Black Hand (DC)
Black Hand is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Secret Origin
Born in Coastville, William Hand's parents ran a coroner's office as well as a funeral home which took on the shape of a hand. When he was a young boy William began showing a preoccupation with the dead which included necrophilic tendencies without any known event triggering such a behavior. Since being a toddler, he began calling dead people "pretty" and at first he attempted to control these urges by engaging in taxidermy but this hobby became a source of problems when he was involved with killing the family dog which was pursuing his favourite past time. At that point on, Hand was sent to various psychologicists for the rest of his life but he simply refused every attempt to "cure" him of his condition. Instead, he sought to hide his manifestations of necrophilia by accepting his role as the "black sheep" of the Hand family. [Green lantern (vol. 4) #35 (October 2008)]
One day, Hand was tracked to his home by a powerful alien known as Atrocitus who was an enemy of the Guardians of the Universe. The fearsome being had discovered through his blood prophecy magic that William Hand would become the vessel through which the "Black" would manifest and bring about the prophecy of the "Blackest Night" that would be the doom of the Guardians. Creating a cosmic divining rod, he intended to absorb the power within Hand but was stopped by two members of the Green Lantern Corps; Sinestro and Hal Jordan. The newly recruited Jordan aided Hand in escaping from Atrocitus and a voice in his head tells him to steal the cosmic divining rod and flee from the battle. [Green Lantern (vol. 4) #34 (August 2008)] After the event, he broke into a hospital morgue where he intended to steal one of the corpses located there but was confronted by a security guard. Caught in the act, William used the divining rod to kill the guard and escaped. [Green lantern (vol. 4) #35 (October 2008)]
As time went on, the mysterious and strange voice in Hand's mind which told him to steal Atrocitus's weapon began taking him under its thrall. It began to slowly influence him into resenting the Green Lanterns who were beacons of light and thus telling Hand that they upset the natural balanceof darkness and death. Thus, William sought to extinguish the light of willpower but was unwilling to fight his new enemy as an average human being. Returning home, he sewed a costume for himself using a cadaver pouch and began calling himself Black Hand and fought against Hal Jordan numerous times across his career. Each time, Hand was defeated whereupon he retreated onto a desecreated grave for his failure and lied down with the corpses in order to find peace as well as release from the world of the living. [Green Lantern (vol. 4) #43 (July 2009)]
Touch of Death
After the restoration of the Black Lantern Corps, Black Hand used his device to locate a spare power ring on Green Arrow's purpose which he held in case of an emergency. William attempted to claim the ring for himself but was stopped by Green Arrow and Hal Jordan who was now host to the Spectre. Just as Hand was about the wield the power ring, Green Arrow pinned the villains hand to the wall with an arrow after which Spectre turned his right hand to coal. Hal Jordan allowed the supervillain to escape, stating that he could now live up to his name. [Green Lantern: Rebirth #1]
The trauma of the incident drove Black Hand insane and he kept on feeling pain in his lost limb. Vowing revenge, Hand decided to stick close to his target after learning of the resurrection of Hal Jordan. During the rebuilding of Coast City, William Hand went on a plane in order to settle a score with his arch nemesis. Whilst on the plane, he was abducted by the Kroloteans who experimented on him in order to turn him into a weapon for use against the Green Lantern. He was later returned to a park on Earth where he quickly discovered that by contact with living beings, he was capable of stealing their lifeforce which he could use to regenerate his own severed hand. Moving to a hospital, he killed both staff and patients which numbered in twenty six victims with his new death touch whereupon he moved to confront Hal Jordan. The Green Lantern in the mean time was abducted by the Kroloteans but managed to defeat them when he was weakened by Black Hand's influence. During the struggle, Hand was defeated and his new power was lost. [Green Lantern (vol. 4) #5, #6 (November 2005), #43 (July 2009)]
Blackest Night
After a recent defeat, Black Hand was being transported to prison when he began to experience a sudden power surge which allowed him to kill the guards. Freed, he roamed the desert after hearing "Death" calling to him and was instructed to reclaim all the souls that had been lost in the universe which included that of Superman and Hal Jordan. [DC Universe #0 (June 2009)]
