Harm (comics)

Harm is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Young Justice #4 (January 1999).

Harm
Harm attacks Arrowette. Art by Todd Nauck.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Young Justice #4 (Jan. 1999)
Created by	Peter David (script) Todd Nauck (art)
In-story information
Alter ego	William Hayes
Abilities	Superhuman strength and speed, body possession, mind control

Biography

William "Billy" Hayes (whose secret origin is found in Young Justice #42), is an orphan boy adopted by two loving middle-class parents and their young daughter Greta. When William (then Billy) is first adopted, Greta sees prophetic visions of his evil nature, but is calmed by Billy, who swears to protect Greta and her innocence from the bad things of the world. Later, as Billy enters his teenage years, he is approached by the demon Buzz, who offers Billy a way to become very powerful. When Greta interrupts one of their meetings, Billy tries to convince her to help him gain his power, telling her that she will gain power too. Greta senses danger and begins to cry for her father, who enters the room and finds Buzz gone, and everything appearing to be normal. Later still, Billy finally makes his preparations for his demonic ascent to power, and, wearing tribal face paint, sacrifices his sister Greta in exchange for power by dropping a tape-deck into her bath tub. Now armed with his new abilities, Billy took on the name Harm, a sociopathic young man determined to become the world's greatest murderer. His parents are unable to control the young man, and are in fact terrified of him. Harm makes his first appearance in Young Justice #4, attacking Arrowette and stabbing her through the arm with one of her arrows. The attack on the young superheroine prompts her friends in Young Justice to seek out Harm. They attempt to capture him, but Harm is able to defeat each member with ease, electrocuting Secret, keeping Wonder Girl off-balance to stop her using her powers, and hitting Superboy with knockout gas, only retreating because he heard approaching police cars and decided to withdraw.

Having captured and reprogrammed the Red Tornado while the rest of the team were dealing with a DEO facility where Secret had once been held prisoner, Harm taunts the heroes by leaving the message "Holy Beatles, kids!" Initially they believe he intends to target a Beatles convention, but just in time, they realize his real target: Pope John Paul II, the leader of the Catholic Church, currently hosting a mass in the local church. They save his life, Impulse removing the bomb Harm planted in the Tornado and Robin defeating him in one-on-one combat, but Harm escapes. Harm returns home, only to be shot dead by his father, who'd promised Harm's mother that he would "handle things".

Harm returns in Young Justice #14 (November 1999). During the "Day of Judgment" crossover event, Hell itself freezes over, allowing the dead Harm to return to the living world through the form of Secret. He first appears as a black and white being and, over the course of the battle, gains actual color. As before, Harm is able to easily defeat the members of Young Justice. At the last moment, Secret realizes that Billy/Harm is actually her brother, who had killed her years earlier by tossing a radio into her bath. This was a sacrifice in order to gain superpowers. She launches herself at Harm and propels them both over a cliff. Impulse, searching the site at superspeed, is unable to find their bodies, although Secret eventually returns.[1]

Harm's final appearance was at the end of the Young Justice series (issues #52-54). Having entered into his father's body (who was sentenced to death for murdering his son), he is able to overshadow his father's consciousness with his own for a limited time. He uses this to make his sister think that her father no longer loves her. Secret enlists the help of Slo-bo to help her break her father out of prison. Shortly after this, she joins Darkseid, relocating herself and her father to Apokolips. On Apokolips, Harm forces his father to jump into one of the fire pits, killing them both. Harm has not been heard from since.[2]

Powers & abilities

While most of Harm's powers come from the sacrifice of his sister to the demon Buzz, he clearly possessed a great capacity for evil before this deal was made, as he is known to have attacked his father and left a serious scar that was a mere inch from his father's jugular when he was only eleven. Part of his 'blessings' include a degree of enhanced strength, allowing him to easily engage Wonder Girl in battle, and enhanced reflexes to the point that he caught Arrowette's arrow in mid-air and then threw it back at her so fast it pierced right through her shoulder; although he admits that he is not on Superboy's level in a purely physical confrontation, he also possesses sufficient combat skills to consider himself the equal of Robin. He claims to have always had a special relationship with machinery, and is able to sneak directly into Young Justice headquarters at Happy Harbor- which was once the Justice League's official HQ- and reprogram the Red Tornado while planting a bomb inside him without tripping the security systems. It is unclear if his tactical expertise is one of his 'blessings' or if he was that gifted before the deal, but in the present he has demonstrated the ability to quickly evaluate and overcome Wonder Girl, Secret and Superboy when he could only have been planning to confront Wonder Girl.

Dark Horse Comics crossover

Harm appears in the Young Justice crossover with Dark Horse Comics' Spyboy. Harm forms an alliance with the villainess Ani Mae, who is an unwilling pawn in his plan. Harm plans to swallow Tokyo and Young Justice into Hell, through a Hell-hole. His plans are thwarted by his sister Secret and Spyboy, who thrusts Harm's own sword into his chest, once again eradicating him.

In other media

Television

Harm appears in the Young Justice episode "Secrets" voiced by Benjamin Diskin. Harm speaks strangely in his appearance, speaking largely in third person, while calling Artemis and Zatanna "they", or "it" individually. There is no mention of his deal with Buzz, and claims to have killed his sister to make his heart "pure" from love or any other emotion. After stealing the Sword of Beowulf from a museum in New York City, he attacks Artemis and Zatanna when they are out on Halloween, planning to use the experience of hunting them to prepare to kill their mentors. He easily defeats them both, taunting them throughout the encounter. However, they escape with the help of Secret (who leads them to his home). Unaware of his sister's spirit, he captures the two of them and questions Artemis. Secret meanwhile releases Zatanna who distracts Harm with a projection of herself and releases Artemis. They temporarily stop Harm by catching him in an explosion, and escape to the backyard where they found Greta's grave, where Harm corners them. When confronted about killing his sister, Harm claims it was to make his heart "pure" from love, and Greta's spirit finally reveals itself to him. Harm at first believes Zatanna cast an illusion spell, but he quickly realizes it is his sister's spirit (after Zatanna reminds him that she didn't speak, and therefore, didn't cast a spell), causing him to become conflicted while she reaches into his chest and take the purity in his heart. Without it, he loses control of his sword, allowing Artemis and Zatanna to defeat him. He is notably among the few, if only, villains to appear in the series that has no apparent connections to The Light.

References

1. Young Justice #14
2. Young Justice #52-54

External links

• Harm at DC Comics Wiki