Today, I talk about the Marvel superhero who gained the ability to see through any of Mephisto's disguises, but then he gave the power up.

In every installment of Abandoned Love we will be examining comic book stories, plots and ideas that were abandoned by a later writer without actively contradicting an earlier story (so the more passive definition of retcons as being anything that is retroactively added to continuity, even if there is no specific conflict with a past story). Feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Kyle Richmond, Nighthawk of the Defenders has had one of the weirdest superhero journeys. He was invented as a villain purely as a Batman riff for a quasi-crossover between the Avengers and the Justice League, but then he went straight and joined the Defenders. Along with Hellcat and Valkyrie, they were sort of the steady members of the team, which was best known for being sort of a NON-team, as there was no clearcut membership outside of those three heroes. Kyle was rich and so his biggest help was really funding the team. When the Squadron Supreme were introduced, Nighthawk was no longer even the most memorable hero named Kyle Richmond who was also known as Nighthawk! In the years since, another Kyle Richmond Nighthawk from a different alternate reality was introduced and THAT Kyle was ALSO more interesting than this one!

Therefore, it was not too much of a surprise when Nighthawk was killed off in a sort of nondescript fashion during a crossover between the Defenders and Captain America (J.M. DeMatteis was writing both books at the time). Nighthawk, unlike every other superhero, actually had a death that STUCK. He was dead for almost two decades before Jim Krueger brought him back in a great Nighthawk miniseries by Krueger and artists Richard Case and Bob Wiacek.

I wrote about the resurrection in the past, but I figured I'd discuss an interesting angle on Nighthawk's powers that were introduced in that story before being dropped by other writers.

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QUITE A SIGHT

Nighthawk believes that he is being brought back from the dead by an angel to do the work of the angel back on Earth. Part of his second chance is that he is given the ability to see crimes BEFORE they happen. So while flying on patrol, Nighthawk discovers a man about to sexually assault a woman and Nighthawk can see the event in all of its gory details...

He attacks the man, but the man, of course, hasn't actually DDNE anything...

This is a clever riff on the concept of Civil War II, really, as Krueger is positing that attacking people based on what they were GOING to do is not only wrong, but that it is basically EVIL, as it is all a plot of the "angel" who brought Nighthawk back to serve him. As you might have guessed from the headline of this article, that was no angel, it's Mephisto, baby!

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NIGHTHAWK WAS BLIND, BUT NOW HE CAN SEE

Nighthawk's gullibility leads to Daredevil nearly dying, as there is an extended sequence in hell (with Krueger doing a number of callbacks to Ann Nocenti's classic Daredevil in Hell storyline), but in the end, Daredevil talks Nighthawk through things, and allows it so that Nighthawk can finally sees the angel for what it really is and Nighthawk forces Mephisto to allow Daredevil and him to return to the land of the living. That, though, sets up a really nice touch for possible future stories with Nighthawk and Mephisto.

You see, throughout the miniseries, we see Mephisto screwing with people on Earth while wearing different flesh disguises (he seems to really like messing with gamblers and innocent little children)...

Now that Nighthawk officially saw through Mephisto's disguise, he now maintains that ability, so he can see through ALL of Mephisto's disguises. He shows up at the end of the issue and saves some kids from Mephisto and Mephisto notes how annoying this setup is and threatens to "take the eyes back," as it were. Nighthawk takes the threat in stride as, after all, he can see Mephisto coming now...

That's a great set-up for Nighthawk, right?

However, it's a particularly great set-up for Nighthawk as an INDIVIDUAL hero, it's probably not quite as valuable if Nighthawk is simply being one of a team. As a result, the new power was short-lived.

NIGHTHAWK GIVES HIS DEMONIC POWERS UP

In 2001's Defenders #2 (by Kurt Busiek, Erik Larsen and Klaus Janson), Nighthawk and Hellcat try to reform the Defenders and in the process, Nighthawk reveals to Hellcat that he had his demonic powers removed...

However, in a nice case of nepotistic continuity, Krueger later had Nighthawk regain his abilities for Universe X and Paradise X (by Krueger, Alex Ross, Dougie Braithwaite and Bill Reinhold). Kyle is almost the sort of narrator of the Paradise X series...

And in the recent prequel series, Marvels X (by Krueger, Ross and artist Well-Be), we see that the solution to the "curse" wore off over time...

Another amusing coincidence is that the recent Heroes Reborn storyline in Jason Aaron's Avengers run involves yet ANOTHER Kyle Richmond/Nighthawk, only this time, this Nighthawk is literally a creation of Mephisto himself, and so the Krueger idea of Nighthawk being able to see through Mephisto's disguises would seem like it is perfect thing to tie into this new storyline, especially since the other Nighthawk is out there determined to bring the altered reality of Heroes Reborn back, so the two Nighthawks coming into conflict over Mephisto sure sounds like it would make for a rewarding storyline, no?

If anyone has a suggestion for a future edition of Abandoned Love, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!

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