Warhawk

Origin

Mitchell Tanner was a career soldier during the Vietnam War who was a good officer and his men were intensely loyal to him. One day his men were ambushed and Tanner was the only man who survived. The people of a nearby village took Tanner in and nursed him back to health. After a time, he went native and became one of them. He even married a local girl and started a life anew until his new home was destroyed. Everyone in the village was slaughtered including his wife. Tanner was shot to ribbons and was left for dead. He was found by some US soldiers barely breathing and very near death. The military valued Tanner and brought him to Army surgeon Noah Burstein for help. Burstein at the time was working on a cellular regeneration experiment for the US Government. However the process was in its earliest stages and it changed Tanner’s skin color blue and granted him super durable skin. Tanner would become the deadly assassin known as Warhawk. He would end up killing innocent people and his reasoning was unhinged and he became insane. Warhawk would eventually escape from the Army and started his career as a costume criminal. 

Warhawk came into conflict with Iron Fist after he escaped from the Army. Iron Fist was the first man to beat Warhawk in battle so Tanner vowed revenge on him one day. Warhawk would later appear during the ribbon ceremony of Nightwing Restoration Inc whose partners were Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. Iron Fist was attending the ceremony until he was grazed in the head by a sniper shot. Colleen Wing was also wounded when the sniper hit her in the shoulder. Misty Knight finds Warhawk on a building rooftop and confronts him. Misty shoots Warhawk with her magnum but has no effect on him. They engage in hand to hand combat but Misty is simply overwhelmed by Warhawk. Misty is nearly killed until Iron Fist arrives. Warhawk would escape and later lure Iron Fist on a freighter ship in the New York Harbor. Warhawk shoots Iron Fist with a tranquilizer darts and reveals his plans. Warhawk tells Iron Fist that he is tired of living as a freak and plans to take both of them out with a bomb planted on the ship. They engage in battle and Iron Fist prevails. He manages to escape from the explosion with Warhawk and Tanner is later apprehended.   

Creation

Warhawk was created by Chris Claremont and Gil Kane in 1975 and first appeared in Marvel Premiere # 23. 

Story Arcs

Warhawk would be freed and come into conflict with Iron Fist once more in Chinatown when Tanner is holding a number of people hostage. The two get into a fight but Iron Fist is badly beaten by Warhawk. Tanner would wage war against the innocent people of Chinatown which leads to a direct conflict with Luke Cage aka Power Man. The two would meet on a building rooftop and Luke Cage beats Warhawk with his super strength. 

Warhawk later appears when he is hired by a powerful employer to infiltrate the X-Mansion and test them. Warhawk is psychically shielded by his secret employer and he manages to take down Professor X and Jean Grey. He would then turn the Danger Room against the rest of the X-Men. The X-Men would escape and eventually defeat Warhawk.  

Wolverine: Agent of SHIELD

HYDRA would steal a hard drive from Reed Richards that contained thousands of ideas including one plan to build a two hundred foot android called Null. HYDRA set up numerous death factories around the world so they could develop their doomsday weapons with the stolen information. SHIELD needed help and would employ incarcerated criminals into their ranks and give them an opportunity to reduce their sentence if they were successful against HYDRA. Tanner is conscripted by SHIELD alongside Constrictor, Tombstone, Rhino and Man-Bull to serve as temporary agents in exchange for a reduced sentence.

Powers & Abilities

Warhawk is a highly skilled assassin, marksman with extraordinary hand-to-hand fighting skills. The cellular regeneration experiment changed his skin color blue but granted him enhanced strength, endurance with steel hard “omnium” skin. His body is extremely strong and durable where he has survived strikes from Wolverine and shrugged off the power of the Iron Fist.