Brainwave (comics)
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Brainwave (or Brain Wave) is a name shared by two characters in the DC Comics Universe, who are father and son.
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[edit] Henry King, Sr.
Brainwave was Henry King, a super-villain who used his psionic powers to battle the Justice Society of America in the 1940s, first appearing in All-Star Comics #15 (February/March 1943). He was a member of the Injustice Society.
[edit] Character history
Henry King, Sr. was born in the early 1910s as a mutant with vast mental attributes. An introvert, he found solace in reading books, which he one day learned to create three-dimensional images of, such as Sir Lancelot of the Round Table. King had developed a crush on a neighbor girl named Lucy who eventually married his acquaintance Edwin Ackerman, causing King tremendous jealousy.
As an adult, King was a college and later medical school graduate, obtaining a psychiatry degree. He decided to use his now more fully developed image projecting abilities in a secret life of crime. His first criminal act was creating thought-constructs that stole money needed by him to fund his new activities. He then became a crime lord.
In early 1942, Brain Wave contacted Professor Elba, developer of the "insanity serum", augmented by Brain Wave's mental abilities. Professor Elba was defeated by the Justice Society.
Noticing this team of vigilantes, Brain Wave approached individual members of the JSA as psychiatrist Dr. Henry King. Implanting a post-hypnotic suggestions to assemble at the 1939 World's Fair perisphere, he attached each of the JSAers (except Green Lantern) to a mental chamber which immersed them in a fantasy of wartime conflict. Brain Wave next assembled the All-Star Squadron at the World's Fair's trylon tower, imprisoning each of them in the same device. However, once Green Lantern was connected to the device, his willpower proved too great for the chamber and its orchestrator, leaving it in ruin and King mentally unstable.
In 1943, Brain Wave again battled the Justice Society, when its individual members traced various criminal operations back to Dr. King. At this time, he vented his revenge on Edwin Ackerman. Starman tracked King to his office of psychiatry, however he was unable to produce sufficient proof to arrest the villain. Each of the JSAers eventually converged on King's Sharktooth Bay tower. Additionally, heroines Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Inza Cramer, Dian Belmont, Doris Lee and Peachy Pet Thunder. Together, the two groups were able to corner King, who fell off of his tower to his assumed doom.
However, King's smock was caught on the limb of a tree. Thus saved, he sought revenge by utilizing his shrinking ray device to shrink the JSAers to a height of 8 inches. Storing them as trophies in his lair, King left his foes to meet with his minions. With the aid of Hawkman's bird allies, the JSAers left to confront the criminal henchmen directly. Eventually, Johnny Thunder commanded his Thunderbolt to help restore each member to their proper height. The JSA then converged once more at the Sharktooth Bay tower, the road to which was mined by King. However, Thunderbolt teleported the bombs to under the tower, which again seemed to have ended the life of King.
Having once again survived, King adopted the alias of dream psychologist Dr. Forest Malone. In 1946, he petitioned his adversaries to subject themselves to his experimental dream analyzer. This device slowly drove each member except for Johnny Thunder towards insanity. With the assistance of Thunder's Thunderbolt, King was this time apprehended and placed in jail.
However, King escaped confinement in 1947 as he joined the Wizard's first incarnation of the Injustice Society of the World. King battled the Green Lantern, making the critical mistake of leaving his old foe near death on a ravine rather than return the hero's corpse to their headquarters. As a result, Lantern freed his fellow teammates and captured King and his colleagues.
the following occurred on Earth-2 cf All-Star Comics 58-59, whether these events took place on the Post-Crisis Earth, is not known to this writer
In 1976 King appeared again as a villain, this time insane after his many years in solitary confinement. He blamed the Justice Society for his punishment. Using the sheer power of his brain as well as devices reconstructed from his days with the Injustice Society, he created a space station headquarters which orbitted the earth. His desire was to collect many of the beautiful art objects of the earth, to have a new body constructed for himself, and to eventually destroy the JSA.
In order to accomplish his second goal he sought out and found a very diminished Degaton, now nothing but a homeless vagrant. He brought the man to his space station and used his scientific devices to rejuvenate the old man. This was accomplished by tapping into the "will energy" of the JSAers and feeding that energy into Degaton.
Brain Wave set up three disasters and transmitted the information, anonymously, to the JSA computer. The disasters would take place in Seattle, Washington; Capetown, South Africa; and Peking, China. The transmittal also caused the JSA computer to conclude total destruction of life on Earth if these disasters were not averted. The JSA (Hawkman, Flash, Dr. Mid-Nite, Wildcat, Dr. Fate and Green Lantern) split into teams and traveled to those cities in an attempt to investigate and stop the destruction. Their actions resulted in the team gaining the help of Robin, the Star-Spangled Kid, and a woman they had never yet met before: Power Girl.
It was Power Girl who discovered that the cause behind the disasters was the Brain Wave. Using the JSA Sky-Rocket (a re-usable spacecraft) the Flash, Wildcat and Power Girl entered Earth orbit in search of Brain Wave's satellite. They were later joined by the other heoroes. Together they fought Brain Wave and Degaton, yet they almost lost the battle until Power Girl pushed the satellite away from earth and towards the sun. The electronic devices shorted, the battle eneded, and the powerhouses of the JSA brought the team and the villains back to earth.
