Superman has had many iconic enemies over the years. In addition to his arch nemesis Lex Luthor, Superman has fought epic battles against Brainiac, Bizarro, and the seemingly all-powerful imp Mr. Mxyzptlk. In more recent years, comic book creators have come up with additional memorable adversaries, such as Doomsday, the monster that beat Superman to death.
Strangely, however, the man who would become one of Superman’s most dangerous villains actually had his roots in a completely different comic book company. While he would eventually evolve into one of the DC Universe’s best-known villains, the Cyborg Superman was originally an homage to Reed Richards, the leader of the Fantastic Four!
Although most people now know him as the Cyborg Superman (or simply “The Cyborg”) this villain’s real name is Hank Henshaw. Introduced in The Adventures of Superman #465 as a crew member on the NASA space shuttle Excalibur, Henshaw was a brilliant scientist who wanted to conduct experiments in radiation in outer space. The other members of Henshaw’s crew included his wife Terri and his friends Steven and Jim. Unfortunately, while conducting their experiments, the shuttle hit a solar flare and the ship crash landed on Earth.
Upon exiting the ship, Steven’s body was destroyed but he reconstructed a form out of cosmic radiation. Jim also managed to build a new monstrous body out of earth and wreckage. Meanwhile Terri began phasing out of reality and Henshaw’s hair turned white while his body began to degrade. Desperate to find a cure for their condition, the four decided to go to LexCorp and use the equipment there to treat their mutated bodies.
Up to this point, the crew’s transformation seemed to be a gross parody of the transformation Reed Richards and his family experienced in Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four #1. However, things soon took a hideous twist. The radiation began affecting the minds of the crew and they ended up getting into a fight with Superman. Fortunately, Superman chose to help Henshaw and his friends – but their condition rapidly worsened and Superman was only able to save Henshaw’s wife from vanishing completely as Hank’s body literally fell apart.
However, Superman’s writers weren’t done with Hank Henshaw just yet. Although his human body was now gone, Henshaw surviving mind developed the ability to control machines and created a new mechanical body from LexCorp machines. Unfortunately, when he tried to reconnect with his wife in this form, she went insane and committed suicide. Heartbroken and furious, Henshaw fell into conflict with Superman once again. In the end, Henshaw built a new form out of the ship that brought Kal-El to Earth and used it to explore the universe.
Unfortunately, Hank eventually went insane and came to believe that Superman was responsible for the shuttle accident and his wife’s death. His belief wasn’t completely irrational – Superman had thrown the Kryptonian being, the Eradicator, into the sun earlier causing some solar flares. However, Henshaw’s wife confirmed that the solar flare that hit the Excalibur was not caused by Superman’s actions.
Nevertheless, Henshaw wanted revenge on Superman – a revenge he thought he would be denied when he discovered that Superman had “died” in battle with Doomsday. Undaunted, Hank decided to destroy Superman’s good name by building a cyborg body for himself and posing as the “Cyborg Superman.” As the Cyborg, Hank first gained the public’s trust (and even President Bill Clinton’s endorsement), but he later destroyed Coast City with the help of the alien warlord Mongul (whom Henshaw had made his slave).
Superman returned, however, and seemingly destroyed Hank’s new body – but Henshaw was now basically immortal and kept reconstructing his body over and over again. Destroying Coast City also made him an enemy of Green Lantern as well as Superman and his later schemes operated on a cosmic level – rather appropriate for a man who had started out as a DC version of Reed Richards.
Remarkably, some of Henshaw’s exploits eventually allowed him to cross into the Marvel Universe. His original crossing put him into conflict with Green Lantern and the Silver Surfer. Later, however, he actually came face-to-face with Marvel’s Fantastic Four in Superman/Fantastic Four: The Infinite Destruction. When Superman follows the Cyborg into the Marvel Universe, the Man of Steel was turned into a Herald of Galactus and Henshaw teamed up with the Fantastic Four, using his sophisticated tracking abilities to help track down Galactus.
During this odd alliance, Henshaw recognized the similarities between his origin and the Fantastic Four. Having inhabited the FF’s computers, he reflected on how the cosmic radiation that gave the Fantastic Four their powers was almost identical to the radiation that affected his crew. From there, however, he realized that their lives diverged radically, with Henshaw declaring war on humanity instead of fighting for it like the Fantastic Four.
Henshaw even got into a fight with his original doppelganger Reed Richards, whom he considers a “pathetic loser.” Ultimately, however, he is defeated when he asked Galactus to make him perfect – causing Galactus to transform his Cyborg body into a “flawless” piece of metal. Naturally, Henshaw would escape this fate to terrorize Superman and the DC Universe again, but the adventure did serve to spotlight his unique link to the Fantastic Four – and showed how different his character had become since his original adventure.
The Cyborg Superman proved so popular that he was reimagined many times, in comic books, television shows, and movies. In The New 52, The Cyborg Superman was actually Supergirl’s father Zor-El, transformed into a half-machine creature by Brainiac. Hank Henshaw has also appeared in Supergirl (where “Hank Henshaw” became both the cover identity for the Martian Manhunter as well as Cyborg Superman).
Henshaw also played a big role in the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen DC animated movies. While these movies do show Henshaw’s doomed shuttle mission, they downplayed his connection to the Fantastic Four by establishing that cosmic villain Darkseid turned him into the Cyborg Superman. In truth, Henshaw has become such a powerful character in his own right that he no longer needs to be linked to Reed Richards or the Fantastic Four – but one should not ignore the curious debt he owes to Marvel’s First Family.