Darkhawk
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| Darkhawk | |
 Darkhawk #1 |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Darkhawk #1 (March 1991) |
| Created by | Tom DeFalco and Mike Manley |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Christopher "Chris" Powell |
| Team affiliations | Loners New Warriors Secret Defenders West Coast Avengers League of Losers |
| Notable aliases | The Powell, Falconer, Edge-Man |
| Abilities | Energy blasts Energy shield Flight Night vision Claw cable Accelerated healing factor Superhuman strength |
Darkhawk (Christopher Powell) is a fictional comic book superhero who first appeared in his own self-titled series, Darkhawk #1 (March 1991). He was created by writer and then Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, and artist Mike Manley.
Contents |
[edit] Publication history
Darkhawk appeared in a self-titled monthly series for 50 issues that was published by Marvel Comics from March 1991 to March 1995.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Christopher Powell was born in Queens, New York. While witnessing his policeman father accept a bribe from a crime boss at an abandoned amusement park, teenager Chris Powell discovered a mysterious amulet. This amulet allowed him to switch places with a powerful android that his mind controlled. Chris vowed to use the amulet as "an edge against crime."[1] In this role, worked with other superheroes and battled a number of costumed villains.
Darkhawk soon encountered his first supervillain, the Hobgoblin, and battled him alongside Spider-Man.[2] He next fought Savage Steel,[3] and then Portal.[4] He next battled the U-Foes alongside Captain America.[5] He battled the villain Lodestone, who attempted to remove his amulet.[6] He battled Savage Steel again, this time alongside the Punisher.[7] Darkhawk battled the cyborg Midnight, Thunderball, and the Secret Empire alongside Spider-Man, the Punisher, Night Thrasher, Nova, and Moon Knight.[8] Darkhawk then battled assassins from the Foreigner's 1400 Club]].[9] He battled Tombstone, who successfully removed his amulet from his chest.[10]
Darkhawk occasionally worked with the New Warriors and was a provisional member of the West Coast Avengers. Darkhawk also battled a number of costumed villains, including the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Originally, Darkhawk's powers included force blasts and flat energy shields projected from the amulet in his chest; a set of three claws on his right arm that extended as a grappling hook (often referred to as a 'claw cable'); retractable gliding wings and enhanced vision, including night and telescopic vision. Darkhawk's face, covered by a helmet, is apparently intensely ugly or terrifying. While never revealed to the reader, nearly every character that has seen Darkhawk's face has been horrified by it. When the android body was damaged, Chris could heal it almost instantly by transforming into his human form, and then back into his android form again. Darkhawk originally glided through the air using his wings, but later gained the power of flight, a power which later carried over to his upgraded form.
Chris discovered that the source of his powers was a starship in a dimension called Null Space. It was here that his and other Darkhawk bodies were stored and repaired via nanotechnology.
When Chris was Darkhawk, his human body was stored in the ship in the android's place. Later, Chris and Darkhawk were split into two separate beings, each with Chris' memories. The Darkhawk body was then transformed into a new shape when it accidentally downloaded data from the ship.
The new Darkhawk body had a single, extendable blade on each wrist replacing his claw cable, camouflage, the ability to project force blasts from his helmet's visor in addition to his amulet, and a powerful forcefield that could change its shape. The forcefield could be used in tandem with his forceblasts to make constructs similar to the effects of Green Lantern's power ring. Darkhawk could also teleport weapons out of the ship's arsenal to himself instantaneously.
Chris and Darkhawk later merged so that Chris could change back and forth between the two without teleporting to Null Space.
[edit] Excelsior (Loners)
Chris later joined Excelsior, a group for former teenage superheroes who were struggling with their current lot in life. Members of this group included Phil Urich (a former Green Goblin), Turbo from the New Warriors, Lightspeed from Power Pack, and Ricochet from the Slingers. The group was hired by a mysterious benefactor - later revealed to be former Avengers sidekick and Captain Marvel partner Rick Jones - to track down a group of young runaways in Los Angeles.
Chris displayed trouble controlling his anger in his Darkhawk persona, leading to a short skirmish with Turbo. Dismayed with himself, Chris decided to never turn into Darkhawk again. This decision did not last long however, as shortly thereafter the group battled the notorious Avengers villain, Ultron. Darkhawk delivered the final blow, using a darkforce blast at point blank range to blow Ultron to pieces. Following the battle and the revelation of Jones' involvement, Excelsior opted to remain together and act as a more traditional superhero team.
Recently, Excelsior has decided to become a superhero support group due to the events of the superhuman Civil War. However, their newest member Mattie Franklin has convinced Chris to use his powers, in order to help her take down the MGH dealers that moved to Los Angeles.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Darkhawk body has enhanced physical abilities, including strength, agility and reflexes, powered by the extraterrestrial amulet he wears. The retractable glider wings under his arms allow him to glide on air currents, and he can also fly at speeds that let him fly from New York to California in only a matter of hours. Even major injuries to his Darkhawk body can be repaired by switching back to his human form; his Darkhawk body teleports back to its holding space on the Darkhawk ship in Null Space, where it can be repaired almost instantly. As the Darkhawk body is no longer separate from Chris and does not teleport to Null Space when not in use, it is questionable whether it can be repaired as quickly as it once was.
