Whatever your motivation for reading a comic book, you can not dispute that 21st-century entertainment would be drastically different without them. A third of the Top 15 entries on the list of All-Time Highest Grossing Movies would be missing—and they are all from the same studio! The universe of superhero comics may have begun as an idealized depiction of Good vs. Evil, but it has since developed to accommodate for the roller coaster of emotions and decisions that arise from the fact that we are all, deep down, humans. Over decades of publishing, the Big Two have built a litany of super-powered characters with colorful backstories and personal traumas.
In order to compete, others had to get imaginative, which resulted in the creation of some unique characters. WildStorm Productions, founded by famed painter Jim Lee, was a short-lived independent comic platform that offered readers a more intimate, cohesive, and humanistic type of narrative, allowing you to believe in it while suspending your disbelief. That is, before DC recognized they needed powerhouses like Lee and Alan Moore to compete, and acquired WildStorm’s lineup.
They also received one of the most twisted, sadistic, and yet utterly relatable characters in comic history, in addition to the colorists they sorely needed. Enter The Midnighter, which is essentially what would happen if Batman was given the Weapon X serum and had a murder fetish.
You would be forgiven if you mistook him for a dollar-store Bruce Wayne knockoff when he first appeared in StormWatch Vol. 2 #4; however, after reading Warren Ellis’ excellent The Authority issues, you will start calling the JLA a bunch of good-for-nothing sissies. This is The Midnighter’s Origins, Explored, a look at this savage and intense anti-hero who is like a love-child of the Punisher and Wolverine.
Who exactly is the Midnighter?
That’s a question even he can’t properly answer. Ex-StormWatch Weatherman and psychopath-extraordinaire Henry Bendix gave his secret test-subjects superhuman abilities but programmed them in such a way that when they donned their costumes and spoke their codenames, their previous identities would cease to exist.
As a result, we never truly find out who Midnighter really is. For a brief while, we thought he might be Lucas Trent; a 40-year old man from Harmony, Indiana, who by all accounts seemed like a nice and decent person. But if you know anything about his favorite activity (besides Apollo, ofc), you’d know that that was a red herring.
Just because we don’t know his name, doesn’t mean we can’t get to know him; after all, Bruce Wayne truly believes he’s Batman, so to each their own, eh? Part of a supersoldier squadron meant to be the next generation of StormWatchers, The Midnighter discovered morality’s place in this world on his very first mission.
His squad was doomed from the beginning, and Bendix had no intention of changing their fate; why save something when you can just make more of it? So after surviving the slaughter and escaping alongside Apollo, The Midnighter turned his attention to tackling crime from the ground up with a single rule: justice is a dish best served bloody.
His moral code prevents him from harming the innocent, but that’s where it stops. He revels in violence and is not above battering the absolute bejesus out for shits-and-giggles. There’s a reason he’s called the Murder Machine, you know. For 6 years, he and Apollo fought crime across America and even Britain, where they stopped their crazed creator from sacrificing children to his maniacal grand plan.
After this showdown, they became members of The Authority, and The Midnighter really came into his own, toppling dangerous dictators, beating up bad guys and even governing America at one point. It was the last of those things that led to his departure from the team (go read the comics, they’re all great) before being given a New 52-sized reboot. Now a part of Martian Manhunter’s StormWatch, The Midnighter continues to fight crime and break open skulls with a wild grin stuck on his face.
What makes The Midnighter so Powerful and Fearsome?
Any character that has his opening speech printed on lethal business cards is certified OP in our books. The Midnighter has been genetically and technologically modified to create the perfect killing machine. Most of this has been achieved via implants that magnify his senses and combat skills beyond anything humanly imaginable.
His unique tissue structure makes him nigh-indestructible, having converted his muscles to essentially carbon fiber. His amplified strength gives his blows a 1000kg/cm2 of force, which can effectively dismember any body part he attacks. Modified nerve endings give him reflexes, not unlike Goku’s Ultra Instinct, and give him speed that can outmatch speedsters; though he can only maintain this for a short while.
His senses have been tuned to a frequency beyond human comprehension: he can see, hear, smell, feel, and taste things imperceptible to humans, automatically grasping literally EVERYTHING in his immediate environment which allows him to intuitively decipher and resolve any situation he encounters, accurately gauging an enemy’s abilities and battle-strength as well as making him a rather great detective in his own right (wink wink).
He has telescopic vision and can zone in on anything he wants to hear, giving him complete control over the field. And if all that wasn’t enough, good luck trying to kill the guy; not even AIDS can stop him from bashing your head in. His survival implants are just insane: he has full pain-receptor control which allows him to press on under immense pressure, can live self-sufficiently through any environment (even the vacuum of space), and has a healing factor that would put Old Man Logan to shame.
All of this pales, you heard us, PALES in the face of his ultimate superpower: he can predict the future. Well, not really, but enough for it to really matter. Remember what we said at the beginning of this segment? Well, there’s a reason for that; Midnighter has battle precognition. Yes, you heard us, and for those of you who didn’t get that, he can basically run through every possible battle sequence and outcome before the first punch is thrown and take the best possible path to bludgeon you, all in an instant.
This dude is so insanely overpowered that he took out 30 of his own kind, without taking a scratch! He can speak any language, infiltrate any facility, do basically anything you can imagine in close-quarters combat, and just loves pummelling people to death. That’s what makes him so scary; the fact that he has all that power and he is not afraid to annihilate with it. Unlike a certain Caped Crusader, upon whom his character was based.
The Time When Batman and Midnighter Met!
