. Eventually, we learn this is because the guy seems to have some pretty intense self-loathing.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As bitter, directionless, cynical, and ill-tempered as he is, Marshall refuses to give up when a chance is present to help those he holds dear even with if his own life would be on the line. Even outside of being a hero, he tries to finish Nathan's unfinished book back when it seemed he'd never get out of his coma all just to make sure it wouldn't go to waste.
- Legacy Character: He becomes the second Radiant Black after Nathan enters a coma.
- Parental Abandonment: Issue #5's cover and what we see of Marshall's home life imply that his father left the family when he was a kid.
- Sell-Out: Upon becoming Radiant Black himself he tries out endorsement deals for a myriad of products and servies.
- Sucksessor: At first, anyway, in terms of actual conduct. His debut as Radiant Black is a revenge quest against Radiant Red. After that, he's extremely concerned with public opinion that leads to some Glory Hound decisions. Even the cops who were willing to work with Nathan want nothing to do with Marshall, telling him to call them when Nathan wakes up. Marshall himself even sees him having the powers this way, at least initially.
- Superior Successor: On the other hand, Marshall is much faster to come to grips with his powers than Nathan was. He's almost an Instant Expert and using his powers are not a big part of his problems once he becomes Radiant Black — it's everything else, from the greater problems the Radiants face to his own emotional issues.
- Undying Loyalty: Even after Shift's Syndicate delivered a Curb-Stomp Battle and still recovering from wounds, he upon regaining consciousness he immediately goes to help Nathan during his fight against said Syndicate.
Radiant Pink (Eva)
Eva
Alias: Radiant Pink
First Appearance: Radiant Black #5 (June 2021)
The Influencer
""Want"? I don't...like, what does that even mean? The world's on fire, everybody's pissed off, nothing's working for anybody—how could I want anything? Except to try and make some kind of difference, even just a little."
Eva is a social media personality who streams on Twitch. However, when her microphone broke one day, she went to get it repaired and met Wendell. Seeing that Eva was struggling to make a difference in life, especially after Radiants Black and Red arrived and shook up her worldview, Wendell showed her the pink Radiant and encouraged her to take it. When she did, she gained teleportation powers and became Radiant Pink.
Eva streams her activities as Radiant Pink on Twitch, even allowing audience participation in giving them votes on what she does and using information they send her on Twitter.
When the Radiants were being hunted for their powers, Eva and Wendell interrupted the brawl between Radiants Black and Red, just in time for the four to unite against their shared enemy. Afterwards, she returned to streaming her activities and quickly befriended Marshall.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Eva wants to make a difference in the world, but doesn't know how to. She's streaming, but her origin issue makes it apparent that she sort of just resigned herself to it. After getting her powers, Eva's questioning what she'll do with her life.
- Intergenerational Friendship:
- She and Wendell have one. He helps her through a rough time and is the one who essentially gave her the Radiant Pink powers. She's the youngest of the Radiants while he's the oldest.
- Eva quickly becomes the only Radiant (other than Nathan) who gets along with Marshall, who is a generation older than her. Her fun, business-savvy and tolerance for his showboating make her the only one he can actually talk to.
- Selfie Fiend: She's very into social media, even making it a part of her superheroics. However, her being savvy with new technology actually proves to be pretty useful.
- Thinking Up Portals: Eva's powers let her teleport across vast distances, as well as small. There doesn't seem to be a limit.
- The Workaholic: Before getting her powers, Eva's streaming dominated her life. She struggled to make time for her girlfriend, and even when she did, she was still tweeting. It leads to them breaking up after her girlfriend learns Eva wants to be a superhero in addition to what she's already been dealing with.
Radiant Red (Satomi Sone)
Satomi Sone
Alias: Radiant Red
First Appearance: Radiant Black #1 (February 2021)
The Powder Keg
"All our problems had gotten so big. I was tired and I wanted to fix everything, I guess... I thought I was saving us."
Satomi Sone is a middle school teacher. She is close with her family, but is secretly forced to deal with the gambling addiction of her partner, Owen, which has put them both in financial strain.One night, the red Radiant lands near her and gives her transmutation-based powers. After realising the true extent of how bad her and Owen's situation is, including how he stole from her grad school money, Satomi uses her newfound powers to begin robbing banks to "handle" Owen's mistakes.
