Pulsar

Origins- Andreas Vykker was once a highly ambitious and brilliant scientist.  A master of photon technology, Andreas was also cold, aloof, and far too confident in his own brilliance and abilities. Securing himself a sizeable fortune at a young age, Andreas then only took on projects which "Interested" him, regardless of their legality.  Andreas was eventually approached by government representatives to test the abilities of Starfighter, who had just appeared at the time.  Andreas agreed, believing the task to be an easy one.  Rigging a remote location with several traps and weapons based on his photon technology, Andreas lured Starfighter into a confrontation.  However, Starfighter proved to be far more resourceful than Andreas anticipated, overcoming all of Andreas' obstacles and taking the scientist into custody.  Andreas found himself betrayed by the officials who requested his help, and he was sentenced to prison.

However, Andreas escaped a short while later and decided to take revenge upon Starfighter for humiliating him, and wanting to prove HIS technology could overcome Starfighter's abilities.  Crafting himself a suit of armor that implemented his photon technology, Andreas Vykker became the powerful Pulsar, and soon became one of Starfighter's greatest foes.  The pair would clash repeatedly over the years, with Pulsar continually refining and improving his technology to increase his powers, ultimately surgically implanting technology within his body which would allow him to generate powerful blasts of photonic energy of his own.Unfortunately, this procedure would begin to warp Andreas' mind, eventually turning him insane.  His insanity eventually led to an intense confrontation with Starfighter where Pulsar overloaded the cybernetics in his own body, which self destructed, seemingly killing the deluded supervillain. 

But that was not the case.  Instead, Andreas was transformed into a trans-finite energy being.  Regaining his sanity, Andreas found that he required a containment suit to collect and store his energy, or else he'd dissipate to the ether.  With his new suit, Pulsar ironically finds himself more powerful than ever before.  Pulsar can now generate powerful laser like energy which he can use for both offensive blasts or allow him to fly at incredible speeds.  His containment suit grants him great strength and durability, and his lack of a human body means he cannot feel any physical pain.  But his lack of a human body is an obsession for him now, feeling as he is floating in an empty void, unable to feel or interact with the world.  Pulsar has vowed that he will get it back.  Ironically, Pulsar see's Starfighter as a means to his salvation.  Pulsar believes that since Starfighter is a human with a powerful energy source inside him, if he could study Starfighter's body he would be able to find out how to restore himself to normal while keeping his incredible abilities.  And since this would mean taking revenge upon Starfighter for all the hero did to him, all the better.

Design- Pulsar really came from two sources. 

During my early, early, EARLY drafts of the character, Andreas Vykker and Pulsar were two completely different characters.  Andreas was actually "The big bad."  The head of his own corporation who was obsessed with attaining the Starforce from Starfighter, and who had an army of villains at his beck and call.  He even had his own suit of armor that he could use to take on Starfighter on his own terms and...

Yeah, he was David Xanatos from Gargoyles.  He was totally just David Xanatos. It was a blatant and shameless rip.  Which is why I eventually abandoned it.

Pulsar was just a mook hired by Andreas to hunt down Starfighter along with a bunch of other baddies.  The character stood out because I liked his design and powers, and I felt I needed a "Doc Ock" for the story and Pulsar fit the bill.  Eventually, I decided to combine the two into one character and the whole became greater than the sum of it's parts.  I eventually ditched the "Corporate head of EvilCo" angle, since I think that trope has been overplayed as it is in a lot of fiction, and just made him into an arrogant scientist done in by his own hubris. 

Pulsar's design was made to deliberately contrast Starfighter's.  Where Starfighter was blue and white, Pulsar would be red and black.  Where Starfighter would have a full face that could allow for a lot of expression, Pulsar would have a blank void.  Whereas Starfighter had his spikey crest, Pulsar had a rounded helmet.  Everywhere Starfigther zigged, Pulsar zagged to increase the notion of him being a rival to the main hero. 

I then added a kicking coat with a high collar since I was playing around with some design ideas and I think it looked good on Pulsar and helped him stand out more.