(Hank Heywood) Steel, The Indestructible Man # 1 (March 1978) (Hank Heywood III) Justice League of America Annual #2 (1984) (Nathan Heywood) Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #1 (February 2007)
Commander Steel (also known as Captain Steel, Citizen Steel and Sergeant Steel) is the name of three superheroes appearing in media published by DC Comics, all members of the same family. The first Steel appeared in Steel, The Indestructible Man #1 (1978), and was created by Gerry Conway and Don Heck.[1] His stories were set in World War II. The two later characters called Steel are his grandsons.
Nate Heywood / Steel, his grandfather Henry Heywood / Commander Steel, and Nate's father Hank Heywood all appear in Legends of Tomorrow, portrayed by Nick Zano, Matthew MacCaull, and Thomas F. Wilson respectively.
Creation
The character served as an homage to the Marvel Comics character, Captain America. "Steel was intended to be a tip of the hat to the original Captain America.
My favorite Cap stories, when I was growing up, were the ones Stan and Jack set in World War II, so I was just trying to recapture that feeling."[2]
Publishing history
Steel first appeared in a series set in 1939, Steel: The Indestructible Man, written by Captain America writer Gerry Conway.[3] The series was canceled after five issues, and Steel later made a guest-appearance in Justice League of America.[4] Steel was also a member of the World War II era All-Star Squadron team.[5] He made a prominent appearance many years later in four issues of the Eclipso ongoing series, where he was killed. After this, he appeared in issue #2 of the 2010 series, DC Universe: Legacies, which chronicled the superheroes of the 1940s.
Starting in 1984, the second Steel appeared as one of the lead characters in Justice League of America,[6] until its cancellation during the Legends crossover in 1987. He made a single appearance several years later in issue #38 of Justice League America, a continuation of Justice League International, where he was killed. In 2006, he played a leading posthumous role in a single story arc of JLA Classified, which chronicled a previously unrevealed adventure of the Detroit-era JLA. In 2010, he played a major role in the two-issue Justice League of America vol. 2 tie-in to Blackest Night, where he was temporarily resurrected.
The third Steel made his debut in the 2007 relaunch of Justice Society of America, where he appeared for several years until the team was split into two separate groups by writers Bill Willingham and Lilah Sturges, where he appeared as one of the lead characters in JSA All-Stars. In 2011's The New 52 reboot of DC's continuity, he is shown to exist on Earth 2, under the name Captain Steel.
Fictional character biography
Henry Heywood
Steel, The Indestructible Man #1 (March 1978). Pencilled by Don Heck and inked by Al Milgrom.
Henry Heywood is a biology student whose teacher, Gilbert Giles, gives him cybernetic enhancements to save his life following an attack by saboteurs under Baron Blitzkrieg's command.[7] Henry initially keeps his abilities secret, but becomes frustrated with doing so and chooses to become a superhero.[8]
Following the death of his grandson, Henry Heywood III, Henry comes out of retirement and is killed battling Eclipso.[8][13] He is later resurrected following The New 52 and DC Rebirth relaunches.[14]
Hank Heywood III
Hank Heywood III as the second Steel. Art by Tom Derenick.
The second Steel is Henry "Hank" Heywood III.[15] Following the death of his parents, he is raised by his grandfather, the original Steel, and subjected to the same process that gave him powers.[16]
Nathan Heywood is the grandson of Henry Heywood and the cousin of Henry Heywood III.[19] He is a former football player at Ohio State University who is forced to retire after his leg is injured and amputated.
Nathan is attacked by the villain Reichsmark, who transforms his mother and brother into metal statues. He is exposed to Reichsmark's blood, regenerating his leg and transforming him into an organic metal being.[8][20][21] Nathan then joins the Justice Society as Citizen Steel.[22]
Powers and abilities
Originally Commander Steel could lift 1,000 pounds, but when he appeared in the pages of All-Star Squadron, he was attributed 'super-human' strength without an exact limit.
