John Steele

## **Biography**

### **Origins**

John Steele was originally a Union spy during the American Civil War. In 1865, he was discovered to be a spy by Aloysius Thorndrake. While fleeing he stumbled upon a Zeta Beam that would transport him to Mars much like that later used by John Carter. He was brought partway through to an area known as the Vanishing Point, where the entity known as the Abyss had been trapped since the dawn of time. Thorndrake swore loyalty to the Abyss and promised him an army, which would merge with the Shadow Council. The Shadow Council's earliest known origins seemed to be from the Westeros age in the land of Ibben and was formed after the Last God King died (*A Song of Ice and Fire*). They expanded through portals to stretch into space, including elements of the Galactic Empire (*The Mandolorian*), and Orc Warlocks on Azeroth (*World of Warcraft*), all due to the influence of the Abyss. John Steele was intended to be their weapon and was brainwashed to this extreme, but was able to escape or possibly was released intentionally as part of their scheme

Regardless, John Steele emerged with amnesia on Earth and was found by banker Preston Harvard, who adopted him into his family as Steel had the appearance of a young man at the time. Due to his amnesia, he was given the identity of Bingham Harvard. When Preston Harvard and his wife died under mysterious circumstances, Bingham Harvard inherited their fortune and was placed under the care of Sterling Chester, Preston Harvard's best friend and executor of his will and trustee of Bingham's inheritance. Bingham Harvard attended Chicago's Northwestern University, studying chemistry and biology. In 1904, at his foster father's insistence, Bingham Harvard studied finance and business management at Harvard's school of business. After graduating from Harvard business school in 1905, Bingham Harvard took a job in his foster father's based bank. Sterling Chester wanted him to work his way to the top, as such Bingham started out as a teller (Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology).

### **Bingham "The Night Wind" Harvard (1907-1914)**

On Thursday, June 13, 1907. 1,000 Dollars were found stolen from Sterling Chester's bank. Detective Rodney Ruston almost immediately accused Harvard, producing "evidence" to support his claim. Sterling Chester was also convinced. The police tried to arrest Bingham but he escaped, his rage and supehuman abilities granted to him by the Abyss and the Shadow Council, manifesting at that moment, allowing him to snap the arms of the policemen in the process. He became a fugitive from the law, searching for the real thief, but he lacked detective training and would attack cops, breaking their limbs. This earned him the nickname of "The Night Wind" The Chief of Police assigned Detective Kate Maxwell to capture the Night Wind, but upon meeting him, she became convinced he was innocent. They fell and love and unable to prove Harvard's innocent, fled to England. In 1908, Maxwell and Harvard returned with evidence that Rodney Rushton had been the real embezzler, though Sterling Chester had his doubts. Bingham Harvard had by the 1910's become President of the Bank. Sterling Chester had largely retired but a friend of his was attacked by a con man. Harvard freed Rodney Rushton briefly to help catch him. (Night Wind, Public Domain Super Hero, Frank Munsey).

### **John Steele (1914-1918)**

By the 1910's Bingham Harvard had become President of the Harvard Bank, however he could not resist the urge to intervene in World War I, now that he was aware of his abilities. Fearing his criminal past would catch up with him, he subconsciously recalled his birth name of John Steele and took that as an alias and joined the War effort early. Harvard and his friend Tom Clancy were soldiers while Kate was a nurse. The US Army caught wind of Steele's abilities and recruited him for several missions, one of which led to his capture by the use of poison gas from the Germans. While he escaped, the Germans now had DNA samples, which would later be analyzed by a young Abraham Erskine. HIs capture made the US hesitant to send Steele or their other agent Hugo Danner into combat, fearing their capture. Steele did help rescue a French agent named Marie Antionette during this time.

