When it comes to the universe of comic books, whether in print or on screen, Marvel and DC have long been the undisputed kings. And occasionally, very occasionally, they appear to nod to one another by making small movements here and there. That is exactly what took place when Marvel created the Nighthawk. He was only planned to serve as the “Batman of the Marvel Universe” for a brief while, but he wound himself at the centre of several important Marvel storylines.
Nighthawk’s character has seen numerous changes over the course of the chronology if all the various universes in the Marvel Multiverse are included. As a result, Nighthawk has appeared to us in a number of ways. Of course, the most recent one was published in April 2022 in Issue 55 of the “Avengers” series. The anti-hero, however, has such a convoluted backstory and character journey. Readers are left wondering which incarnation they should now take into account and what in the world (or Multiverse!) happened to the other people.
NIGHTHAWK: Who Is He?
Known as one of the strangest, most whimsical characters that have graced the Marvel Universe, Nighthawk was originally a Sal Buscema and Roy Thomas creation from October 1969. Debuting in Issue 69 of ‘Avengers’, it was just a few Issues after that we met another variety of him. The new version – on print – was a ‘Squadron Supreme’ member, one of the most talented of his kind. He had come from an alternate reality altogether, a point that shall help us explain things later so try and keep it in mind!
These two individuals were the main avatars and kept on resurfacing in tales as years went by. He also came to play a major part in the well-known and appreciated Civil War storyline as well as getting his own mini-series ‘Nighthawk’ in 1998. The 1998 tale was a work by Bob Wiacek, Jim Krueger, and Richard Case, revolving around Mephisto’s trickery of Nighthawk. Nighthawk ended up killing Daredevil and somehow reached Hell with him.
But the ever-so-brave hero fought against all the demons of Hell and revive Daredevil too. The duo then escaped the place together. Another version of Nighthawk was seen in print when Issue 2 of ‘Supreme Power’ was released. The foundational character was an African-American who went by the name of Kyle Richmond.
Interestingly enough, the speculation that Nighthawk’s character is eerily similar to Batman becomes even more reasonably prominent once we learn of the ‘Squadron Sinister’. We shall talk more about them as the massively overlapping plot of Nighthawk’s own stories unfolds.
It is noteworthy herein, that Roy Thomas had a long-standing desire to make into reality, a crossover between the two indisputable Kings of the comic world. The intention is made further abundantly clear with Nighthawk’s heroic background that includes encounters with Green Goblin, Venom, and even Miles Morales as a pupil of sorts, at one point. In turn, all of these are based on Spider-Earth-616 Man’s exploits.
In his “first” appearance ever, Kyle Richmond a.k.a. Nighthawk was transformed and put together with a team of supervillains that Grandmaster En Dwi Gast had created, called the ‘Squadron Sinister’. He made them into what clearly felt like the evil counterparts of members of DC’s Justice League – The Whizzer being Flash’s equivalent, and Doctor Spectrum filling in for Green Lantern.
It was crystal clear that his creation of Hyperion from non-living extra dimensional matter thrust with false, manufactured memories and consciousness was to make him Superman’s equivalent. Kyle became Nighthawk and thus could only be Batman’s Marvel counterpart! Lo and behold, we had Squadron Sinister, ready to wreck and cause trouble.
The Sinisters did lose miserably to the Avengers, and the Grandmaster relieved them of his mentorship; effectively deserting them altogether. Nighthawk left his life of crime after the incident and the others ventured solo too, except Hyperion who had gone up against Thor and been defeated. His punishment was to float through the whole cosmos in a small glass orb. However, their reign of terror over the Marvel Universe was only just beginning then.
Nebulon, an alien who had been searching for other worlds to destroy and harvest for minerals, was responsible for uniting the lot of Sinisters post their loss and desertion. Hyperion met Nebulon in space and informed Nebulon of planet Earth that could potentially serve his purpose.
Hyperion led him right up to the planet with a plan to put into action. Nebulon had intentions to melt polar ice-caps and destroy the planet by way of floods. Nighthawk, however, was not up for it. His conscience was awakened by the realisation that innocent people would lose their lives for one individual’s selfishness and pure evil. So, he went behind their backs and established contact with The Defenders, eventually helping them outwit Nebulon and earning himself a place within the team.
