Henry Jekyll (Earth-8918)

Henry Jekyll was a brilliant research scientist and high-society gentleman living in London. Struggling with dark, self-destructive desires throughout his life, Jekyll dedicated himself to creating a formula that could separate these impulses from his good self. The formula he ended up creating worked, but had the unintentional side-effect of giving rise to an alternate persona that manifested all of Jekyll's darkness without his light - Edward Hyde. Eventually, Hyde grew too powerful and took over their body, rampaging throughout England until he was recruited by British intelligence into their new, "extraordinary" clandestine force in exchange for a full pardon.

Early Life
Not much is detailed about Henry Jekyll's early life, but the fact that he virulently refuses to talk about it indicates that it wasn't ideal, to say the least.

High Society Adulthood
Whatever happened in Jekyll's childhood, he admits that it was the cause of many of his less-than-ideal impulses. Since he inherited a respectable position in London's high society, however, Jekyll forced himself to suppress these negative aspects of his personality - a hatred of his fellow upperclassmen, a raging and unfulfilled sex drive and a curiosity for alcohol and drugs.

Becoming Mister Hyde
At some point, Jekyll became obsessed with understanding these subconscious impulses, with the goal of eliminating them and allowing him to live peacefully. To this end, he undertook an education in science and developed a potion that he believed would find and suppress or eliminate his urges. Instead, an unknown chemical impurity in the potion caused Jekyll's urges to metamorphose into a whole second personality: that of a hedonistic, violent and selfish creature that called itself Edward Hyde.

At first, Hyde was actually smaller, weaker and uglier than Jekyll. Thinking his antics would be of no consequence, Jekyll took advantage of this and started controlled the transformations with the serum to indulge his vices as Hyde. But one night in August, he became Hyde involuntarily in his sleep - a sign that Hyde was growing stronger than him.

Horrified by such a prospect, Jekyll resolved to cease his transformations. One night, he had a moment of weakness and drank the serum again. Hyde, furious at having been caged for so long, went out and murdered a nobleman, Sir Danvers Carew. This particular act seemed to have pushed Hyde's evolution into overdrive - he rapidly gained strength, size and willpower, to the point where Jekyll started transforming while awake.

For fear of hurting any of his close friends, Jekyll secluded himself in his lab, attempting to find a cure, with his transformations becoming more frequent and requiring larger doses of serum to suppress. Eventually, Jekyll ran out of one of the main ingredients, and subsequent batches made from new stock didn't work at all. Fearing that his next transformation would be permanent, Jekyll attempted suicide, only to transform at the last minute and flee the lab.

Joining the League
Hyde disappeared from London for many years, resurfacing in Glasgow with a string of murders targeting prostitutes. He was eventually tracked down and arrested by British intelligence, with the aid of game hunter Allan Quatermain and detective Sherlock Holmes. The two offered Hyde conditional membership in British intellifence on the promise of a full pardon for his crimes, to which Hyde agreed and subsequently let out Jekyll for the first time in years.

Powers

 * Transformation
 * Superhuman Strength: Under optimal conditions, Hyde can lift approximately five tons.
 * Leaping
 * Superhuman Speed
 * Superhuman Durability
 * Regeneration
 * Superhuman Senses

Abilities

 * Gifted Intellect
 * Hand-to-Hand Combat: Despite having no formal training, Hyde is a formidable fighter. He mainly relies on bare-knuckle techniques that make full use of his superhuman strength.

Trivia

 * Hyde rejects rumors that he engaged in cannibalism during his trek across England, although he's not entirely opposed to trying it.