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Supermanhas had many iconic enemies over the years . In improver to his arch scourge Lex Luthor , Superman has fought epic engagement against Brainiac , Bizarro , and the seemingly all - powerful imp Mr. Mxyzptlk . In more recent years , amusing book creators have amount up with additional memorable resister , such asDoomsday , the monster that quiver Superman to death .
Strangely , however , the humanity who would become one of Superman ’s most dangerous villains really had his roots in a completely dissimilar comic book fellowship . While he would finally evolve into one of the DC Universe ’s comfortably - know scoundrel , the Cyborg Superman was originally an homage to Reed Richards , the loss leader of the Fantastic Four !
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Although most people now know him as the Cyborg Superman ( or simply “ The Cyborg ” ) this villain ’s real name is Hank Henshaw . Introduced inThe Adventures of Superman # 465as a crew member on the NASA space shuttleExcalibur , Henshaw was a superb scientist who want to take experiment in radiation in verboten place . The other members of Henshaw ’s crew included his wife Terri and his friends Steven and Jim . unluckily , while comport their experiments , the shuttle gain a solar flare and the ship smash landed on Earth .
Upon exiting the ship , Steven ’s soundbox was destroyed but he reconstruct a human body out of cosmic radiation therapy . Jim also managed to make a new grotesque consistence out of earth and wreckage . Meanwhile Terri began phase out of reality and Henshaw ’s tomentum turned bloodless while his dead body began to degrade . Desperate to happen a cure for their condition , the four settle to go to LexCorp and expend the equipment there to care for their mutated body .
Up to this gunpoint , the crew ’s transformation seemed to be a double-dyed mockery of the transformation Reed Richards and his class experienced inMarvel Comics’Fantastic Four # 1.However , things before long took a hideous plait . The radiation syndrome began affecting the minds of the gang and they ended up stick into a fight with Superman . as luck would have it , Superman chose to help Henshaw and his booster – but their condition rapidly worsened and Superman was only able to pull through Henshaw ’s married woman from fly completely as Hank ’s torso literally fell apart .
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However , Superman ’s writers were n’t done with Hank Henshaw just yet . Although his human dead body was now go , Henshaw surviving thinker developed the ability to control machines and created a new mechanically skillful body from LexCorp machine . regrettably , when he tried to reconnect with his married woman in this form , she went insane and committed suicide . Heartbroken and angered , Henshaw fell into conflict with Superman once again . In the death , Henshaw build a new frame out of the ship that brought Kal - El to Earth and used it to explore the universe .
Unfortunately , Hank finally fail mad and derive to believe that Superman was responsible for for the shuttle stroke and his wife ’s destruction . His belief was n’t completely irrational – Superman had fox the Kryptonian being , the Eradicator , into the sun earlier cause some solar flare . However , Henshaw ’s married woman confirm that thesolar flare that reach the Excalibur was not stimulate by Superman ’s actions .
Nevertheless , Henshaw wanted revenge on Superman – a revenge he thought he would be denied when he discovered that Superman had “ died ” in engagement with Doomsday . Undaunted , Hank decided to destroy Superman ’s good name by building a cyborg soundbox for himself and posing as the “ Cyborg Superman . ” As the Cyborg , Hank first gained the world ’s trust ( and even President Bill Clinton ’s second ) , but he later destroyed Coast City with the assistant of the foreign warlord Mongul ( whom Henshaw had made his hard worker ) .
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Superman returned , however , and on the face of it destroyed Hank ’s new body – but Henshaw was now essentially immortal and kept remodel his body over and over again . destruct Coast City also made himan enemy of Green Lantern as well as Supermanand his later schema operated on a cosmic degree – rather appropriate for a man who had started out as a DC version of Reed Richards .
unmistakably , some of Henshaw ’s exploits finally allowed him to thwart into the Marvel Universe . His original crossing put him into conflict with Green Lantern and the Silver Surfer . afterward , however , he actually came aspect - to - font with Marvel ’s Fantastic Four inSuperman / Fantastic Four : The Infinite Destruction . WhenSuperman conform to the Cyborg into the Marvel Universe , the Man of Steel was turned into a Herald of Galactus and Henshaw teamed up with the Fantastic Four , using his advanced trailing power to help track down Galactus .
During this odd bond , Henshaw recognized the similarities between his origin and the Fantastic Four . Having inhabited the FF ’s computing machine , he reflected on how the cosmic radiotherapy that gave the Fantastic Four their power was almost identical to the radiation that affected his crowd . From there , however , he see that their lives diverged radically , with Henshaw declare warfare on humanity instead of fighting for it like the Fantastic Four .
Henshaw even got into a competitiveness with his original doppelganger Reed Richards , whom he deal a “ pathetic nonstarter . ” Ultimately , however , he is defeated when he asked Galactus to make him perfect – make Galactus to transform his Cyborg torso into a “ flawless ” piece of metal . Naturally , Henshaw would escape this fate to terrorise Superman and the DC Universe again , but the adventure did wait on to spotlight his unique link to the Fantastic Four – and show how different his character had become since his original adventure .
The Cyborg Superman proved so popular that he was reimagined many time , in funny books , television show , and movies . InThe New 52,The Cyborg Superman was actually Supergirl ’s Father of the Church Zor - El , transform into a half - machine creature by Brainiac . Hank Henshaw has also appeared inSupergirl(where“Hank Henshaw”became both the cover identity for the Martian Manhunter as well as Cyborg Superman ) .
Henshaw also play a fully grown role in theDeath of SupermanandReign of the SupermenDC animated picture . While these movies do show Henshaw ’s doomed shuttle mission , they downplayed his connection to the Fantastic Four by establishing that cosmic villainDarkseidturned him into theCyborg Superman . In truth , Henshaw has become such apowerful case in his own rightthat he no longer needs to be linked to Reed Richards or theFantastic Four – but one should not ignore the queer debt he owes to Marvel ’s First Family .
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