Cyborg Superman
The Cyborg Superman is the name used by several characters in the DC Universe.
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Cyborg Superman (Hank Henshaw)
- Main Article: Hank Henshaw
Origin
Hank Henshaw was a male human from Earth who was part of an astronaut crew that went on a space mission on their shuttle when it was struck by cosmic radiation. This slowly killed the crew with Henshaw gained the ability to control machinery. In his final moments, he tried to save his wife from the fate that had befallen him and their crew mates. However, Hank did not die and instead became an intellect capable of manifesting machines and he came to blame Superman for his condition. A previous attempt against the Man of Steel had failed leading to Henshaw's mind being sent on a probe into space where he turned an alien into a cyborg. During this time, he came to encounter the alien Mongul where he humbled the warlord and forced him to serve him. He enlisted Mongul as his co-conspirator in getting his revenge against Superman and in exchange he would be given Earth to be a new Warworld. With access to Superman's DNA, he created a genetic duplicate of the Man of Steel but had cybernetics throughout the body. He then returned to Earth during a time when Superman had seemingly been killed following a battle against Doomsday. (Superman v2 #81)
The Cyborg Superman and Mongul were targeting Metropolis as the next city they had destroy to create a new Engine City. Superboy escaped his bonds, and left Engine City for Metropolis to expose Cyborg as a villain. Cyborg sent out a broadcast claiming the Last Son of Krypton had brainwashed Superboy, and that he was now a villain under his control. (Superman: The Man of Steel v1 #25) Mongul's plans to build more Engine Cities and make Earth into a new Warworld was foiled when Superboy saved Metropolis from destruction and conversion into an Engine City. In revenge he activated Engine City so it would blast Earth out of orbit, although Cyborg disapproved of the change of plan. He left Mongul to battle Superman while he fought Steel, who found the fusion process engine that powered the city. Steel fended off Cyborg and kept Earth from going off orbit. (Superman: The Man of Steel v1 #26)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Hank Henshaw
Henshaw was as a doctor working for the Advanced Prosthetic Research Centre where he was a colleague of Caitlin Fairchild. He was tasked with reactivating the android Spartan. (Team 7 v2 #5) Afterwards, he was sent into space on the Excalibur on a long-term mission where unknown to him he was monitored by the Clark Kent and Lois Lane of the pre-Flashpoint universe. Superman had sought to prevent the rise of some of his former adversaries in this world. When the Excalibur crashes after returning from a ten-year journey to Jupiter and back it was Superman who was responsible for saving the ship but was puzzled to find Henshaw being the only person on board. (Superman: Lois & Clark v1 #1)
Cyborg Superman (Zor-El)
- Main Article: Zor-El
Zor-El was a male Kryptonian of the House of El who was the husband of Allura and the father of Kara Zor-El. He and his family lived on their home planet of Krypton where he heeded his brother Jor-El's claims that their world was doomed. Using Brainiac-based technology, Zor-El built a dome around Argo City, and a space rocket to send Kara to Earth just in case Argo's force-field failed. He did not warn his wife and daughter about his plans, though. Minutes before the explosion he put his daughter to sleep, laid her on a space pod and blasted her into space. Argo City outlived Krypton but had no way to sustain themselves resulting in all the Argoans eventually dying. Zor-El was the only left when Brainiac found the city where the alien being turned Zor-El into a cyborg and erased his memory whilst reprogramming the man to serve him as a scout looking for stronger species in the universe to be added into Brainiac's collection. Despite that, Zor-El was not a compliant servant to Brainiac as he became obsessed with achieving perfection and getting his lost memories back. (Supergirl v6 #22)
Zor-El was placed inside a pod as Dr. Veritas went about removing his cybernetic components and reconstructing his body using TychoTech's technology. Kara often visited him, but Zor-El pretended to sleep and never talked back. (Supergirl v7 #12) It was not until Indigo nearly killed Supergirl that Zor-El acted by tearing Indigo into pieces. Although he was only saving his daughter's life, the National City's townsfolk felt his actions confirmed Supergirl was protecting a murderer only because he was her father. Zor-El was captured by the D.E.O., taken to a clandestine base and locked up. There he was visited by Mister Oz, who gave him what he considered a mercy kill by activating the red plasma failsafe in his containment tank leaving the powerless Zor-El to drown in it. (Supergirl v7 #13)
Overview
The original Cyborg Superman was a human transformed by cosmic radiation where he gained the ability to remotely control technology and became a being of consciousness. (Superman v2 #81)
Notes
- The concept of the Cyborg Superman was created by Dan Jurgens where it made its first appearance in Adventures of Superman v1 #500 (June, 1993).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Supergirl, Hank Henshaw appeared in the setting of the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse where he was portrayed by actor David Harewood. He was Director of the D.E.O. where Henshaw was a paranoid and ruthless agent who saw all aliens as a threat regardless if they were fugitives or refuges and sought to kill them all. While working at the D.E.O., Henshaw learned of J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter, a citizen of Mars, who Superman had claimed was the strongest being on Earth, and became obsessed with hunting him down and killing him, but J'onn would evade him for some years. In 2004, shortly after Kara Zor-El's arrival on Earth, the D.E.O. became aware of her existence and sought to bring her into custody to study her, and give them better understanding of Kryptonian biology. Visiting Kara's adoptive family the Danvers, her foster father Jeremiah Danvers refused to let Kara be taken away. Instead he offered his assistance to the D.E.O. as he knew everything about Kryptonians, having personally helped Superman discover his abilities, to which Henshaw agreed and recruited Jeremiah into the D.E.O. By the episode "The Darkest Place", Henshaw came to debut as the Cyborg Superman. After his fight with J'onn and Jeremiah, Henshaw was rescued and salvaged by Project Cadmus. His damaged body was repaired with cybernetic parts, which gave him superhuman strength and endurance. He adopted a new alias of the Cyborg Superman where he saw Cadmus as a continuation of the D.E.O.'s original mission - to hunt and exterminate aliens on Earth. He remained with Cadmus when it went rogue and cut formal ties with the government.
Films
- In Reign of the Supermen, Hank Henshaw as the Cyborg Superman appeared in the setting of the animated film adaptation where he was voiced by actor Patrick Fabian and actor Jerry O'Connell.
Video games
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Hank Henshaw as the Cyborg Superman appeared as an alternate skin for Superman in the setting of the fighting video game.
Appearances
- Adventures of Superman v1: (1993)
- Superman v2:
External Links
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