Origin

Raphael Acre received new abilities when the volcano on Lazarus Island erupted, causing global rainstorms contaminated with lazarus resin, causing metahuman abilities to spontaneously develop. He could read people's emotions, even absorb their emotional pain, freeing them of it while forcing it on himself.

Creation

Raphael Arce was created by Dan Watters and Max Dunbar in the short story "Martian Manhunter in: Songs of Pain," part of the Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods one-shot.

Major Story Arcs

Songs in Pain

Ever since the Lazarus Rain's, Raphael had used his new empathy abilities to soothe patients in a Metropolis hospital of their psychological trauma. He had helped 327 people when he stepped outside for fresh air before continuing. Unfortunately, he was absorbing many of the memories from the day Doomsday attacked Metropolis and killed Superman. This memory was starting to harm him, and it even began to shape-shift into Doomsday.

It caught the psychic attention of Martian Manhunter. J'onn came to Metropolis to investigate. He commended Raph and tried to share his burden; however, the memory of Doomsday was too much for J'onn as well. This memory of Doomsday began with J'onn using his psychic energy to travel through dimensions and replicate himself, eventually finding himself in hell. Raph could not stand by as Doomsday caused J'onn pain, so he took the memory back.

Unfortunately, the pure heat and pressure of Doomsday's rage crushed Raph's body into a new blood gem.

A Superman of Hell

After reabsorbing the memory of Doomsday from J'onn, both Raph and Doomsday ended up in Hell. Raph wandered the land, untortured but trapped in a specific circle of Hell without an escort. He would bait demons into attacking him so that they would drag him to the next. Because he had empathically connected with Martian Manhunter, he had access to J'onn's memories of his time posing as Bloodwynd. By taking the form and powers of Bloodwynd, Raph ventured deeper into Hell, believing it had no reason to exist, that no sinner deserved eternal punishment.

DC Power 2024: Pit Stop

In his travels through the circles of hell, Raphael/Bloodwynd found a construct of the Hall of Justice with his name on it. Curious about that, he entered the place and he found himself on a memory loop, which showed him the whole origin and history of the original Bloodwynd. Ther Raphael discovered that the original Bloodwynd was his uncle, Quintus Arce, who he had thought to have died years ago in a car accident. The captivity of Quintus was because, after a conflict against Felix Faust, Bloodwynd found himself trapped in hell under the torture of a demon who put him in a memory loop. He had chosen to stay there because he thought this way he could prevent others from his family line from falling under the curse of the Blood Gem. However, his nephew Raphael had become Bloodwynd during the Lazarus Event, making his fate find him. The demon who held Quintus prisoner told Raphael that because he had died with the Blood Gem over him, now Quintus was tied to hell. Raphael then took over the Blood Gem on himself, effectively, as Quintus, at last free, ascended to heaven, with Raphael now being burdened as holder of his family's Blood Gem.

Powers & Abilities

Empath: Since being exposed to the lazarus rain, Raphael was capable of reading the emotions of other people.

• Pain Siphon: He can even absorb emotional pain and traumatic memories, freeing people of them. However, he feels the pain and experiences the trauma instead.

Empowered Soul: Due to the circumstances of his death, Raphael absorbed a fragment of both Doomsday and J'onn J'onzz, granting his soul a unique set of powers in the afterlife.

• Flight
• Shape-Shifting: After absorbing powerful enough memories, he appears to be able to shape-shift.
• Super Strength
• Power Mimic: If the memory is of a particular metahuman, he appears able to mimic their power as well.