WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Hawkman #21, by Robert Venditti, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Wade Von Grawbadger and Jeromy Cox, on sale now.
The heroes infected by the Batman Who Laughs all pose significant threats to the peace of the DC Universe. And while all of them are frightening in their own right, Sky Tyrant -- the infected Hawkman -- just displayed a power-level that puts the regular Carter Hall and most of DC's powerhouse heroes to shame.
Much to Hawkman's dismay, Hawkman #20 centered around Sky Tyrant leafing through the Black Journal from Dark Knights: Metal. Sky Tyrant then went to a planet of giants to get his hands on a mysterious key that Hawkman hid during one of his past lives. We discovered that the key was being guarded by a giant-sized Hawkman, known as the Paladin, with an equally giant-sized mace that he used to shatter the ground beneath Sky Tyrant's feet and send him flying into the air like a rag doll.
For a moment, it really seemed like this giant-size Hawkman had what it took to stop Sky Tyrant in his tracks. However, Hawkman #21 proves that wasn't quite the case.
While Sky Tyrant took one big hit, that was the only hit that he really took. From that point forward, he lays into the giant with only a handful of hits before he's in a position to deliver the killing blow. Despite his smaller size, the giant has actual tears in his eyes by the end of the fight and asks Sky Tyrant to finish him off so that he doesn't have to see what happens when the villain acquires the key.
While all of the heroes who've been infected by the Batman Who Laughs have had some sort of power boost, Sky Tyrant proves why a small group of them is enough to put the entire DC Universe on high alert. At one point in this issue, Sky Tyrant channels energy through his mace and uses it to shatter the mace giant's massive weapon. The result leaving his enemy on his knees morning the loss of his ancestral weapon, even though he's as small as an insect to the giant.
By the end of this issue, the Atom, Hawkwoman and Adam Strange work together to take Sky Tyrant down from the inside. As they take him into custody, Strange gets his hands on the key, which is a devastating device capable of sucking the life out of planets. Although they leave the key unsettlingly close to Sky Tyrant's holding cell, this unusual assortment of heroes could be the only people standing between Sky Tyrant and the ability to destroy a planet.