Marvel Comics Just Killed Off ’90s Icon Darkhawk

Warning: contains spoilers to Darkhawk: Heart of the Hawk #1!

Marvel Comics have just killed off their 90s cult icon, Darkhawk, in a collection celebrating his 30th anniversary. The issue, Darkhawk: Heart of the Hawk, contains three stories, the last of which chronicles the final adventure of Chris Powell, the civilian identity of the hero. Entitled “Last Flight,” the story shows the end of Powell, but teases a possible return of the Darkhawk moniker in some form.

Created by Tom DeFalco and Mike Manley in 1991 at the height of the comic industry boom (and just before the crash of 1996), Darkhawk resonated with readers by drawing character influences from Spider-Man while also possessing angular black-and-silver armor perfectly suited for the decade. Seventeen-year-old Chris Powell was an ordinary adolescent from Queens when he stumbled upon his police officer father taking a bribe from a well-known mafioso. Angered and betrayed, Chris stumbled upon a mysterious amulet in an abandoned theme park that could transform him into the armored Darkhawk. So goes the beginning of Chris Powell’s story…and in “Last Flight,” readers are privy to the end.

Darkhawk has been through many adventures and team-ups in which he learned more and more about the secrets of his power. He’s since discovered that he doesn’t turn into Darkhawk per se, but rather swaps his body with a high-functioning android that he controls through the amulet. And in “Last Flight” by writer Kyle Higgins, artist Juanan Ramirez and colorist Erick Arciniega, a considerably older Chris Powell sits at the controls of a spacecraft and reminisces about his life. “I was a kid from Queens, poking around an abandoned amusement park. My eyes were anywhere but the stars. But I guess if it’s gotta end…well…it’s been a helluva ride.” At this point, readers see Powell’s ship  dangerously close to a massive explosion in space—a breach point.

The galaxy is on the precipice of a shadow war, and Powell has spent the last three weeks trying to prevent whatever’s on the other side of the breach point from coming through to our galaxy. Powell is out of options—he can’t escape or use the Darkhawk suit. The only thing left for him to do before he’s consumed by the explosion of the breach point is to send the amulet itself through null space. Contained within the datasong is Powell’s entire life story since becoming Darkhawk, so whomever takes possession of the amulet will be “…our last hope to save everything. So you need to learn much faster than I did.” With that, Powell sends the amulet away from the ship, and before he is consumed entirely, says “I can’t say that I have too many regrets. Except for one…I wish Dad could have seen me now.”

With that, Chris Powell dies, bringing closure to his 30-year history as the Darkhawk. The ’90s hero may have been a relic of the decade in which he first debuted, but he grew enough of a cult following to warrant this special celebratory issue (even bringing back the original creators). Multiple plot threads are unresolved, however: what of the spirited-away amulet? What exactly awaits on the other side of the breach point? Since the final issue’s caption pointedly reads “Not the end!”, there remains a chance that the next Darkhawk may yet be introduced in the very near future.