Who is the Cyborg Superman? He has haunted and hunted Superman for decades, first appearing as the Man of Tomorrow during the Reign of the Supermen storyline during the early 90s. But the character had actually already appeared in another form before then. At one point, he was simply a man with a wife and friends, before he became the megalomaniac fans know today.
Cyborg Superman's Comic Book Origins
The Cyborg Superman first appeared as Hank Henshaw, the scientist, astronaut, and leader of the Space Shuttle Excalibur crew, along with his wife and two other crew members. The crew of the Excalibur makes its first appearance in Adventures of Superman #465, while the majority of Henshaw’s origin is told in the following issue. The crew is bathed in cosmic rays while in space and eventually crash back on earth, mutated by the rays. If all this sounds familiar, it’s because the story is intentionally similar to the origin of the Fantastic Four, right down to each crew member’s powers/curses.
One crew member becomes a being of pure radioactive energy. Another becomes a monstrous thing made of an amalgamation of earth and material off of the Space Shuttle. Henshaw’s wife, Terri, is slowly being pulled into another dimension, making her transparent and intangible. Though Henshaw himself may have had the most grotesque transformation, as his skin and muscle simply melted off of his face. With Superman assisting them, they break into a Lexcorp radio lab and save Terri, while Henshaw and the remaining crew die hideous deaths.
So, as far as readers at the time knew, Henshaw was dead. But they would discover the truth a couple of issues later, in Adventures of Superman #468. Henshaw was able to send his consciousness into the computers surrounding him in the lab, giving him the power to communicate with and control most any kind of machine or piece of technology. He tries to speak to his wife but succeeds only in putting her into a catatonic state. Realizing the pain he has caused, he sends his consciousness to Superman’s “birthing matrix,” the abandoned spaceship that Superman has sent into orbit around the earth. Superman is unable to stop Henshaw before his consciousness fashions a smaller spaceship out of the birthing matrix and escapes into the cosmos searching for more knowledge of the universe.
Something happens to Henshaw during his travels. At some point he mentally unravels, believing that Superman is the cause of the accident that affected the crew of the Excelsior; Superman sent the original Eradicator, a machine dedicated to the reestablishment of Kryptonian culture on another planet, into the sun, potentially causing the radiation that the crew of the Excelsior was bathed in. He overthrows Mongul, the leader of Warworld, and returns to earth to get revenge on Superman and the world in general.
When Superman dies at the hands of Doomsday, Henshaw develops a plan to convince the people of the world that he is Superman reborn in a cyborg’s body before turning on them, ruining Superman’s reputation. Having spent time in Superman’s rocket ship, Henshaw had absorbed the knowledge of Kryptonian technology and access to Superman’s DNA, which allows him to make a very convincing faux Man of Steel. This is added to the fact that, early on, Henshaw did well at his job playing the part. When examined by his friend Dr. Emil Hamilton, Dr. Hamilton saw that his genetic code was identical to the original Superman’s, he saved the President of the United States and was even able to convince Supes' fiancée, Lois Lane, that he was the genuine article.
When Henshaw revealed his true colors and intentions, he had an old foe of Superman’s, Mongul, land a massive space-faring city earth, destroying Coast City and killing everyone in it. But ultimately Superman, assisted by the Matrix Supergirl, Superboy, and the Eradicator, is able to defeat Henshaw and destroy his cyborg body, but not before Henshaw, in his spirit form, is able to vow his revenge and escape. He has battled Superman and Green Lantern Hal Jordan several times since then.
Cyborg Superman's Comic Powers Explained
As a technomorph, Henshaw has the ability to manipulate all kinds of mechanical and electronic devices, from the largest supercomputer to a hand-held egg beater. It is how he is able to create new body after new body after the previous one has been destroyed. In addition, due to his contact with Superman’s DNA, he also has access to all of Superman’s powers but not his weakness for kryptonite. The full extent of his powers has never been tested in the comics, however, so it's impossible to say if Henshaw is as strong or fast as Superman.
How Cyborg Superman's Story Evolved in Comics
Briefly during the New-52 era of DC Comics, a character known as The Cyborg Superman was revealed to be Zor-El, Superman’s uncle and Supergirl’s father. In this timeline, Brainiac turned Zor-El into a cyborg to have him scout for different civilizations for Brainiac to add to his collection, somewhat similar to Galactus’ heralds in Marvel Comics.
During this same era, there was an astronaut named Hank Henshaw whose spaceship, the Excalibur, crashed into Earth, but who was saved by a pre-New 52 Superman. In this version, he is the sole survivor of his crew from their trip to Jupiter and back. He did not become the Cyborg Superman at this point.
During DC Comics’ Rebirth event, Henshaw remembered his previous life as the Cyborg Superman and went about the business of building a new Superman Revenge Squad made of himself, the Eradicator, Metallo, Blanque, Zod, and Mongul. They were defeated when Zod turned against the rest of them, trapping them in the Phantom Zone. He was released by Superman and soon made his escape, where he attempted to take over the Green Lanterns’ Central Power Battery and destroy Coast City again for the first time. The Green Lantern Corps was able to stop him, but again, he was able to escape. Ats of right now, as far as readers know, the Cyborg Superman is still at large.