Darkhawk
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Darkhawk is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. He was co-created by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Mike Manley. The series was not written by DeFalco, who was then Marvel's editor in chief. Instead, it was written by Danny Fingeroth.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
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." In this role, Darkhawk occasionally worked with the New Warriors and was a provisional member of the West Coast Avengers. Currently, Chris has decided to 'retire' from superheroics and has joined Excelsior, a support group of former teen heroes. However, Chris has become Darkhawk once more, for a special mission for Excelsior; in which the team are trying to help the teen super-heroes known as the Runaways. With the completion of this mission, Darkhawk again appears to be an active superhero on the west coast.
In his original form, 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 (injuries to Chris' human form could not be healed this way). 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. It is likely that Darkhawk could always fly, but he simply did not realize this ability until a moment of panic when his wings were damaged.
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 (a feature found also in the Miracleman comic). 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 ring. Darkhawk could also teleport weapons out of the ship's arsenal to himself instanteously. At the end of the series, Chris and Darkhawk were merged, so that Chris could change back and forth between the two without teleporting to Null Space.
In subsequent appearances since the cancellation of his own series, Darkhawk was soon shown back in his original form, without any of his upgraded powers. The reason for this 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] Excelsior (Loners)
Chris Powell joined Excelsior, a group for former teenage heroes 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, Julie Power 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 super-hero team.
It has been confirmed that Darkhawk will be back, within the upcoming series The Loners beginning in early 2007; in which will pick up upon the support group originally named Excelsior.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] U.S. War Machine
In the mini-series U.S. War Machine, set in the Marvel MAX 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 Avengers West Coast within normal Marvel continuity. The program itself also appeared in the final pages of US War Machine 2.0, in which an injured Tony Stark damaged body is placed inside the Darkhawk program in order to keep him alive.
[edit] "League of Losers"
[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, 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 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, satisified 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] Powers and abilities
The Darkhawk body has enhanced physical abilities, including strength, agility and reflexes. 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.
Darkhawk can project energy from the amulet in his chest, 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 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 separate from Chris Powell, and both retained Chris' memories. The two were later merged somehow, so that Chris could turn into Darkhawk on command, without teleportation, and the Darkhawk body had somehow come alive. At some point he was reverted to his original form under unrevealed circumstances.
[edit] Film & 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 showing flying with Justice.
[edit] Bibliography
- Darkhawk #1-50 (March, 1991 – April, 1995)
- Darkhawk Annual #1-3 (1992 – 1994)
- The Secret Defenders #1-3
- Spider-Man: Friends and Enemies #1-4
- Sleepwalker #17
- New Warriors (vol. 1) #14, 22-25, 33-34, 47-51
- New Warriors Annual (vol. 1) #3
- The Avengers (vol. 3) #501-503
- Avengers West Coast #93-95
- Runaways (vol. 2) #1-6
- Marvel Team-Up (2005 series) #15-18
[edit] External links
- MDP: Darkhawk - Marvel Database Project
- Darkhawk FAQ
