Provident

Background History
Provident was born Edmond Durand, in Metropolis. His father was John Durand, a criminalist. Little is known of his mother. Up through college, Edmond lived a fairly normal life (of which little is known).

At some point in his life, Edmond discovered that he had the ability to see things happen just before they occurred. He could sense a moment into the future. It is unclear whether this was a power he was born with, one that developed over time, or one that was the result of some accident.

Working for law enforcement, John had first-hand experience with guilty criminals getting off scot-free due to their being captured by superheroes, whose exact powers were constantly in question. So, John took it upon himself to research the various metahumans, hero and villain alike. With this research, he would form a comprehensive encyclopedia of sorts that would explain in detail what each metahuman could do, their known whereabouts, and other pertinent information. His plan was for this encyclopedia to be used as a reference guide for all criminal investigations and court cases, and thereby help the guilty go to prison.

For some of his research, John Durand visited Gotham City's Arkham Asylum to access the information it contained, especially psychological profiles. Unfortunately, there was a breakout at the facility. One of the convicts killed John in the rampage.

Edmond had only just recently graduated from college. Upon his father's death, he received everything his father had owned, including a large sum of money leftover from lottery winnings. Edmond soon learned the breakout had been caused by the villain Bane as part of a systematic effort to wear down and defeat Batman. Furious, he threw himself into his father's work to finish the database. Soon, he began seeing patterns within the metahuman community. He noticed things like the existence of one super-hero causing there to be super-villains to rise against them. He noticed the destructiveness metahuman battles tended to cause and even interviewed some that had been terribly affected by such battles. Most importantly, though, he saw that super-heroes had essentially free reign to do whatever they needed, that they were not paid civil servants like law enforcement but were still their own sort of global law enforcement, acting really only in accordance to their own rules and codes of ethics. He himself had seen first hand the destruction caused when Superman battle Doomsday and the massive death that occurred when the Cyborg Superman destroyed Coast City, including the death of Edmond's close friend Dr. Louis Agnew.

Edmond, inspired by these acknowledgments, passed the research into a hand of trusted associates. Edmond then traveled the world. He had decided to start a crusade against the metahuman community, to destroy and restore the power of law to the normal citizen. In order to do this, he felt he needed to be prepared. In his travels, he mastered many forms of martial arts and fighting styles and learned how best to use them with his power of foresight.

When Edmond finally returned, he thoroughly examined the updated research database. He realized that his training and his power were not enough. He needed weapons and physical protection. He determined that he could design a suit himself, but would need experts, with greater skill in technology, to create his weapons for him. Edmond filed several patents and then had multiple parties work on individual pieces of the equipment, with no one but himself knowing the function of the overall mechanism. Organizations he used to complete this feat included S.T.A.R. Labs, Wayne Enterprises, and Kord Industries. He sought and was granted research funds for his database project, which was constantly ongoing. He used much of these funds in conjunction with his own money to build a secret fortress beneath Kansas that could store large amounts of data, large amounts of armament, and several cryogenic chambers, supposedly used for "research purposes".

Some time before the weapons and suit were complete, he finalized on a name. "Provident" from the Latin providentia, meaning foresight. He assembled the suit, the weapons, and everything else when they were all ready. The suit design itself was based on Edmond's own belief that the number 3 is an integral part of the universe. While still keeping with the design, he kept a few alternate suits for specific battle needs.

Shortly thereafter, Provident hit the streets. Over the following months, he defeated every hero included in the encyclopedia his father started. Instead of killing his opponents, Provident instead locked them in the cryogenic chambers of his headquarters.

Due to Provident's efforts, the crime level dropped, as did the amount of property damage. However, the public viewed him as a lawless vigilante and a menace to society. The people clamored for their heroes back. Provident became a fugitive from the law and was forced to hole up within his fortress.

Final Night
While Provident was in the Traitor Game, his home universe began experiencing the events of DC's Final Night. These events did not play out the same, however.

An alien name Dusk crashed into Metropolis's West River, attempting to warn the people of the arrival of the Sun-Eater. The Sun-Eater arrived shortly thereafter and began devouring the sun. In doing so, the Sun-Eater blots out the sun. The Earth is plunged into the darkness and cold.

