SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Heroes in Crisis #2, by Tom King, Clay Mann, Travis Moore, Tomeu Morey, Arif Prianto and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Heroes in Crisis is certainly living up to its ominous title. Over its first two issues, the DC crossover has revolved around the aftermath of a lethal attack on Sanctuary, a trauma and recovery center for superheroes.
While it's still not clear who was behind the Sanctuary attack, Sanctuary's founders—Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman have already identified Harley Quinn and the time-traveling Booster Gold as prime suspects. The full list of casualties still hasn't been revealed, but major DC characters like Wally West, Arsenal and Poison Ivy appear to be among the dead.
Since no one stays dead for long in superhero comics, there's been some doubt about how permanent some of Sanctuary's casualties will end up being. However, Heroes in Crisis #2 appears to have definitively confirmed the death of at least one Sanctuary resident -- Commander Steel.
In Heroes in Crisis #2, Batman performs an autopsy on the super-strong Commander Steel by using a blowtorch to cut through his "fairly impenetrable" organic metal skin. While the cause of his death isn't explicitly stated, Batman finds a novelty set of wind-up chattering teeth somehow lodged in his throat, seemingly implicating the Joker as the killer, though that's almost definitely not the case.
Perhaps just as interesting to longtime DC readers, however, is how Commander Steel fits into any of this. After all, he's not a big name hero, and we haven't seen him in the DCU since at least the launch of the current Rebirth era. Considering he's traditionally tied to the JSA, a team that doesn't currently exist in continuity, the fact that his death is one this event seems to be hinging on leads to more questions.
While the mysterious circumstances surrounding the hero's death will probably be answered by the end of Heroes In Crisis, the fact that it's still not really clear where this Commander Steel actually fits into the current DC Universe is, frankly, fascinating. Over the decades, several DC heroes have been called Commander Steel, but none of them have appeared in the main DC Universe since DC's New 52 reboot in 2011. As we noted earlier, Commander Steel and his namesakes have traditionally been affiliated with teams like the All-Star Squadron and the Justice Society, but those groups currently occupy an unclear place in DC's history.
The original Commander Steel was first active in the World War II era. After being seriously injured by a saboteur, Hank Heywood was rebuilt with "steel alloys" that gave him super-strength and unbreakable skin in 1978's Steel, The Indestructible Man #1, by Gerry Conway and Don Heck. After serving as a member of the All-Star Squadron throughout the 1940s, Heywood retired from the superhero business.
In the 1980s, Hank bankrolled a semi-infamous Justice League team that was located in Detroit, Michigan. After his grandson was injured, Hank gave Henry Heywood III steel alloy implants and passed the family superhero mantle down to him. Unfortunately, Henry's time as Steel in the Justice League came to an abrupt end when he was killed in 1990. After Henry's death, Hank operated as Commander Steel again for a few years until he was killed in 1993.
In 2007, the original Steel's other grandson, Nathan Heywood, got super-strength and impenetrable skin after being coated in a villain's liquid metal blood. Wearing a costume that helped him control his newfound powers, Nathan began serving in the modern Justice Society of America as Citizen Steel. He was the last Heywood who was an active part of the main DC Universe and hasn't appeared in comics since the Justice Society's comic book series ended in 2011.
Of course, another version of Nate is currently appearing in the Arrowverse on Legends of Tomorrow, where he's portrayed by Nick Zano. Although another version of Hank Heywood was Captain Steel fairly recently in Earth 2, that series took place in an alternate reality that wasn't part of the main DC Universe.
As Doomsday Clock is currently exploring, Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan apparently erased a chunk of the DC Universe's history, including every previous version of Commander Steel.
While it seems unlikely that he has a role in DC's ever-changing grand cosmic affairs, Heroes in Crisis' late Commander Steel was apparently a younger version of the original Commander Steel.
In Heroes in Crisis, Batman confirms that this late hero was called Commander Steel, a name neither of the younger Heywoods ever actually used. Early in October, DC Nation #5, a promotional magazine published by DC, revealed that this Commander Steel was named Hank Heywood and had his classic origin involving a war injury and "steel tubing" implants. And while this came from a source outside of the comics, the presentation suggests it is DC canon, offering us some minor clues as to who the hero is, if not why he was at Sanctuary in the first place.
While Citizen Steel has never been the most important superhero around, it's a little surprising to see him debut in the current DC Universe as a dead man. In the coming months, we'll probably learn a lot about Commander Steel's death in Heroes in Crisis. Hopefully, we'll learn something about his life too.