Citizen Steel's metallic body grants him superhuman strength and allows him to take direct blows from opponents as powerful as Gog, and remain standing, and in turn knocking him to the ground—the only one in the JSA able to do so—but at the cost of reducing his sense of touch so that he cannot really feel anything he comes in contact with, making it hard for him to judge how much effort he should put into doing things. His alloy suit limits his strength to controllable levels but at a cost of slowing him down, as well as making him so heavy that he has been shown cracking pavements just by walking. Upon removing his suit, he can unleash his full strength without being slowed down.[23]
Other versions
Earth 2
In September 2011, DC Comics cancelled and relaunched its entire line of monthly comics, in an initiative called "The New 52", and in so doing, rebooted the continuity the DC Universe. There are two versions of Commander Steel on Earth 2:
Hank Heywood Jr.
In this new timeline, Hank Heywood Jr. appears as Captain Steel in the comic series Earth 2. This version is a Filipino man whose bones were reinforced with experimental metal to prevent him from dying from a degenerative bone disorder. During Darkseid's invasion of Earth 2, Hank's father kills himself and destroys his research to prevent Parademons from obtaining it.[24]
Sergeant Steel
Following a brief encounter with Ultra-Humanite, Fury opens the Pandora Vessel as a last resort to save the Wonders, with Earth-2 being recreated once again.[25] A new version of Steel, Sergeant Steel, appears as the sole member of a super-soldier program called Americommando and the leader of an underground rebellion against the Ultra-Humanite.[26]
In other media
Television
Commander Steel as he appears in Justice League Unlimited.
Historian Dr. Nathaniel "Nate" Heywood / Steel (portrayed by Nick Zano)[28] is introduced in the second season as a hemophiliac until he is injected with a super serum that Eobard Thawne gave to the Nazis before the Legends retrieved it and Ray Palmer modified it to save Nate. After receiving the serum, he becomes a metahuman with superhuman strength and the ability to transform into organic steel. Nate takes the name "Steel" and joins the Legends in their adventures before leaving them in the series finale after he loses his powers due to mustard gas exposure and retires to the Wind Totem to maintain his relationship with Zari Tomaz.
Nate's grandfather Henry Heywood I / Commander Steel also appears in the second season, portrayed by Matthew MacCaull.[29] This version is a member of the Justice Society of America (JSA) who operated during the 1940s before going missing and being presumed dead in the 1950s. In reality, Henry and the JSA assisted Rip Hunter in breaking the Spear of Destiny into several fragments and protecting them across different points in time, with Henry protecting his fragment in the 1970s, during which he became a NASA flight commander. Henry would later sacrifice himself to save the Legends from the Legion of Doom.
Nate's father and Henry's son Henry "Hank" Heywood II appears in the fourth season, portrayed by Thomas F. Wilson.[30] This version is the Time Bureau's primary founder who secretly works with the demon Neron to capture mystical creatures and train them for use in the theme park "Heyworld", which he based on a drawing Nate made as a child. After discovering Nate is a superhero, Hank attempts to break off his partnership with Neron, only to be killed. Upon discovering Hank's true intentions, the Legends realize his dream.
Merchandise
Henry Heywood / Commander Steel received an action figure in the DC Universe Classics line.
Commander Steel received an action figure in Mattel's Justice League Unlimited line.
References
^McAvennie, Michael (2010). "1970s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 177. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. Thanks to scripter Gerry Conway and artist Don Heck, the red, white, and blue shone like never before - on the steel-alloyed suit of the World War II cyborg, Steel.
^Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 62. ISBN978-1-4654-5357-0.
^Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 209: "The prestigious Justice League of America got a bit easier to join, thanks to writer Gerry Conway and artist Chuck Patton. Marking the debut of camouflaging hero Gypsy, the shockwave-casting Vibe, and the second generation hero Steel, this landmark comic saw many of the more famous League members step down in order to make way for a younger roster to carry on their legacy".
^Green, Paul (2017). Encyclopedia of Weird War Stories: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Film, Television, Games and Other Media. McFarland & Co. p. 45. ISBN978-1476666723.
^Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 286. ISBN978-1-4654-5357-0.
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