In 2011, IGN ranked him #33 of the "Top 100 Comic Book Villains".
Publication history
Hank Henshaw first appeared in The Adventures of Superman #465 (April 1990), and was created by Dan Jurgens.[2][3][4] The story was a dark pastiche of the Fantastic Four, with astronauts being mutated by cosmic rays, only for in Jurgens' words, "a tragic, rather than heroic, result". This was later referenced in the 1999 crossover Superman/Fantastic Four, where Henshaw notes the similarities and serves as a replacement for Mister Fantastic during his absence. Originally intended as a one-shot, once the story was finished Jurgens "thought there might be more to play with — that there was an interesting character we shouldn’t let go of yet",[5] leading to his reinvention as Cyborg Superman in the Reign of the Supermen storyline.[6] In 2015, as DC started a new continuity with The New 52, Jurgens tried to give a new origin for Henshaw and his subsequent transformation into the Cyborg, considering that the Fantastic Four parallels were better off as "a single event, never referred to again", and that "it’s much more fair to the everyone—including all the characters involved—if the stories are distanced."[5]
Fictional character biography
Left: Hank Henshaw and the Excalibur crew after being exposed to the radiation. Right: Henshaw as his body decays, art by Dan Jurgens.
Hank and the other three members of the Excalibur crew, including his wife Terri, are exposed to radiation from a solar flare during a LexCorp experiment.[1] Hank and Terri survive, but suffer adverse effects from the radiation: Hank's body begins to decompose and Terri begins phasing into another dimension before being rescued.[7]
After Henshaw's physical body is destroyed, he transfers his consciousness into the LexCorp mainframe. He appears to Terri, but she is driven insane and commits suicide. Using NASA communications equipment, Henshaw possesses the ship that carried Superman from Krypton as an infant and uses it to explore space.[1][8]
Henshaw believes that Superman caused the ship accident after throwing the Eradicator into the Sun and plots revenge on him.[9][10]
Cover of Superman (vol. 2) #79, art by Dan Jurgens.
After Doomsday kills Superman, Henshaw poses as him to destroy his reputation and claims to be him resurrected as a cyborg.[10][11] He rescues Bill Clinton from an assassination attempt, with Clinton endorsing Henshaw as the "true" Superman.[11][12][13] Rival cults worshiping Henshaw and the Eradicator are established.
Destroying Coast City
When Mongul's spaceship appears over Coast City, Henshaw attacks and injures the Eradicator, allowing Mongul to destroy the city.[14] After tricking and defeating Superboy, Henshaw prepares to launch a nuclear warhead to convert Metropolis into a second Engine City.[15][16]
Superboy escapes and warns Steel, Supergirl, and the resurrected Superman of Henshaw's plans.[10][17] The four confront Mongul and Henshaw while Superboy stops the missile from hitting Metropolis.[18] Henshaw attempts to kill Superman with kryptonite, but the Eradicator sacrifices himself to save Superman, altering the kryptonite and causing it to restore his powers. Superman kills Henshaw, but he is later revealed to have survived by transferring his mind into a device he placed on Doomsday.[19][20]
Henshaw in his later, less Superman-based configuration, art by Doug Mahnke.