Radiant Red is the first "supervillain" that Radiant Black comes up against. After thinking Nathan is trying to capture her, she starts a fight that ends in a stalemate, but with Satomi learning Nathan's identity. She tracks down Nathan and Marshall, and in the ensuing fight, a building collapses on Nathan and he ends up in a coma. Because of this, there is no love lost between her and Marshall, though their feud is — with the intervention of Radiant Yellow — put on hold when the Radiants learn that their powers are bringing a threat to Earth. After that, the two bury the hatchet.
- Anti-Villain: She's not malicious at all, just in a shitty situation and trying to keep her and Owen afloat. While the situation she's in thanks to Owen definitely sucks, she's still someone who robs banks and went out trying to terrify Nathan and Marshall.
- The Atoner: After run-ins with the Radiants and other criminals, Satomi eventually confesses to her string of bank robberies at the end of Radiant Red. Later appearances show that she's in jail, though Eva does teleport her out to help them, but Satomi insists that she's returned to prison after she helps out, to Eva's annoyance.
- Badass Teacher: She's a middle school teacher who can also tear down a house and robbed banks.
- The Big Guy: The most physically powerful of the Radiants, and also the largest when she decides to take that form.
- Destructive Romance: Her relationship with Owen. It has its hurdles due to his gambling addiction, as he's caused problems for them several times and his gambling is directly responsible for Satomi's path to villainy. He's also more than a bit emotionally manipulative, calling her out for getting them into trouble, as well as demeaning her career before shifting back into guilt-tripping her to stay with him. Later on, she becomes involved in organised crime which in turn puts their family at risk, leading her to be a problem for him. Eventually, they call it quits.
- Healing Factor: She can heal herself by absorbing matter.
- Samus Is a Girl: Satomi uses her powers to create muscle mass that makes her appear male. When her mask first comes off, Marshall is shocked that Radiant Red is a woman. This later comes up when she's given the opportunity to pin Radiant Red's crimes on Owen, since everyone assumes Radiant Red is male.
- Super-Strength: After she absorbs matter, her strength is increased.
- Transmutation: Satomi can absorb matter she comes into contact with to increase her strength and heal herself.
- What You Are in the Dark: She's given the chance to pin her robberies on Owen (sine Radiant Red is seen as male by the public) and get away scot-free, even keeping the money she stole. Margo makes it clear nobody would ever know, since Owen is known to be a gambling addict and in debt, so he has the motivation. She doesn't go through with it, tearing down Margo's organisation before turning herself in for her crimes.
Radiant Yellow (Wendell)
Wendell
Alias: Radiant Yellow
First Appearance: Radiant Black #5 (June 2021)
The Futurist
"I may not do everything right. But I promise you, I'll always be there to fix it."
Wendell was a workaholic electrical engineer who tried to do his best at work and at home. However, a slow career led to a strained marriage, and Wendell struggling to do right by his family, which eventually led to his divorce. Eventually, Wendell was rendered obsolete by the machinery he himself was pushing that his company bring in. Overqualified and too old, Wendell was relegated to a customer service job.
One day when he was inspecting a building that he was paid to work on, Wendell found the yellow and pink Radiants. When he touched the yellow one, he gained the power to see the future.
Eventually, Wendell would show the pink Radiant to a local influencer, Eva. Wendell helped her where he could, and the two would eventually be hunted by someone trying to take back the Radiants. This led them to finding Radiants Black and Red. After Wendell manages to keep the two from duking it out, Wendell forms an uneasy alliance between the four after learning that the Radiants have marked Earth as a target for an invading army from space.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: His life is mostly based in his good intentions and skewed priorities coming back to bite him. He introduced robots into his workplace and was eventually made obsolete by them, and his workaholic nature meant he was never there for his daughter because he wanted to provide for her. Fitting for the seer.
- Intergenerational Friendship: He and Eva have one. He just worked at an electronics store near her house, but led her to the pink Radiant and helped her through a rough time. She's the youngest of the Radiants while he's the oldest.
- Older and Wiser: He's the most level-headed of the Radiants that we've seen, and also the least flashy. On their first meeting, he's the most rational of the group, all of whom are younger than him.
- Only Sane Man: After the Radiants fend off the first attack on them, Marshall is immediately ready to throw down with Satomi again. Wendell, however, knows that there are bigger problems here and that their relatively small drama doesn't supersede the survival of the planet and basically forces Marshall to stand down.
- Seers: The power unique to the yellow Radiant — Wendell can see the future.
