DARKHAWK (Chris Powell)
Created By: Tom DeFalco & Mark Manley
First Appearance: Marvel Age #97 (Feb. 1991)
Role: The Everyman Hero, Peter Parker Hero, The Failed '90s Hero
Group Affiliations: The Avengers West Coast, The New Warriors, The Loners, Project: Pegasus, The Fraternity of Raptors
Avengers Grade: D-Level
PL 9 (123)
STRENGTH 1/7
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 2/5
FIGHTING 3/7
DEXTERITY 0/2
INTELLIGENCE 0
AWARENESS 1
PRESENCE 1
Skills:
Aerobatics 3 (+8)
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 3 (+3)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 5 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Chest Beam) 4 (+9)
Stealth 3 (+5/+8)
Advantages:
Evasion, Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2
Powers:
"Darkhawk Replacement Body" (Activation -1) [-1]
Enhanced Strength 6 [12]
Enhanced Agility 3 [6]
Enhanced Fighting 4 [8]
Enhanced Dexterity 2 [4]
Enhanced Advantages 5: Close Attack 2, Ranged Attack 3 [5]
"Armor" Protection 5 [5]
Senses 2 (Extended & Infravision) [2]
"Teleport Back to Ship" Healing 16 (Flaws: Limited to Self) (Quirks: Must Appear as Chris Powell for Two Rounds) [7]
Flight 7 (250 mph) (Flaws: Winged) [7]
"Chest Beam" Blast 8 (16) -- [17]
- AE: "Shield Generator" Enhanced Dodge & Parry 2 (Extras: Sustained +0) (4)
"Grappling Claw"
Movement 1 (Swinging) (2) -- [3]
- AE: Strength-Damage +1 (1)
Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Claw +9 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Chest Beam +9 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3 (+5 Armor)
Defenses:
Dodge +8 (+10 Shield, DC 18-20), Parry +7 (+9 Shield, DC 17-19), Toughness +3 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +6, Will +5
Complications:
Relationship (Family)
Reputation (D-League Hero)- Darkhawk often has jokes made at his expense, thanks to being a rather forgotten hero.
Responsibility (Anger)- Chris Powell's Amulet was not designed to work with human beings. As a result, he often has intense anger issues.
Involuntary Transformation (Razor)- Powell was once taken over by the "Razor" persona at the hands of Talon, another member of The Fraternity of Raptors.
Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 72 / Defenses: 11 (123)
Darkhawk- A New Teen Hero For The '90s!:
-Darkhawk is the result of an honest attempt in the early '90s to replicate the success of Spider-Man- something that Marvel had previously done with both Speedball and Nova. Chris Powell was every bit a Peter Parker-knockoff: an everyday kid with everyday problems, like trying to make up for his crooked-cop father after donning a random alien suit of armor he found in a carnival (man, abandoned carnivals are such a crapshoot in comics- you either find a bitching Powersuit or the goddamned Joker living there). He had his own series that went on for a while, and part of his run included meeting up with the West Coast Avengers, hanging around in that "provisional member" status (aka "Marvel didn't want me on the team, but the writer probably did"), earning him enough points with the team to actually get mentioned from time to time. Truth be told, my old roommate was a HUGE fan of Darkhawk, mainly because he happened to have a bunch of his comics as a kid, but it was mostly a series of team-ups. Almost every other issue had him teaming up with Spider-Man, Ghost Rider or Moon Knight or someone, doing superhero stuff against minor-league villains- usually enemies of OTHER HEROES. It was classic "the writer has no ideas" territory, living off of the characters in other books for a focus.
The Darkhawk Solo Book:
-The
Darkhawk series lasted for 50 issues, between March of 1991-95, and was written by Danny Fingeroth, though Tom DeFalco, Marvel's Editor In Chief, created the character, likely because he thought he had a good idea but no time in which to carry it out. In the book, he finds his father accepting bribes from a crime-boss, and ends up finding a mysterious amulet that transforms him into Darkhawk- a superpowered flying guy with Edgelord aspects (claws, razor-edged wings, a mask that obscures his face), though Chris Powell himself is an ordinary teen. His first official villain? The Hobgoblin, whom he fights alongside Spider-Man. Later villains include minor-leaguers like Savage Steel, Portal & Lodestone, most of whom would have pathetic careers. His worst villain? EVILHAWK, a bad-guy Mirror Image Villain with the silliest name of the '90s. I mean, when the best they can do for your "Big Bad" is EVILHAWK, you know you're a third-stringer.
