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Kyle Richmond was born and grew up in the city of Cosmopolis in the state of New Troy in the United States of Earth-712. Richmond's father, the billionaire head of a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm, died of a heart attack when Kyle was eighteen. Learning that the elder Richmond had made his fortune through highly unethical means, Kyle Richmond vowed to devote his life to battling the evil perpetrated in the world by men like his father. Hence, Richmond became the masked crimefighter known as Nighthawk.

Although Nighthawk had no superhuman powers, he defeated numerous criminal opponents, his most frequent nemeses being the costumed criminals known as the Mink, Pinball, and Remnant. Nighthawk and Hyperion, who worked as a team, were two of the founding members of the Squadron Supreme.

The cosmic gamesman called the Grandmaster once used the Squadron members as pawns in a tournament between himself and the Squadron's foe, the Scarlet Centurion. Later, the Grandmaster caused the counterpart of Kyle Richmond of an alternate Earth to launch his own career as Nighthawk.

Sometime later, the government of the United States of the Squadron's Earth came under its first covert assault. A huge industrial complex called the Serpent Cartel was actually the base of operations for various human agents of the extra-dimensional serpent-god Set, who manifested itself in the Serpent Crown, a mystical object of power. The Serpent Cartel placed the President and various other high-ranking politicians under the domination of the Crown. At the same time, on Earth-616, Hugh Jones, then president of the Roxxon Oil Company, was also made a slave of the Crown and was attempting to mastermind a similar secret government takeover. The Avengers intervened, and the U.S. President of "Other-Earth" dispatched several Squadron members to the Avengers' Earth to battle the Avengers. Traveling to "Other-Earth" themselves, the Avengers seized "Other Earth's" counterpart to the Serpent Crown and convinced the Squadron that they were being misled by their President. The Squadron forced the President to resign and saw to the dismantling of the Serpent Cartel.

Kyle Richmond retired as Nighthawk in order to enter politics, hoping to help undo the harm perpetrated on the nation by the Serpent Cartel. Richmond was nominated for the presidency and won by a landslide.[1] While President Richmond was in office, the Over-Mind arrived on Earth-712, accompanied by the demonic being who was secretly controlling him, Null the Living Darkness. Null wished to destroy all life and planned to begin by taking control of Earth's political leaders. starting with the leader of the most powerful nation.[2] The Over-Mind approached President Richmond as the sole survivor of his alien race and the president welcomed him with open arms.[3] However, when directed by Null to take control of Richmond, the half-mad Over-Mind used too much power and decimated Richmond's consciousness. Since Richmond was now useless to him, Null was about to discard him but Richmond was rescued by Chorus, a merged consciousness of telepaths from Earth-616, one of whom had been deeply in love with the Earth-616 Kyle Richmond. Chorus repaired the 712 Richmond's mind as best they could but doing so required them to imprint the memories that they had "felt" as their Kyle died which caused the restored 712 Richmond to believe that he was the 616 Richmond.[4]

Meanwhile, needing a "President Richmond" to carry out his planned conquest, Null created a bio-construct which he used as a hiding place until his evolution was complete.[4] Controlled from within by Null, this "President Richmond" helped the Over-Mind take over the minds of the rest of the Squadron members, except for that of Hyperion, who escaped but was forced to go into hiding in an underground complex he quickly created. While Hyperion was recovering from Argonite poisoning, "President Richmond" and the Over-Mind, with help from the now-controlled Squadron, took over the world, and then began building an armada of faster-than-light starships with which to conquer the universe.[3]

While keeping Richmond from remembering them, Chorus provided Richmond with a new Nighthawk costume and transported him to the side of his ailing comrade Hyperion.[3] Chorus was also secretly responsible for later intercepting the Hulk, Namor the Sub-Mariner, and Daimon Hellstrom as they travelled between dimensions and bringing them to Earth-712 to help the Nighthawk who they all believed was their not-dead-after-all friend. Tracking down his missing teammates, Doctor Strange also ended up on Earth-712.[5] Strange later summoned six more Defenders as reinforcements. After being briefed on the situation, these Defenders agreed to help defeat the Over-Mind who they still believed was the only alien force threatening Earth-712. The heroes attacked the Squadron on the Moon and easily overcame everyone except the Over-Mind. However, when August Masters killed "Richmond", the Over-Mind stopped the fight, seemingly lost, while Null revealed himself.[6] Although his control over the Over-Mind had been broken when "Richmond" was killed, Null was able to drain the raw psychic energy from the Over-Mind while battling Chorus, the Defenders and the now-freed Squadron Supreme who had been joined by psycho-spiritual union into a single powerful being. During this union, Strange's mind briefly touched Richmond's and the sorcerer learned who this Nighthawk really was.[2]

