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 a new century (i.e. 1800, 1900, 2000). As they grew, each displayed certain superhuman abilities and skills, as well as functional immortality.
The Drummer theorized that the Century Babies 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.
Known Century Babies
*Dr. Axel Brass, the "Mind of the 20th Century" and analogue of Doc Savage; possesses an enhanced mind which allowed him to develop such faculties as closing his wounds and surviving indefinitely without food or sleep, all through sheer willpower.
*Bret Leather, a.k.a. The Spider and Dark Millionaire, the "Justice of the 20th Century", a gun-wielding vigilante; able to transform into a swarm of insects and reconstitute himself. He was also an expert marksman and ventriloquist. He was the son of the Dead Ranger, a homage to The Lone Ranger, and was himself apparently a homage to The Green Hornet and The Shadow.
*Kevin Sack, Lord Blackstock, analogue of Tarzan; heightened strength and speed.
*Elijah Snow - The "Ghost of the 20th Century" and leader of Planetary; possesses powers of cold manipulation.
*Jenny Sparks - The "Spirit of the 20th Century" and leader of The Authority; electricity-based abilities
*Jenny Quantum, The "Spirit of the 21st Century" and leader of the new Authority.
*Jenny Fractal, the second 21st Century Baby discovered after Jenny Quantum.
*Gaia Rothstein, once a "pretty, red-haired eight year old girl, with braces and a pet goldfish named Chester," another 21st Century Baby. Linked to the Earth's biosphere, she was meant to be an intermediary between the planet and people, the physical form of the Gaia hypothesis. When the event struck, Gaia was forced to conceal herself in the form of a giant, mute, muck-encrusted creature (reminiscent of The Heap, Swamp Thing or the Man-Thing) carrying her dead fish 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. Jenny Sparks perished at the closing of the 20th century, but other Century Babies have continued living into the 21st, including Elijah Snow and Dr Axel Brass.
Children of Century Babies, such as Jakita Wagner (daughter of Lord Blackstock) have developed superhuman powers, though it is unknown if the powers are specifically determined by that of their parents' abilities.
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 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 1 the symbolical New Year according to certain horoscopes. However, according to a hypothesis put forth by 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. 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.

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