Speedball: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Robbie Baldwin

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22 (January, 1988)

Powers: Can generate force fields

Affiliation: New Warriors, Damage Control, Avengers Academy

Did You Know? Speedball, along with Nova, Night Thrasher, Firestar, Namorita, and Marvel Boy was a founding member of the New Warriors

A Little History

Robbie Baldwin was born to Maddy Naylor-Baldwin and Justin Baldwin. Seeing that Justin was a District Attorney and Maddy was an actress, Robbie often found himself in the middle of a household blow-up. That is, his parents found no problem in arguing in front of him. Worse yet, the focus of their arguing usually revolved around Robbie’s future 

While in school, Robbie found an internship at Hammond Research Laboratory. During his time at Hammond, three Doctors had devised a way to tap into extra-dimensional energy. Unfortunately, while they had successfully tapped the energy, the three did not put into place safeguards. Due to this, the incoming energy overloaded the equipment they were using causing a backfire. 

Robbie, curious with what the secrecy was that surrounded the three, snuck into the lab. Sadly, he was there for the overload and upon it, was instantly flooded with extra-dimensional energy. Even though he survived, he did not survive unscathed. 

As a by-product of the energy, Robbie found himself changed. He noticed that he was surrounded by energy bubbles. He immediately tried to escape the laboratory but on his attempt, he was confronted by a group of gunmen. 

At this moment, Robbie learned exactly how he changed. He learned that his body had created a field of energy that protected him from inbound attack. With his power in Row, he quickly did away with the gunmen. From that point on, he used use his newfound powers for good. 

As a result, Speedball was born.