Archmage

Background
Born to an investment banker in London, Marcus Van Buren was only six years old when his parents died during a home invasion. The only memory that he has from that time is when his mother told him to hide under his bed and be as quiet as possible. It was the last time he would see any of them alive. After being found by the authorities, he would be sent to an orphanage before being found by an Asgardian hiding on Earth called Rafe. Recognizing the spark of the Odin Force in Marcus, he arranged to adopt him and took him to the elven realm of Alfheim for two reasons. To train him physically while educating him in both Earth and Asgardian customs and have an elven sage train him in the art of sorcery. Rafe only knew the boy to be some kind of Asgardian hybrid..but it wasn't until he was approaching his teenage years that he begin to exhibit signs of his heritage.

At the age of sixteen, Rafe and Marcus returned to Midgard, where Marcus was enrolled in school until he graduated and left for Cambridge University where he studied a variety of subjects, but found he had aptitude for occult studies. Rafe's lessons continued, as he schooled his adoptive son in hand to hand combat, swordplay, tactics and espionage. As Marcus began to grasp more advanced magical theories, his power grew as well. It was long noticed that the teen had not developed the physical attributes of his heritage, but where he was lacking in physical strength, he more than made up for it with raw magical power.

Right after Marcus recieved his master's degree from Cambridge, the world was rocked to it's core when the universes merged. There was chaos everywhere, with new beings and powered villians running rampant. Marcus suggested to Rafe that they leave the realm again, but Rafe disagreed, telling him that this would be a perfect test of his abilities against beings such as Kang and Time Trapper. Marcus eventually agreed, and was gifted with the mystical blade Uramasa. Having trained exclusively with the blade, he knew how to use it, and Archmage was born. Archmage worked with Earth's organizations to take down the aliens that darkened the skies while the heroes were inside of the Labyrinth. The alien invasion was repelled, and Marcus awoke to a new world. One where two universes merged to become one.

A few years later, Marcus had parted ways with his father and mentor, and moved to the States to work at Empire State as a professor of occult studies. He kept his training up in secret, but never used his powers in public unless there was a strong need for it. The few times he did, he ended up helping random heroes in order to keep the scales of good and evil even. The trust fund left to him by his parents along with the salary from his job allowed him to live in relative comfort. Now as a United States citizen and based in New York, he lives and works as a human, while donning his persona of Archmage only when the need arises.

Personality
Marcus is a tough nut to crack. Despite his outward appearance, he's not really all that nice. Having had a hard childhood definitely made it's mark on him. He is slow to trust, generally doesn't like people, and ignores most things that doesn't directly affect him. However, that's only his exterior. Under the crass, vain, and generally jerk-like shell beats the heart of a man who will do anything it takes to save his planet. He doesn't consider himself a hero or even a villian. He is simply someone you will have to deal with if you ever have aspirations of taking over the Earth. It's why he created his alter persona Archmage...afterall, it's not worth it for his life to be disrupted by fame or some such nonsense. The only time Marcus is charming is when he wants something, or inside of the classroom in order to teach his students. He won't think twice to use his genetic good looks for his own personal gain. This doesn't really make him a bad person, he's just not one of those goody goody types.

Knowing the source of his magic comes from his ancestor, he does restrain himself. He's heard stories of his grandmother, and he doesn't care for them much. She's a straight up seductress, uses men for her own whims, and is constantly doing stuff to get Thor's attention. In his opinon, she's wasting her talents. He doesn't want to do that. That's why he finds himself coming to other people's rescue more often than not. However, should she need him for something, he won't immediately say no. Afterall, he doesn't have any family left, except for his mentor Rafe. But she -is- blood relation, and that usually leaves him torn between wanting to help her, and knowing that if he does, he'll regret it.