WARHAWK

BIOGRAPHY

Mitchell Tanner was a soldier in the United States Army who fought in Vietnam. At a distance, his actions could be considered ruthless and bloodthirsty, but he was a respected commanding officer whose troops were very loyal to him. While in the field, Tanner’s unit was attacked and shot to pieces, leaving him as the sole survivor. He was badly wounded and brought to a nearby village by civilians. As he slowly recuperated, with no way to contact his superiors, Mitchell became a member of the village’s community, even marrying a local woman named Liu. His new life was drastically cut short when soldiers massacred the village, killing Liu and everybody else they came across. Tanner was grievously wounded once more.

This time, he was recovered by the American military, who thought Tanner could still be useful to his country. They presented the dying Tanner to Army surgeon Noah Burstein, in the hopes of saving his life. Burstein was from a family of scientists who had been trying to replicate the success of the Super-Soldier Serum since World War II. Burstein was working on a form of electro-biochemical enhancement, and he subjected Mitchell Tanner to the process even though it was still in development. It was successful, to a degree – Tanner survived his injuries, becoming more effective than ever with superhuman strength and metal-like durability in his skin. However, his skin took on a blue coloration and his ability to feel (pleasure or pain) was significantly reduced. [Power Man and Iron Fist (1st series) #83]

[Note: Given the sliding timescale, Tanner was likely a veteran of the fictional Sin-Congese War, rather than the now topical Vietnam War. Burstein’s family working on super-soldier experiments comes from The Marvels Project #5. Burstein’s work was attributed to the Weapon VI Program in Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus #1. Since Burstein started off with legacy research from his father, it’s not explicit if the Weapon Plus Program recruited and began funding his work before or after the prototype experiment on Tanner.]

Renamed Warhawk, Tanner was hired out to the CIA, acting as a solo assassin overseas for nearly a decade. He committed countless murders of “targets of interest” without ever suffering harm himself. Warhawk was eventually decommissioned and sent home, but Tanner did not adapt to retirement easily. Away from the battlegrounds of foreign soil, his mind sought a new battleground and suffered a psychotic break. Warhawk regressed mentally and began perceiving his American urban environment as if he were still back in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Thinking he was surrounded by the enemy, Tanner prepared to take action against innocent people. Warhawk made himself a sniper’s nest and opened fire on civilians in New York’s Riverside Park.

Among the pedestrians were Danny Rand and Colleen Wing, who worked out his position and raced to intercept the shooter. Danny’s training in K’un-Lun as the immortal Iron Fist had minimal use against the metal-like skin of Warhawk. Nerve strikes had some effect, but any blow based on physical impact hurt Rand more than Tanner. Before he could adjust his tactics, Danny was beaten unconscious and Warhawk made off with Colleen. In his delusional state, Mitchell Tanner confused Colleen with his wife, Liu. Danny recovered and went after them as Iron Fist, finding Warhawk hiding out at the old pier. Even with his preparation, Danny Rand struggled against his foe until he summoned the power of the Iron Fist. As his hand became like unto a thing of iron, he delivered a strike with cannon-force, launching Warhawk out of the warehouse and into the water. Iron Fist tried to reach for Mitchell Tanner, but Warhawk still saw him as a foreign foe, and submerged rather than risk capture by the enemy. [Marvel Premiere #23]

An unknown figure Warhawk later called “master” recovered him from the river and psychically restored his mind. His services as an assassin, sniper and “ultimate soldier” were made available to different parties after that. A scientist named Michael English created the nucleonic radiator for Cross Technological Enterprises, but he went rogue when they confiscated his prototype and became a super-villain named Atom-Smasher. Director Connors of CTE wanted Atom-Smasher eliminated as a loose thread, and Warhawk was hired to assassinate him. He found Atom-Smasher robbing scientific installations for radioactive materials, which led to conflict with Black Goliath. Warhawk made a sniper’s nest to survey the fighting and then fired on Black Goliath first to separate the combatants before executing his target. Tanner wasn’t paid to fight or kill Black Goliath, so he left the hero alive and escaped before he could be identified. [Black Goliath #2-3]

