Michael Costner

OMAC (Michael Costner) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Michael Costner was introduced in OMAC #1 (July 2006) and was created by Bruce Jones and Allan Goldman.

OMAC
Michael Costner / OMAC as depicted in OMAC #1 (September 2006). Art by Renato Guedes.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	OMAC #1 (September 2006)
Created by	Bruce Jones Allan Goldman
In-story information
Alter ego	Michael Costner
Abilities	OMAC physiology Superhuman strength and durability Shapeshifting Heat vision Access to extensive metahuman database

Fictional character biography

Michael Costner, a seventeen-year-old petty thief, spent his entire life in Gotham City; first as an orphan in care of the local orphanotrophy,^[1] then scraping his life on the streets, stealing to sate his addiction to heroin.

While at the orphanotrophy, Michael is infected with the OMAC nanovirus through a contaminated vaccine. However, Brother Eye never activates Michael's OMAC programming due to losing contact with him. Instead, Brother Eye keeps Michael as a "sleeper agent" who will only activate in times of dire need.

Michael Costner's OMAC programming activates after Sasha Bordeaux destroys Brother Eye. While other OMACs have no personality or qualms with used as killing machines, Michael defies his programming and opposes Brother Eye.^[2][3][4]

Despite the inconsistencies in Michae's programming, Brother Eye, having no other choices, trusts him with stealing a hard drive from NORAD.^[5] Resenting Brother Eye for forcing him to kill and for stealing his personality, Michael flies to outer space, taking enough control of his OMAC form to jettison the hard drive and Brother Eye. Enraged, Brother Eye casts him on Earth.

While on the run, Michael meets Vienna Barstow, a showgirl who falls in love with him.^[1][6][7] Brother Eye restores its body and transforms Vienna into an OMAC, but Michael manages to restore her to normal. As Superman battles Brother Eye, Vienna sacrifices herself to destroy the atomic furnace that sustains it.^[8][9]

Powers and abilities

As an OMAC, Michael is able to access the extensive knowledge on metahumans stored by Brother Eye, shapeshift parts of his body, and enlarge his body mass. He later gains the ability to use his invulnerability, heat vision, and shapeshifting abilities in human form.