Darkhawk
Darkhawk is a
fictional character, a
superhero in the
Marvel Comics universe. He was co-created by writer
Tom DeFalco and artist
Mike Manley. The series was not written by DeFalco, who was then Marvel's editor in chief. Instead, it was written by
Danny Fingeroth.
While spying on his father at an abandoned amusement park, teenager Chris Powell discovered a mysterious
amulet that, with concentration, transformed him into a powerful
android. Suspicious that his father, a policeman, was accepting bribes from a crime boss, Chris vowed to use the amulet as "an edge against crime." In this role, Darkhawk occasionally worked with the
New Warriors and was a provisional member of the
West Coast Avengers. Currently, Chris has decided to 'retire' from superheroics and has joined
Excelsior, a support group of former teen heroes. However, Chris has become Darkhawk once more, for a special mission for Excelsior; in which the team are trying to help the teen super-heroes known as the
Runaways. With the completion of this mission, Darkhawk again appears to be an active superhero on the west coast.
In his original form, Darkhawk's powers include "darkforce blasts" which emanate from the amulet on his chest, a small energy shield from the same source, a grappling claw on one arm, retractable gliding wings and night vision. Darkhawk's face, covered by a
helmet, is intensely ugly or terrifying, a feature that can be used to stun enemies. When the android body was damaged, Chris could heal it almost instantly by transforming into his human form, and then back into his android form again (injuries to Chris' human form could not be healed this way). Darkhawk originally glided through the air, but later gained the power of flight, a power which later carried over to his upgraded form. It is unknown (and Marvel apparently has no plans of telling) whether or not the original form could always fly, though it seems likely, since the Darkhawk form was not altered until the beginnings of the
Amulet Quest storyline. It is logical then to conclude that Chris simply did not REALIZE he could fly and this lack of realization is what limited him to only being able to glide until, in a moment of panic when his wings were damaged, he accessed the flight ability of Darkhawk.
Chris discovered that the source of his powers was a living vessel in deep space, where his and other Darkhawk bodies were stored and repaired. When Chris was Darkhawk, his human body was stored in the ship in the android's place (a feature found also in the
Miracleman comic). Upon making this discovery, Chris obtained a new android form with a variety of new powers, including a single, extendable blade on each wrist replacing his grappling hook, invisibility, a powerful forcefield that could take any shape, the ability to create and summon any weapon at will through the ships' technology, and the ability to combine the shield with Darkforce blasts.
In subsequent appearances since the cancellation of his own series, these upgrades have been largely ignored, and Darkhawk appears in his original form.
Excelsior
Chris Powell joined Excelsior, a group for former teenage heroes who were struggling with their current lot in life. Members of this group included Phil Urich (a former
Green Goblin),
Turbo from the
New Warriors,
Julie Power from
Power Pack, and Ricochet from the
Slingers. The group was hired by a mysterious benefactor - later revealed to be former Avengers sidekick and Captain Marvel partner
Rick Jones - to track down a group of young runaways in Los Angeles.
Chris displayed trouble controlling his anger in his Darkhawk persona, leading to a short skirmish with Turbo. Dismayed with himself, Chris decided to never turn into Darkhawk again. This decision did not last long however, as shortly thereafter the group battled the notorious
Avengers villain,
Ultron. Darkhawk delivered the final blow, using a darkforce blast at point blank range to blow Ultron to pieces. Following the battle and the revelation of Jones' involvement, Excelsior opted to remain together and act as a more traditional super-hero team.
U.S. War Machine
In the mini-series
U.S. War Machine, set in the Marvel MAX universe, Darkhawk was a psychopathic android, which could only be controlled by running a virtual reality program. The program, a "fiction" within that universe, played out the events where Darkhawk had been a member of the Avengers West Coast within normal Marvel continuity. The program itself also appeared in the final pages of US War Machine 2.0, in which an injured
Tony Stark damaged body is placed inside the Darkhawk program in order to keep him alive.
"League of Losers"
Darkhawk features in an arc of
Robert Kirkman's
Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3), featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Darkhawk,
Dagger,
Araña,
Gravity X-23,
Sleepwalker and
Terror (although Araña dies along the way) go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing
Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes.
It's revealed Chronok is from the same time period as Kirkman's
Mutant 2099; the group stays with him and his mentor Reed Richards to wait for Chronok. The team defeats Chronok, but at the end of the story, Richards reveals they can't go back to their present, due to time-travel and alternate timelines. The group decides to stay in the future, satisified with the impact they made, however unnoticed. Mutant 2099 suggests reforming the
Avengers or the "Fantastic Nine". Effectively trapped in the future, Chris begins a romantic relationship with Dagger.
Note that due to the
Marvel Universe's
method for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story occurred in an alternate universe.
Over the course of this adventure, Chris acts as the core of the "League", serving as their leader and training the mostly novice heroes for their encounter with Chronok. Reed Richards remarks that while he had never thought of Darkhawk as leader material in the past, he is impressed by Chris' efforts.
It should be noted that during the various battles with Chronok and his army, Chris did not appear prone to irrational violence or uncontrollable anger while in his Darkhawk form, as he had during Excelsior's encounter with the
Runaways.
As Darkhawk, Christopher Powell has enhanced strength. His agility and reflexes are similarly enhanced and he is also capable of a flight capacity which is somewhat faster than a natural winged flight limit. He can also glide on air currents simply using the wings of his costume. As Darkhawk, Powell can also regenerate large portions of tissue and even vital organs and limbs because of their techno-organic nature. To heal himself Darkhawk must temporarily revert to his vulnerable human form.
Using his amulet, he can project concussive "Darkforce" blasts from his body and can surround himself with an invisible defensive force shield. Darkhawk also has telescopic and infra-red vision. In human form, he has none of these abilities.
Aside from his superhuman powers, Powell is a novice in the martial art of
Kendo. As Darkhawk he carries a grappling hook on his right hand shaped like a claw, similar to
Wolverine, which can be projected at the end of a cable.
In the last year of his series, Chris had his mind copied to the android body so he could exist as both beings simultaneously. Darkhawk then has his amulet accidentally reprogrammed, and found himself in a more powerful incarnation with different powers: shapeable energy shield, eyeblasts, access to spaceship computer, teleport hand-guns from the ship, and one extendable claw on each hand. Although Darkhawk could no longer switch with Chris, he could still recover using a self-generated healing pod. Combining all of his powers, Darkhawk could produce a gigantic hawk construct with devastating power. Later, he remerged with his human self.
If he retains any of these abilities, or how he reverted to his original form is unknown. However, this reversion to his original form may somehow be connected to a battle Darkhawk was forced to fight in by Morgan Le Fay, who scooped him right out of Chronopolis during a mission which was actually happening in an issue of Darkhawk, and then battled the Avengers. Thus, it may be that there are two Darkhawks running around.
In addition, how and when Darkhawk moved to the West Coast is unknown, as Darkhawk had lived on the East Coast in New York City throughout the entire 50 issue run, with only two appearances on the west coast. Once in West Coast Avengers, and again in his own book, where he demonstrated the ability to fly cross-country with only a brief stop to 'recharge', meaning he literally flew from New York to California in a single night.
Darkhawk #1-50 (March, 1991 – April, 1995)
Darkhawk Annual #1-3 (1992 – 1994)
Spider-Man: Friends and Enemies #1-4
New Warriors (vol. 1) #14, 22-25, 47-51
Runaways (vol. 2) #1-6
Marvel Team-Up (2005 series) #15-18
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MDP: Darkhawk - Marvel Database Project