Regular appearances of Nighthawk followed, as he then became a part of the widespread MU. Nighthawk went on to utilise his full potential as a long-term member of The Defenders’ squad of superheroes until he died. Meanwhile, he has since been known to have returned to life and retired willingly but not before he had successfully trained a successor, Joaquin Pennysworth. Since Kyle’s retirement, neither Kyle nor Joaquin has surfaced, but a Skrull imposter masquerading as Kyle did emerge later before being revealed.
Now, chronologically speaking, this Squadron Sinister embodiment of Nighthawk was the first to appear in print. But in later stories, a detail was revealed that changed the dynamics of the character altogether. The main purpose of Squadron Sinister was to stand against the Squadron Supreme of the alternate Earth mentioned before, after the Grandmaster’s fall-out with Kang the Conqueror.
Kang had preferred the Avengers as his Champions. In retaliation, the Grandmaster returned to his reality and caught hold of three men, including another Kyle Richmond. Remember us telling you that one version of Nighthawk belonged from an alternate reality? That was the Squadron Supreme member that the Grandmaster replicated into an evil counterpart. Squadron Supreme lived on the Multiverse world of Earth-712, where the Grandmaster had once laid eyes on them.
It was here that he decided to make his own team of pawns mirroring the Supremes, and called them Squadron Sinisters instead. Of course, Squadron Sinister’s game against the Avengers resulted in team Sinister’s loss, and the story discussed above followed that. What we can conclude here is that Nighthawk of the Squadron Sinister was never really the original Nighthawk when it came to the timeline of the plot. The OG Nighthawk was in fact, a member of the Squadron Supreme.
In another instance, when the Avengers were transported to an alternate Earth, they met the Squadron Supreme, who they believed to be their evil counterparts Squadron Sinister. A battle was imminent and it happened. It was not too late before the realisation dawned upon both parties that they were on the same side of events. In the end, they assisted the Avengers in getting back home.
Later in this line of events, Nighthawk ran for President of the United States in his role as Kyle Richmond. He won and chose to willingly retire from superhero service being of the opinion that his role as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. would serve more purpose. That was a short-lived stint as the only business he had because he soon joined the Supremes again – on dual duty now!
Another point of striking similarity between DC and Marvel with Nighthawk involved was seen when the villain Overmind attacked their planet. The Squadron Supreme wished to rebuild the world and govern it unilaterally. Nighthawk was vehemently opposed to the idea, believing that this would paint an image of the Supremes as autocrats.
The clash of ideas with his colleague Hyperion is a vague reminder of the Injustice series by DC when Superman and Batman got into an argument over a plan to defend the Earth. The conflict between Hyperion and Nighthawk advanced to full-blown combat, and Nighthawk ended up dead. This prompted Hyperion to backpedal on his plans of a takeover, acknowledging his friend’s sacrifice and handing over the reins to the government again. Nighthawk was succeeded by Kyle’s adoptive son, Neal Richmond.
In more recent times, Kyle’s emerged in Issue 700 of the ‘Avengers’. An African-American superhero with a role in the ‘Squadron Supreme of America’, the squad was brought together by Agent Phil Coulson. The Avengers had proceeded to the international scale, and the U.S. needed safeguarding. In the ‘War of the Realms’ series, the Supremes battled Malekith who had invaded, but they still clashed with Marvel’s other superheroes very often. The list included Black Panther who once had to go up against Nighthawk when Pentagon was broken into as Coulson was apparently, required to be interrogated.
NIGHTHAWK: A Traumatic Beginning
Kyle Richmond’s origin story as per his first appearance in print is as tragic as it gets. He was the son of businessman Arthur Richmond, the owner of Richmond Enterprises. Needless to say, Kyle grew up filthy rich, getting the best of all that was materialistic, but lacking love and affection – something that his father did not deem important enough to be given in person. That was probably why he continued his business trips even after his wife had passed away, leaving Kyle with a governess to take care of him.
Kyle grew up as a child with anger issues, that manifested in him throughout his school life. On his first day at the private boarding school that he was sent to, he felt alone and had a tearful breakdown. Realising that his classmates were much less than sympathetic towards him and were laughing at his sorrow, he tackled them physically. He never really stopped getting into trouble at school, as egotism and a superiority complex stemming from wealth enveloped him. A few years down the line at school, he attacked his Principal, convinced that no harm would happen to him thanks to his influential father.
At college, he got into a relationship with Mindy Williams. On a night of drunk driving as Mindy was riding shotgun, Kyle crashed his car. While his father used his connections and money to cover up the incident, Kyle believed Mindy to be dead. That was far from the truth as it could be – Mindy had lived, although crippled now. Arthur sent Mindy away, as he had never really liked the girl and did not see her as a fit addition to his family’s legacy. The incident did get Kyle rusticated from school.