Yep, it’s a total No Way Home situation. Well, not really, but you get what we mean! Ever since the Midnighter was folded into the main DC continuity, things had been kinda rough for him, serving as the Batman of the DC StormWatch. It was a welcome change-of-pace when he was introduced as a supporting character for the former Nightwing in the Grayson series. But his appearance begged the inevitable question: when would Midnighter cross paths with The Bat?! Well, Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Batman/Superman Authority Special #1 gave us just that.
In what has to be the most Meta comical takedown of Bruce Wayne in living memory, Midnighter quips that he didn’t expect Batman to be so old, but it makes sense that he would be. It’s a clever nod to Batman’s incredibly-long and storied publishing history that manages to annoy the most stoic of all in the Bat-family.
There have been many attempts at imitating Batman’s successful comic book career with varying degrees of success, but this little Easter egg was a treat for both DC and WildStorm diehards. And it got us thinking; jokes and begrudging respect aside, what would have happened if Batman decided to attack Midnighter instead of simply huffing at him?
Can Midnighter beat Batman?
A lot has been made of the fact that Midnighter is essentially Batman without a moral code. Heck, even his costume looks identical to Batman’s custom suit, down to the cowl that looks exactly the same, minus the ears. But the trench coat isn’t the only thing that makes him different; Midnighter can absolutely level Batman, without breaking a sweat. One move and it’s over. His combat precognition gives him the tactical upper hand, and he will make Bruce taste the Batcave’s dust quicker than he can say, Selina Kyle.
Despite his peak physical conditioning, he would be no match for the Midnighter’s amplified strength and would have to yield. The Midnighter can essentially peer into the enemy’s mind and predict his movements, an ability that has only proven to be ineffective against the psychotic and unpredictable Joker.
We’re not sure how far Bruce’s highly-disciplined mind palace can get him here, but if we know one thing about Batman, it’s that he’s always got contingencies for his contingencies. Given that Midnighter had a proper physical encounter with Dick Grayson, it’s possible that Bruce already has intel on him, and has been able to uncover some of the things that make him so deadly.
Batman is called the World’s Greatest Detective for a reason: the man can detect invisible things and sense the presence of magic, for crying out loud! If he figures out the fact that Midnighter’s powers come from technology, he can easily turn the tables on him. Despite all his god-like abilities, Midnighter does have weaknesses, one of which we’ve mentioned already. The others stem from his implants.
On at least one occasion, Midnighter has lost control of his body to a nanite infestation that messed with his neural pathways, indicating he can be taken down by nanobots, devices engineered to render his implant inert, or a sufficiently-powerful psychic. Another drawback of his combat style is how it works.
Midnighter needs the enemy to throw the first punch; it’s what triggers his entire possibility algorithm and allows him to choose the best possible action that will guarantee his victory. But this depends on his perceptive speed, and if his opponent is even a nanosecond quicker, he wouldn’t be able to discern fight patterns and will be forced to rely on primal instinct. If anyone can do that, it’s Batman, who’s tangled with the Speed Force in the past.
If he’s exposed, then Midnighter will have a very difficult dealing with Gotham’s Protector and might just end up taking the L, but it all depends on the circumstances. Most likely, it will end in a stalemate, with both of them brooding over it for years to come. We can say one thing for sure, though; Midnighter is much more secure in his own existence, and definitely beats Batman in the department of embracing their truth.
Is Midnighter the Best Gay Superhero?
You might have been wondering why we hadn’t brought this up so far, except a rogue Apollo mention early on. There’s a reason for that; it’s because we have an opinion. And that opinion is: The Midnighter is the Best Gay Superhero is comic history. Over the years, there haven’t been many out-and-proud comic book characters who have been allowed to express themselves in a way that truly reflects the struggles and feelings of the LGTBQ community.
Gay characters were almost taboo at a point in time, with many insinuations of queerness but no clear depiction. Things have changed dramatically in the last 5 years, as we’ve seen queer representation reach a new zenith. The new Superman is bisexual, and it makes us all kinds of fuzzy. But there is no denying that the best portrayal of the LGBTQ community has to be Midnighter’s on-and-off relationship with his man Apollo.
They first came together while they were on the run after being betrayed by Bendix and stayed together till the New 52 reboot, but at no point was their characters’ sexuality a focal point in their storylines. And let’s be honest, he isn’t exactly what you think of when you first think “queer”. But that’s what makes the portrayal so honest. The Midnighter is a complex character with many layers to him; his queerness is just one of those layers.
When they were together, you could see the love they shared was manly and it was real. Go read the initial speech from Midnighter #7, and don’t you dare tell us we were lying. When the continuity split them apart, instead of turning into a soap opera-esque drama, they took a genuinely measured approach.
Midnighter had several flings and hook-ups after the re-boot broke him and Apollo up, but never in a single frame was he shown as being dejected or lovesick. Did he miss Apollo? Well, kind of but not really. Was he romantically confused? Definitely. But that didn’t stop him from owning his sexuality and being intimate with men, something that hasn’t been seen enough on comic book pages until very, very recently. Our very first shot in Midnighter #1 is of his Grindr profile; what more can we ask for?!
There’s something oddly comforting about the fact that this Murder Machine is on a dating app and is trying to actively explore & express his sexuality. His & Apollo’s marriage was a beacon of hope for closeted comic book readers, and though the split might have pissed some people off, we’d argue it’s made things better. For once, a comic book character isn’t forced into a relationship with their exes or someone new.
Midnighter’s established canon backs up his recent foray into singlehood and transforms what could have been a messy take into a genuinely empowering tale of owning your narrative and being that you were always meant to be.
Relationships, breakups, promiscuity: Midnighter normalizes all that for a gay character, in a way that is rarely shown in the pages of comic books. And it manages to do that without sacrificing any of the elements that make his character such a unique existence. If there’s one reason why you should give The Midnighter a place on your shelf, make it this one; if the prospect of Matrix-Esque action sequences hadn’t lured you in already.