Superman’s most disgusting origin strangely reflected a much more warped version of Marvel’s Fantastic Four, though it ended in a much more tragic way.
Since his introduction in the early 1990s, Cyborg Superman has been one of the Man of Steel’s most powerful and manic enemies. Although he debuted in this person in the popular Death of superman history, Cyborg Superman’s alter ego had appeared before. Former astronaut named Hank Henshaw, Cyborg Superman’s official start began three years before Superman met his untimely end.
Henshaw’s origin strangely reflected a much more warped version of Marvel’s Fantastic Four, though it ended in a much more tragic way. With a team of scientists exposed to harmful radiation, the story essentially cast Henshaw in the role of a later traumatized version of Reed Richards. This is how one of Superman’s fiercest foes failed in his version of Marvel’s First Family.
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Hank henshaw
Henshaw first appeared in a major capacity Superman adventures # 465 and was created in the early 90’s Superman type Dan Jurgens. He was a member of the Excalibur space shuttle crew along with his wife Terri and two other astronauts. Unfortunately, things would quickly start to take a turn for his worst moment in Henshaw’s life when his team embarked on a radiation experiment for LexCorp. Exposure to radiation destroyed the two-limbed bodies, although they were later able to reconfigure themselves with bodies composed of radiation and nearby matter. At the moment, however, the Henshaws were unaffected beyond Hank’s now-white hair.
The team expected Luthor to use his resources to restore them to health, but this did not happen. The experience drove one crew member insane, causing him to get hitched with Superman before throwing himself into the sun. The other affected member committed suicide over the ordeal, though Superman and Hank were able to use LexCorp’s resources to save Terri from permanently passing to another dimension.
Unfortunately, that would not be the end of the ordeal, as Hank’s body eventually gave way from illness. Before this, however, he had developed the power to control machines and transferred his consciousness to LexCorp machinery. By creating a robotic body for himself, he introduces this new shape to his wife, only for her to kill herself in shock too. Henshaw would then jump through technology before finally possessing the ship that brought Superman to Earth as a baby.
Reign of the Cyborg Superman
Traveling across the cosmos, Henshaw’s consciousness eventually went paranoid and insane, believing that Superman threw the Eradicator drone into the sun weeks earlier caused the unstable radiation that doomed the lives of his crew. Hoping to get revenge on Superman, Henshaw teamed up with Mongul as part of a plan that would destroy the Man of Steel’s reputation. He posed as a “Cyborg Superman”, who was supposedly a reborn Superman brought back through technological means. Later, Cyborg Superman allows Mongul’s ship to reach Earth, where the villain quickly destroys Hal Jordan’s house in Coast City.
While it is this story that he is best known for, Henshaw’s original spotlight was notable for how much he and his team resembled the Fantastic Four. Henshaw played the role of Reed Richards, with his white hair that even resembled Richards’ gray temples. Similarly, his subsequent transformation into a technological being evokes the Monstrous Thing, especially considering how much it scares Terri Henshaw.
The crew members also look like the F4, including Terri. Her power to move from one dimension to another is reminiscent of Sue Storm’s ability to turn invisible. The other crew members also consisted of a glowing person made of radiation and a huge monster made of earth and matter, which turned them into mirrors of the Human Torch and the Thing, albeit with twice the tragedy of the latter and none of them. the happy ones. -Careful attitude of the former. It’s incredibly strange how strange this resemblance is, especially given how little it influences Henshaw’s role as Cyborg Superman. His combination of mechanical armor and the outerwear of a Superman costume, however, may be destined to evoke the greatest villain of the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom. Regardless, Cyborg Superman is definitely one of the biggest baddies in the DC Universe, and he didn’t inherit any of the positive traits of Marvel’s First Family.
Reference-www.cbr.com
