Nighthawk (Icons Writeup)

NIGHTHAWK
AKA KYLE RICHMOND

Prowess 4/5
Coordination 4/5
Strength 4/6
Intellect 3
Awareness 3
Willpower 4

Stamina 8/10

Powers
* Ability Boost – at night, Nighthawk’s physical attributes are boosted, adding one to both Prowess and Coordination, as well +2 to Strength.
*Jet-Pack Wings – Flight 4, Laser Beam (Blast) 5
*Titanium Claws 4

Specialties
Aerial Combat (Expert +2 bonus), Athletics (+1 bonus, Horseriding Expert +2 bonus), Business (+1 bonus), Drive (+1 bonus),  Leadership (+1 bonus), Mental Resistance (+1 bonus), Occult (+1 bonus)

Qualities
* “You’ve managed to legislate something that used to be so pure… You’ve let yourselves become threatened by idealism. Thing is, some of us don’t wear masks to hide…some of us wear them to be free. Captain America knew that. You should remember it.”
* Being a superhero is a chance to finally do something important.
* Genuinely believes in the Defenders.

Background

Kyle Richmond was a rich, spoiled, irresponsible brat with no talent for his studies or anything productive.

During his early 20s, however, a series of events shook him hard enough to straighten him up:

• He had a car accident that almost killed his girlfriend but left him unscathed.
• He discovered he had a heart murmur during the draft.
• He lost his father to a plane crash, remaining sole proprietor of Richmond Enterprises.

He wisely turned the responsibility of management to the chairman of the board, and started looking for a way to cure his heart.

He happened upon a strengthening alchemical formula that gave him his power, and shortly after that was contacted by the Grandmaster to become part of the Squadron Sinister – counterparts of the Squadron Supreme from an alternate earth.

Richmond was the counterpart of his alternate analogue, Kyle Richmond aka Nighthawk, and thus became known as Nighthawk II. Richmond continued to act not-so-intelligently, and even tried to fight Daredevil to acquire a rep.

He finally came to his sense and betrayed the Squadron Sinister when they launched, along with Nebulon, a planet-destroying plot. He sided with the Defenders despite the odds. The Defenders paid him back by resurrecting him after he was nearly killed in the fight, and accepting him into their ranks.

Richmond suddenly had a place and a purpose, and threw himself in the Defenders. He even became the de facto leader when Doctor Strange started to fade away from the team.

Richmond contributed financially, turned the Richmond Riding Academy into a base, and armed himself with wings and claws. He had to reduce his participation to the team when the siege by the Six-Fingered Hand resulted in him being confined to a wheelchair by day (although fully mobile by night).

After being stalked by the superhuman Mindy William (the girlfriend he had thought dead in the car crash), Nighthawk II discovered a project intended to telepathically strike at the Soviet Union. He sacrificed himself in order to contain the attack and destroy the project.

Thereafter, Nighthawk managed to return to life – he was reunited with the Defenders during a period when a curse caused certain members to be brought together in moments of crisis and he had a brief period as leader of “The Last Defenders” during the post-Civil War storylines.

With the passing of the most recent ‘Secret Wars,’ other Nighthawks have appeared, survivors of their own dead earths. These heroes have been affiliated with various versions of the Squadron Supreme. For the most part, Kyle seems to have receded into the background.