Phone Ranger

Brief History:

Years ago, a space vessel of a highly-advances “sub-atomic” race traveled through a magnetic disturbance, causing it to inadvertently leave its native Microverse and become stranded within a telephone earpiece on Earth. The vessel sent out a distress signal, but the telephone’s owner dismissed the pleas for assistance as a prank caller. Desperate, the aliens deployed nanotech probes tasked with assimilating the telephone’s technology so they could adapt it to secure their own freedom. But before the process was complete, the telephone’s owner (tiring of what he believed were continued prank calls) slammed the headset down and accidentally cracked the earpiece open, granting the aliens their freedom. 
The next day, telephone repairman A.G. Bell was sent to replace the broken phone, and soon noticed the advanced alien technology that had begun to rewire the telephone’s circuitry. Taking the shattered device back to his private workshop, Bell was able to replicate the technology and incorporate it into a homemade costume. Now able to tap into any phone line, Bell began monitoring emergency hotlines and arriving at crime scene as the “Phone Ranger” before emergency first responders could arrive. When the Lethal Legion attacked the offices of Marvels Comics, Phone Ranger was among the many heroes who assembled to oppose them. In the midst of the battle, Phone Ranger was seemingly shot in the face by the Scourge of the Underworld, but the multiple layers of optical fibers within his headpiece diverted the bullet and saved his life.

Civil War:

After the enactment of the Superhuman Registration Act, Phone Ranger was one of the many heroes who refused to comply with registration requirements. Along with four other unregistered super-humans, he was cornered by NYPD officers and taken into custody by Spider-Man and Iron Man. Following Captain America’s surrender, he has since accepted the offer of super-hero amnesty. 
 

Power & Abilities:

Phone Ranger possesses no inherent superhuman abilities. He is skilled in repairing and innovating upon analog and digital telephone technology.

Paraphernalia:

Phone Ranger’s costume enables him to tap into any telephone line and many other telecommunications systems. The costume is outfitted with audio bugs, copper wire and optic fiber cables that can hook into any standard telephone circuit, a telephone exchange system to automatically handle multiple calls, voice-activated recorders that encode multiple electric signals simultaneously, and high-powered radio receivers and transmitters to intercept mobile / cellular phone communications. His costume’s plastic cable insulation provides enhanced durability.