S2E25 - Issue 25 - Hank Henshaw

Just in time for the Supergirl premiere, President-level Patron Brian selected HANK HENSHAW! Learn how this pastiche of Reed Richards became a fully fleshed out character AFTER he lost all his flesh! SHOW NOTES: IntroductionBackground Created by Dan Jurgens in Adventures of Superman #465 (May 1990)Originally a parody of the Fantastic Four, he, his wife, and two other members of a space shuttle encounter cosmic radiation - Hank suffers no effects initially other than white hair, but his body eventually decays - he transfers his consciousness to a computerHe appears to his wife in a robot body, and she jumps out a windowHe then transfers his body to Superman's birthing matrix to journey into spaceComes to believe that Superman was responsible for the shuttle accident, and vows vengeanceAfter Superman's death, Hank creates a cyborg body and claims to be Superman reborn, in order to destroy his reputation - manages to convince Lois he really is Clark due to vague memories from the birthing matrixDefeats the Eradicator, another Superman claimant, and Coast City is destroyed in the aftermath - Cyborg claims Eradicator was responsiblePlans to destroy Metropolis with a warhead, but is stopped by Steel, Supergirl, and the resurrected Superman - attacks Eradicator with a blast of kryptonite radiation, which passes through Eradicator to Superman, and restores his powersSuperman punches a hole through Cyborg's body and kills himLater on, we discover Hank had transferred his consciousness to a device on Doomsday, who is floating in space - Hank's mind takes over an Apokolips fighter and creates a new body to take over the planet - is defeated by Darkseid's Omega BeamsHe gets captured into a small orb, which Darkseid releases him from if he promises to never return to ApokolipsHelps a Tribunal capture several Kryptonians, including Superman - he turns on the Tribunal, and is punished by being sent to an event horizonLater is revealed to be in charge of Manhunters, which he has upgraded with Kryptonian technologyHis head is taken to Sinestro, and serves the Anti-Monitor so he can later die and rest in peaceMost of his body is destroyed by the Green Lanterns, but he is resurrected by the Manhunters and is not happy about itHelps Ganthet save the Green Lanterns, because he wants to use the information to make himself mortal againHis consciousness ends up merged with Boodikka until she fights a resurrected Doomsday, and he creates another body - his nanotech merges with the damaged Doomsday to become Cyborg Doomsday - Doomsday removes Henshaw from his body, and his consciousness is captured by STAR LabsNew 52 - soft reboot of character - Hank is only survivor of a 10 year journey on board a space shuttle, but has no memory of the trip - thanks to Mxyzptlk, he remembers the pre-New 52 mindset of Cyborg Superman, and begins recruiting Superman villains to battle the Man of SteelIssues (18:44) Brian - "Why does Hank hate Superman so much?"Has a death wish that cannot be fulfilled because he's an inorganic consciousness (25:05)Treatment (30:33) In-universeOut-of-universeSkitEnding References: Max Landis' "Death and Return of Superman" video - Anthony - 9:00Steel - Anthony - 11:23Justice League - Superman's "World of Cardboard" speech - Dr. Issues - 24:09Office Space - "Today is the worst part of my life" - Anthony - 27:28 iTunes: here Google Play: here Stitcher: here TuneIn: here iHeartRadio: hereTwitterFacebookE-mailPatreon