Publisher: Marvel Comics
Created by: J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank
1st appearance: Avengers (Vol. 8) #10 (November, 2018)
Real Name: Kyle Richmond (Mephisto’s Simulacrum)
Nationality: American
Aliases: Dark Knight, Black Batman
Team Affiliations: Squadron Supreme of America
Legal Status: US citizen with no criminal record
Height: 6’2″ (188cm) Weight: 210 lbs. (95 kg)
Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Brown
Skills and Abilities: Nighthawk is programmed to be in the top physical condition and is extensively trained in unarmed combat and a variety of martial arts forms able to fight evenly with the Black Panther. He is a genius-level inventor and strategist as well.
Biography
Nighthawk was a construct created by the demon Mephisto and programmed by the Power Elite in cooperation with a recently-revived Agent Coulson to be a member of the Squadron Supreme of America, a superhero team sponsored by the U.S. Government. Nighthawk’s programming had him believe that he had trained himself as a fighter and weapons designer following the deaths of his parents. During his personal time, Nighthawk was Kyle Richmond, the congressman for Washington, D.C. in the House of Representatives. Nighthawk was additionally programmed to suspect that his teammates were mentally influenced by the handlers of the Squadron Supreme, unaware that he was being controlled as well, and part of his programming was to be suspicious of his superiors.
Nighthawk and his team were brought in to meet General Ross in order to be the U.S.’s response to the now-unaligned Avengers. The Squadron Supreme was later put to the test against King Namor and his Defenders of the Deep, countering several attacks against Roxxon in American waters.
Kyle was in a congressional meeting when a group of Frost Giants from Jotunheim invaded Washington on behalf of Malekith the Accursed during his War of the Realms. As Nighthawk, Richmond met up with the rest of the Squadron. They killed some of the Frost Giants and routed the remaining invaders to the Canadian frontier in Lake Erie. Coulson subsequently dispatched the team to Ohio.
When the cosmic force known as the Phoenix Force returned to Earth, it staged a contest to determine its next host, and Nighthawk was one of many individuals summoned to the White Hot Room for it. The Phoenix empowered the assembled champions and had them fight each other in trials by combat. Richmond’s first fight saw him pitted against the Black Panther. Due to their similar skillset, the two combatants fought for hours to a standstill until the Phoenix simply chose the Black Panther over Nighthawk