Manchester Black

"It's easy, once you know the trick. There's a switch in here, keeps you from hurting another person. You can turn it on... and off."

- Manchester Black

Manchester "Ches" Black is the British fiancé of the late Fiona Byrne and a former football hooligan turned ruthless vigilante as well of an anti-hero out of the grief of losing the woman he loved.

Early life
Manchester was born in England, and spent his early life as part of a gang of football hooligans, causing a ruckus and looking for any excuse to break windows. The gang worked for his father, who taught Manchester how to fight. Eventually, he met Fiona Byrne, who showed him there was an alternative to fighting: the non-violent philosophy of "Ahimsa", and the two started a relationship. They got engaged, but not before the gang learning about Fiona actually being an alien, and they were not happy about this. Thinking that she would no longer be safe in England with the old gang now after her, Manchester sent Fiona to live in the United States.

Searching for Fiona
In a surprise to Manchester, Fiona "dropped off the radar" after the rise of Agent Liberty. Distraught at suddenly losing all contact with her, Manchester traveled to the US himself to investigate his fiancé's disappearance. He tracked J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, who was also asking around regarding Fiona due to his own investigation. Breaking into J'onn's apartment, Manchester confronted the Martian, but the two managed to calm themselves down and evade fighting each other. As J'onn explained the details of his investigation and Manchester told the Martian his and Fiona's story, the two decided to visit a local bar and seek further answers. Manchester started small talk with the police officer that Fiona investigated, claiming that he also had troubles with the aliens taking his job. Getting the man drunk, Manchester managed to get information and relay it to J'onn, and the two men figured that their culprit was Mercy Graves. Manchester accompanied J'onn when the two rushed to help Alex and other D.E.O. agents fight off Kopy, with Manchester using his expert skills coupled with the "Ahimsa" philosophy to completely evade all strikes and "guide" his enemies into exerting themselves and tumbling down. The mind-controlled Kopy that he defeated said "Ahimsa" to him, prompting Black to exclaim that it was a hint of Fiona's mind inside Kopy, suggesting some sort of mind control. Later, using Martian Manhunter's powers, Manchester Black was able to speak to a mental projection of his beloved, who told him about her being forced to mind control Kopy and Hellgrammite with the use of Angon alien parasite, and also gave him hints regarding her location, which J'onn relayed to Alex Danvers, figuring it out to be at a local fair. Helping the D.E.O., they tracked down Mercy's anti-alien terrorist group and found Fiona imprisoned. Despite her surviving a knife to the neck from Agent Liberty, Fiona's wounds were too much for her to handle any longer, and after having the last conversation with Manchester, she passed away, leaving him crying in shock.

After Fiona's death, Manchester got himself a Union Jack-style t-shirt and went to an illegal gun shop with a resolute conviction. As he tried some of the guns for sale, he asked how much it would cost for him to purchase all of them.

At some point after this, he held a member of the Children of Liberty captive and tortured him for information on what the alien hate group was planning next. A short time later, when twilight fell, Children of Liberty members began targeting alien homes (identifiable by a mark visible to them thanks to a special lens in their masks). Manchester laid in wait at one of these houses (potentially Fiona's home), and when the Children of Liberty came, he greeted them at the door with a gun ready. They attempted to flee, but he fired on them killing one of them. It's implied that he killed more of their agents later that same night.

Personality
According to Manchester, he was a violent youth and an easy learner of fighting skills as such: his father has taught him that he's got a "switch" that makes him either hurt people or stay dormant. After meeting Fiona Byrne he's accepted her anti-violence philosophy of "Ahimsa" and felt himself going away from the path of crime. Keeping a sarcastic demeanor and staying resolute about his goals, he was both stern and diplomatic while dealing with the Martian Manhunter, and was able to pretend to assume differing opinions to subvert his manipulation targets.

Abilities

 * Skilled deceiver: Manchester was able to pretend to be a disenfranchised drunk, whose job got stolen by aliens to get the anti-alien bigot cop to trust him.
 * Lock-picking: Manchester was able to break into the apartment of J'onn J'onzz without him finding out initially.
 * Skilled marksman: Manchester was shown to be able to handle guns proficiently, although his exact skill with them is so far unknown.
 * Expert combatant: Manchester was trained in close combat since a young age by his father. He later incorporated Fiona's "Ahimsa" philosophy into his personal fighting style, managing to evade and tumble down his enemies without even directly attacking them. According to Manchester, fighting for him is naturally easy - it's all just about finding a "switch" that stops him from hurting people.
 * Indomitable will: Manchester was able to use his high alcohol tolerance to get the other bar patron in the cups and divulge his secrets. He attributed his drinking proficiency to not being American. He is also able to resist J'onn's telepathic attack, and cut himself to overwhelm the latter with his pain.
 * Skilled torturer: Manchester is shown to be a skilled torturer. This is shown when he tortured a member of the Children of Liberty to the point that he gave up the identity of one of its members.

Equipment

 * Armored suit: Manchester is equipped with a retractable suit of body armor. The armor suit appears at the user's command when he taps his chest.
 * Engagement rings: Manchester carries his own and his late fiancé's rings as a memento and an "emotional totem".
 * Guns: Manchester took a number of guns he's chosen to buy at an illegal gun shop.
 * Staff: Manchester has a staff that can blast small amounts of laser fire.
 * Brass knuckles: Manchester had a set of brass knuckles emblazoned with the Union Jack. He left it in his apartment where it is subsequently found by Kara.

Behind the scenes

 * In the DC comics, Manchester Black is a leader of the Elite, a superhero team with questionable morals and methods. In his various appearances, he acted as a foil to Superman and an enemy of his, or sometimes as an ally of the Justice League.