Long before he joined the New Warriors or the Thunderbolts, Speedball's superhero story began with science. After a scientific experiment imbued Robert Baldwin with kinetic energy from a parallel dimension, the young hero developed the ability to use kinetic energy to form a field of power around himself that allowed him to bounce around by absorbing the momentum from his impacts.
Despite the happy, even silly demeanor that he carried during his time with the New Warriors, Speedball was always defined by tragedy and embarrassment, even before he was the center of one of the most divisive events in Marvel history. While the wake of this tragedy turned Robbie into one of Marvel's darkest heroes, he eventually bounced back and reclaimed the Speedball mantle.
BUILDING MOMENTUM
After a lab experiment by Doctor Nicholas Benson opened a power tap to a dimension of otherworldly kinetic energy, that energy merged with Speedball, who became a small-time hero who stopped crim in his neighborhood. Not long after one of his early adventures ended with the death of a young girl he was trying to save, Speedball found himself embroiled in" The Evolutionary War," a crossover where he found the High Evolutionary trying to wipe out New York City through eugenics.
Unfortunately, the police just didn't take Speedball seriously, and he had to trick Spider-Man and Daredevil into stumbling upon the villain to assist him. Between the death of someone he tried to save and being humiliated by law enforcement, Speedball's superhero career didn't get off to a great start.
THE NEW WARRIORS
After being turned down by Captain America and the Avengers and briefly joining the superhero clean-up crew Damage Control, Speedball eventually found a group of kindred spirits in the New Warriors. He assisted the fledgling team against the cosmic powerhouse Terrax, which prompted them to ask him to join. For a time, Robbie thrived with his new team and even discovered that the nature of his powers meant that he was, in a sense, the living embodiment of motion.
After a long time together, the New Warriors parted ways eventually, Nova had to return to Xandar, and several of the members' identities had been compromised by the Poison Memories street gang. Speedball found new work alongside Jessica Jones in Alias, but botched his attempts to stop drug dealers when his powers went awry. This infuriated the private eye, who called him washed up and implied that is incompetence was intentional.
As the son of an actress, Speedball turned to television to get his life back on track. He revived the New Warriors team with a different roster as the focus of a reality TV show. In the show's second season, Speedball and his fellow heroes encountered a group of villains in Stamford, CT. During the confrontation, the explosive villain Nitro used his powers to create a blast that killed 612 civilians, including 60 children and kicked off the debate that resulted in Marvel's Civil War.
Speedball's Penance
While the nature of Robbie's powers protected him from the explosion in Stamford, the incident broke Robert, both mentally and physically., but in a rather terrifying way. The explosion sent him bouncing around Stamford so fast no one could see him, trapped in a perpetual bombardment of kinetic energy that knocked him over 500 miles away and effectively burned his powers out.
Although Baldwin tried to give his account of the Stamford event at court, he was shot, and it was soon revealed that his powers could now only be activated by pain. Crushed under a mix of survivor's guilt and depression, Robert turned on himself and commissioned a suit that was akin to a medieval torture device. The Iron Maiden-like suit featured 612 spikes, one for each victim of the Stamford tragedy. A tenth of those spikes pointed inwards and broke Baldwin's skin, activating his powers. These spikes symbolized the children who died in the blast, and Robbie famously took the name Penance and hid his identity from his former New Warrior allies.
From here, Robert moved through several roles, never being able to settle. He joined the Thunderbolts, where he tracked down Nitro and tortured him. Unfortunately, this didn't help Robbie find catharsis, and he continued to blame himself for the Stamford incident. While struggling with his inner demons, he was drugged and brainwashed by former Thunderbolts director, Norman Osborn. After he eventually broke free, Robbie returned to his speedball identity and became a teacher at Avengers Academy. Although he put away Penance's spikes, he continued his self-destructive streak, which he hid from his longtime friend Justice.
The New New Warriors
After convincing Justice that he was in good health, Speedball and his old friend reformed the New Warriors. After filling out the roster with Sam Alexander's Nova and more young heroes, one of the new team members with psychic abilities, Aracely, took a curious look inside Robert's mind after his self-harm was brought up in a discussion about powers.
Instead of seeing a psychic image of Speedball, Aracely only saw the grisly image of Penance. On the outside, Robert explained how he doesn't do that anymore, but his inner self tells her to get out of his head and not mention what she saw. On their next mission, he shifts between optimistic and cold, even thinking that his team is too weak to defeat Zuras, the Eternal that they were fighting. While these moments revealed that Penance was still a part of him, Speedball unleashed his all against Zuras.
This display spurs the team on and with help from Justice, the New Warriors win. While his guilt has evidently not left him, Robert has managed to claw back the optimism that got him into heroics long ago. While the weight of his sins, embarrassments and trauma might make most heroes hang up their cape. Speedball's exploits have been as formative as they were damaging. And ultimately, they all go to show that Speedball always bounces back.