At the battle's end, after Null had been destroyed, the Over-Mind's Eternal consciousness was suppressed and the six telepaths, lacking physical bodies, took refuge inside his body which they believed was now vacant. However, the Richmond bio-construct had begun to rapidly decay after being killed and witnessing this caused Nighthawk to remember that he was really President Kyle Richmond.[2]

Once back on Earth, the Over-Mind revealed what had actually happened to President Richmond and what they had done to to preserve him. Richmond was enraged by what he heard, initially believing that the telepaths had deliberately forced the 616 Richmond's memories into him in order to create a substitute for the dead former lover of one of the telepaths. However, after being told about how his consciousness had been decimated, the memories of what had happened to him all came back.[4]

In the aftermath of this alien takeover, the world was in the midst of nearly total collapse. Hyperion proposed to the Squadron that they take it upon themselves to remake the world into a utopia, solving all of Earth's problems, such as poverty, economic instability, war, crime, and even disease and death. Richmond, attending the meeting as Nighthawk, protested that for the Squadron to implement its "Utopia Program", it would have to take total control of the world, and resigned once again from the Squadron. Determined to stop the Squadron from taking over the United States, Richmond planned to assassinate its leader, Hyperion, with a bullet made of Argonite, an isotope whose radiation was lethal to him. When the time came, however, he found himself unable to kill his friend.[1]

In the following months, the Squadron carried out their Utopia Program, and even made widespread use of a behavior modification device invented by Squadron member Tom Thumb, which brainwashed criminals into becoming unable to commit further crimes. Nighthawk tried to organize a counter force powerful enough to oppose it. This aggregation of superhuman beings was informally called the Redeemers. Nighthawk was also aided by Professor Imam, Earth's Wizard Supreme, and by Hyperion's greatest foe, Master Menace. It was Menace who devised the means of undoing the effects of the behavior modification machine.[7]

One year after the Squadron's takeover, Nighthawk's Redeemers entered Squadron City. Nighthawk demanded that the Squadron surrender all the authority they had usurped. The longtime Squadron members were alarmed to discover that their five newest members, Haywire, Inertia, Moonglow, Redstone, and Thermite, were double agents sent by Nighthawk, as were Lamprey, the Shape, and Foxfire. Ultimately, the Redeemers won the battle.[8]

Kyle Richmond (Earth-712) 01 from Squadron Supreme Vol 1 12 0001

Nighthawk convinced the defeated Hyperion that the main problem with the Squadron's Utopia Program was that they had used basically ignoble means that violated human rights to achieve noble ends. Since the Squadron members were not immortal, they could not ensure that future generations would not be tyrannized by the utopian technologies that they had created. One of the Redeemers, Foxfire, had fallen in love with Squadron member Doctor Spectrum, and wanted to help the Squadron win. She used her superhuman power to weaken the tissue of Nighthawk's heart muscles, giving him a massive heart attack. But another Redeemer, the Mink, avenged Nighthawk's death by killing Foxfire with her metal claws. But although Nighthawk had died, he still had won the battle. The Squadron Supreme surrendered, and Hyperion proposed that the Squadron dismantle the Utopia Program.[8]

Later, after the Squadron disappeared, Kyle's adopted son, Neal, would take over his identity as Nighthawk.[9]

Attributes

Power Grid[13]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Master: Several Forms of Combat:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/None:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Peak Human:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Learned

Abilities

  • Master Martial Artist: Kyle Richmond was an excellent hand-to-hand fighter with skill in many martial arts and was considered one of the best fighters on his Earth.[10]
  • Acrobatics: Kyle was also an exceptional gymnast and acrobat.[10]
  • Aviation: Kyle was an exceptional pilot.[10]
  • Leadership: He was knowledgeable about business a popular and charismatic politician and was a skilled tactician and leader.[10]
  • Willpower: His strength of will was sufficient to overcome the influence of the Serpent Crown.[10]
  • Peak Human Conditioning: Kyle was an incredible athlete and possessed peak human strength, stamina and agility.[11]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Wings: Nighthawk used an artificial, jet powered wing system that enabled him to fly at great speeds. The fastest he could propel himself and still be able to breathe was about 120 miles per hour, though the wing system was capable of greater speeds. The wing system carried enough fuel to permit him to fly continuously for 16 hours and he could reach an altitude of 30,000 feet, though he did experience trouble breathing at heights greater than 24,000 feet.

Notes

Trivia

  • Kyle Richmond was created as a pastiche of DC Comics' Batman.

See Also

Links and References

  • Danny Wall's Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universes

References

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