Peacemaker

Alter Ego: Christopher Smith (formerly Schmidt)
Occupation: Industrialist and philanthropist; President/Chairman of the board, Smith Enterprises Ltd. and Pax Institute; Anti-terrorist troubleshooter
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Wolfgang Schmidt (father, deceased); Elizabeth Lewis Smith (Schmidt) (mother, deceased)
Group Affiliations: Inter-Agency Task Force (covert intelligence division); Checkmate; the Shadow Fighters
Base of Operations: Geneva, Switzerland
First Appearance: FIGHTIN' 5 ..40 (December, 1966)
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 205 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black (gray temples)
Christopher Schmidt was born to an Austrian industrialist, Wolfgang Schmidt, and American children's author Elizabeth Lewis in New York City. Though an American citizen, Christopher was raised in his father's homeland of Austria.
In 1955 it was revealed that the respected businessman had commanded a Nazi concentration campin Poland during World War II. Shattered by the ensuing scandal, Wolfgang Schmidt took his own life on Christopher's fifth birthday. The boy never told anyone how he witnessed his father's suicide, but the incident scarred Christopher deeply for life.
Fleeing from the scandal and sorrow, Elizabeth returned Christopher to America, changing their surname to "Smith" and settling in her native Baltimore. Christopher seemed to accept his father's death, but inside he was a turmoil of fragile emotions which eventually broke and he began to have delusions of his father, clad in a jet black SS uniform. This led into aggressive and rebellious behavior, though in spite of this he was driven into acedemic and athletic achievement, a troubling paradox to his mother and his teachers. His drive came from the idealized fantasy of his father, who, dressed in Nazi regalia, would "appear" to him in the dark of night to harangue and push him to work harder to be worthy of the Nazi legacy.
The private conversations never left the boy, and took his secret companion with him the day he turned 18, presenting himself at the army recruiting station and volunteerted for duty in the latter days of the Vietnam conflict. He breezed through basic training, was quickly promoted to sergeant, and assigned to a tour of duty in Vietnam.
Several months into his tour, Smith was involved in an attack on small village thought to harbor enemy guerrillas. When the smoke cleared and the incident was investigated it was discovered that military intelligence had erred (although Smith was urged by the "voice" of his father) and that the village had been full of innocent peasants. Smith, the sergeant of the platoon, was made the scapegoat for the incident and was court-martialed and sentenced to 20 years to life in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.
During his internment, Elizabeth Smith died, leaving the entire family fortune to young Christopher. Most of the holdings were in European nations, and Christopher Smith was granted an early release in exchange for his participation in the Pentagon program, Project: Peacemaker, an anti-terrorist operation designed to create a secret military elite to combat terrorism.
Christopher eagerly took to the rigorous training in arms, infiltration, demolition, hand-to-hand combat, and the piloting of moden military aircraft, all while being pushed by the voice in his head. Christopher excelled in training for the program, but Project: Peacemaker's funding was cut before it was completed. Its New Mexico facilities were deactivated, but through a bureaucratic snafu, Christopher was given his freedom.
Since his mother had died while he was in prison so Christopher saw no need to return to America, and returned to Austria to assume control of his father's business empire. He next surfaced in Switzerland as the young millionaire playboy. Feeling that warfare had ruined his life, he dissolved Schmidt Munitions and converted the business to manufacturing household appliances. Christopher also founded the Pax Institute, a Geneva, Switzerland organization dedicated to the pursuit of peace and caring for the victims of warfare, himself becoming chairman. From this he moved to idealizing the Peacemaker concept, starting his own Project: Peacemaker, with himself as the self-appointed peacekeeper. As Christopher Smith he would combat war as an international ambassador for negotiation, he could also fight for it under the mask of Peacemaker, a high-tech warrior, where he would fight fire with fire.
Thus was born the one-man peace force. As Peacemaker he was urged on by his "father" to wage an unrelenting war on those who threatened the world's security. He loved peace so much...he was willing to kill for it.
Though he proved a relentless and efficient weapon, the man behind the Peacemaker's helmet was still very disturbed, still seeing visions of his father's ghost and, as time passed he began to believe that the souls of those who died around him from acts of terrorism were taking up residence in his helmet where they would speak to him, demanding justice!
Eventually, a top-secret U.S. intelligence agency run by Col. Valentina Vostock (Negative Woman) discovered Smith's alter ego and recruited him to work for her Agency. She threatened to make him serve the rest of his prison sentence unless he joined the Agency. He consented and Peacemaker was absorbed into the Agency, with Vostock assigning him a full-time "keeper", psychiatrist Dr. Bridgette D'Abo, to help resolve his obvious psychological problems. Though he deeply confides in D'Abo, he has never revealed to her the existence of Wolfgang's voice, or the voices of those whom he's killed residing in his helmet.
Vostock's alliance proved short lived as Peacemaker's fragile mental state shattered and he turned renegade. After several encounters with the second Vigilante, Peacemaker's insane rampage was halted and he was taken into custody by Vostock's Agency.
Peacemaker then concentrated more on fighting terrorism mainly in Europe. The Agency disbanded and then became Checkmate. Peacemaker worked for them yet again, only this time under the command of Harry Stein. Finally, he was recruited to join the Shadow Fighters, put together by Amanda Waller of the Suicide Squad. The mission was to attack Parador, a South American country taken over by Eclipso and rescue a little girl. The mission failed, and the girl along with the Shadow Fighters were killed.
It was later revealed the Peacemaker who died was not Christopher Smith.
At the same time as the Shadow Fighters were being organized, Smith was ordered by the United Nations to lead a team of villains called the League Busters to stop the Justice League's attack on the Overmaster. Constucting a new helmet and costume, Peacemaker again travelled back to the U.S. to covertly aid the U.N. from time to time on espionage missions.
Recently Peacemaker has reverted back to his original costume, once again waging his war on terrorism in Europe and America. He continues to remain more or less a wild card in the intelligence field, a loose cannon whose cooperation is somewhat difficult to come by as he pursues his own agenda in the world geo-political arena.
Peacemaker is a master at various forms of hand-to-hand combats, his preferred method of confrontation, as well as superb method of confrontation, a superb acrobat, a sureshot with firearms, and an expert pilot. He is proficient with most known types of handgun and automatic weapons, as well as demonstrating remarkable skill and throwing knives. He has a vast array of weaponry and war machines maintained in a cavern beneath his chateau on the shore of Lake Geneva.
Peacemaker's costume doubles as flexible body armor, impervious to all but the high caliber weapons. His helmet contains sophisticated cybernetic microcircuitry to power its various devices and weaponry, including complex communication (all-band radio) and surveillance equipment, an ultrasonic stunner, infrared capability, and laser-guidance controls for "smart projectiles" fired from his handgun. The helmet also mentally controls his modified Hughes AH-64 Apache assault helicopter, and mini-jet-pack that works in both air and water. It's made of a heat and pressure proof plastic, is laced with explosives. Peacemaker's belt holds explosive pellets, nerve gas, ammunition and a miniature tool kit. Smith's right glove holds a vial that becomes a firebomb when crushed. The boots hold a Pentolite compound.
Although Smith is in his 50's, he has the appearance and stamina of a man twenty years younger, due to healthy lifestyle and intense training.