Nathan Young

Nathan Young (Born 15th March 1989) is a fictional character on the popular television show Misfits. He is portrayed by Robert Sheehan.

Background
He was sent to community service for stealing some Pick'n'Mix at a bowling alley, then aggravating the situation by insulting and then assaulting the manager with a stapler. After being kicked out of his mother's house, Nathan takes up residence in the community centre, sleeping on the floor and stealing food and drinks from the concession areas and vending machines.

Personality
Nathan is very loud, mischievous and enjoys insulting those around him regardless of whether or not he actually cares for them. Early in the series, this results in him being kicked out of his home by his mother and abandoned by the majority of his friends.

Superpower
While the rest of the Misfits discover their powers on the day after the storm, Nathan's doesn't surface until much later. Nathan spends a great deal of time early on trying to figure out what his power is, but by the first season's final episode claims to have given up on it. His power was hinted at in one of Episode Four's alternate timelines, which presents him as the only survivor of Tony's rampage, found "half-dead" by the police. Like the rest of the Misfits, Nathan's power reflects aspects of his personality, most prominently his apparent immunity from hurtful comments pointed out by both his mother and Kelly.

Discovery
In the final episode of the first season, after he falls from a building and is impaled on a metal fence, his power is revealed to be that of immortality. He regains consciousness days after his funeral, only to find that he is trapped inside his coffin underground, left with his iPod which Kelly placed in his hand prior to burial. At the start of season two, the others are lead to Nathan's grave by Super Hoodie, where they discover his power of immortality. He thereafter returns to his prior life, living in the community centre and taking part in his community service as if nothing had happened. He expresses mild regret and frustration at having not realised that since he was thought dead, he was technically a free man.

Limitations
Unlike most portrayals of immortals where head wounds would kill them, Nathan can even come back from being shot in the head without permanent damage. But he cannot heal unless he is actually killed, as shown when his brain was wrapped with mozzarella cheese, leaving him in a state of vegetation.

Opposite Power
At a party, Nathan takes an Ecstasy tablet which changes the properties of his powers. His opposite power lets him see and talk to the deceased as if they were there right in front of him. Nathan discovers this after his brother Jamie escapes from a burning car. While initially unaware of his opposite power, he talked to Jamie after the accident. Only later in the episode did he find out that Jamie actually died in the car.

Nathan has kept the ability to see the recently deceased even without the use of drugs, as he saw Ollie's ghost after he was shot in the head. He also saw Kelly's spirit when she was murdered by Brian. Suggesting that he can only see the deceased when he had some kind of connection to them in life.

Deaths
Throughout the series, Nathan was killed multiple times.


 * Being impaled on a fence.


 * Brutally murdered by his probation worker (alternate timeline.)
 * Falling off the balcony in the Community Centre and breaking his neck


 * Being impaled on a pipe while searching for the shapeshifter, Lucy.


 * By Jessica's father for seeing her change in the locker room.


 * Killing himself live on TV (alternate timeline.)

Family
Nathan's relationship with his family is strained, partially as a result of his difficult personality. He appears to be highly possessive of his mother, and has driven off any men who have taken an interest in her after his father abandoned them. His inability to coexist with his mother's new boyfriend, Jeremy, results in his being kicked out of the house in the first episode of the series; while Nathan eventually comes to terms with his mother's needs, he continues to live on his own in order to give the two a chance to build a relationship without his interference. Nathan's relationship with his father, by contrast, is extremely confrontational and filled with long-held resentment. Nathan specifically cites an incident in which his father left him unattended at an IKEA store for several hours on his eighth birthday, to be befriended by a known pedophile, as an example of his complete lack of interest in parenting.

Early in the second series, it is revealed that Nathan has a younger half-brother, Jamie, who was born to his father and another woman. Nathan endeavours to help Jamie come to terms with their father, though his efforts meet with little success. Though Nathan acknowledges that the process will be a slow one, he manages to swallow his pride and ask his father to go out for breakfast together.

It is hinted that the pills cause Nathan to become briefly mortal, as demonstrated by the masked man pushing Nathan out of a potentially life threatening situation in the second episode. This belief is also further proved by Simon warning Nathan to, "not get killed" prior to this.

Friends
Nathan's relationships with the other Misfits are far better than those with his family or past friends.

Kelly
Over the course of the show, Nathan is shown to develop romantic feelings for Kelly. He repeatedly thinks about having sex with Kelly, and has admitted verbally that he fancies her. Their relationship has not yet become physical, however, which Kelly admits (in a drugged state) is because she fears that his insensitivity will lead him to hurt her.

Although the two come close to physically consumating their relationship in the third episode of the second season, Kelly stops it before they can go all the way because she comments that it feels like having sex with a cousin rather than a potential partner. However, he still chases the police when they are pursuing Kelly after she has been abducted by her latest love interest, Bruno (revealed to be a gorilla who was turned human by the storm.) Later offering Kelly simple comfort about Bruno's death despite the obvious joke potential.

After Kelly was killed by a man able to manipulate lactose based dairy products, her spirit appears to Nathan and they have wild sex while, driving him to angrily attempt to attack her killer.

Curtis/Alisha
Curtis and Alisha, are alternately amused and repulsed by Nathan's sense of humour, but nonetheless tolerate him as a member of the group.

Simon
Having quickly recognized Simon as an outcast and easy target for his taunts, Nathan frequently mistreats Simon throughout the first series. His attitude eventually leads Simon to abandon him when surrounded by a group of hypnotised 'Virtue' followers, though he later reappears in a failed attempt to rescue Nathan.

The two grow closer in the second season as Nathan reveals a somewhat merciful side to his personality. After Simon finally stands up for himself, recounting all of the hurtful remarks which Nathan has aimed at him and concluding that in spite of it all, he would still want to be friends with Nathan. So Nathan seems to acquire a measure of respect for him.

After this encounter, Nathan begins looking out for Simon in his own way (such as suggesting hiring him a prostitute to get his confidence up) and Simon in return begins laughing more freely at his jokes and even attempting (though often failing) to replicate them at times. Nathan also seems to have developed an odd friendship with him, as he admits to Alisha that he likes Simon, attempts to protect him from Jessica, and enthusiastically congratulates Simon for losing his virginity. But after all they've been through, Nathan stll seems to always forget Simon's name, often calling him Barry.