-Along the way, he teamed up with the New Warriors for the culmination of the "Folding Circle" story-arc, though he didn't remain with the team. A later story involved him being on
Avengers West Coast in a provisional manner. Chris would soon discover that his "Armor" is actually an alien cyborg, merely CONTROLLED by him- he actually switches places with it from its location in "Null Space". An alien crimelord had commissioned five of these empowering amulets, and the scientists who'd worked for him bailed and created the sixth, which Darkhawk uses. He and Darkhawk soon split into separate beings, though each had Chris's memories, as Fingeroth seemed to be trying ANYTHING to make this book work, and later, they re-merged so it WAS Chris simply empowering himself. Eventually, the book's slowing sales resulted in a newer, more badass costume that also got forgotten the second the book was cancelled with its fiftieth issue, a victim of the Great Comics Crash of the mid-90s (partially caused BECAUSE Marvel was flooding the market with endless books at the time- giving amateur writers and over-worked creative teams these assignments).
Darkhawk's Later Career & Failed Re-Push:
-After the cancellation of his series, Darkhawk just became "one of those guys"- characters who existed in Marvel Limbo, running out for a guest-shot here or there. Finally, he was used as one of many un-used heroes in the group Excelsior (later called "The Loners" because Stan Lee sued). He underwent anger issues in the Darkhawk form, but eventually the team started doing rather well, defeating Ultron and forming a more traditional hero squad. However, they later get rewritten into being AGAINST the idea of superheroes following
Civil War, and try to be a "support group" for others, as low sales kill the
Loners book. In a totally random-ass movement, he's declared the new security chief at Project PEGASUS, then becomes a supporting character in
Nova.
-Finally, Darkhawk was apparently ready for his "Next Big Push"- in Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's THIRD big "Space Crossover", Darkhawk was chosen as one of the major characters during
War of Kings, a battle between Black Bolt and the Kree, and Vulcan and the Shi'ar. Here, Chris discovers that his armor comes from a group called "The Fraternity of Raptors", as a guy named Talon explains to him that they arer "the curators of history, and the custodians of the future", ie. clandestine, murderous jerks. And now, he found himself exiled from his armor, which publicly executed EMPRESS LILANDRA, thus throwing the galaxy into turmoil and rendering him a universal fugitive.
-Here, controversially, Abnett & Lanning pop in with the idea that possibly his entire comic book series was a LIE, leading to my least-favorite of story types: "Everything You Know Is Wrong". Here, they decide that the fight against Evilhawk, and the origins of the Darkhawk armor, were all a lie created by his armor. Chris is horrified at everything, but fights back alongside Nova, especially as more "Raptors" appear to be reawakening. However, plans for a big "Darkhawk" push (every previous "Space Crossover" had led to a renewed, successful push for under-used characters, first for Nova, and then for the Guardians of the Galaxy) ultimately went nowhere- a
Darkhawk book never materialized, and instead he was badly injured and sent back to Earth as the Space Comics line folded.
Avengers Arena & Infinity Countdown:
-Darkhawk returned in
Avengers Arena of all things, alongside mostly teenage characters, in the infamous book that featured Arcade as the murderous scumbag who was ripping off
Battle Royale with superhumans, most of them
Avengers Academy kids or forgotten teen heroes. He is thought to be one of the first people killed, his amulet ripped off by Death Locket under the control of Apex, but he later turned up alive, helping defeat Arcade before being re-injured.
-He resurfaces a while later in
Infinity Countdown, now a police officer engaged to a woman named Miranda. Shockingly, two Fraternity of Raptors agents appear before him and tear off his amulet, the one who grabs it transforms into Razor, who slays the other and declares that Chris's heroic personality had imprinted upon him, and now he wants to fight the Raptors- he and Chris merge once more, becoming a complete, more powerful form. But they end up fighting the Raptors alongside Death's Head, and it turns out that the Shi'ar want the Raptors to form the "Dark Starhawk" (some writing mentions "Dark Darkhawk", which I think is a typo), which is to be the hunter and killer of The Phoenix Force. Here, he has his "special amulet" (as Raptors don't generally betray orders) ripped out by Gyre, who now leads the Fraternity, but re-merges with the Razor armor, appearing AGAIN with more power. Dark Starhawk, which has possessed Robbie Rider, the younger brother of Richard "Nova-Prime" Rider, ends up killing Gyre because he wants to bring order to the universe by himself. Death's Head kills most of the Raptors by rigging their ship to explode, but Dark Starhawk escaped, infuriating Richard. Finally, at story's end, Chris (warned to stay away from Earth by Rider) is awoken by Sleepwalker, who tells him they must team up for something. We never saw that story, however, and he since reappeared in
Guardians of the Galaxy, and at last sight was aged into a childhood form.
Darkhawk Overall:
-Jesus Christ, his story is a convoluted MESS. I mean, that's pretty normal with comic books, but I can barely keep the Wikpedia summary straight- it involves so many hands messing about with his origins that the whole thing just ends up overrly convoluted and DUMB. Like, the guy was created in 19-frickin'-91, but in less than thirty years has been utterly buggered like this? I mean, the original Origin Story was kinda dumb, too, but the Fraternity of Raptors just seems like a cosmic assassination order of conspiracy theorists, and none of the other characters are particularly compelling. Worst still, most of them look pretty well the same. Not that Darkhawk himself is something I find all that interesting in the first place- his old series comes off as the definition of "Half-Assed" (Danny Fingeroth mostly wrote
Spider-Man books, so had more important stuff to do), with bottom-tier villains and other stuff. And now all this other baggage was added to the guy, combining a handful of power-ups with the personality of "Razor" (who merges with Chris... twice? After turning good all of a sudden?). It's just bizarre for someone only half as old as the original X-Men or Spidey to have an origin story so weird.