When Kyle tried to join the military, he was diagnosed with a heart murmur and stood rejected. His new fixation became training himself to increase his body proportions, sculpting his muscles and healing from the murmur detected. It was at this point that Kyle suddenly lost his father to a plane crash. Now the sole heir to the entire wealth accrued to the Richmond family, he also took control of Richmond Enterprises. This was way out of his interest though, so he focused on his uncontrolled, spendthrift lifestyle instead. When even that got boring, he met the Grandmaster and embarked on an adventure as Nighthawk, the costumed member of Squadron Sinister.
NIGHTHAWK: Animated Universe
In the ‘Avengers Assemble’ animated series, Anthony Ruivivar voiced Nighthawk. Very different from his avatar in comic books, Nighthawk was an alien here. His only task was to make insane tactics and he considered his team to be a set of tools. Nighthawk posed as S.H.I.E.L.D.
Agent Kyle Richmond in his self-titled episode. The Avengers finally beat him and the Squadron Supreme, and he was sent to the Vault, a high-security prison serving as the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. In his first appearance in the series, he had been seen destroying his home planet, acting alongside Squadron Supreme, as always. This was in a flashback episode titled “Hyperion”.
Adam West lent his voice to Nighthawk’s character in the animated series ‘The Super Hero Squad Show’. Nighthawk appeared in the episode “Whom Continuity Would Destroy!” Thanos and the Grandmaster had set Power Princess up against Scarlet Witch, Hyperion had to fight the Hulk, and Nighthawk had to engage in combat with Iron Man.
NIGHTHAWK: What Makes Him So Powerful?
Nighthawk’s transformation from Kyle Richmond happened because of a potion made out of the genius of alchemy. That gave our superhero-slash-supervillain certain attributes far superior to his human counterparts. All these abilities would double in their effect as night set in, courtesy of the serum.
Physical strength was, of course, the most noticeable feature making him a formidable opponent when it came to physical confrontations without arms. He was known to be tough and resisted most injuries that would majorly injure humans, like heavy impacts and such. Akin to most superheroes and supervillains, fatigue toxins generated slowly in his body giving him the stamina to fight for long hours without getting exhausted.
Nighthawk was quite a master at body coordination, making him spry with quick reflexes and deft reactions. Add to that his heightened senses of hearing and sight, which enabled him to have long-distance vision with the clarity remaining constant. He could hear quite well too, perceiving sounds coming from afar much before other mortals around him could. For a short period, Nighthawk was endowed with the power to see glimpses of the future. It generally manifested as him seeing a crime being committed before it occurred in real-time. Papa Hagg, the sorcerer, subsequently took away this power.
In terms of equipment, Nighthawk has a glorious show to put up. At one point, he had a Hawk-Plane to use for transportation, something he set aside after getting himself jet-powered artificial wings. He was also known to have gloves that sprouted razor-sharp Titanium claws that could cut pretty much all the usual material; even some metals.
NIGHTHAWK: Closing In
The Multiverse has several regular components that appear time and again, but Kyle’s most recently appeared in special circumstances. The devious Mephisto created Earth-TRN852, a new, artificial land that was shown in the ‘Heroes Reborn’ event of 2021.
In this place, the Avengers never existed and other superheroes of the Marvel franchise never assumed powers. The Squadron Supreme of America took over instead, dictator-like attitude and violent actions on full display. When the Supremes came upon Mephisto’s reality and his intentions, they helped the Avengers come through and break Mephisto’s enchantment.
The reality of Earth-616 was re-established and the Squadron Supreme of America stayed in the core Marvel Universe, alongside their now-alienated teammate Nighthawk. In Issue 55 of the ‘Avengers’, it is probably THIS Nighthawk who joined the Avengers to meet the schemer Mephisto on battlegrounds. Hopefully, this would be the last time we see or hear of this monster.
Coming to the most crucial point of debate – how similar is similar? Remember Joaquin Pennyworth, who Nighthawk chose as his successor? Yeah, that name is so similar to Batman’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth that one HAS TO stop for a moment and consider the possibility of Marvel poking fun at DC in their own ways. What is satisfying to see that what might just have been an attempt at parody at first on Marvel’s part has given those who read and watch, a much-loved and important character. And we certainly will hope that we haven’t seen the last of Squadron Supreme and Nighthawk just yet – we are thoroughly enjoying the Marvel v. DC debacle here!