Roman Julian Young

When Dr. Julia Capuletti, a leading professor in the BioGen Department at a top-marks Alchemax-funded university in Chicago met Dr. Ramona Montenegro, a researcher of BioGenetics at OsCorp, at a Phage conference, the sparks were as immediate as their love of science. Brought together by fate and their careers, Ramona and Julia found themselves basking in each other’s company, staying up to all hours of the night talking about themselves, The Phage, genetics and even their favorite kinds of music. It was a weekend that sparked a relationship that would last the better part of two years before blossoming into something more.

 

It was on their anniversary when Ramona pitched the idea to Julia. Under the guise of a present, Ramona revealed a lab that she had been designing for the past year. She explained to her beloved that she wanted to give her something special; a child. Together, they came up with a plan to pool their knowledge and resources to create their own Clone, a child for the two of them to raise. They wanted to have a family of their own. To make a family of their own and not have every moment of their lives defined by their careers. They wanted to be happy.

 

In order to do that, though, they would have to break some rules and possibly even some laws. While they had they needed in their lab to perform the tasks of bringing a Clone into this world, they lacked the Genetic IP to start the process. In a strange twist of two brilliant women wanting to make each other happy, they each returned home from work with (stolen) samples from their employers.

 

Ramona had brought a sample from a cocktail of genetic samples from the various arachnid-esque heroes of yesteryear, compiled and organized by OsCorp. Julia had brought home a sample from a much more insignificant collection, which was being uncovered and studied at her university through a grant from Alchemax. They each had attempted to surprise the other with the missing piece to their familial puzzle. Science triumphed that night and they decided to use both samples.

 

Using their combined resources they managed to outsource the manufacturing of a bio-vat in which to grow their progeny and a confidante in Gwendolyn Young. She was a promising student in Ramona’s class that had been trying to land a lab assistant position with her professor, Dr. Montenegro. Together, the three of them kept the project a secret from everyone but her boyfriend, Oscar Octavius. For those next nine months, they were a circle of trust and were side-by-side when their clone baby had become an actual reality.

 

Roman Julian Young entered this strange new world with the proportionate abilities of a spider and the intelligence of a maniacal villain. Raised and trained by his moms to be able to work with his abilities put him in a good place. Their jobs kept him comfortable and their love kept him from going insane. In a world as crazy as the one they lived in, Roman Julian Young needed an outlet. A hobby. Something to do. His flair for the dramatic and his innate knowledge of special effects led him down a path towards magic and illusions.

 

Roman took to the streets, taking the name Sleight to perform his magic tricks and illusions. During two separate performances, Roman was approached by employees from his parents’ companies. Both of which worked out demanding deals with Roman to keep his parents employed and charges from being pressed if he performed jobs for them when needed. He was stuck and underneath the corporate thumb of both OsCorp and Alchemax, a fact that he couldn’t tell his parents. It was his responsibility to take care of them as they had taken care of him. Both OsCorp and Alchemax wanted to use his abilities for their own needs and he had no choice but to let them.

 

However, with his great powers also came a greater responsibility. To those that fell by the wayside while companies like OsCorp and Alchemax profited from a variety of different avenues. As far as he was concerned, there were not enough people caring about those that lived in worse places than he did. There were not enough people willing to stand up and fight for those that were unable to stand up and fight for themselves. There were not enough people, like him, that felt responsible.

 

So, despite everything already on his plate, Roman donned a mask and a suit in the same spirit of his many predecessors and took to the rooftops as the awesome arachnid Recluse!