Paul Martinez

Paul Martinez is a villain introduced in the serial "Legion of Lawndale Heroes". He makes his first appearance in Volume 6, Part 5 ("Snapshot in Time".)  His future self is a member of the Dark Legion.

First appearance
The first appearance of Paul Martinez is from several years in the future. Using unknown technology, the Dark Legion sends a remote controlled module through time back to the early morning of May 18, 2005. The Dark Legion is aware from the historical record that the Legion will be gathered in one place.

A psionic signal is sent through time, using William Abbey's mental powers. This allows the Dark Legion to enter the dreams of their counterparts and challenge them. Martinez is sent to battle Quinn Morgendorffer and Tiffany Blum-Deckler, undoubtedly due to the similarity of Martinez's powers and Quinn's. In Quinn's fantasy setting, Martinez gives himself the name "Lord Thunder."

However, through Daria's help, the Legionnaires figure out how to enter each other's dreams. Before the Dark Legion could be defeated, the time traveling equipment used by the Legion was destroyed by the mysterious being known as Chrona. The Dark Legion was knocked unconscious and taken into custody by a future version of the Legion.

By coincidence, May 18th 2005 is also the date that the present-day Paul Martinez meets Penny Lane at the Chicoasan Dam region of Chiapas, Mexico.

Powers/abilities
Paul Martinez's powers are very similar to the powers of Legionnaire Quinn Morgendorffer. It is not known precisely how similar those powers are, or which of the two is the most powerful.

Martinez, like Quinn, has the power to generate and control electricity. We do not know if Martinez has Quinn's powers of shaping electricity like solid objects, or Quinn's powerful "strobe effect". As Martinez's only appearance has him facing a younger and inexperienced Quinn, he might not have made full use of his talents.

He is definitely powerful enough to at least injure Quinn, or at least injure her in the "dream universe" that Quinn and Martinez shared. In this "dream universe", he was immune to Quinn's strobe attack. Quinn stated that she was using the power at the level that fried Lou Cypher, but Martinez was able to shrug it off effortlessly.

It should be noted, however, that this encounter occurred prior to Quinn's powers being enhanced by Sherrie Klein, and as such, Martinez' powers may be ineffectual against her at present.

Trivia

 * Martinez is not Mexican, but an American-born Hispanic.
 * A friend of Penny's states that Martinez cares about "the Zapatistas and the native peoples". It is not know whether Martinez shares the same revolutionary beliefs as the Zapatistas.
 * It is also not known if Martinez possesses in 2005 the powers and abilities of his future self.