Kirt Niedrigh

Kirt Niedrigh
Earth-Man and the Justice League of Earth as depicted in Action Comics #860 (February 2008). Art by Gary Frank.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	as Absorbancy Boy: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #218 (July 1976) as Earth-Man: Action Comics #858 (late December 2007)
Created by	Original concept: Cary Bates Mike Grell Supervillain reinvention: Geoff Johns Gary Frank
In-story information
Species	Metahuman
Place of origin	Earth (31st century)
Team affiliations	Justice League of Earth Legion of Super-Villains Green Lantern Corps Legion of Super-Heroes
Notable aliases	Absorbancy Boy, Zoraz, Earth-Man
Abilities	Super-power absorption and duplication Legion Flight Ring Power ring allows flight, superhuman strength, and hard-light constructs with use of power ring.

Kirt Niedrigh is a fictional character, a semi-reformed supervillain and former antihero in the DC Comics Universe. Created by Cary Bates and Mike Grell, Niedrigh is a former hopeful for the Legion of Super-Heroes under the guise of Absorbancy Boy. After being rejected from the team, years later he resurfaced as Earth-Man leading a group of supervillains calling themselves the "Justice League of Earth", which help to enforce a xenophobic agenda that Earth has adopted. He first appears in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #218 (July 1976), and reappeared as Earth-Man in Action Comics #858 (Late December 2007), the first part of the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc.

Fictional character biography

Absorbancy Boy

As a teenager, Kirt Niedrigh applied for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes as Absorbancy Boy, possessing the ability to duplicate superpowers by absorbing the energy of others. However, he was rejected, in part because Saturn Girl read his mind and realized that he had the potential to become evil. ^[1] Enraged at his rejection, Niedrigh becomes a villain before being defeated by the Legion. ^[2]

Earth-Man

Niedrigh resurfaced in the 2007–2008 storyline "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes". ^[1] Now calling himself Earth-Man, he sowed distrust and hatred of aliens around Earth, resulting in it leaving the United Planets and aliens on Earth being captured and deported. Earth-Man then allied with several other Legion rejects to form the Justice League of Earth, a group purporting to uphold Superman's ideals.

Earth-Man captured many Legion members, absorbing their powers and using Sun Boy to turn Earth's sun red. However, the Legion defeats him and imprisons the League on Takron-Galtos. ^[3]

During Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds , Earth-Man and the JLE join the Legion of Super-Villains. ^[4] They are defeated, but Earth-Man gains a Green Lantern ring from Dyogene, a creature living inside Oa. ^{[5] [6]} However, Dyogene eventually takes the ring back after Earth-Man uses it for evil. ^{[7] [8]}

Brainiac 5 later manipulates Earth-Man into reforming and becoming an ally of the Legion. ^[9] This leads him to sacrifice himself to stop an ancient being known as the Bringer of Chaos. ^[10]

Powers and abilities

Niedrigh has the ability to absorb and duplicate the superpowers of metahumans and aliens. However he is not able to copy the knowledge or skills, so it will normally take time for him to master a new power. He absorbs energies of people within a certain range of him, anywhere from several feet to a mile radius. He has shown the capacity to manifest numerous powers at the same time. The absorbed powers only last for twelve hours at a time.

Weaknesses

Earth-Man occasionally shows difficulty in juggling multiple powers, and his body can be overloaded by absorbing too many at once. Usually the Earth-Man loses his duplicated abilities once out of range of the owner, but theoretically due to the length of time spent with them.

Equipment

As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, he is provided with a Legion Flight Ring. It allows him to fly and protects him from the vacuum of space and other dangerous environments. His ring has however been modified to keep him on a short leash and alter his morality. Earth-Man also temporarily possessed a Green Lantern ring given to him by Dyogene, a creature from within the planet Oa. This gives him all the abilities of the Green Lantern Corps. ^[5]

In other media

Kirt Niedrigh appears in Smallville Season 11: Argo as a member of the EarthGov army and Minister at odds with New Krypton. ^[11]

References

1. Action Comics #858–863 (late December 2007–May 2008)
2. Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #218 (July 1976)
3. Action Comics #864 (June 2008)
4. Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #2 (November 2008)
5. Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 6) #1 (July 2010)
6. Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 6) #2 (August 2010)
7. Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 6) #3 (September 2010)
8. Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 6) #4–5 (October–November 2010)
9. Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 6) #6 (December 2010)
10. Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 6) #16 (October 2011)
11. Smallville: Season 11: Argo #1