### **Wolf Derek (1920-1936)**

In 1918, Harvard's life took a tragic turn when a shell killed both Tom Clancy and Kate Maxwell. Steele learned that an American General shelled the hospital and murdered him. He then left the War. Joe Steele was reported missing and was believed caught by the Germans. Returning to the Bingham Harvard identity, Bingham learned in 1920 after Sterling Chester died, that Chester and his adopted father had framed Bingham and that Chester had conducted many criminal activities. Disillusioned, Bingham kept this to himself, building his own criminal empire, which included reforming the Crime Club that had previously been broken up by Jimmy Dale, also known as the Grey Seal. The Grey Seal noticed and came back to bring down the new Crime Club and expose Harvard in 1922. Bingham responded by breaking free and paralyzing Dale before fleeing, killing several cops. He was shot and wounded, making him realize he was not invincible and needed to be more careful. He took on the name Wolf Derek (Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology).

Wolf Derek was working as a bootlegger, working his name up. Several World War I veterans recalled meeting Hugo Danner. Derek tracked Danner's origins to Indian Creek and stole some of Abednego's research. Derek worked as a criminal. In 1930, Derek was hired toad killed Richard "Speed" Dash, a private eye who was a skilled climber. He then killed rival criminal The Black Star, and then Miller Rand "The Electrical Man" a relative of Danny Rand (Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology). Derek put his support behind mob boss Cesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello (*Little Caesar*) until his death in 1931. He accepted a mission from criminal Benedict Stark (*The Shadow*), who requested he kill his secret partner and brother Hans Stark. This particular murder took him to Germany, where he chose to remain. The head of crime in Germany at this time was Schraenker (*M*), who assigned Derek to aid in killing Germany's vigilante hero population including Jack Nelson of the Tric-Trac-Tric, Harry Pitt (distant relative of Dirk Pitt, Townsville resident Harry Pitt, and Justin Pitt of Metropolis), Frank Allan, Dr.Hypno, and Loke Klingsor (Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology). These deaths led Derek to be approached by and join the Nazi Party. Some of his blood was taken for experiments by Dr.Abraham Erskine and Dr.Vogelbaum.

As a Nazi agent, Steele was sent to the US to spy on their Superhuman population. It was under the orders of the Nazis that he murdered Zero the Silent(*A Human Fly,* 1931), Dr.Coffin, The Man in the Silver Mask, Green Ghost II, and Moon Man ("The Sinister Sphere" (in Ten Detective Aces, June 1, 1933)) (Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology). He was at one point brought back to Germany to have his blood drawn under Hynkel's order by Dr.Baron Von Helsingard.

### **Henry "Steel" Heywood (1936-1942)**

By 1936, Berzelius Windrip won the election that year and revealed himself to be a fascist, leading to the second American Civil War (*It Can't Happen Here*). The Nazis ordered Harper to aid Windrip in any way so they created the false identity of Henry Haywood. He pretended to be an ordinary soldier, concealing his abilities to ambush superhuman foes. This changed when he was wounded in 1939. The Nazis covered this up as an attack by Baron Blitzkrieg. A Doctor Gilbert Giles was forced into retrofitting Haywood with a robotic endoskeleton (DC Comics, Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology). He would become the Hero Steel in 1939, taking inspiration from the recent heroes like Superman. He gained a fan club which included the boy cartoonist "Scribbly" (*Dell Comics*). (Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology).

Discreetly, Haywood killed the villain Mr.Death and Cash Gorman, the Wizard (Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology). He was then sent to the United Kingdom to thwart an attempt on the life of Rupert Catskill. The Black Assassin was deployed for this mission. Haywood stopped the assassin to gain Catskill's trust but by this point British Intelligence has reason to suspect Haywood. Catskill therefore sent Haywood on a suicide mission to the Nazis, where he was reported to have been captured by them due to the Haywood identity being compromised (DC Comics, Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology). Several Nazis, unaware of Heywood's allegiance, attempted to brainwash Steel into their Nazi agent, believing him to be another American superhero. An allied Bombing freed him. Fearing his cover was blown, he removed his costume and fully resumed the John Steele identity, claiming to have been a German hostage since World War I. He won the trust of many by sharing intel on a German attack on Washington D.C. and a Japanese Attack on Peal Harbor (*The Marvels Project*).

