Panzer

Dane Lightfoot (Panzer)

History

Graduating high school, Lance Lightfoot and Christine Sway believed that everything was in order. Their futures were ensured. Life was good. The quarterback and head cheerleader had been together since their freshman year and had never dated anyone else. The prom king and prom queen had it all in high school… but outside the walls of their high school in Central Kansas was a harsh reality just waiting in the bushes for kids like them. Lance’s scholarship to KSU was lost thanks to his newfound love of alcohol and Christine’s pregnancy led to her parents cutting her off. The two moved into a trailer park and it was there that Dane Lightfoot came into the world.

As Dane grew up, his parents settled into the new careers reality had prepared for them. Lance became a laborer at a nearby excavation company while Christine found a job stripping at the Cherry Tree. At least, she tried to. Often, she was told that guys didn’t want to watch a girl with a black eye and a puffy lip dance. As reality crept closer and closer, Lance drank more and more. It helped him to forget about what Christine was really doing to make ends meet and sometimes it only encouraged him to punish her for her illicit career.

When Dane was four the family grew by one when his sister Ginny was born. The addition was not welcomed by their father who found another mouth to feed a major problem. As usual he took out his frustrations on Christine. Dane relished in his role as big brother and always tried to shield Ginny from their father’s abuse and kept her busy and away from Lance whenever he was home.

When Dane was eight his mother inherited her parents' farm and they were all excited to begin a new life without all the problems that had plagued them. Lance promised to quit drinking and worked hard on the farm for a short while but the temptation of the bottle was too strong. Dane was forced to do much of the adult work that his father couldn’t be bothered to do. He learned how to run and fix most of the machines and did the bulk of the daily chores.

As Dane grew older, he grew bigger; working so hard made him grow and filled him out considerably. He was a natural athlete just like his old man. Not long after turning thirteen an incident at home changed his life forever. Dane walked into the kitchen and saw his father hitting Ginny and this enraged him. He jumped on his dad and fought with him until Dane was punched and sent flying against the kitchen stove. Getting to his feet, his mutant abilities manifested for the first time- every pore of his skin secreted a metallic substance that hardened over his entire body. Dane easily overpowered his father and vowed he would never allow him to hurt his family again.

Lance was unable to accept Dane - ironic, given that he passed his genetic template onto him. Lance tried to throw Dane out, but Lance was shocked when Christine stood up to him and threw him out for good. Lance swore revenge and raged that Dane must have been the result of an affair because he never could have fathered a mutie.

Life without Lance allowed Dane to become more outgoing and he joined several sports teams at school now that he felt free to spend time away from home. His good looks and his gifts as an athlete made him popular and he reveled in his newfound life. He quickly became one of the most popular students in school and allowed the attention to change his attitude. He excelled in wrestling and he quickly moved up the rankings and eventually won the state championship in his sophomore year.

Dane’s world came crashing down while he was leaving the championships. As he waited for the bus to take them home he saw a child run out into the busy street. Without thinking he ran out and shielded the boy from an oncoming truck. Just as they were about to be run down his powers activated. Dane and the boy were not hurt but the truck was heavily damaged by the impact with Dane’s body. Not only was Dane highly resistant to harm thanks to the metal, he was also gifted with incredible strength and mass.

The entire incident was witnessed by dozens of people and a few members of the press. The next day Dane was stripped of all his sporting accomplishments and his school had their titles revoked. No one seemed to care that he had saved a child from being killed. Dane was treated as a pariah at home and few people would socialize with him. A week after the incident his mother was contacted by Charles Xavier. Professor Xavier offered him a place at his school for his junior year. Dane talked it over with his mother and he decided to join the school.

Being humiliated publicly changed Dane; he became more serious and withdrawn and no longer was carefree. When the students were each assigned to squads, Dane was assigned to Beast's "Exemplars". While at Xavier’s he concentrated on his studies and found he was very gifted when it came to computers and machinery. He had always been the one to fix things on the farm but the amazing things at Xavier’s expanded his knowledge to a new level. Dane made many friends but only connected with one other student: a pretty sophomore named Meghan. The two seemed destined to date but Dane was never able to open himself up enough for the relationship to progress. His junior year of high school went by fast. In July Scott Summers contacted Dane to give him some good news; he had been named a prefect for the upcoming academic year, a position that was highly regarded at the school. The summer went by slowly for him with all the work that needed to be done on the farm and the less than welcome feeling he got from the townspeople and his sister.

In his senior year, Dane was forced to become a temporary member of Xavier's school's staff after The Travelers removed the remaining adult staff members. During this time, Dane was a member of the New X-Men and served as Headmaster of the school.. He helped defeat several threats including a Sentinel (later revealed to be activated by The Travelers), a Brood attack (sent by The Travelers), an incursion by the mutant terrorist Mystique and her Brotherhood of Mutants, and a future version of Danger.

As Headmaster of Academy X and member of the eXalts team, Dane helped to confront Mystique's students at Academy M and the terrorist group The Purifiers.

Dane was asked to become a member of the X-Men in order to fill the role vacated by Colossus, but he declined saying that Academy X needed him more.

During Fear Itself, Dane chose to leave Academy X and the eXalts to accompany Meghan/Sinmara to Muspelheim in order to protect his family.

Powers

Dane has the ability to exude liquid vibranium from his body, which solidifies into a super-dense, resilient armor. In this state, Dane additionally has superhuman strength, stamina, and durability. The armor is self-repairing, giving Dane regenerative qualities in this state.

In addition to his mutant abilities, Dane has impressive technological and mechanical knowledge.