Darkhawk's Powers:
-Darkhawk is a funny mish-mash of powers, but comes out like a PL 8.5 everywhere but his Dodge Defense, and even with that, he can make that or his Chest Beam at a time. This puts him around the levels of the New Warriors, which I think is right. It's a bit weird to do a big "body switch" concept (especialy since it's gone now, and he's always Darkhawk), but I chose to make it just Activation-based and giving him some low-level Strength boosts. Teleporting to his base for quick super-healing was tough to figure out at first, but since it's something he has to consciously do (whereas Regeneration is deliberately permanent and automatic), so Healing (Limited to Self) is best, plus a Quirk that shows Powell showing up for a round or two. He's also got a Chest Beam, a Shield Generator, a Grappling Claw that doubles as a Wolverine rip-off set of Claws, etc. So he's pretty versatile, just not very powerful.
DARKHAWK (Chris Powell)- Modern Stories
Created By: Tom DeFalco & Mark Manley
First Appearance: Marvel Age #97 (Feb. 1991)
Role: The Everyman Hero, Peter Parker Hero, The Failed '90s Hero
Group Affiliations: The Avengers West Coast, The New Warriors, The Loners, Project: Pegasus, The Fraternity of Raptors
Avengers Grade: D-Level
PL 10 (183)
STRENGTH 1/8
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 2/5
FIGHTING 5/9
DEXTERITY 0/2
INTELLIGENCE 1
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Aerobatics 3 (+8)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 3 (+4)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 5 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Chest Beam) 4 (+9)
Stealth 3 (+5/+8)
Advantages:
Evasion, Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2
Powers:
"Darkhawk Replacement Body" (Activation -1) [-1]
Enhanced Strength 7 [14]
Enhanced Agility 3 [6]
Enhanced Fighting 4 [8]
Enhanced Dexterity 2 [4]
Enhanced Advantages 5: Close Attack 2, Ranged Attack 3 [5]
"Armor" Protection 6 [6]
Senses 2 (Extended & Infravision) [2]
"Teleport Back to Null Space" Healing 16 (Flaws: Limited to Self) (Quirks: Must Appear as Chris Powell for Two Rounds) [7]
Flight 7 (250 mph) (Flaws: Winged) (7) -- [9]
- AE: Movement 2 (Space Travel 2) (4)
- AE: Movement 2 (Dimensional Travel 2) (4)
"Chest Beam" Blast 11 (22) -- [24]
- AE: "Shield Generator" Enhanced Dodge & Parry 2 (Extras: Sustained +0) (4)
- AE: "Datasong Boost" Mind Control 4 (16)
"Grappling Claw"
Movement 1 (Swinging) (2) -- [3]
- AE: Strength-Damage +1 (1)
"Alternate Forms" Variable 2 (Various Mechanical Abilities) [17]
(Examples: "Strike Suit" +2 to Blast & Protection, "Warflight Mode" +2 to Defenses, "Rescue Mode" Enhances Sensors & Power-Lifting)
"The Datasong"
Communication (Mental) 5 (Extras: Area) (Flaws: Limited to Fraternity of Raptors Members) [20]
Enhanced Advantages 1: Eidetic Memory [1]
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Claw +11 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Chest Beam +9 (+11 Ranged Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +3 (+5 Armor)
Defenses:
Dodge +9 (+11 Shield, DC 19-21), Parry +9 (+11 Shield, DC 19-21), Toughness +3 (+9 Armor), Fortitude +6, Will +6
Complications:
Relationship (Family)
Reputation (D-League Hero)- Darkhawk often has jokes made at his expense, thanks to being a rather forgotten hero.
Responsibility (Anger)- Chris Powell's Amulet was not designed to work with human beings. As a result, he often has intense anger issues.
Involuntary Transformation (Razor)- Powell was once taken over by the "Razor" persona at the hands of Talon, another member of The Fraternity of Raptors.
Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 112 / Defenses: 12 (183)
-Darkhawk's modern incarnation has been Power-Geeked out tremendously, giving him access to the "Datasong" (effectively a universal storage system of information) and Variable Forms, allowing the artists to go nuts with different suit styles, sometimes increasing defenses, hitting power, etc., probably by shortening other stats so he doesn't break PL 10, though he just might- modern Marvel's a bit crazy like that. This ends up a huge 62-point point boost between versions.
-The
War of Kings version of the character lacked the Datasong powers and much of the boosts, but could teleport weapons into his own hands.