Owen Mercer (DC)

Owen Mercer is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Owen Harkness was a male human born in the 30th century as the son of the time-displaced George 'Digger' Harkness and Meloni Thawne. (Flash v2 #225) While Captain Boomerang was stranded in the 30th Century, he had an affair with Meloni Thawne and they had a son named Owen Mercer. (Flash v2 #224)

The National Inquirer broke the story that Captain Boomerang had a son, and Boomerang tracked down Owen. He parked outside Owen’s apartment, but when the young man came out he was too nervous to tell him who he was. The next night he parked outside Owen’s apartment again, and Owen asked him if he was his father. Boomerang admitted he was, and they had a joyful reunion. (Identity Crisis v1 #4) Boomerang started training his son in the ways of villainy. Boomerang learned that his son had the power of superspeed, and admitted to Owen that Golden Glider was not his mother. Jean Loring had Calculator hire Boomerang to break into the home of Jack Drake, father of Robin. Jean had killed Sue Dibny, so she wanted to throw the superhero community off her trail by making them think it was Boomerang who was the threat to their loved ones. Jean also sent Jack Drake a gun and a note saying “Protect Yourself” in hopes that he would kill Boomerang. Boomerang told Owen he was on his way to the big time again, and went to kill Jack. Jack Drake shot Boomerang after he entered his house, but with his dying breath Boomerang killed Drake with one of his razor boomerangs. Owen mourned his father, and brought a newspaper with the story of Boomerang’s death to his grave, telling his deceased father he did hit the big time again. Owen designed a costume patterned on Boomerang’s and took on the identity of the new Captain Boomerang. (Identity Crisis v1 #6)

"Digger" Harkness found himself an obsolete villain in the modern world of supervillains. Regularly going up to the supervillain satellite looking for jobs, asking favors from the Calculator, he was at the end of his rope looking for a job to put him on the map again. During this time he felt it was finally time to reach out to the son he never raised, Owen Mercer. Before Harkness's death, the two bonded. Taking up his father's legacy, he became the second Captain Boomerang. Captain Cold, brother to Golden Glider (who was believed to be Owen's mother), took Owen in as one of the Rogues.

Though Owen initially had no real attachment to the Rogues (and even voiced various, albeit short, opinions out loud), he grew to enjoy the purpose and sense of family the team offered after finding that his father's body had been stolen for use in a lab (which was later revealed to be part of a plan to get memories from Harkness). Around this time the Rogue War began, in which the "reformed" Rogues fought the Rogues under Captain Cold. Ashley Zolomon is told by Harkness himself (he's briefly revived by the "reformed" Rogues as part of an experiment) that Golden Glider is not Owen's real mother. Later, it is revealed in Flash #225 (January 2006) that Meloni Thawne is the mother of Owen Harkness, formerly Owen Mercer, the new Captain Boomerang, having conceived him by the original Boomerang while he was trapped in the 30th Century. It is unknown whether she gave birth to Bart Allen or Owen first, or how Owen made it back to our own time.

Overview

Powers and abilities

The original Captain Boomerang began to train Owen before he died. He has exhibited creativity in his boomerangs by creating "razorangs" and an acid-spewing boomerang.

Owen has also exhibited "speed bursts": short burst of limited super speed over short distances, most notably when throwing boomerangs. These were even possible during the time period that Bart Allen fully contained the Speed Force. However, during Chang Tzu's experiments he claimed he believed Mercer could access the Speed Force, and Mercer denied having super speed at all anymore, but Chang Tzu was able to activate Owen's speed involuntarily, causing him great pain[volume & issue needed]. The exact source of this power remains unrevealed. Regardless, as of Justice Society of America #8, the Speed Force appears to have returned and is accessible to all former speedsters once more.

Notes

• Owen Mercer was created by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales where he made his first appearance in Identity Crisis v1 #3 (October, 2004).
• In Flash v2 #225 (2006), the revelation of Owen Mercers parentage was revealed by Ashley Zolomon whilst she completed a document listing his parents.

Appearances

• Identity Crisis v1: (2004)
• Flash v2:
• Supergirl:

External Links

• DC Database Entry

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