Favorite Fictional Character --- Banshee

Back in the day, even after I stopped reading comic books, I still collected superhero action figures.  At one point in time, my sophomore year in college, I had quite a few of them.  Now most of them were X-Men characters, though I had a few that weren't.  One of the figures that I really wanted, but never got, was of Banshee.  I looked high and low in every store I could get to, and I never found it.  By the time I found one, I was no longer collecting them, and I had given all of them away to a neighbor kid.

The man who would go by the name of Banshee, was born Sean Cassidy.  He was raised in his ancestral home, on the rugged, wind swept coast of Northern Ireland.  He grew up with all of his family's noble history, and for the most part, it rubbed off on him. As he grew up, he realized that he had one of the coolest mutant powers I've ever seen.  He can produce a sonic scream so powerful, that he can use it to fly, take out his enemies, and a myriad of other cool things.  

As he continued to age, he joined Interpol, fell in love and got married. While on a rather lenghty, undercover assignment, he lost his wife in a horrible terrorist attack.  She was pregnant at the time, which he never knew about, and it was kept from him when he got back from his mission.  It was thought by those around him, that it would be better for him not to know he lost a daughter as well.  What many didn't know, is that she lived, and was raised by Sean's cousin.  Let's just say, the two men didn't like each other very well, so his cousin never filled him in on the truth.  So his daughter was raised by his criminal cousin, and he continued with life, not knowing anything about her.

In the meantime he joined the X-Men and a few other organizations, and lived and loved on Muir Island. He put his life in danger, more often than most, all in the name of doing what's right and noble.  At one point in time, he did appear to be dead, but it's recently come to light that he has been brought back.

What I've always loved about Banshee, even when he was at his lowest, is he never allowef the darkness to completely overwhelm him.  I'm not saying he hasn't been rocked on his heels a few times, and hasn't hit the bottle, but that innate nobility always shines through in the end.  He, at his core, is a genuinely good guy.  He wants to do what is right, and wants to put the needs and safety of those around him, ahead of his self.  In my book, that makes him the perfect superhero. 

Of course it doesn't hurt that he's hot, for a blond, and has an awesome superpower.