Cody Harris, 17, nominal leader of The Minors

Most kids growing up think their dads are the greatest hero in the world. Cody on the other hand had proof; he saw his dad almost every night on the news. His father was Paragon, a member of the EU-sponsored team EuroForce, and wildly hailed as the greatest hero of the modern age.

Cody grew up surrounded by superheroes. When he was eleven, Paragon was selected to be commander of UN Overwatch and he and his family moved to quarters onboard Overwatch’s airborne command centre. At first, Cody was angry about leaving his friends in London, but he quickly realised how lucky he was. As Paragon’s son, he had the run of one of the most advanced facilities on the planet. Over the years, he’s witnessed peace treaties being signed, global crisis’s being resolved with seconds to spare, alien visitors and extradimensional invasions; he’s also come face to face with some of the worst supervillains.

Because he’s Paragon’s son, he has been a target on more than one occasion. Cody has been kidnapped, brainwashed, cloned, replaced by a doppelganger and even been zapped into a parallel universe. However, being onboard Sentinel has also given him a wealth of opportunities and everything he has experienced has given him a rather unique insight on the world. He’s far more aware of military tactics, law enforcement procedures and resisting telepathic attacks than most seventeen-year-olds. How many teenagers can say they know how to fly a shuttle, or speak nine languages, or know how to access Overwatch’s database on superhuman activity.

Because of his access and knowledge, Cody became aware of the growing trend in younger and younger metahumans long before anyone else. After his cousin was infected with Tel’var nanobots he looked into the number of underage metahumans around the world. Mutants were getting their powers at an earlier age than ever before. Many nations had set up accelerated learning programs for metaprodigies and were identifying candidates before many had even started primary school. Futhermore, some superheroes had begun to have children who were beginning to manifest powers of their own. It became clear to Cody that even if the adults weren’t yet aware of it, the next generation of heroes were barely into their teens and were already being singled out by destiny. These kids (if his cousin was anything to go by) weren't just going to sit on the sidelines, waiting around until they were old enough. Some of them had already begun their superhero careers. A stray comment from the current Defender had clued Cody into who might be inside the suit and, using Overwatch’s considerable computer resources, had tracked down and identified Jared Sanchez as the Defender’s real identity.