Kent Shakespeare

Kent Shakespeare
Kent Shakespeare Art by Keith Giffen & Al Gordon
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #12 (October 1990)
Created by	Al Gordon
In-story information
Alter ego	Richard Kent Shakespeare
Species	Metahuman
Place of origin	Earth (31st century)
Team affiliations	Legion of Super-Heroes
Notable aliases	Impulse, Superman
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, durability, and recuperative abilities.

Richard Kent Shakespeare, occasionally codenamed Impulse, is a fictional character in the DC Universe. He became a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century, during the "Five Years Later" era. In current continuity, he is the Superman of the 31st century.

Richard Kent Shakespeare is a native of the planet Earth, reared in the New Rochelle section of Metropolis. While attending medical school at the University of Metropolis, he was stricken with a virus that left him comatose. Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5 determined that the virus had actually slowly substituted itself for all of the cells in Kent's body (except his nerve cells), mimicking the functions of those cells, and fundamentally improving him. Kent acquired strength, speed, durability, and recuperative abilities far beyond that of a normal human. During the five-year period following the Magic Wars, he was inducted into the Legion under the codename Impulse. After the Dominion covertly gained control of Earth's government and the Legion disbanded, Kent fled the planet. He eventually became a paramedic on the medical planet Quarantine. While there he also tended to Garridan Ranzz (one of the twin sons of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl), whom Darkseid once kidnapped and transformed into the monstrous Validus.

Years later, when Reep Daggle (Chameleon Boy) and Rokk Krin (Cosmic Boy) reformed the Legion, Kent joined them. He remained with the team until he was de-aged into childhood by the time mistress Glorith. Soon thereafter, this timeline was erased, and Legion continuity was completely rebooted.