Next, Warhawk’s mysterious master directed him to infiltrate the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester. Posing as a man from the phone company, Warhawk was quick to note the incongruity of Noble Prize winner Moira MacTaggert acting as the school’s housekeeper. After rendering Moira unconscious with a tranq dart, Tanner accessed the computer center and identified the X-Men present at the school. He had the misfortune of running into Professor X and Phoenix, but a few more darts kept his mission secret for the moment. The other X-Men entered the Danger Room for a training session, and Warhawk occupied them by locking the room and deactivating all safety protocols. Nightcrawler and Wolverine teleported outside to disconnect the main power terminal, but Warhawk was waiting. He scrapped with Wolverine until the other X-Men busted free and quickly overpowered him. Warhawk was turned over to the police after that, but the X-Men were unaware he succeeded in installing a tap on Cerebro, allowing the Hellfire Club to remotely access the X-Men’s systems and database. [X-Men (1st series) #110]

[Note: Warhawk and his employers were not revealed in the Black Goliath series. Marvel Index and Handbook materials were needed to identify Warhawk as the shadowy sniper, while a random Hawkeye story from Marvel Fanfare (1st series) #3 obliquely explained CTE’s role in that plot. X-Men (1st series) #129 revealed the Hellfire Club was responsible for Warhawk’s infiltration of the mansion, but wasn’t clear on who “the master” was. The telepathy suggests Emma, but the vision appeared male. It could’ve been Mastermind (using the enhanced tech he held at the time for accessing Phoenix’s thoughts), but he claimed Warhawk was Sebastian Shaw’s man in #129.]

Warhawk was soon freed of his obligations and chose to pursue personal grudges. He took a sniper’s perch and fired on Iron Fist and Colleen Wing at Knightwing Restorations, sending Colleen to the hospital. Iron Fist and Misty Knight followed a lead and tracked Warhawk to a freighter in New York harbor. Warhawk was ready to die, tired of his “freak” existence. Iron Fist was the only man who ever beat him in 1-on-1, and Tanner wanted to go down fighting. He set a bomb on the freighter and fought with Iron Fist to keep them both there until the timer hit zero. After a furious series of blows, Danny Rand stunned Warhawk long enough to tackle them both off of the ship before it exploded. [Power Man and Iron Fist (1st series) #76]

Warhawk easily escaped from custody but fell back into his delusional state. He declared war on Manhattan’s Chinatown, taking hostages in his personal crusade. Iron Fist sought him out and tried to strike Warhawk down with the chi of the dragon. Without a river to drag him away this time, however, Warhawk revealed he was strong enough to stand up to the force of the Iron Fist. Tanner beat Danny Rand unconscious and left him for the authorities to find. Danny’s partner, Luke Cage, took up his mission to seek out and stop Warhawk. In the process, Luke learned his own powers were a continuation of Burstein’s work on Warhawk. Tanner continued to harass and terrorize the people of Chinatown with ambushes, shootings and firebombings. Warhawk finally made his stand at an abandoned building in Chinatown, waiting out “Power Man” to come get him. Although they were nearly equally matched, Cage managed to overpower his “older brother” and turn him over to Noah Burstein. [Power Man and Iron Fist (1st series) #83]

Burstein and the government supposedly intended to put Warhawk back to work for America, but he inevitably returned to mercenary jobs. Down in Louisiana, Warhawk was hired by land baron Dominic Solarz to force homeowners to turn their property over to him. Remy LeBeau and the (at the time) teenaged and amnesiac Ororo made friends with Marissa and Gabriella DeCastro, the latest of Solarz’s targets. Warhawk and Solarz’s men ambushed the group, knocking Marissa and Remy into the river with their own truck and taking ‘Ro and Gabriella hostage. Gambit and Marissa pursued them to Solarz’s estate and kept Warhawk off-balance until they found the captives. Ororo’s latent mutant power erupted and finished the fight, driving Warhawk off. [Gambit (6th series) #2-3]

Following years of mercenary work, Warhawk’s body started to become unstable. He fell under the care of Doctor Alexander Ryking at his tropical isle laboratory. A geneticist, Ryking was in the employ of Major Arthur Barrington, and believed his new process could heal Warhawk’s injuries and improve upon his abilities. Ryking’s focus on this experiment led him to ignore calls from Barrington, demanding to know how the secret Xavier Files regarding the Almagordo project got into the possession of Charles Xavier. Barrington sent his troubleshooter Maverick to address Ryking’s insubordination and potential betrayal.