Supporting Characters
Eva's Friends and Family
Kelly Pandit
Kelly Pandit
First Appearance: Radiant Pink #1 (December 2022)
An EMT that Eva meets when saving people from a hospital that was bombed. However, Kelly is one of many taking advantage of the alien technology powered by the Radiants. Eva is initially unaware of this, and the two quickly begin flirting, and Eva's use of her powers allows Kelly to charge her vest.- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She puts on the guise of a heroic EMT who won't leave a collapsing building until all the patients are safe, helping Pink get them out... except she just needs to be close to Pink, and she herself is responsible for the bombing.
- Love Makes You Evil: Her girlfriend committed suicide after complications from an operation, and Kelly wants to sue over it. To get money, she uses her status as an EMT to bomb a hospital to get her vest charged.
- Rescue Romance: Radiant Pink is supposedly about Eva and Kelly striking one up after they're transported away after Eva's powers malfunction... except it's not entirely about that.
- Would Not Hurt A Child: Bombed a hospital she knew sick kids would be at because Radiant Pink was there. However, she didn't want to do this, and was assured by her employers that the explosion would be minimal.
Maddie
Maddie
First Appearance: Radiant Pink #1 (December 2022)
Eva's best friend who helps with her streaming. She also knows about Eva's life as Radiant Pink.- Only Sane Man: She's the one to try to get Eva to take a break and also stresses the dangers of what she does.
- Technician Versus Performer: Maddie runs Eva's streams and is responsible for things like making it plausible that Eva and Pink are two different people just collaborating with each other. She stresses that Eva is really pushing it.
Nathan's Friends and Family
Henry Burnett
Henry Burnett
First Appearance: Radiant Black #1 (February 2021)
"Do you think you're the first person who has to work a job they don't want? Nothing worthwhile comes from a shortcut, Nathan."
Nathan's financially sensible father.
- Innocently Insensitive: His first talk with Nathan about getting a job. Henry means well, but the way he talks, it's clear Nathan thinks his father is talking down to him and thinks he failed at being a writer.
Satomi's Friends and Family
Owen Fujimoto
Owen Fujimoto
First Appearance: Radiant Black #6 (July 2021)
"Please don't give up on me."
Satomi Sone's fiancé. He works in housing development and is a gambling addict. He's had a history of getting himself and Satomi into trouble because of his compulsive gambling, and his latest lapse leads to her becoming Radiant Red and robbing banks.- Destructive Romance: Initially the bad one in his relationship with Satomi. He's loving, but his gambling addiction is why she started robbing banks. He also lies to her a lot and emotionally manipulates her when she wants to leave him. After she becomes more involved with crime as a result of robbing banks, she begins threatening him and endangering their family. Eventually, they call it quits.
- The Gambling Addict: There was at least one prior time where Owen's gambling put him and Satomi in a bad financial situation. He started gambling again at work and relapsed, and has been unable to pay off his apparently huge gambling debt.
- Never My Fault: When Satomi goes to the bank to try and sort something out to help Owen pay off his debt, she learns he stole from her grad school funds. When she calls him out on it, he lashes out, telling her she's only made things worse and that she doesn't know anything.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After Owen starts attending group meetings for his gambling addiction, he's a lot calmer and more patient. He also puts a lot more faith in Satomi in terms of their finances.
Villains
001
001
First Appearance: Radiant Black #5 (June 2021)
"You have something that is not yours. You will all lose your lives. Unfortunate but necessary. You have no choice but one. Will your planet die as well?"
An alien who knows the nature of the Radiants. When it comes to Earth to take the Radiants back by force, it serves as the catalyst for the Radiants all meeting. Its technology was also scattered around the world, allowing Guy to take it and begin a new age of tech-based supervillains.- All Your Powers Combined: In contrast to the subsequent villains who charge themselves by being near the Radiants, this one seems to get their powers outright. It's noticeably more skilled with them than the Radiants themselves, too.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: It's absorbed into "existence" through the Black Radiant's robot pulling it inside through Marshall.
- Cassandra Truth: What it said about the Radiants having something that was attracting death to their planet was right — the Radiants are outright attracting a giant robot army to Earth. It was just trying to take the Radiants back.
- Face Death with Dignity: They knew they were marked for death by the Radiant Black robot and let it take them.
- Humanoid Alien: From what little we see of their face, and with their body, they appear pretty human in appearance.
- Small Role, Big Impact: They've appeared the least of any antagonist in Radiant Black, but are the catalyst for the Radiants meeting, learning about the coming invasion from space and the rise of Guy's criminal empire.
- Super-Strength: Able to easily handle Red's strength.
- Teleport Spam: Their powers let them keep up with Pink's teleporting.
