Brainwave (character)
| Brainwave | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | (I) All-Star Comics #15 (February/March 1943) (II) All-Star Squadron #24 (August, 1983) |
| Created by | (I) Unknown (II) Roy Thomas Jerry Ordway Mike Machlan |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | (I) Henry King Sr. (II) Henry King Jr. |
| Team affiliations | (I) Injustice Society (II) Black Adam, Infinity, Inc. |
| Notable aliases | (II) Brainwave Jr. |
| Abilities | telepathy, telekinesis, image projection, thought blasts, genius intellect |
Brainwave or Brain Wave is a name shared by two characters in the DC Comics Universe.
Henry King, Sr.
Brain Wave was Henry King, a super-villain who used his psionic powers to battle the Justice Society of America in the 1940s. He was a member of the Injustice Society.
History
Henry King, Sr. was born in the early 1910s as born a mutant with vast mental attributes. An introvert who found solace in reading books, which he one day learned to create three-dimensional images of, such as Sir Lancelot of the Round Table. King had developed a crush on a neighbor girl named Lucy who eventually married his acquaintance Edwin Ackerman, causing King tremendous jealousy.
As an adult, King was a college and later medical school graduate, obtaining a psychiatry degree. He decided to use his now more fully developed image projecting abilities in a secret life of crime. His first criminal act was creating thought-constructs that stole money needed by him to fund his new activities. He then became a crime lord (All-Star Comics #15).
In early 1942, Brain Wave contacted Professor Elba, developer of the "insanity serum", augmented by Brain Wave's mental abilities. Professor Elba was defeated by the Justice Society (All-Star Comics #8, All-Star Squadron #19).
Noticing this team of vigilantes, Brain Wave approached individual members of the JSA as psychiatrist Dr. Henry King. Implanting a post-hypnotic suggestions to assemble at the 1939 World's Fair perisphere, he attached each of the JSAers (except Green Lantern) to a mental chamber which immersed them in a fantasy of wartime conflict (All-Star Comics #11). Brain Wave next assembled the All-Star Squadron at the World's Fair's trylon tower, imprisoning each of them in the same device. However, once Green Lantern was connected to the device, his willpower proved too great for the chamber and its orchestrator, leaving it in ruin and King mentally unstable (All-Star Squadron #19-20).
In 1943, Brain Wave again battled the Justice Society, when its individual members traced various criminal operations back to Dr. King. At this time, he vented his revenge on Edwin Ackerman. Starman tracked King to his office of psychiatry, however he was unable to produce sufficient proof to arrest the villain. Each of the JSAers eventually converged on King's Sharktooth Bay tower. Additionally, heroines Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Inza Cramer, Dian Belmont, Doris Lee and Peachy Pet Thunder. Together, the two groups were able to corner King, who fell off of his tower to his assumed doom (All-Star Comics #15).
However, King's smock was caught on the limb of a tree. Thus saved, he sought revenge by utilizing his shrinking ray device to shrink the JSAers to a height of 8 inches. Storing them as trophies in his lair, King left his foes to meet with his minions. With the aid of Hawkman's bird allies, the JSAers left to confront the criminal henchmen directly. Eventualy, Johnny Thunder commanded his Thunderbolt to help restore each member to their proper height. The JSA then converged once more at the Sharktooth Bay tower, the road to which was mined by King. However, Thunderbolt teleported the bombs to under the tower, which again seemed to have ended the life of King (All-Star Comics #17).
Henry King, Jr.
Henry "Hank" King, Jr. is a DC Comics superhero, sometimes supervillain, who is the son of the original Brainwave, from whom he inherited his powers. Created by Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway and Mike Machlan, he first appeared in All-Star Squadron #24 (1983). Originally called Brainwave Jr., Hank was a founding member of Infinity, Inc. He dropped the "Jr." from his name some time after his father's death.
Ray Thompson (Animated)
In the Justice League episode Legends, The Justice League (Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter end up in a parallel Earth. This Earth is home to a superhero group known as The Justice Guild Of America. Ray Thompson is the group's teen mascot, and semi sidekick to Catman.
After the team is killed in an atomic explosion, which claimed the town, Ray gains psychic abilites. He uses these powers to recreate Seaboard City, the Justice Guild and The Injustice Guild.