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Break (6)
Project: Comic
Known as: Break
Real name: Sophia Sanchez
Group affiliation: MizFits
Physical description: Sophia is petite (5′) and thin, with olive skin and long dark hair. She is in her forties and has a beauty mark on her right cheek.
History: Sophia was born in New Jersey to a large and active family and had a happy childhood. She was always very social, popular, and community-focused (she used her homecoming queen acceptance speech to promote her bottle drive). She was religious and was sometimes called “Saint Sophie” behind her back. Not that she was perfect she was vain at times, and sometimes judgmental, but overall, she was (and is) a good, compassionate person. She also was quite adventurous, and enjoyed the outdoors.
She had a successful college career with a focus in business. Her freshman year she met and fell in love with a fellow student, Steven, who she loved deeply. They were married a year later. Tragically, a few months before graduation she lost Steven to pancreatic cancer. She spent a year in mourning before finishing her degree. She never lacked for suitors after that but continued to mourn Steven and found that no one really measured up.
Other than the effect on romantic relationships, Steven’s death did not cause Sophia to isolate herself. Quite the opposite she added curing cancer to her list of causes and remained very active in her community and church. She became a successful pharmaceutical sales rep and was quite comfortable financially but was mild in her indulgences.
Like many people, her special abilities came from the “All Saints’ Anarchy” event. This changed her life in profound ways. She became too much of a danger to others to continue with her community events or job. After causing family injuries and property destruction she accepted Puzzle’s offer to live with the Mizfits full time.
This was a blow to her, but she is too driven to change the world in positive ways to let it define her. She is the most heroic of the Mizfits and is often the catalyst for them to act (the other Mizfits can be a little isolationist).
Role in the narrative: As just noted, the Mizfits need someone (in addition to Puzzle) to help drive them to actually act. Though most of the Mizfits are well meaning, many of them are also insular. They follow Puzzle because they are so confident that they will succeed as a result, but Break inspires them (Puzzle and Break have an easy co-leadership of the Mizfits).
Break and InvinciBill are also the great love story of the Mizfits. Bill’s abilities mean that he can be around Break without concern of harm. This has led them to get to know each other more than they might have had neither of them developed abilities. Bill is smitten with her because her positivity and desire to make things better seems to epitomize in many ways the potential he sees in people. Plus, she is outgoing and adventurous, and introduces him to wonder beyond his books (he never thought he’d enjoy hiking until Break took him). Bill is insecure about her affection for him, however, as he believes she is “forced” to like him because he is the only person who is safe around her.
Of course, the super-intelligent Bill is an idiot in this instance. Break is drawn to Bill because he is the most extraordinary person she has ever met. No one will ever replace Steven for her, but after she read Bill’s poetry she found she had enough love in her heart for two “loves of her life.” Bill is an adventure for her she discovers new layers to him regularly. She is not at all insecure about their budding relationship, and instead sees it as one of the blessings of her abilities.
Abilities: Break is ridiculously strong. Tear steel in her bare hands, throw a car a mile kind of strong. This is both her power and her curse, as she cannot fully control her strength. To quote JLU: she lives in a world of cardboard. Thinks she tries to pick up are crushed, doors she tries to open are yanked off their hinges, and she avoids hugging anyone (except Bill). Eating is a messy affair. She has to navigate the world with extreme caution. Her living quarters have been adjusted accordingly (e.g., titanium comb), and she lives there with only a little care.
She is not, however, extraordinarily resistant to harm (e.g., she is not bulletproof). This means that Bill is often her partner in any sort of action the Mizfits encounter (he provides the defense, her the offense).
Inspirations: Battlechasers had a super-strong young girl, and likely inspired the whole “the strongest person on the team is the smallest one as well.” Comics like to portray super-strong characters as big/muscular, but it’s not like their musculature can explain their strength (what would Superman look like if you tried to illustrate his strength by the size of his muscles?). Seriously, is it any more sensible for a large man than a petite woman being able to throw a dump truck? I just am enamored of the image of a petite woman being the most powerful force on the field.
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