Henry King Sr.

Henry King Sr. is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Pre-Crisis

Henry King Sr. was a male human who was born in the modern age on Earth.

One account claimed that in his childhood he came to know Edwin Ackerman and Lucy. During this time, he demonstrated his unnatural powers that caused his friends to keep him at a distance as they grew scared of him. By adulthood, Lucy came to marry Edwin with Henry attending their marriage. In reality, Henry was furious as he loved Lucy and resented Edwin for marrying her. He vowed that Edwin would one day be responsible for Lucy's death with the married couple telling him to stay away from them. Later on, Henry operated as a psychiatrist but secretly began a criminal enterprise where he took the supervillain identity of Brainwave. (All-Star Comics v1 #15)

Brain Wave went mad from loneliness over his years in prison. He was obsessed with beauty because the world never showed him any, so he stole a number of works of art, and put them in an orbiting space station. He created an illusion of an idealized male body to wear as his form. He found Per Degaton in a soup kitchen, and was determined to return Degaton to his former greatness, secretly hoping Degaton could make him a new body that resembled his illusion. From the space station he informed the JSA that he was going to cause disasters in Seattle, Washington, Peking, China and Capetown South Africa that would cause a chain reaction that would destroy Earth. They shouldn't have been able to cope with the catastrophes, but disaster was averted thanks to the help of the Super Squad. The JSA and Squad confronted Brain Wave aboard his space station, and learned that he'd sapped the willpower of the JSA that they displayed in averting the disasters to return will and youth to Per Degaton. When the JSA had the villains on the ropes, Brain Wave used his mental powers to send Earth on a collision course with the sun, demanding they submit or see the planet die. Power Girl sent Brain Wave's space station toward the sun, overheating it and causing the villain to pass out and lose his grip on Earth. (All-Star Comics v1 #59)

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

Overview

Personality and attributes

He came to take the supervillain identity of Brain Wave. (All-Star Comics v1 #15)

When he was young, he was noted for being peculiar and somewhat of a 'lone wolf'. He never had any friends and claimed he never needed them as he could create his own companions. Despite this, he came to love Lucy who was a childhood friend that came to marry Edwin Ackerman. Though he attended their wedding, Henry had nothing but hatred for Edwin and planned to have him kill Lucy. (All-Star Comics v1 #15)

He used fear in order to control the criminal underworld and get people to work for him. (All-Star Comics v1 #15)

In society, he initially operated as a psychiatrist before his identity was discovered by the Justice Society. (All-Star Comics v1 #15)

Powers and abilities

It was said that Henry had a miraculous brain that could focus its thoughts on three dimensions alongside a thought-wave that projected from his mind. Mental telepathy allowed him to materialise thought-images and thus craft illusions and make people see anything. (All-Star Comics v1 #15)

Notes

• The Henry King Sr. Brainwave was created by Gardner Fox and Joe Gallagher where he made his first appearance in All-Star Comics v1 #15 (February, 1943).

In other media

Television

• In Stargirl, Henry King Sr. appeared in the setting of the live-action DC Universe television series where he was portrayed by actor Christopher James Baker. He was a neurosurgeon who across his life had came to believe that humanity was inherently evil. He developed psionic power after experimenting on himself to prove that the human mind could be artificially evolved through scientific means. This saw him becoming a supervillain called Brainwave where he once battled a female superhero named Merry Pemberton. He was defeated by her and was enamoured by her where the two eventually fell in love as the two had a child together named Henry King Jr. Around this time, Icicle approached him about joining the Injustice Society of America's grand scheme of eliminating the Justice Society and instituting a plan to create a new nation as part of Project: New America. Brainwave knew that Merry would not go forward with such a plan and ultimately murdered her with this turning him into a colder more crueller person as a result. He and the ISA then attacked the Justice Society headquarters where he personally murdered Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Johnny Thunder. He and the ISA then relocated to Blue Valley where they lived ordinary civilian lives with Henry King Sr. being a doctor at the local hospital whilst secretly working to complete Project: New America. His son Henry King Jr. grew aware under his care where he showed nothing but a cold attitude to his son and watched to see if he inherited his telepathic powers. This was until one day when he learnt of a masked vigilante wielding Starman's Cosmic Staff and sought to confront the person. He learnt that this new 'Stargirl' was actually Courtney Whitmore who believed herself to be Sylvester Pemberton's daughter where he attempted to kill the 'legacy' but was badly wounded and left comatose as a result. After his father Henry King Sr. is hospitalized, Henry Jr. begins to visit him while he recuperates, during which the latter's powers begin to develop before fully manifesting after Cindy challenges Stargirl. After researching his powers and his father's work, Henry Jr. slowly begins to share his father's views on humanity.

Appearances

• All-Star Comics v1: (1943)
• Infinity Inc. v1: (1985)

External Links

• DC Database Entry

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