History
The New Golden Age
Michael Mayne is the son of Green Lantern Alan Scott‘s longtime nemesis Molly Mayne, a.k.a. the Harlequin. The identity of his father remains unknown. Michael grew up with his grandmother, seeing his mother only on occasion due to her life as Harlequin, which created a very strained relationship between the two when Michael was in his twenties. After being assaulted, leaving a gay bar in Los Angeles, he took his mother’s illusion-creating glasses, made his own masked costume, and hunted down the men who had put him in the hospital. During the violent confrontation, one of Michael’s assailants pulled a gun and accidentally shot the other, killing him, and blamed it on The Harlequin’s Son. Labeled a murderer and overwhelmed with guilt and anger, Michael turned to a life of crime, both in and out of costume, which put him in direct conflict with his mother. However, like Molly, Michael had an altruistic streak that surfaced when innocents were in trouble. Eventually, the Harlequin’s Son was cleared of murder, thanks to his mother’s intervention. With his identity as the Harlequin’s Son still a secret, Michael was able to pursue an acting career despite his history of arrests. Michael eventually landed several roles, including that of Carver Colman in his life story, Dusk Before Dawn. in which Michael received accolades for his portrayal of the famed Nathaniel Dusk film star, who was one of Hollywood‘s first openly gay actors and later an iconic activist. When the original Star-Spangled Kid, Sylvester Pemberton, formed Infinity, Inc., he approached Michael to join the team of JSA legacy heroes, but Michael told Sylvester he was retired from his identity as the Harlequin’s Son and declined the offer. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Michael appeared again as the Harlequin’s Son protecting innocents in Los Angeles from The Anti-Monitor‘s Shadow Demons. Most recently, he was spotted again during the Dark Crisis, going into action to help others in the world’s darkest hour. Whether this return is brief or prolonged has yet to be determined. Michael’s relationship with his mother remains complicated. Utilizing the Harlequin’s illusion-creating tech in his mask, Michael can project illusions in the form of lifelike holographic images, most often duplicates of himself to distract his opponents. His acting skills also come into use when Michael creates what he calls “players” which are holograms that impersonate others. The Harlequin’s Son is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, reluctantly trained by his mother.