François LeBeau

François LeBeau (1939 - ), a.k.a. Lionheart is a main character in Stormwatchers by Aydan Woodward and Jack Verdera. Named Lionheart in the manner of Richard I of England, he considered himself a modern day knight and was a member of the Stormwatchers.

Biography
Born to a French father and a Spanish mother in Andorra, François lived in Vigo, Spain during his childhood. Francois fell in love with the stories of the Crusades and the Christian wars in the Holy Land. His idol was King Richard I of England, more commonly known as Richard the Lionheart.

In 1965, when his rich father Pierre LeBeau died and gave him all his money, LeBeau set up a nuclear energy company called Dagger Consolidated in New York City, USA. However, he used a lot of his money on weapons for wiping out street gangsters and smugglers around that area: the Bronx. He wished to become a modern day knight due to his love for the crusades and chivalry, and commenced his Crusade against evil. He designed himself a medieval king costume and called himself "Lionheart" after his idol King Richard I the Lionheart. He first appeared in 1965.

In 1968, he joined a team of costumed heroes called the Stormwatchers.

When vigilantes were outlawed in 1972, François was already very tired of crime-fighting anyway, and retired with little hesitation. He decided to continue running his company, Dagger Consolidated. But since he spent most of his time fighting criminals for the past seven years, his company went down the toilet without him to guide them. Since then, François had been struggling to maintain his company and stop it from falling to pieces. The crown of the king was now nothing but the office decoration of a struggling businessman.

1973: "Triple M"
It is implied that François had some sort of connection to Marco María Martiánez, and invited him over to a business meeting at Dagger Consolidated in New York City. However, Martiánez never showed up because he was killed by Korsakoff the very day he was to depart from Los Angeles.

'Project 17'
At some point before the events of the film take place, François becomes desperate for money. At some point, he meets Muhammad al-Mualim, a rising Arabic terrorist. LeBeau realizes that the terrorist is a very rich man, so he strikes a deal with al-Mualim: François would supply Muhammad's terrorist organization with weapons of mass destruction, and in return, the terrorist would give François millions of dollars to revive Dagger Consolidated. Somehow, the villain Mister Explosion was also involved in Project 17.

Somehow, however, his former comrade Elias Bones, previously known as the Phantom Soldier, found out about Project 17 and François's plot to restart Dagger Consolidated and bring "global peace" with WMD's.

Events of Stormwatchers
21 years later, in 1993, the Phantom Soldier was murdered in his apartment by a masked intruder. Daniel Teach was informed by Korsakoff of the murder, and relayed the information to François, who accepted the offer of rejoining the Stormwatchers.

François, as Lionheart, was present in the breakout of James Radcliffe (Strikeseeker), and escaped with the others in the Stormmobile.

After being told their next mission by Captain Ares, Lionheart and Strikeseeker attacked the main entrance of Mister Explosion's hideout. Little did Strikeseeker know, Lionheart tricked him into entering a door containing a bomb, presumably blowing him up and burning in the building. The team, outside, wondered where Strikeseeker was, and look at the burning building, assuming he died in the fire. François suspiciously walked away, catching Korsakoff's attention.

It turned out that François was the true villain all along: murdering the Phantom Soldier and possibly Strikeseeker in order to carry out Project 17: the destruction of the world's major cities by a terrorist organisation led by Muhammad al-Mualim in exchange for millions of dollars to revive his dying company. He ran away to his New Mexico hideout, the Aquitaine, only to be confronted by Korsakoff and Eagle Eye. After a quick fight, he defeated them both. Later, after explaining his plan to Korsakoff and Eagle Eye, Captain Ares and Strikeseeker (who survived the burning building) arrived and shot him. It looked like François was dead, but he was actually wearing a bulletproof vest underneath his costume, and quickly jumped up and punched Ares in the face. Muhammad al-Mualim then made a TV message for François, stating that the plan was impossible and commiting suicide on camera. This sent François into a rage, shouting angrily knowing that he had lost millions of dollars and had killed Elias Bones for NOTHING.

He didn't say anything when the team agreed to remain silent about the failed plot. He didn't react when Korsakoff left, and when Daniel returned saying there was no hope, François simply said "Now you see". When James returned after secretly killing Korsakoff in the desert, George forgave François for what he had done, but forbade him from being a part of the new Stormwatchers. François didn't care, and angrily left the Aquitaine.

Personality
As Lionheart, he was very brave and quite threatening to his opponents, but was kind and generous to the people he helped. However, as François, he is in love with money, and will do anything to stay rich. This is proven in the film: he kills his old friend Phantom Soldier simply for interfering in his plan to regain his lost wealth.

In a small interview in Spanish, actor Jaime Troncoso said: "He is a charismatic, strong and brave superhero, but he loves money a little too much. That's his problem. And you guys will see that this is an important factor in the film."