Although Maverick shot his way through Ryking’s normal guards, the scientist continued working on Warhawk until his procedure was complete. Warhawk stood up for the scientist out of gratitude for his aid. Tanner also knew Maverick was a friend of Wolverine and the X-Men, whom he blamed for the damage originally done to his body. Although he was more powerful than ever, the procedures performed on Warhawk were still untested. It took effort for Maverick to breach Warhawk’s skin but, once he did, the volatile elements coursing through his system set off a massive explosion that killed Alexander Ryking and left Warhawk among the missing. [X-Men (2nd series) #10-11]

[Note: Warhawk blaming the X-Men for his injuries is confusing, as he was barely harmed in that encounter and made multiple appearances since then.]

Warhawk wound up in custody at some point after this, until he was offered a deal by S.H.I.E.L.D. The Hand and Hydra had joined forces and used death and resurrection magic to forcibly turn a number of super-villains to their side. S.H.I.E.L.D. chose to turn the tables on them by recruiting their own criminals for a counterstrike, in exchange for a reduction on their sentences. Warhawk joined the likes of Tombstone, Constrictor and Man-Bull in suiting up for an attack led by Wolverine and Elektra against the terrorists. [Wolverine (3rd series) #30]

Noah Burstein continued his experiments after Mitchell Tanner and Luke Cage, fixated on finding a way to turn “Super-Soldier” enhancements into real cures for debilitating diseases. He found a wealthy backer in New Orleans named Cyril Morgan, whose son Caleb suffered from the sort of disease Burstein intended to cure. However, Burstein also took money from the mobster Mateo Corello, and ran a local clinic where he experimented on a young street gang… for the greater good, of course. Noah’s experiments found a way to treat Caleb, but the “Burstein process” still had its drawbacks. With the exception of Luke Cage, all those whom Burstein treated experienced degrees of “amygdala distortive syndrome” – the intermittent mania, madness and rage which afflicted Warhawk. Caleb Morgan, Mateo’s son Frankie Corello and the Ninth Ward Mafia all became time bombs of superhuman rage. Burstein felt he was losing control of the situation, and he reached out to Mitchell Tanner. His work on chemical neuro-stabilizers for the others could help calm the confusion in Warhawk’s head. However, Burstein also wanted Tanner nearby for protection in case his backers grew tired of the unpredictable nature of his results.

An already tense atmosphere exploded after Caleb Morgan had an episode and killed Burstein’s wife when she was arguing with Cyril. Morgan couldn’t trust Burstein’s loyalty after that and locked him up underneath the estate to perform his work as a prisoner. Morgan’s people in the police force filed a suicide report to make Warhawk and anybody who came looking believe Burstein was dead. Burstein’s partner Dr. Lenore Mornay lured Luke Cage to New Orleans with news of Noah’s “death,” hoping perhaps he was the key to perfecting the Burstein process for Morgan. Cage got caught up between these various factions looking to profit from Burstein and his work. After Luke got stabbed by Frankie Corello and a molecular blade designed specifically to work against them, Mitchell Tanner stepped in to save his “little brother.”

Warhawk patched up Cage at Burstein’s secret lab, and alerted Luke to the suspicious circumstances surrounding Burstein’s reported death. He also introduced Luke to Kevlar, alias Kevin Larsen, and his Ninth Ward Mafia boys. As they probed the extent of Burstein’s experiments, Lenore was kidnapped by Corello to fashion more “happy gas” for his son. Unfortunately, chemistry wasn’t Dr. Mornay’s specialty, and Corello instead went completely mad. Frankie killed his father and stabbed Warhawk with one of the blades when Cage and Tanner arrived. Warhawk fought back and decapitated Frankie, but he was grievously injured. Luke and Lenore got Mitchell back to Burstein’s lab where they ran into Burstein himself. Noah was recently released from his cell by a guilty Caleb Morgan and had come looking for his notes.

By this point, Luke Cage saw through Burstein’s fatherly demeanor and recognized that all Noah’s “sons” were just stepping stones for him and his goals. Before they could have it out, Kevlar and his boys found the lab, and Morgan’s hired mercenaries followed soon after. The fighting led back to the Morgan estate, and the entire ordeal collapsed. Kevlar lost his cool and murdered the mercenaries after they sliced through his boys in the Ninth Ward Mafia, leaving him the sole survivor. Caleb Morgan died during an explosion from Noah’s chemicals, and Cyril Morgan was arrested. In the chaos, Noah Burstein convinced the weakened Warhawk and Kevlar to go on the run with him, convincing them he had their best interests at heart. It remains to be seen how long Mitchell Tanner will “share” his “father” and if he’ll eventually see, as Luke did, that he’s just another experiment to Burstein. [Luke Cage #1-5]