Century Babies

Century Babies

The Century Babies are a group of fictional characters from comic books set in the Wildstorm universe and especially featuring in the comic Planetary by Warren Ellis.

Overview

All the Century Babies were born "with the century" - on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve of 1900. As they grew each displayed certain superhuman abilities and skills, as well as immortality (not aging beyond their 20's).Fact|date=May 2008

It has been theorised that they act as an immune system for the planet, their very existence protecting Earth. Each of them supposedly represents an aspect of the century into which they were born.Fact|date=May 2008

Known Century Babies (and their abilities) include:
*Elijah Snow - The "Ghost of the 20th Century" and leader of Planetary; cold manipulation
*Jenny Sparks - The "Spirit of the 20th Century" and leader of The Authority; electricity-based abilities
*Dr. Axel Brass - The "Mind of the 20th Century" and analogue of Doc Savage; enhanced strength, able to live without sleep or sustenance for long periods
*Bret Leather aka The Spider - The "Justice of the 20th Century"; turbo gun-wielding crime-fighter, able to break down into and reconstitute from insects
*Kevin Sack aka Lord Blackstock - Great white hunter and analogue of Tarzan; heightened strength and speed
*Jenny Quantum - The "Spirit of the 21st Century" and leader of the new Authority
*Jenny Fractal - The only other known 21st Century Baby.
*Gaia Rothstein - Once a "pretty, red-haired eight year old girl, with braces and a pet goldfish named chester", she's the recognized as the first century baby of 21th, except for Jenny Quantum, predating even Jenny Fractal. Linked to planet Earth, she was meant to be an intermediary between the planet and people, the physical form of the Gaia hypotesis. But when the World's End hit, and the ecosystem was utterly distruted, Gaia was forced to hide, or rather transfom herself, into a gigantic, mute, muck-encrusted creature (reminescent of The Heap, Swamp Thing or the Man-Thing) carrying around her dead goldfish in a fishbowl.

While Century Babies are known to be immortal, they are not invincible, and can be, and often are killed, invariably as a result of the extraordinary lives they lead.Interestingly, after her death on the stroke of midnight December 31st, 1999 (the end of the 20th century according to consensus reality), Jenny Sparks was actually reincarnated as the "Spirit of the 21st Century" (see Jenny Quantum), but it remains to be seen if she was the exception rather than the rule.Fact|date=May 2008Indeed, other Century Babies have continued living into the 21st century, including Elijah Snow and Dr Axel Brass.

The children of the Century Babies also apparently develop superhuman powers as a result of their lineage, though it is unknown if the powers are specifically determined by that of their parents' abilities.Known children of Century Babies include Jakita Wagner (daughter of Lord Blackstock) and Anna Hark (daughter of Hark).Fact|date=May 2008

In the series "Authority: Revolution", Jenny Quantum visits a city/dimension where the spirits of previous "Jenny" Century Babies are living. According to an older Jenny Quantum, this city was created by Jenny Quantum's own powers after visiting the Doctor's garden, which houses the spirits of all the previous Doctors. It turns out that not all of Jenny's predecessors lived for an exact century, rather they lived for a certain period of time that they represented. Only relatively recently have the "Jenny" Century Babies been living for an exact century.Jenny's predecessors included Jenny Steam (the spirit of the 19th century), Jenny Revolution, Jenny Crusade, Jenny Inquisition, Jenny Plague, Jenny Ra, Jenny Fire and Jenny Stone.

(Addie Vochs of the Monarchy was a Century Baby born in 1901, but on the stroke of midnight on April 1st, the symbolical New Year according to certain horoscopes).Fact|date=May 2008 However, according to a hypothesis put forth by The Doctor, the collective consciousness of humanity and their belief that the century starts during the xx00 year, not the xx01 year is what wills the Century Babies into being.Fact|date=May 2008 When this issue was brought up to Jenny Sparks, she also blamed this on the fact that most of the world believes in the flawed definition and thus, she must conform to it.Fact|date=May 2008


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