He was then captured and brainwashed by the Red Skull into donning the Henry Heywood persona once more and returning to the US in time for the attack. Uncle Sam's Freedom Fighters: consisting of Hourman (Rex Tyler), the Invisible Hood (Kent Thurston), Miss America (Joan Dale, daughter of Jimmy Dale), Magno the Magnetic Man (Tom Dalton), Neo the Unknown (Tom Corbet), Red Torpedo (Jim Lockhart), and Red Bee (Richard Raleigh). They were to intercept the attack on Peal Harbor while Captain America led a team to save Washington D.C. Heywood in his Steel identity arrived on the scene and attacked the group. Red Skull gave him specific orders to capture Hourman to see if his superpowered pill could be reverse engineered. The attack was led by Baron Blitzkrieg. Steel betrayed the Freedom Fighters at a key moment. He knocked out Hourman and was able to escape with him. Miss America, Magno, Neon the Unknown, Red Tornado and Red Bee were killed. The Invisible Hood was thought dead but survived, Miss America would have her identity assumed by the superpowered Madeline Joyce (*Marvel Comics*). Tom Dalton left behind a son named Rick Dalton (*Once upon a Time in Hollywood*). Due to a brief stint in Germany, the hero would become an idol to a young Erik Lensherr. Uncle Sam put up the greatest fight against Steel but failed to prevent his escape. Steele returned with Hourman to Baronn Blitzkrieg and the attack commenced. Hourman later escaped custody once Steel was deployed elsewhere and defeated Baron Blitzkrieg (DC Comics, Peter Coogan and Dennis Power's Wold Newton Superman Family Chronology).

John Steele would obtain what would be his final mission for the Nazis. Needing a superhuman army of their own and becoming aware of Hugo Danner's colony of superhumans in the Amazon, John Steele was sent to kill Danner and become their master. Their battle was interrupted by the invasion of the Race(*Worldwar*), which they worked together to defeat before turning on each other. The two fought and while like in his old days as Bingham Harvard he was able to break Hugo Danner's arms, Danner seemingly killed him with one powerful headbutt, killing Steele.

### **Legacy**

Henry Heywood had sired a child in the Stated as Henry Heywood. Since Heywood was still believed to be a hero, he was named Henry Heywood Jr. Henry Heywood Jr would side with Captain America during the Sarkhan War, which would result in his death in the conflict while his son, Henry Heywood III was only a few months old. He was raised by his father's best friend Dale Gunn. Eventually he was submitted to the same metallic skeleton procedure his grandfather was and became Steel II in 1984, joining the justice League of America the same year. He was wounded in battle with Amazo and later killed by Despero in 1990. He was among the dead revived by as Black Lantern in the Blackest Night event in 2008, before being revived as a White Lantern. He attended Sanctuary, a facility for Superhuman therapy that was attacked by Savitar with Steel among those killed in 2018(*DC Comics*).

A Cousin of Henry Heywood, Nathaniel Heywood, was among those attacked a family reunion in 2007. Nathan was not in the army and was a football player, an accident shattered his kneecap and led to his leg being amputated. In 2007, Vandal Savage sent out several Nazi aligned villains to kill the families of Golden Age heroes. The Steel encased Reichsmark attacked the Heywood family reunion. Nathaniel Heywood bravely leaped in and stabbed Reichsmark through the throat with his crutch. His death, caused the Steel coating of his body to shift to Nathan Heywood, with a makeshift leg being created. Now with a steel coating, Nathaniel took the name Citizen Steel and joined the Justice Society of America's latest incarnation. He would later join the Legends of Tomorrow in their adventures following an adventure on Earth X.

## **Alternate Universes**

### **Earth 2**

Earth 2 was invaded by Darkseid and Apokolips in 1970. This occurred while Henry Heywood III was young as like on Earth One, his grandfather and father were dead by this time. As an adult he joined the World Army and underwent an experiment which transformed his skin into steel, similar to Nathan Heywood's abilities on Earth One. Ironically one of his mission would take him to a fire pit in Rio De Janiero, and led him to discover where his grandfather had died.