History
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Nighthawk
The early history of Kyle Richmond largely mirrors that of his Earth-616 counterpart.
Origins[]
Kyle Richmond was an idle millionaire selected by the Grandmaster to become Nighthawk, a member of his Squadron Sinister. He eventually betrayed the Squadron, becoming a long running member of the Defenders and eventually died. He was resurrected and given a set of eyes that allowed him to see crimes before they were committed by an angel which in reality was Mephisto in disguise.
Through his own visions, and the knowledge of Captain Mar-Vell, Kyle eventually learned that the eyes that were awarded to him by Mephisto were actually a portion of Mar-Vell's own Cosmic Consciousness, which was fragmented and distributed throughout the Multiverse following his first death. As they had the power to reveal past, and future events, and show Mephisto events that would effect his fundamental character, he left the eyes in the hand of someone he considered weak and pathetic, and so selected Richmond to be his pawn. Kyle eventually rid himself of the visions.[1]
Mutation of Humanity[]
Following the mutation of humanity, Kyle's visions began to return. He sought out Luke Cage, who had recently become a police officer, offering to help use his visions to find crime before it happened.[1] Kyle and Luke helped save the Baxter Building from a mob of mutates. His visions allowed him to see that the last human David Jarrett, who was believed dead in the riot at the Baxter building, had in fact survived, and was now immortal. Nighthawk freed him from his grave, and kept the secret of his identity.[2]
In recent history, either due to exposure to the Terrigen Mist, or due to their natural connection to the Cosmic Consciousness, Kyle's visions became extremely vivid and disturbing. With his visions becoming increasingly taxing, Kyle nearly killed himself while shaving due to the onset of a vision. Seeking help, he found his fellow Defenders comrade, the Gargoyle, who believed that Kyle should use his visions to better mankind, chronicling history during these dark times so that future generations would have a perfect record of the events that had transpired. Although Kyle's visions revealed that the Gargoyle was being manipulated by Mephisto into providing these visions to him in his guise of Mr. Church, a spokesman for the Church of Immortus, Kyle agreed. He did so believing that he may have a chance to save his friend.[3] [4]
In order to lessen the powerful and overwhelming impact of his visions, Kyle donned a hood that would physically obscure his vision and he and the Gargoyle took up residence in a loft in New York and began recording history as it unfolded. Kyle told Isaac of the war on Earth between the forces of Captain America and the Skull, and the arrival of the final host of Celestials who would be turned back by Galactus. Their efforts to chronicle events brought the attention of the Watcher and X-51, who were also monitoring events on Earth during this time.[3]
In the three years that passed following the defeat of the Skull, and the death of the Celestial growing in Earth's core (which caused the planet to re-polarize and throw off the ecology), Kyle's visions once again changed. Now instead of just seeing future events as they were coming, Kyle soon gained the ability to see the past, the present and even the distant future, as well as the ability to look into alternate realities. Also at this time, Kyle's visions informed Mephisto of the activities of the world's heroes and the locations of the hidden pieces of Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man, that would further Mephisto's own ends to manipulate beings on Earth into such a state of despair that they would use time travel to try and change history, and create another alternate reality Mephisto himself could escape into.[3]
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Kyle Richmond
As events were coming to a full circle and it appeared that Mephisto would prevail, the Gargoyle's betrayal was revealed and Kyle was visited by X-51 who had finally come to learn of events which the Watcher's equipment would be unable to view, such as events occurring in the Realm of the Dead. Going to recover Gargoyle, X-51 and Kyle arrived too late and found that his deal with Mephisto: to feel once more, was now killing him. Kyle watched helplessly as his friend crumbled into dust.[5]
Believing that his death was imminent because his visions could not see further, Kyle soon realized how wrong he was when it turned out that Mar-Vell had come to collect his eyes, revealing their true nature to him. Thus, the darkness that he foresaw was his blindness, not his death. Mar-Vell turned Mephisto away, revealing to him that he was not the devil, just another deviant manipulated by the Celestials. Kyle was brought along with Mar-Vell to the Savage Land, where he "witnessed" the defeat of the Dire Wraiths and Mar-Vell revealing to Belasco his true identity. Kyle then returned to New York, where he was present as the heroes of Earth defeated the Absorbing Man.[6]
Later, while Kyle was visiting Isaac's grave, Kyle suddenly found himself stricken with pain and mutated into a new form. Dubbed 4-D Man, Kyle became connected to the Cosmic Consciousness. Not only could he now see and know all events in every reality, but he could also see how things may have happened if events had occurred differently.[6]
As 4-D Man, Kyle mostly resided in the Watcher's Citadel on the Moon sharing information with X-51 and viewing events as they transpired on Earth. He later provided guidance to Captain America, who was struggling over using the soul of Benny Beckley in the Realm of the Dead to make everyone in that realm collectively believe themselves to be dead and be allowed passage into Paradise. Kyle, Thanos, Comet Man, Benny, and Captain America all traveled to Paradise to confront Mar-Vell over the expansion of Paradise into the Negative Zone. There they bore witness to an invasion of Paradise by the Kree.[7]
Following the end of the invasion, and Reed Richards becoming the new Eternity, 4-D Man's current whereabouts are presently unknown, although it can be assumed that he kept his promise to Richards, alerting Sue that he would travel into space to retrieve their son Franklin, the current Galactus.[7]Attributes
Powers
In his past, Kyle's powers and abilities as Nighthawk mirrored that of his Earth-616 counterpart.
Precognition, Retrocognition and Clairvoyance: Later he would be given eye's that had a portion of the Cosmic Consciousness. This originally allowed him to view the immediate futures of those he saw. This originally was limited to people potentially committing crimes, however over time these visions became more expansive and more vivid. Before his transformation into 4-D Man, Kyle could view the past, present, and future, as well as see into other realms such as the Realm of the Dead, as well as view alternate realities. He appeared to have no control over this ability at the time, that his visions would begin by revealing present events, and then show him past, present, future, and alternate reality events as they related to events happening in the present.
Cosmic Awareness: When he became the 4-D Man, Kyle was totally linked to the Cosmic Consciousness, there was nothing that he could not view. Past, present, future, other realms, are all available for him to view at but a mere thought. Nothing is secret from him and he can know the deepest secrets, and can also see how events may have played out if things happened differently.
Teleportation: He also had the ability to transport himself into any realm he desired, such as the Realm of the Dead and Paradise.
The accuracy, and truth to Kyle's visions however are suspect, as the eyes were originally fashioned by Mephisto, at best the visions he has seen may only apply to the events on Earth-9997, and not in the greater multiverse.Abilities
Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Transportation
See Also
- 31 appearance(s) of Kyle Richmond (Earth-9997)
- 1 mention(s) of Kyle Richmond (Earth-9997)
- 5 image(s) of Kyle Richmond (Earth-9997)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Kyle Richmond (Earth-9997)