Alter Ego: Christopher Smith (Schmidt)
Occupation: Doom Patrol Agent, Industrailaist and philanthropist; President/Chairman,
Smith
Enterprises Ltd. and Pax Institute
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Wolfgang Schmidt (father, deceased); Elizabeth Lewis
Smith
(Schmidt) (mother, deceased)
Group Affiliations: Doom Patrol, Inter-Agency Task Force, covert intelligence
division;
Checkmate; the Shadow Fighters
Base of Operations: Geneva, Switzerland, NYC
First Appearance: FIGHTIN' 5 #50
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 196 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Christopher Schmidt was born to an Austrian industrialist,
Wolfgang
Schmidt, and American Children's author Elizabeth Lewis in New york
City.
Though an american citizen, Christopher was raised in his father's
homeland
of Austria.
In 1955 it was revealed that the respected businessman had
commanded a
Nazi concentration campin Poland during World War II. Shattered by the
ensuing scandal, Wolfgang Schmidt took his own life on Christopher's
fifth
birthday. The boy never told anyone how he witnessed his father's
suicide,
but the incident scarred Christopher deeply for life.
Fleeing from the scandal and sorrow, Elizabeth returned
Christopher to
America, changing their surname to "Smith" and settling in
Philadelphia.
Christopher seemed to accept his father's death, but inside he was a
turmoil
of fragile emotions which eventuallybroke and he began to have
delusions of
his father, clad in a Nazi SS uniform.
The day he turned 18, Christopher presented himself at the army
recruiting station and volunteerted for duty. He breezed through basic
training, was quickly promoted to sergeant, and assigned to a tour of
duty in
Vietnam. Several months into his tour, Smith was involved in an attack
on
small village thought to harbor enemy guerrillas. When the smoke
cleared and
the incident was investigated it was discovered that military
intelligence
had erred and that the village had been full of innocent peasants.
Smith, the
sergeant of the platoon, was made the scapegoat for the incident and
was
court-martialed and sentenced to 20 years to life in Leavenworth
Federal
Penitentiary.
During his internment, Elizabeth Smith died, leaving the entire
family
fortune to young Christopher. Most of the holdings were in european
nations,
and Christopher Smith was granted an early release in exchange for his
participation in Project: Peacemaker, an anti-terrorist operation. He
next
surfaced in Switzerland as the young millionaire playboy and chairman
of The
Pax Institute, a private foundation set up to battle terrorism and
offer aid
to its victims. From this he moved to idealizing the Peacemaker
concept. Thus
was born the one-man peace force. Christopher Smith loved peace so
much...he
was willing to kill for it.
Though he proved a relentless and efficient weapon, the man behind
the
Peacemaker's helmet was still very disturbed, still seeing visions of
his
father's ghost and, as time passed he began to believe that the souls
of
those who died around him from acts of terrorism were taking up
residence in
his helmet where they would speak to him, demanding justice!
Eventually, a top-secret U.S. intelligence agency run by Col.
Valentina
Vostock (Negative Woman) discovered Smith's alter ego and recruited him
to
work for her Agency. This alliance proved short lived as Peacemaker's
fragile
mental state shattered and he turned renegade. After several encounters
with
the second Vigilante, Peacemaker's insane rampage was halted and he was
taken
into custody by Vostock's Agency.
Peacemaker then concentrated more on fighting terrorism mainly in
Europe. The Agency then became Checkmate, and he worked for them yet
again,
only this time under the command of Harry Stein. Finally, he was
recruited to
join the Shadow Fighters, put together by Amanda Waller of the Suicide
Squad.
The mission was to attack Parador, a South American country taken over
by
Eclipso and rescue a little girl. the mission failed, and the girl
along with
the Shadow Fighters were killed. A few have shown up alive since then,
Peacemaker being one of them. Having fled his helicopter before it
crashed
into two military tanks via his miniature jet-pack, he switched his
body with
one of the dead soldiers, and placed his helmet on his charred remains.
He
eventually made it back to his home in Switzerland, to recover.
Constucting a
new helmet and costume, he again travelled back to the U.S. to aid them
fromtime to time, still waging his war on terrorism in Europe,
remaining a
loose cannon.
Peacemaker is a master at various forms of hand-to-hand combats, his
preferred method of confrontation, as well as superb method of
confrontation,
as well as a superb acrobat. He is proficient with most known types of
handgun and automatic weapons, as well as demonstrating remarkable
skill and
throwing knives.
Peacemaker's costume doubles as flexible body armor, impervious to
all
but the high caliber weapons. His helmet contains sophisticated
cybernetic
microcircuitry to power its various devices and weaponry, including
complex
communication and surveillance equipment, an ultrasonic stunner,
infrared
capability, and laser-guidance controls for "smart projectiles" fired
from
his handgun. The helmet also mentally controls his AH-64 Apache assault
helicopter, and mini-jet-pack that works in both air and water. It's
made of
a heat and pressure proof plastic, is laced with explosives. Smith's
right
glove holds a vial that becomes a firebomb when crushed. The boots hold
a
Pentolite compound.
