Matt Collins

"Hammer"

(retired)

Blessed with brains, rugged good looks and natural athletic ability, Matt Collins had it all, and when his high school football career began to take off, it looked like the sky was the limit. But changes began to happen in Matt--the kind where he suddenly became super-humanly strong. Realizing he couldn't continue playing for fear of hurting other players, or having his new secret revealed, Matt left football behind, going off to college, instead, and getting his M.B.A. It was in college that he met Lisa, who would soon become his bride.

Still having his super strength to deal with, Matt looked to Seattle's Forte for his example, and decided to try his hand at being a super-hero. He ended up joining Forte, and was an integral part of the team and their world-saving exploits. But his mysterious powers mutated, turning his hero form into a massive and grotesque figure with facial disfigurements. And greater strength. This change happened to occur in the middle of one of Forte's darkest periods, and on one of its darkest days. The villainess Hellequin (a.k.a. Black Rose) had been revealed to be the stolen-from-conception daughter of Forte's Dr. Jackal and Knightsabre, and had kidnapped the baby of Forte's Mist in an attempt at a black ritual that would bring her lover, Luficer D'Arque, back from the dead and into immortality. When Mist was fleeing with her child, with the building burning and coming down all around the assembled heroes, Matt saw Hellequin about to blast and kill mother and child. He leapt at her, but not realizing the extent of his new strength, he killed the villain upon impact. Though he had done it to save the life of his friend and her baby, Matt never got over the guilt of the accidental killing--especially knowing the girl he killed was the daughter of two of his best friends.

Fashioning a mask to cover his deformed face, Matt continued on with Forte for a time, but changing back into his human form started becoming harder and harder, and he feared being trapped in his new Hammer form. With his heart no longer in heroing, and with pressure from his wife, Matt stepped away from Forte, devoting himself full-time to his career as a financial planner, and returning to his team only in times of dire need. But soon Matt's powers mutated again...and this time, the mutation was their seemingly complete disappearance. Now having a chance at normal life, Matt felt no sorrow at their loss.

But a new career opportunity drew him back into the hero business...in a different way. Matt was approached by Miguel Garcia--the hero Grav, that Hammer and his team had once had strained relations with--about becoming the C.F.O. of a new, and very much improved, Armor Security. Agreeing to the very lucrative offer, Matt and Lisa moved to Los Angeles to start a new life, and, for Matt, a new home at Armor.