Returning to his family home, Hand killed his mother, father and two brothers whereupon he seemingly committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a gun. As the events unfolded, the Guardian Scar arrived at the Hand household where she pronounced that the self sacrifice by Black Hand pleased "him". She then regurgitates the first Black Lantern Corps power ring which took William Hand as its host and resurrected him. The fallen Guardian Scar than revealed that Black Hand was the physical embodiment of death similar to Parallax and the Predator entity. Hand announced at that point that he would use his new power to finally extinguish the light in the universe. [Green Lantern (vol. 4) #43 (July 2009)]
Aftermath
Afterwards, Hand came to raise a dead circus and raises the dead crowds to watch the stunt performers die. Hal Jordan interferes, but was not here to fight him and asks to ally themselves against the New Gods of New Genesis. (Green Lantern v5 #36) Hal Jordan explains that New Genesis has stolen the entire Power rings for a weapon as the Life Equation for their pursuit. Black Hand agrees to aid him and sends the dead people to return to their graves. In the battle, Black Hand unleashes the spirits of the fallen Green Lanterns to the ensuing battle against the New Genesis soldiers that occurs near the Source Wall. Black Hand stops the battle as the New Genesis soldiers surrounded them. He smirks to see the Source Wall was a mass grave. (Green Lantern v5 #37) Whilst at the Source Wall, he along with Hal were ambushed by Orion and the Divine Guard of New Genesis. Black Hand then decided to examine the Wall where he was delighted to find out it was a giant graveyard of beings absorbed by it. Thus, he used his powers to reanimate them as Black Lanterns where he command his army to attack the New Gods where they arrived on New Genesis via a Boom Tube. Upon arriving, the Black Lantern Source-Titans ravaged the city of the gods thus giving the various Lantern Corps an advantage over their foe. Initially, Black Hand held sway over the creatures but they began to slowly operate independently from him as instead of being undead they were coming back to life. Furthermore, the substance of the wall began to infect Black Hand's arms turning them into stone and in fear he decided to flee as he became convinced Jordan had knowingly tricked him into touching the Source Wall so that its petrification ability would affect him. Thus, he escaped into the Boom Tube and fled back into normal space in the hope the petrification would end. (Green Lantern Annual v5 #3) In the aftermath, Black Hand was unable to raise the dead due to effects of the Source Wall. (Green Lantern v5 #42) Black Hand arrives on an alien planet, turning everything he touched to stone. (Green Lantern v5 #43) Black Hand becomes lonely when Hal arrives to confront him but Black Hand still blaming Hal for his plight, attacks the rogue Green Lantern, but using his power Gauntlet, Hal manages to defeat him as Black Hand's stone touch is ineffective against it. (Green Lantern v5 #45) Hal returns to the Source Wall with Black Hand and asks Relic, who had been studying the Source Wall, to find a way to undo Black Hand's power effects from the Source Wall. Relic reveals that there is something outward of the Source Wall that it can consume of any stone material to return to its origin. When Black Hand is awake and attacks them, but he is getting hit back with a huge grappling hook sending him to the Source Wall by Hal's colleagues on the spaceship. Black Hand is not through, but the Source Wall dragged him to it and he tried to reach out as the Source Wall consumes Black Hand. (Green Lantern v5 #46)
Black Hand was eventually released from the Source Wall when the latter was broken as was seen back on Earth where he built the Dark Church of the Black Hand, a cult that worships Death. They began kidnapping children in Opal City which eventually drew the attention of the Flash. Barry would track the cult just in time to prevent them from summoning Nekron by sacrificing one of the missing kids. He then easily defeated and delivered Black Hand to Iron Heights. (The Flash v5 #67)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
As a result of the Gremlins experiment, William Hand temporarily gained a death touch ability. By contact with living beings, he was capable of stealing their lifeforce which was used to regenerate his severed right hand. However, in time, the regeneration would disappear unless he stole more energy from subjects. This power was strong enough that he was able to weaken Green Lantern until he was defeated whereupon he lost the power of this new ability. [Green Lantern (vol. 4) #5, #6 (November 2005), #43 (July 2009)]
He once created a dark religion known as the Dark Church of the Black Hand that worshipped death. (The Flash v5 #67)
Notes
- Black Hand was created by John Broome and Gil Kane where he made his first appearance in Green Lantern v2 #29 (June, 1964).
Alternate Versions
- In Flashpoint: Abin Sur - The Green Lantern v1 #1 (2011), Black Hand appeared in the alternate world setting where he was killed by Atrocitus leading to the emergence of the Blackest Night.
In other media
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, Black Hand appeared in the MMORPG video game where he was voiced by actor Gray Haddock.
Appearances
- Green Lantern v2: (1964)
- Green Lantern Annual v5:
External Link
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