Dante, Assistant to Clockwork, Enemy of Timetravelers, and…Accidental Hero?
Part of Dante’s parole is working under Clockwork. Most of his job is fixing broken timelines or timeline irregularities.
This means that he develops a grudge against anyone or anything that messes with time.
Aka Speedforce users and the JLA by association.
And so, Dante begins concocting a plan to stop them.
His first instinct is to break all the speedster’s legs, but he’s better than that. Going around and maiming heroes would definitely violate his parole. The idea to just ask them to stop timetraveling doesn’t cross his mind, so that leaves only one possible solution.
Prevent any and all world-ending events, and protect their loved ones.
Hear him out, they go back in time when things go so horrifically wrong that there’s no way to fix it in the present, they go back to save someone, or they go back just to warn their past selves.
If Dante can prevent these things, then the heroes won’t see a reason to mess up the timeline, creating less work for him! Totally foolproof plan!
So! I decided to sketch up a costume for Time Assistant Dante! First photo includes the references of canon Dante, Clockwork, and their fusion from the graphic novels. Second has some more doodles and smaller details.
Design Notes
I tried to keep the general styling similar to Dante’s og costume (pointy boots & gloves) but with ClockWork’s colors (purple & turquoise) and embellishments. The goal was to make them clearly associated, but keep Dante’s individuality.
I made the purples darker and the teals/turquoises lighter, for better contrast and to be reminiscent of Dante’s OG costume.
His OG cloak is light on the outside, dark on the inside. I switched it so that the jumpsuit’s dark color would make his silhouette pop against the lighter inside.
Speaking of his jumpsuit, I nixed the “DP” logo and secondary color along the sides and arms. I removed the logo because it and the Time Medallion were fighting for attention. I actually tried making the side color work, but I was never satisfied with how it turned out, so I just left the Jumpsuit one solid color. I’m a little worried it’s too plain looking, but hopefully the rest of the design makes it work.
The Time Medallion clipped to Dante’s cloak is a reference to the gear on ClockWork’s.
I allocated all watches to his belt, because I feel like wristwatches might be impractical on a more physical character like Dante. I like to imagine that it works like a retractable belt clip.
The marks under his eyes are supposed to resemble the crack/thunderbolt across ClockWork’s eye. It’s not a permanent holdover from their fusion, Dante draws it on himself with makeup. Or sharpie.
Overall, I like the design, but I feel it could be better. I might take a crack at it again in the future, or maybe I’ll warm up to it, who knows. Suggestions are welcome!
More Plot Ideas In No Particular Order
They (JLA, flash fam, whoever) don’t recognize the Time Medallion and assume that “CW” or “WC” is the acronym for his hero/villain name. (They can’t tell which letter is supposed to come first because of the Medallion’s design)
Dante doesn’t actually have an alias, he wasn’t planning to be known, and “Phantom” is being used by Danny. So, he’ll go along with whatever name they come up with, as long as it’s not stupid
Dante is kinda the perfect person to be ClockWork’s assistant?
His OG timeline is gone, so he’s unaffected by time alterations
He’s from 10 years in the future, so that’s 10 years of future knowledge he’s got
Their forced fusion, while uncomfortable, temporarily gave Dante ClockWork’s powers, so he knows how those work
Back to that future knowledge of his, it’s mostly major world events and things he’s learned in battle, plus whatever cryptic shit ClockWork writes on a sticky note that day
What I mean is, he knows a lot of the broad strokes but not the finer details, which is a problem that MUST be rectified….rectifying might mean stalking, but that’s a sacrifice (of time and duplicates) that he’s willing to make!
@balasora ‘s gif is very accurate. ClockWork may be omniscient, but Dante is not! He needs a way to keep his info straight!
Stalking becomes less necessary if/when he starts to bond with them, he can just hang out with them and observe, or ask questions
Might I remind you that this guy hasn’t really hung out with anyone in 10 years? Besides threats and one-liners the guy is NOT good at talking. Or any casual, non-hostile interaction
Once they decide he doesn’t mean them harm, the heroes will give him some grace, figuring that he doesn’t understand human social norms…which is kinda correct
It’s gonna take someone really persistent to crack his hard shell (speedsters. It’s gonna be the speedsters)
Glitch In Time still happened in this au, but Dante chose to work for ClockWork instead of staying with Vlad. So he’s a half again, but stays in adult ghost form because he hates his teenage human form
Eventually they’ll wanna meet out of costume, which he can’t really do when his human body is 14. He’ll eventually work up the courage to ask ClockWork to age up his human half to match his ghost form
He’ll try to play it cool, and pretend that it’s just for practical reasons, and not because he wants to hang out with his new friends, but ClockWork sees right through him
ClockWork absolutely let Dante go ahead with operation TFP (Time Fuckery Prevention) because he knew it’d further his character development. Even if his motive is different, Dante is back to protecting people like he used to as Phantom, and now has access to new possible fraid members.
That’s farther in the story tho, for now he’s trying not to snap Reverse-Flash’s neck
Whether or not his makeup comes with the transformation or is drawn on manually is unclear
Some doodles for the AU, hope you enjoy. (I hate how the colors look different on different devices. I promise this looks fine in clip studio)
