Black Superman Comics

Apologies in advance for the graphic nature of what you're about to see. Some of us had it rough in the origins department. - Manchester Black

Manchester Black was born the unplanned fifth of five boys. His mother died giving birth to her sixth child and only daughter, Vera. Their brothers all either died or ended up in jail, where they ended up getting killed anyway. Manchester and Vera were left alone with only their abusive, drukard father. To survive, the children turned to pick-pocketing. Vera would use her innocent appearence to distract people in Heaton Park, while Manchester would pull their wallets and coin purses. Neither child was proud of it, but it did keep them alive. One day, the children were pursued by police and Vera fell in front of an oncoming train! It was at this point that Manchester's latent meta-gene activated, allowing him to stop the train with a telekinetic shockwave, causing the train to derail and killing a dozen passengers. After this incident, Manchester and Vera were taken in and trained by MI5, the British Secret Service. At some point, Manchester used his powers to give their father a massive stroke, freeing himself and his sister from the old man's influence forever.

Manchester became a field operative for MI5, using his psychic powers to complete his missions. During a "particularly disenfranchising" tour in Africa, Manchester met with other Metahuman operatives like himself. The group decided to leave the service together and take a stab at freelance work as a superhero team, calling themselves "the Elite".