Henshaw attempts to take over Kandor, but is defeated by Superman and sent to the Phantom Zone. He later returns and becomes the leader of the Manhunters before being destroyed and reduced to a disembodied head when the Manhunters' home world of Biot explodes.[21][22][23]
Sinestro Corps
Cover art for Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Cyborg Superman #1, by Ethan Van Sciver
In a 2007 storyline, Henshaw is rescued by the Sinestro Corps, reconstitutes his body, and joins their ranks.[9][24] Henshaw's body is destroyed when the Green Lantern Corps detonate New Warworld and the Sinestro Corps power battery to destroy the Anti-Monitor. However, he is recovered by the Manhunters.[25]
Death and retrieval
In the 2010–2011 "Brightest Day" storyline, Henshaw allies with the Alpha Lanterns.[26] He forces Ganthet to work on reversing the augments that turned the Green Lanterns into Alpha Lanterns, hoping that he can use the resulting information to restore his original body. Henshaw is killed by Boodikka, but his consciousness survives inside Doomsday and forms a new body.[27]
The New 52 and DC Rebirth
In The New 52 continuity reboot, Hank Henshaw is a human doctor working for the Advanced Prosthetic Research Centre and a colleague of Caitlin Fairchild.[28] His role as Cyborg Superman is taken by Zor-El, a cyborg Kryptonian and servant of Brainiac.[29] Following the 2016 DC Rebirth relaunch, Henshaw's role as Cyborg Superman is restored.[30]
Powers and abilities
Hank Henshaw is a "technomorph". Unlike a simple technopath which can physically manipulate technology with their mind, Henshaw can extend his consciousness into any machine.[31] Through his technomorphic abilities, Henshaw gained Kryptonian powers similar to Superman while editing out weaknesses, such as his vulnerability to kryptonite. Henshaw can commandeer complex alien technology, including power rings and the batteries that fuel them.[27][32]
Other versions
Hank Henshaw appears in the DC/Marvel crossover Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances. This version was pulled from the DC Comics universe and brought to the Marvel Comics universe by Thanos, who sought to test a multiversal rift created during Oa's destruction. After destroying a planet due to the tidal stresses generated when he tried to convert it into a new Warworld, Henshaw battles the Silver Surfer until they are interrupted by Hal Jordan / Parallax, who seeks revenge on the former for destroying Coast City.
Hank Henshaw appears in Superman/Fantastic Four: The Infinite Destruction. He seeks out Galactus in the hopes of becoming his herald, only to be transformed into an inanimate metal rod.
In the crossover story Superman vs. The Terminator: Death to the Future, Henshaw learns of the existence of Skynet in the future and uses a salvaged Terminator skull to provide Skynet with information on Superman's weaknesses, subsequently allying with a T-X unit to eliminate John Connor and the Superman family. Despite Henshaw merging with the T-X to battle Superman, he is forced to withdraw when Supergirl infects him with a computer virus that irreparably damages the T-X.
In other media
Television
Hank Henshaw appears in Supergirl, portrayed by David Harewood.[34] This version is the founder of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) who was seemingly killed during an attempt to kill J'onn J'onzz, who subsequently impersonated him. In the second season, Henshaw resurfaces as the self-proclaimed "Cyborg Superman", having received metallic armor from Project Cadmus, and works for Cadmus' leader Lillian Luthor until she is arrested in the third season and he is defeated by Alex Danvers. Discussing his character, Harewood said that "Hank Henshaw ends up becoming Cyborg Superman in the comics, battling Superman. So I'm looking forward to that. He's a bit of a supervillain. He seems pretty indestructible. Which I kind of like because I keep getting blown up in these things. I'm kind of looking forward to being indestructible".[35]
Hank Henshaw / Cyborg Superman appears in the DCAMU film Reign of the Supermen, voiced by Patrick Fabian and Jerry O'Connell respectively.[39][36] Prior to the film, Darkseid transferred his consciousness into a cyborg body and brainwashed Henshaw into serving him, indoctrinating him to resent Superman's failure to save the shuttle. Henshaw tricks Metropolis into letting him create a group of cyborgs loyal to him so he can create a Boom Tube and allow Darkseid's forces to invade Earth, but Steel, Superboy, and the Eradicator join forces to revive Superman, who battles Henshaw and eventually kills him using a crystal containing the Eradicator's consciousness.
Hank Henshaw appears in Smallville Season 11.[45] This version previously piloted Lex Luthor's anti-alien Guardian Defense Platform before being severely burned and paralyzed in a radiation leak that forced him to pilot the shuttle to safety.[46] Henshaw nearly kills Luthor, but the former's wife Terri convinces him that Superman is to blame and fight him via his new S.T.A.R. Labs-built robot body until Superman tears Henshaw's head off. Henshaw apologizes before his head is placed in S.T.A.R. Labs' storage. Over the next few months, he befriends Tess Mercer before breaking out to battle Eclipso while Superman was away in another universe.[47] Once Eclipso is defeated, Henshaw joins forces with Green Lantern to transport Eclipso's diamond into deep space.[48]
1 2 3 4 "Cyborg Superman / Hank Henshaw Voices (Superman)". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on May 27, 2024. Retrieved May 27, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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