Provident returned to his universe, to his headquarters, twenty-seven hours after the Sun-Eater's arrival. Through watching the news, Provident learned about the sun being blocked. He learned that the island of Themyscira and the city of Atlantis declared war on the U.S. for failing to locate and revive their nations' heroic champions. He watched a press conference where an old colleague of his, Doctor Noah All, mention that he has formed a league of super-powered individuals to assist during the crisis

After the press conference finished, Provident contacted Dr. All. He convinced Noah that the captured heroes would offer not greater chance of success at beating this problem. The two agreed to work together to resolve the crisis.

Provident, under All's instruction, built a device capable of destroying the Sun-Eater and restoring Earth to the way it was. The device needed to be thrown into the sun. The only way Provident could accomplish this task was to take Dusk's spaceship. So, he traveled to Metropolis. The initial plan was for him to set the ship on auto-pilot and send the unmanned ship into the sun, getting the device where it needed to go. However, Provident could not get the auto-pilot to work. Despite the dissenting pleas from Dr. All, Provident decided to undertake the suicide mission of piloting the ship into the sun manually. Provident flew deep into space. As he approached the sun, he pulled out Aerie's glove and apologized for not being able to make it to her world. He reached the sun and reality faded around him.

He did not die, however. Instead, Provident was saved by Parallax, former Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Parallax sent a reluctant Provident back to Earth. Parallax sacrificed himself and all of his energy to destroy the Sun-Eater, restoring the Earth and ending the crisis.

The people, believing that their heroes could have saved them from this crisis, created a plan to assault Provident's citadel a few nights later. Provident learned of this attack through the news. Before Provident could prepare against the attack, he was approached by Ganthet, one of the Guardians of the Universe. Ganthet stated that Provident was responsible for the universe losing the designated Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and that Parallax's death meant that there was a special need for a Green Lantern. He proposed that Provident could accept a ring and become a Green Lantern or face death by Ganthet's hand. Ganthet gave Provident an hour to think it over. After recalling news reports, his father's words, and the words of various Traitor Game participants (especially those of Aerie), and also after double-checking a piece of information on his computer, Provident accepted the deal. He agreed to meet Ganthet that night above the planet and become space's Green Lantern.

Provident spent the rest of the day and night injecting all of the heroes with a solution that would give them periodic narcolepsy. He set a timer for opening their cryogenic pods. He set a self-destruct bomb. Finally, he gathered all of his things and prepared to leave, just as the forces arrived outside desiring his surrender and the release of the heroes. Provident prepared himself to take off into space to meet Ganthet.

Just then, Roy Lincoln appeared on his Cosmic Treadmill. When Roy learned of Provident's plan, he tried to stop him. Provident maneuvered quickly, however. He shot Roy in the legs and shoulders, incapacitating him. He then stole the Cosmic Treadmill by using its feature of latching into a particular vibrational frequency and going to the universe that matched. Provident used Aerie's glove for this process.

Provident appeared on Aerie's world whilst she was in the middle of a battle with an enemy. After she had defeated her foe, he approached her. They talked briefly. In the end Provident picked her and carried her off into the figurative sunset.

Powers and Abilities
Provident's most notable power is the one he keeps secret from the world at large. He can sense a moment into the future. In battle, he largely uses this to counter for attacks before they happen, which often thwarts the efforts of many.

Due to his worldwide travels, Provident is an expert in many fighting styles. Even before college he had established himself a good fencer

Provident's weapons change depending on who he intends to fight. His standard arsenal includes a broadsword, smoke pellets, a small piece of Kryptonite, and several custom-made weapons (some of which are detailed below). Many of his smaller items are stored in or on his belt.

The lense over his left eye allows him to see across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. It is reinforced with a type of durable glass to prevent damage.

Provident has a sonic emitter in his metal collar that he activates via a switch on his belt. The sound is one that is piercing, disorienting, and constant. It operates much like Black Canary's "Canary Cry". This emitter does not affect him, since the metal of the collar is sound-proof and the cry is directed outward from his body.

The energy sword he keeps on his left hip is designed to operate like those seen in science fiction film, but is based on the technology left over from various alien races.

Provident's greatest weapon is the element gun he keeps holstered to his right leg. Its ingenious design allows him to pull open the gun from the back and insert his "element bullets" in four revolving cylinders. When closed and armed, Provident can activate which chamber he needs using buttons on the gun handle. The "element bullets" are bullet-shaped items that release some elemental effect upon impact. Provident carries a variety of such bullets in clips on the back of his belt, most commonly utilizing ice, fire, tar, and gas bullets.