- For the alien masquerading as Hank Henshaw, see J'onn J'onzz.
Hank Henshaw is the former director of the D.E.O.. Hank was a paranoid and ruthless agent who saw all aliens as a threat regardless if they were fugitives or refuges and sought to kill them all. After Kara Zor-El's arrival Hank extorted her foster father Jeremiah Danvers into working for him so he could learn about Kryptonians. After spending years hunting the refuge J'onn J'onzz, Hank cornered him in Peru but Jeremiah seemingly sacrificed his life to kill Hank to protect J'onn.
After his supposed death he was impersonated by J'onn to reform the D.E.O. for its intended purpose until his identity was exposed, but J'onn received a presidential pardon and remained director of the D.E.O. J'onn continued to use Hank's appearance for convenience sake around D.E.O. agents and for public appearances.
After being presumed dead for almost 10 years Hank was revealed to be alive, rescued by Project Cadmus and genetically modified into a cyborg with strength greater than even Supergirl's under the name "Cyborg Superman".
Biography
At some point Hank was appointed director of the D.E.O. He was also best friends with Jim Harper.
Director of the D.E.O.
While working at the D.E.O. Hank learned of J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter, a citizen of Mars who Superman had claimed was the strongest being on Earth, and became obsessed with hunting him down and killing him but J'onn would evade him for some years.
In 1993 shortly after Kara Zor-El's arrival on Earth, the D.E.O. became aware of her existence and sought to bring her into custody to study her, and give them better understanding of Kryptonian biology. Visiting Kara's foster family the Danvers her foster father Jeremiah Danvers refused to let Kara be taken away. Instead to avoid Kara being hunted he offered his assistance to the D.E.O. as he knew everything about Krpytonians, having personally helped Superman discover his abilities. Hank agreed and recruited Jeremiah into the D.E.O.
In 1996 the D.E.O. remote outpost probes in Peru signaled J'onn's location and Hank ordered a team readied to kill him. Jeremiah however tried to plead a case to capture J'onn instead insisting that an alien who has lived on Earth for 300 years could have useful information for scientific pursuits, but Hank declined and he, Jeremiah and a team of agents traveled to Peru to carry out the mission. Hank eventually caught Jeremiah and J'onn talking in the woods and shot J'onn with specially made bullets. As Hank began to torture J'onn, Jeremiah tried to convince Hank that J'onn wasn't a threat, that he was a refuge just like Kara. Hank refused to listen and the two men got into a struggle as Hank tried to kill J'onn. Though Hank managed to stab Jeremiah in the chest which would cause him to bleed to his "death" Jeremiah was able to push Hank off the nearby cliff side where he fell to his supposed death.
After his fight with J'onn and Jeremiah, Hank was rescued and salvaged by Project Cadmus. His damaged body was repaired with cybernetic parts, which gave him superhuman strength and endurance. He adopted a new alias, "Cyborg Superman". Hank now saw Cadmus as a continuation of the DEO's original mission - to hunt and exterminate aliens on Earth. He remained with Cadmus when it went rogue and cut formal ties with the government.
While being presumed dead J'onn assumed his identity to reform the D.E.O. and use it to hunt down true alien threats not just refuges and would continue to use his appearance for almost 10 years. In 2016 J'onn was forced to reveal himself in order to save the city from a Red Kryptonite infected Kara and was finally exposed as an impostor to the D.E.O. Despite his deception, J'onn was cleared of all charges by president Olivia Marsdin herself and he remained director of the D.E.O. J'onn still continues to use Hank's appearance working at the D.E.O. and in public, believing people still feel more comfortable working with someone who looks human.
Medusa
When Cadmus kidnapped Mon-El to draw out Supergirl, Hank met her in battle and defeated her. Later after Cadmus extracted blood from Kara, Hank went to the Fortress of Solitude and used Kara's blood to gain access. He then inquired about "Medusa".[1]
Personality
Hank is cold, cruel, amoral, and self-righteous. He is also radically against aliens of all forms to the point of he will them regardless whether or not they are a threat to the human race, like when he attempted to kill the Martian Manhunter, despite the fact that he was a refugee. He also showed a degree of fear and hatred towards Superman. He had no guilt or remorse for this attempted vile act of his. According to J'onn J'onzz, Hank is a pathetic excuse for a human being.
After 10 years Hank is shown to greatly resent J'onn for stealing his life and equally hates Kara believing if he had taken her in as originally planned, none of what happened to him would have occurred.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Enhanced strength: As a cyborg, Hank is much stronger than a normal human; he was even stronger than Supergirl. Although she did manage to hold her own against Hank, the former was ultimately overpowered relatively easily, it is unknown how well he would fare up against Superman.
- Enhanced durability: As a cyborg, Hank can take much more damage than a normal human; he took a couple of physical blows from Supergirl and was completely unfazed.
- Enhanced stamina: As a cyborg, Hank's natural stamina levels have been increased considerably, allowing him to fight and remain active for long periods of time without becoming fatigued.
- Heat vision: As a cyborg, Hank's left eye has been replaced with a cybernetic version and can now shoot lasers with similar effect to heat vision.
- Enhanced speed: As a cyborg, Hank is capable of moving at incredible speeds similar to Kryptonians.
Abilities
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant: As the former director of the D.E.O., Hank is an expert in unarmed combat; he was proven to be even better than Kara Danvers, despite the latter being an unarmed expert fighter in her own right, although she did manage to hold her own against Hank, the former was ultimately overwhelmed and defeated relatively easily.
- Expert marksman: As the former director of the D.E.O., Hank is an expert with firearms.
Appearances
Season 1
- "Livewire" (flashbacks)
- "Human For a Day" (mentioned)
- "Falling" (mentioned)
- "Manhunter" (flashbacks)
- "Myriad" (mentioned)
Season 2
Notes
- Hank Henshaw debuted in The Adventures of Superman #466 (May, 1990), as a crew member of a doomed NASA space shuttle and later primarily featured as an antagonist of Superman. In Reign of the Supermen storyline, he was given the alias Cyborg Superman, with which he would become mostly known as in the years to come. He was created by Dan Jurgens.
References
- ↑ Template:Ep ref