Darkhawk can project energy from the amulet in his chest as a focal point, either as concussive force blasts, or as a circular energy shield; (Chris referred to his force blasts as "darkforce blasts," until he encountered the actual Darkforce Dimension in New Warriors). Darkhawk also has telescopic and infra-red vision, and a grappling hook claw-cable on his right arm shaped like a claw.
In his human form, Chris Powell has no superhuman abilities, though he has taken some karate and kendo classes.
For a time, Darkhawk was upgraded to a new body design, which gave him greatly enhanced powers. His amulet could project force bubbles in various shapes and he could combine his force fields and force blasts into a giant, hawk-shaped construct around his body. He could fire heat beams from his eyes, be healed by generating an energy pod around his body, and had a single extendable claw on each wrist. He could also mentally communicate with the Darkhawk ship, and could teleport weapons from the ship when he was on Earth. At one point, he was outfitted with additional body armor on top of his android body.
In this body, he was separated from Chris Powell, and also retained Chris' memories. The two were later merged into one being in the final issue of the Darkhawk series, so that Chris could turn into Darkhawk on command. The Darkhawk android body no longer existed and the two separate entities became one.
At some point after the cancellation of his own series, Darkhawk reverted to his original form under unrevealed circumstances, although he can still summon his second armored form. No explanation was given about that fact, causing an inconsistency in Darkhawk's continuity. The reason for the change seems to be for recognition. The popularity of Darkhawk's comic waned prior to the costume change, therefore his original outfit is the one associated with the character.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] House of M
Darkhawk appears as a member of Wolfpack.[11]
[edit] U.S. War Machine
In the mini-series U.S. War Machine, set in an alternate universe, Darkhawk was a psychopathic android, which could only be controlled by running a virtual reality program. The program, a "fiction" within that universe, played out the events where Darkhawk had been a member of the West Coast Avengers within normal Marvel continuity. The program itself also appeared in the final pages of US War Machine 2.0 in which Tony Stark's damaged body is placed inside the Darkhawk program in order to keep him alive.
[edit] Marvel Team-Up: League of Losers
Darkhawk features in an arc of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3), featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Darkhawk, Dagger, Araña, Gravity, X-23, Speedball, Sleepwalker and Terror (although Araña dies along the way) go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes.
It's revealed that Chronok is from the same time period as Kirkman's Mutant 2099; the group stays with him and his mentor Reed Richards to wait for Chronok. The team defeats Chronok, but at the end of the story, Richards reveals they can't go back to their present, due to time-travel and alternate timelines. The group decides to stay in the future, satisfied with the impact they made, however unnoticed. Mutant 2099 suggests reforming the Avengers or the "Fantastic Nine". Effectively trapped in the future, Chris begins a romantic relationship with Dagger.
Note that due to the Marvel Universe's method for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story occurred in an alternate universe.
Over the course of this adventure, Chris acts as the core of the "League", serving as their leader and training the mostly novice heroes for their encounter with Chronok. Reed Richards remarks that while he had never thought of Darkhawk as leader material in the past, he is impressed by Chris' efforts.
During the various battles with Chronok and his army, Chris did not appear prone to irrational violence or uncontrollable anger while in his Darkhawk form, as he had during Excelsior's encounter with the Runaways.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Television
Darkhawk made two brief cameos in the Fantastic Four cartoon. In the episode, "To Battle the Living Planet" he is seen with other New Warriors helping civilians. In "Doomsday" he is shown flying with Justice.
[edit] Video games
In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, Spider-Man can be heard mocking the the Human Torch during one of their races, stating "Darkhawk is faster than you!"
[edit] Bibliography
- Darkhawk #1-50 (March, 1991 — April, 1995)
- Darkhawk Annual #1-3 (1992 — 1994)
- Amazing Spider-Man #353-354, 357-358 (1991-1992)
- The Secret Defenders #1-3
- Spider-Man: Friends and Enemies #1-4 (1995)
- Sleepwalker #17
- New Warriors (vol. 1) #14, 22-25, 33-34, 47-51
- New Warriors Annual (vol. 1) #3
- Iron Man Annual (vol. 1) #13
- Avengers (vol. 3) #1-4, 501-503
- Avengers West Coast #93-95
- Runaways (vol. 2) #1-4, #6
- Marvel Team-Up (2005 series) #15-18, 25
- Loners (2007 mini-series) #1-6
- Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular (2007 one-shot)
- Marvel Holiday Special (2007 one-shot)
