Tom Sawyer (LXG)

Real Name: Tom Sawyer

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Special Agent of the American Secret Service

Affiliations: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, American Secret Service, Huck Finn (deceased)

Enemies: The Fantom, Dorian Gray

Known Relatives: Aunt Polly, Sid Sawyer (half-brother), Mary (cousin)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The Nautilus

First Appearance: original version Huckleberry Finn

LXG version League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a.k.a. LXG, 20th Century Fox, 2003)

Powers/Abilities: Skilled fighter, both unarmed and with pistols; a lesson from Quatermain taught him to shoot targets at extreme ranges.

History: Tom Sawyer grew up in Missouri, where he had several interesting adventures while touring the Mississippi river. He discovered or created mayhem, solved murders, and found buried treasure, seeking adventure and excitement simply because nothing else could really satisfy him. He was eventually hunted down by the American Government, who gave him the chance to become a spy. He jumped at the chance, and began his career. During his missions, he learned how to use the Winchester Model 94 Carbine, nicknamed 'The Gun that won the West'. Capable of giving the force of a single shot the ripping slaughtermatics of a repeat automatic, it let him blast first and ask questions later.

Though now an official 'Man of Mystery', he was still at heart a rebellious youth with a taste for adventure that nothing else could satisfy. This taste for adventure gave him the edge for his latest task; membership within the LXG. Handy with a gun, but possessed with none of the supernatural gifts held by the others, Sawyer appeared to be out of his league (No pun intended). Yet his independent spirit and hunger for action may have been just what the League needed to survive against the brand new world of its terrifying enemy.

Alone of the League members, he wasn't recruited by the mysterious M; instead he was sent in by the Americans to hunt down the Fantom, a mission all the more personal for him because the Fantom had killed his childhood friend Huckleberry Finn, a fellow agent in the service. Trailing the League when they went to recruit Dorian Gray, Sawyer witnessed the Fantom's men enter the immortal's residence. Eliminating one of them, he stole their armour as a disguise, and infiltrated the force which subsequently held the League at gunpoint. Sawyer turned on the Fantom's men, giving the League the opportunity to turn the tables on their attackers. Although Dorian objected to it, Quatermain decided to let Sawyer join the League, largely on the basis that Sawyer promised him a copy of his impressive rifle (and that, deep down, Sawyer reminded Quatermain of his dead son). While Sawyer was, at first glance, the least extraordinary of the extraordinary gentlemen (apparently only good for providing some extra guns and trying to flirt with Mina Harker), he did have some skills; not only did he have a great deal of nerve, managing to stand against an invisible man and an armored soldier with a large flamethrower, but he was also more intelligent them some would credit, given that he managed to drive Nemo's automobile like a master on his first try.

After the Nautilus was nearly destroyed by the bombs planted by Dorian and the Fantom, it was Sawyer who rallied the group in its most desperate hour, pointing out that, while the Fantom may have deceived the League as to the reasons for their being gathered, that had been his greatest mistake; He bought the League together.

During the League's final fight with the Fantom, Sawyer went along with Quatermain to track down and defeat the Fantom, revealed to be M, their governmental superior, a.k.a. Professor James Moriarty, the Napolean of Crime. While Quatermain confronted Moriarty, Sawyer and Skinner took on an invisible man created by the Fantom's scientists, getting him into a position with Quatermain could shoot him. Then, with Quatermain mortally wounded and Moriarty getting further and further away, Sawyer took up Quatermain's gun and, remembering marksmanship advice the dying hunter had given him, he shot Moriarty at a range that Quatermain was rightly proud of. As Quatermain died, he said that he hoped that, just as the nineteenth century had been his, the twentieth would be Sawyers's.

Comments: Played by Shane West. Created by Mark Twain, adapted by James Robinson (screenwriter) at the suggestion of Alan Moore.

Not in the original comics, Sawyer was added to the movie League when Americans executives insisted there needed to be an American character for the U.S. audiences to relate to. Alan Moore, aware that Mark Twain had written a little known fourth book about Tom Sawyer (the first three being The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer Abroad), depicting his adult career in Tom Sawyer, Detective .

Profile by "David", with amendments by Loki, and corrections from Brooks Martin.

CLARIFICATIONS: None.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

Back to General UK Comic Book Heroes.

Back to UK Superheroes Main Page.

Home

All images and characters depicted on this site are copyright their respective holders, and are used for informational purposes only. No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source.