(Dark Horse Comics)
Editor's Note: The Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns FC have partnered with iconic, local comic book publisher Dark Horse Comics to create player-specific superheroes in recognition of National Superhero Day. As part of the project, comic book writer Arvid Nelson created fictionalized origin stories for each player, detailing the genesis of their individual “super-powers.
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Captain Sinc (Christine Sinclair)
super strength and flight
Quote: “I am the Pacific Northwest.”
Every master must have a master. Christine Sinclair’s quest for excellence led her to the University of Portland and the tutelage of soccer and coaching great Clive Charles. “It was, well, it felt like destiny, to be honest,” Christine says, her embarrassed laugh belying the fire in her eyes. “Every day we’d train. At altitude, up on the slopes of Mount Hood. But Clive didn’t just expect me to be a great player. He expected me to be a leader.”
And training atop Oregon’s iconic Mount Hood wasn’t just a question of upping Christine’s red blood cell count. She didn’t discover her coach’s true purpose until she was close to graduation. “I realized something up there, looking clear across into British Columbia, where I was born. All my athletic gifts, whatever they might be, they’re meaningless without my teammates. The team scores every goal. All this power I had, it all came from my team. I told my coach. He laughed. And I was hurt! I said ‘I figured something out, something big, and all you can do is laugh?’ and he said to me ‘what took you so long?’”
Christine’s superhuman strength and ability to fly flared to life that day. And her powers come with a special condition: they wax and wane proportionally to the unity of her teammates. “When they are strong, I am strong,” she says. “In fact, some of my proudest moments have come in defeat.”
Defeat: a situation Christine doesn’t find herself in very often.