In 1977, less than a year later, Brain Wave appeared again, no longer incarcerated, but within the JSA HQ as a member of the regathered Injustice Society (Icicle, the Wizard and the Thinker). The villainous team had captured both Hourman and Wildcat and issued a challenge to the JSA: "You must battle us for their lives at places of our choosing, the land of frozen gold and the isle of the ever-burning flame." In the end both heroes were saved..[1]
[edit] Henry King, Jr.
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Henry "Hank" King, Jr. is a DC Comics superhero, sometimes supervillain, who is the son of the original Brainwave, from whom he inherited his powers. Created by Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway and Mike Machlan, he first appears in All-Star Squadron #24 (1983).
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Infinity, Inc.
As Brainwave Jr., Hank is a founding member of Infinity, Inc., doing so in an attempt to bring honor to his family name. During the run of Infinity, Inc. Brainwave develops a relationship with fellow team member Jade, daughter of Green Lantern.
When Hank's father dies, he passes on his mental powers to his son, greatly increasing them and causing him to become somewhat unhinged. He drops the "Jr." and drops out of the public eye after Infinity Inc. disbands.[2]
He shows up years later, attacking a part of the Justice League, together with a group he called the Legion of Doom.[3] After that adventure, he reappears in a mental institution, especially created for him and funded by Alan Scott, severely unhinged, and is almost killed by Obsidian.[4] He appears again later in New York City, causing riots and general chaos with his telepathy, even mind controlling Jade and Green Lantern (Alan Scott) until finally confronting Kyle Rayner. He leaves peacefully.[5]
[edit] JSA
He resurfaces again as part of Black Adam's team, including Infinitors Northwind and Atom Smasher, helping to liberate Kahndaq. In an attempt to stop Hank, considered the most dangerous member of the team, Hawkman has Ray Palmer shrink and enter Brainwave's body. Guided by Dr. Mid-Nite, Palmer plans to operate on King's brain, specifically the abnormal mass of nerve fibers leading from the auditory cortex to a growth on the side of the inferior colliculus, the supposed source of Brainwave's powers.
While a member of Black Adam's group, Brainwave acts both malicious and calculating, seemingly being depicted as a supervillain again. His telepathy is also portrayed at a high point, being able to will the powerful Captain Marvel to turn back into young Billy Batson by forcing him to say "Shazam!"
The source of these actions are found in Hank's brain, where Palmer encounters Mr. Mind, an obscure Captain Marvel villain, who is feeding on Brainwave's growth. He finds it especially delicious, unlike regular humans. Palmer eventually gets past the worm and successfully incapacitates Brainwave. He is taken back with the JSA and left in the care of his mother Merry Pemberton. It is unknown when Brainwave became a host for Mr. Mind.[6]
Later, Brainwave is recruited by Doctor Fate to save Sand from the Dreaming. In that mental plane, he is able to destroy the brainwashing that has been done to Sand and returns him to the waking realm.[7]
Henry King, Jr. is portrayed differently over his many appearances, being heroic at first, appearing as a villain secondly, and with a third portrayal as a mixture of the two, but largely heroic.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Both King Sr. and Jr. have a variety of mental powers. King Sr. is originally much stronger, but upon his death, he somehow passes his powers on to his son, vastly increasing King Jr.'s power level.
Chief among their powers is telepathy. Both are able to dominate many minds at once and cause people too see illusions or even have complete control over them. Proximity seemed key to the effectiveness of this power, even though it had no defined range. King Jr. had mentioned how even strong wills could not resist him when he was right next to them. While many telepaths filter out the thoughts of others, King Jr. allows the millions of minds he constantly comes across to flow freely through his mind.
Lesser used powers of the Kings include telekinesis, the creation of realistic three-dimensional holograms, and the ability to fire blasts of psionic energy.
[edit] In other media
Brainwave appeared in the Justice League episode "Legends". Here, his name is Ray Thompson, and he resides in an alternate dimension where the Justice Guild of America was real (they were John Stewart's childhood comic heroes). A devastating nuclear war, that the Justice Guild died in, had all but destroyed the world; the aftereffects of the nuclear war had granted him psychic powers, but mutated and deformed him into a hideous monster. The transformation drove him insane, and he used his powers to turn the city into a replica of the comics that inhabitated the heroes he worshipped.
When Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, the Martian Manhunter, and the Flash arrive in the dimension as a result of their battle with Lex Luthor, Ray initially seems to be nothing more than the Justice Guild's boy sidekick; he even takes a cue from the live action Batman show by shouting corny exclamations. As the heroes discover, however, the world is all an illusion, and the disturbances J'onn felt come from Ray.
Determined to keep things the way they are, Brainwave distracts the Guild with a giant robot, while he battles the League with his powers. Ultimately, the Guild makes the decision to fight him, despite the fact that they will disappear with his illusion. The shock of his heroes turning against him, and the combined stress they put on him is too much for Brainwave, and he collapses. The city returns to its normal ruined self, but its future has returned.
Smallville villain Molly Griggs (episode "Delete") can control the minds of others through computer hypnotism, and her internet handle is "brainwave", suggesting she is Smallville's version of Brainwave.
[edit] References
- ^ All-Star Comics #66
- ^ Infinity, Inc. #1-53
- ^ Extreme Justice #14-18
- ^ Green Lantern & Sentinel #1-2
- ^ Green Lantern (vol. 3) # 152
- ^ JSA #56-58 and Hawkman (vol. 4) #24-25
- ^ JSA #63-63
