Darkhawk
Darkhawk is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Christopher Powell was a male human born in Queens, New York with him being the son of policeman Mike Powell and District Attorney Grace Powell. Chris also came to have two younger twin brothers named Jon Powell and Jason Powell. One day, he came to follow his younger siblings to the abandoned amusement park across from his home where Chris discovered his father taking a bribe from mob boss Phillipe Bazin. While trying to escape with his brothers from Bazin's henchmen, Chris discovered an amulet that transposed him into the Darkhawk armor. Thus, he exchanged places with the body of a superpowered armored extradimensional android that was controlled by Chris's mind. When his father disappeared after Chris saw him, Powell vowed to use the amulet as 'an edge against crime'. (Darkhawk v1 #1)
Darkhawk
Lodestone, a magnetically-powered villain developed by Bazin, was often pitted against Darkhawk. He also fought against some who would later ally with him, such as Portal, a teleporting mutant who killed another Darkhawk and stole parts of his armor, Savage Steel, which had been created by the secret police cabal that Chris' dad had been a member of, and Damek, a mercenary sent from the future to kill Darkhawk. (Darkhawk Annual v1 #3)
Powell later discovered that the android was stored and repaired aboard a starship in a dimension called Null Space. When he used the amulet to access the android body, his human body switched places with it. Five Darkhawk amulets were commissioned by an alien crime lord named Dargin Bokk. The scientists who created the technology eventually used them to assault Bokk. After Bokk destroyed the other scientists two of the scientists beamed their minds to Earth and merged with two Earth scientists there. Byron/Ned Dobbs and Mondu/John Trane created a sixth amulet which is the one that turned Christopher Powell into Darkhawk. (Darkhawk v1 #25)
Darkhawk eventually went on an Amulet Quest, during which his form was significantly upgraded. He also gained the ability to exist as Powell and Darkhawk simultaneously, with Powell staying behind on Earth.
War of Kings
He eventually got a job at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. as a security chief where he worked under Doctor Evelyn Necker. Arriving on the scene as Darkhawk, he responded to an incident when Vector of the U-Foes broke free and attacked him. The villain attempted to rip the gem from his armour where his suit went out of control and badly injured Vector. This was because the armour was attempting to protect itself where it caused Powell to attack anyone considered a threat. Among those that were injured was Dr. Necker who was knocked aside as Chris fell into an uncontrollable anger as a result of the armour. Feeling responsible for injuries, Powell decided to flee the scene as he attempted to get control of the armour. He went home to get a grip over his mental state and powers when something crashed in his backyard. Investigating, he found it to be someone in a similar set of armour as himself who was injured and stated that Powell did not know the true nature behind his suit. They were then approached by an unknown foe that was pursuing the winged warrior to Earth. (War of Kings: Darkhawk v1 #1)
Powell alongside Talon were later seen fighting against a group of Chitinauts that were the bug troops who served Catastrophus, a lieutenant of Annihilus. In this time, Talon's brutal techniques came to horrify Powell but he remained at the Raptor's side. Later, Powell revealed that he wanted to be just like his friend Nova. Talon explained to him that the Nova Corps were nothing compared to the Fraternity of Raptors, referring to themselves as 'architects of fate'. Eventually, after being tricked by Talon into fighting just as lethally, Powell managed to connect to the Datasong of the Null Source, which gave him visions of the true past of the Fraternity. This showed him a history of kidnappings and assassinations which lead Powell to conclude that the Fraternity were really 'the bad guys'. At this point, Talon attacked him and purged Powell's consciousness from the armor, which manifested a new persona called Razor. (War of Kings: Ascension v1 #1) Talon and Razor then recover the Cosmic Control Rod from Catastrophus, Talon stopping briefly to implant a suggestion in the gestating Annihilus, and proceed onward. Powell's personality is revealed not to have been wholly destroyed yet, and a vision of his father tells him that much of what he believed about the armor was false; the prior history, even Evilhawk himself, was a lie made up by his own mind, the other armor a second configuration that took control to cover earlier anger issues. Horrified, Powell's psyche breaks free of the prison it was locked in, only for Powell to find himself on a great tree adorned with thousands of amulets like his own, where he encounters gargoyle-like creatures that urge him to return to the one which he has just emerged from. Meanwhile, in the Negative Zone, Talon and Razor offer Blastaar the Cosmic Control Rod, in exchange for his assistance influencing the outcome of the War of Kings. (War of Kings: Ascension v1 #2)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
In the body of the android, he could fly, had a firing grappling hook and could blast energy from the amulet.
Notes
- Darkhawk was created by Tom DeFalco and Mike Manley where he made his first appearance in Darkhawk v1 #1 (March, 1991).
- In an interview, co-creator Mike Manley also spoke about designing the character, "It's hard to remember in the fog of time but I remember Howard Mackie asking me if I wanted to try out. I vaguely remember seeing a drawing that looked like a hawk headed Egyptian type guy in the office. I thought it was by Broderick. Anyway I thought it was a mix of Captain Marvel and Spidey. The body replacement thing. My thinking was influenced by that 70's black Namor costume and the helmet would have a hawkish shape. The wings pop out so it wouldn't look as dumb as Hawkman. I love Kubert and he made anything work but since Darkhawk was an android battle suit I figured it could have different configurations. The hawk claw grapple also a weapon like Wolverines claws made sense. Honey I wasn't about all the teen stuff I hoped to do more space stuff. Which we only touched on before I left for DC. If I revisited the character today I still have ideas. But of course that is unlikely to happen since Marvel has never asked me to do anything with him since issue 25."
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
Video games
Appearances
- Darkhawk v1: (1991)
- New Warriors v1:
- War of Kings: Darkhawk v1:
External Links
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