Nighthawk

Nighthawk was a legendary hero whose career spanned several decades. Although Chicago was his base of operations, he frequently intervened in conflicts with supervillains across the globe.

## Biography

Nighthawk first appeared in Chicago in the late 1980's. A martial artist and small-time crimefighter at first, he quickly made a name for himself as a hero willing to go to extremes that his peers wouldn't dream of. He soon became feared in the criminal underworld, and he devoted himself to fighting organized crime while "the real supers" dealt with one another.

Over time, however, Nighthawk realized he couldn't ignore the growing presence of superhumans in the street gangs and mafia families that were his special purview. He began to reach out tentatively to UNTIL, but found their rigid, sluggish methods of operation to be wholly ineffective in combatting wily and adaptive gangsters. Similarly, he clashed with Defender, who by then had become a rising star in Chicago with his newly-founded team, the Champions. Realizing that he had to go his own way, Nighthawk instead increased his prowess with a variety of technological gadgets provided to him by Prof. Maxim Travnicek, the same brilliant and somewhat deranged genius who invented Modular Man.

Nighthawk's independent spirit (and budding paranoid tendencies) caused him to eventually expand his operations to include spying on heroes as well as villains. Viewed as an unstable conspiracy theorist, Nighthawk's actions were justified again and again as he uncovered far-ranging plots involving threats like VIPER, ARGENT, Mechanon, Earth 2, and more. Although he preferred to work alone, Nighthawk regularly teamed up with other heroes to help coordinate efforts against world-threatening menaces.

Nighthawk's adventures came to an end when he was slain by the Time Wizard's rapid-aging powers. Nighthawk had been the first to realize that the Time Wizard's reemergence was imminent, and had worked tirelessly with the Contenders to try and stop the master villain. When all else failed, he helped lead an assault on the Time Wizard's compound in Dubai, where he and his allies successfully thwarted the Time Wizard's plans. Unfortunately, Nighthawk was one of the heroes who gave his life in the battle, and the unique nature of the Time Wizard's powers prevented any possibility of resurrection.

Nighthawk's meddling didn't end with his demise, however. After a short interval, a dead man's switch was activated in his base, revealing a number of secure data-caches. These encrypted hard drives were delivered to various heroes and organizations whom Nighthawk had judged capable of carrying on his work. One such hard drive was delivered to the Contenders and was discovered to contain a personal message from Nighthawk, along with data that revealed numerous security flaws in the mainframes of VIPER, UNTIL, and the Champions, among others. This information had allowed Nighthawk to spy on both friend and foe, and he charged the recipients of his bequest to use the knowledge to continue his unique brand of crimefighting.

## Personality

Nighthawk was the opposite of Defender in many ways (which gave rise to their frequent clashes). He distrusted authority, did not respect the law, and went out of his way to show his contempt for the rights of others, all while pursuing altruistic goals. He thought nothing of stealing vital classified information from UNTIL, breaking into Champions Plaza, or otherwise acting in a lawless fashion. This behavior was in line with Nighthawk's overriding "the ends justify the means" philosophy; he believed that it was patently hypocritical to balk at committing lesser crimes in order to thwart major ones. If it saved lives, Nighthawk would cross almost any line, including comitting the occasional murder.

Nighthawk was renowned for his paranoia. He rarely entrusted anyone, even his closest allies, with more than the bare minimum information they needed to support his goals. He made no secret of the fact that he viewed other heroes as tools to be used at best or liabilities to be managed at worst. This left him quite unpopular in the superheroic community, and typically his only 'friends' were other supers who agreed with his extreme philosophy.

Even so, Nighthawk was not without compassion or restraint. He typically went to great lengths to avoid killing. He frequently leapt to his allies' aid without hesitation or thoughts of personal danger.

## Powers

Nighthawk was a highly trained normal, but he could easily have been confused for a mutant. His strength, speed, and reflexes were all far above human average, and remained honed to incredible levels even in his advanced age. Further, he developed his own martial art (a closely-guarded secret) for the sole purpose of fighting supers. This allowed him to go toe-to-toe with much more powerful enemies, using their strengths against them. He displayed this in his fight against Omega Girl, where he managed to inflict a serious beating on the super-strong and nigh-invulnerable heroine. Displays of martial prowess like these cemented his reputation as one of the finest martial artists in the world.

Nighthawk also relied on a variety of technological devices to supplement his combat prowess. These included electrocuting gauntlets, grapple lines, smoke bombs, grenades, throwing knives, and many other tools to help him succeed in his 'lone wolf' adventures. His armor was also a technological marvel, providing him stout protection while also enhancing his already impressive stealth capabilities.

Nighthawk was known to possess a camouflaged stealth jet with VTOL capabilities and heavy air-to-surface ordinance. The full capabilities of this aircraft were never conclusively seen, as Nighthawk preferred to rely on his own abilities whenever possible.

Nighthawk pulled on vast wealth of experience thanks to his many years of crimefighting. He was able to adapt to rapidly changing situations with ease, and had a keen analytical mind. This mental prowess allowed him to outwit many supervillains (and stay one step ahead of the authorities) throughout his career.

## Weaknesses

Nighthawk was human normal and had no real weaknesses. Although he was entering his 60's, he was in incredible physical condition, and his age posed no real detriment to his work.

Nighthawk's main weakness might have been his casual mistrust of his allies, which occasionally caused him to withhold important information. Such lapses in judgement were rare, however, and Nighthawk had a keen understanding of just what knowledge should be shared and what he could keep to himself.