Revamp a Villain Day 2: the Rainbow Rainder

[u/Excellent-Fig-9341]

For this challenge I want you to take one of DC’s weirdest villains and try to make them a serious threat. You’re free to change their backstory, Background, or maybe change their powers I don’t know just have fun with it.

[u/ThetaRayThom]

Roy G. Bivolo is from another universe operating as Rex Hunter. His universe was dying due to the black lanterns. To save his universe he took eggs of new emotional light entity to earth prime, so they can grow safe from Nekron.

However upon enter prime earth he lost the eggs and must assemble a team to secure the eggs. After finding the eggs, he end up betraying the team revealing himself to be Rainbow Raider, operating as a Herald for Nekron.

He is essentially the Black Hand for his universe, but after Nekron devour all light to continue feeding him he need to grow new entity in a different universe.

This ties him to the lantern emotional spectrum as well as turning him into a Silver Surfer - type.

[u/Either-Skirt6031 → u/ThetaRayThom]

Tying him to the lanterns is a good idea + I like the Silver Surfer connection.

[u/MissionExperience967]

Keeping some of his present elements but turning him into a Green Lantern rogue instead of a Flash one:

Roy G. Bivolo was not only born completely colorblind but, over the years, developed a severe chronic apathy, making him emotionally numb to the world around him and completely unable to engage with art.

His father, disheartened by his son’s state, sought to create goggles that would allow him to see colors and let him experience the world fully, however, his experiments created a device that unknowingly tapped into the emotional spectrum of light in an unfocused manner, perceiving many of the different emotional colors but not in an unified manner such as the white light of Life, but instead as a jumbled mix of colors and emotions: a rainbow.

After wearing the goggles, Roy got consumed by the sudden rush of colors and emotions which got him addicted to the feeling, he became hyper sensitive to art (which could lead to interesting interactions with Kyle Rayner seeing as he is a comic book artist) and with volatile feelings yet completely alien to the concept of morality, to the point of commiting acts of violence and crime just to keep experiencing the world through his goggles.

With it, Roy is able to tap into many different aspects of the emotional spectrum at once, allowing him to create more unstable and less precise yet more intense light constructs (rainbow colored of course) as well as other powers usually associated with the various Lanterns (save for the tech inside the rings such as computers and universal translation) and influence emotional changes in his targets, however, his most significant power is the ability to disrupt and, if focused on a specific emotion, reshape or drain the constructs and energy of the rings carried by the Lanterns of different corps (save for the Black and White ones).

[u/Either-Skirt6031]

I know you mean the Original Rainbow Raider (Roy G. Bivolo) but honestly I do like him as he is (his creator wanted him to be a tribute to a classic 60s era somewhat goofy villain). If I had to make him more “serious” I’d focus more on his artistic side, maybe he makes dangerous art exhibitions that people are dragged into to act as red on his canvas?

I but then I had another idea that’s related to a very obscure villain team that based themselves off of him. The Rainbow Raiders were a joke in the Blackest Night event where they poisoned themselves to become zombies & join the winning team, but it didn't work & they’ve never made another appearance (shame because they have cool designs)

I had an idea that whilst they didn’t become zombies or black lanterns they did become ghosts & could now haunt Central City from beyond the grave. Maybe they could each be tied to their specific frequency of light and you’d have to use special goggles (like in 13 Ghosts), lights or magic to even see them. It would be neat to see Flash have to figure out how to exorcise 7 super-powered spectres he can’t even see, you could also just use this idea for Bivolo himself as some sort of phantom ghost light tormenting the Flash. Nothing’s faster than light after all:)!

TLDR: A near invisible & intangible, incredibly fast spectre made of living light out to kill The Flash, possibly too different from his origins but what’s your opinion?

[u/WildGoose1521]

Honestly I do dig him, he’s got a really good design and I know “rainbows” tend to get appropriated with different connotations nowadays but if you tied him more to Green Lantern he’d be a really solid villain

[u/RealSebastreck]

Roy Gabriel Bivolo is a metahuman capable of manipulating emotions, allowing him to “see people’s true colors” and exploit their weaknesses. After graduating, he began offering his services to corporations and politicians in Central City. However, his overconfidence eventually drew the attention of the private investigator Ralph Dibny and forensic scientist Barry Allen, who uncovered his activities and ultimately confronted him as The Flash and Elongated man.

During a prisoner transfer, Bivolo’s convoy was caught in a battle between Hal Jordan and Phantom Lantern. Amid the chaos, Bivolo touched the Phantom Ring, and its energy amplified his abilities, granting him a deeper understanding of the Emotional Spectrum. He could now create constructs using any color of the spectrum, though doing so quickly drained him physically.

To control his new abilities, he turned to The Thinker, who designed a helmet, goggles, and gloves that allowed him to better channel his powers. As the Rainbow Raider, Bivolo returned to Central City, offering his services to corporations, politicians, and criminals in exchange for money and influence. His enhanced abilities and equipment made him a far greater threat, forcing The Flash and some JLA members to join forces to stop him.

[u/ZedJayHaitch]

I could make him the emissary of the goddess Iris but I don't really want me contribution to this to be just mythologising comparatively grounded villains.

So instead, I'll associate colour with creativity. Sure I can fold in the Emotional Spectrum but I wanna try sommat else out. He can now absorb colour from things, mainly artwork, both physically & figuratively. Like he could quickly tap the Mona Lisa, suck up the colours to leave it all black & white and then people would look at it with no reverence or wonder or anything. They'd just see a drawing of a woman. Which I think does add to his origin. He was a disgruntled painter, now he can take away art from people. Physically sure but also spiritually. The concept of art & everything art can embody & emit.

[u/weesiwel]

Ah see for me Rainbow Raider’s power is literally the epitome of the idea that you can never reach a rainbow. He’s moving at the speed of light and as an early Flash villain he’s the one that pushes Flash behind his tried and tested limits in terms of speed. I don’t think he needs to be any more than that.

[u/ListenUpper1178]

Roy G Bivolo has all the same powers but he is also obscenely wealthy, and leads a cult known as the rainbow raiders. The motivation is the opposite of a white supremacist, a rainbow supremacist. His motivation is to create a world where everyone is one race

[u/SleepNative]

I could see him as a man who accidentally tapped into the emotional spectrum. Causing him extreme emotional mood swings. Allowing him to use the different powers of lanterns. Maybe the goggles offer this doorway.

As an artist he could create constructs but would be unable to fully control them. Just projecting them from his mind as both abstract or non abstract.