History Overview
Not much Edwin Alva Sr.’s is known except he was married and had two children; Sabrina Alva and Edwin Alva Jr.
Edwin Alva is the CEO of Alva Technologies, located at the Mason Building in Dakota. From his brillence as a inventor and a businessman, Alva is also corrupt. He is the leader of S.Y.S.T.E.M.‘s Indigo Cell and a member of the Coalition. Alva was responsible for the creation of his arch-nemesis Hardware. He met the young twelve year-old Curtis Metcalf at a science-fair and took notice of the child prodigy. Alva became took special interest in Curtis and offered his parents a scholarship to the finest schools and universities in the United States. He even offered Curtis a job at his company’s research lab. When Curtis was making millions for the company, he asked his mentor for a share of the profits.
Eventually Alva figured out that Curtis was Hardware, and now had leverage over him. He struck a deal to force Hardware to become his enforcer and his secret identity would remain secret.
Worlds Collide
Alva had a hand during the Worlds Collide story-arc. He became fascinated with a metahuman named Fred Benson who can travel between their universe and the DC Universe. Thinking he can conquer a parallel world, he tried monitor and experiment with Benson’s abilities. Alva and Hazard from the DC Universe tried to unlock Benson’s abilities but only succeeded in unleashing the monstrous Rift who causes chaos in both their worlds. To undo the damage, Alva and Hardware team up with Hazard and Steel with the a machine powered by Transit to connect their two worlds.
Long Hot Summer
Alva died trying to help save people at Utopia Park using Hardware 3.0 armor to become a hero like his pupil. After his last will was read, Curtis becomes the new CEO of Alva Technologies and later renames it Hard Co. This angered his children who felt like they were cheated out of their legacy.
But death couldn’t stop Edwin Alva. He built a hologram program to continue monitoring Hardware.
Milestone Forever
Alva’s hologram becomes more usful during a raid against Holocaust’s new Blood Syndicate.
Soon later Curtis shuts the Alva hologram for good when he quits being Hardware and leaves the company in more capable hands.
Triva
Edwin Alva’s last name may have been named after the Thomas Edison’s middle name.
In Other Media
He appeared in the Static T.V series as antagonist, the only non Static comic originating villain on the show. It is revealed that his company, Alva Industries (not the same name like its comic book counterpart – Alva Technologies), developed the gas that triggered the Big Bang incident but he never admitted responsibilities or attempting to right any wrongs. His company tried to cover up any evidence until Static broke in and stole a disk loaded with data files. Unfortunately, that disk was destroyed during a rematch with Hotstreak.
Alva has unwittingly created his own demons. Aside from the Bang Babies, he has also created enemies within his company and his personal life. He neglected his son, Edwin Alva Jr., who decided to steal some of the Big Bang gas to become Omnifarious. When his son becomes trapped in stone, Alva tries to make amends by curing his son. He hired Specs and Trapper, but there efforts did not please him after their sloppy performance and then fires them. They become high-tech criminal duo Spectral and Speedtrap.
Even after his son was cured, his list of enemies didn’t stop there. He cutoff Dr. Karen Roberts’ Project Omni, meant to discover Static’s secret identity, after Static helped saved his son.