Haywire is a fictional

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Publication history

Haywire was originally a character from the ''

Squadron Supreme The Squadron Supreme is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, of which there are several notable alternate versions. The original team was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, derived from the previous ...

'' limited series from

Fictional character biography

Haywire (Harold Danforth) has the ability to create and project strands of 5mm diameter metallic "tanglewires". These wires can be created at some distance from his body, and disappear if he loses consciousness. Haywire was a member of

Nighthawk The nighthawk is a nocturnal bird of the subfamily Chordeilinae, within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae, native to the western hemisphere. The term "nighthawk", first recorded in the King James Bible of 1611, was originally a local name i ...

's group of freedom fighters, the

Redeemers The Redeemers were a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era of the United States, Reconstruction Era that followed the American Civil War, Civil War. Redeemers were the Southern wing of the Democratic Par ...

, whose purpose was to overthrow the government controlled by the

. During this time he was romantically involved with fellow Redeemer

Inertia Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law ...

. Haywire was one of the Redeemers who joined the Squadron Supreme as a double agent in order to sabotage their efforts at world conquest. He accompanied

Lamprey Lampreys (sometimes inaccurately called lamprey eels) are an ancient extant lineage of jawless fish of the order Petromyzontiformes , placed in the superclass Cyclostomata. The adult lamprey may be characterized by a toothed, funnel-like s ...

and the Whizzer on a tour of the hibernacle, and then led Lamprey into Redeemers headquarters for deprogramming. With his fellow Redeemers, Haywire fought the Squadron, forcing them to end their dictatorship over the United States of "Other-Earth". Haywire battled the Whizzer during the huge battle. After the battle, some of the surviving Redeemers joined the Squadron Supreme, including Haywire. Haywire worked with fellow Squadron members to prevent the destruction of their universe by the

Nth Man Nth Man is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication history Thomas Lightner first appeared as Blacksun in '' Marvel Two-in-One'' #21-23 (November 1976-January 1977), and was created by Bi ...

. Haywire witnesses the grisly death of his girlfriend Inertia at the hands of the Nth Man. Because of the events of that encounter, the Squadron Supreme became stranded on "mainstream" Earth. They relocated to Project: Pegasus headquarters. Alongside the

Shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type. A pl ...

, Haywire was mind-controlled by the Over-Mind into battling

Quasar A quasar is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a m ...

to cover the Over-Mind's escape from Earth. Haywire participated in

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

's failed attempt to return the Squadron to their own Earth. When the rest of the Squadron finally did return home, Haywire chose to remain on Marvel-Earth. Sometime later, Haywire happened across a battle between

Thanos Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, and first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 ( cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Deviant w ...

of Titan (self-styled god of death) and

Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

(also known as the Celestial Madonna), as Thanos attempted to destroy Quoi, her child (destined to become the Celestial Messiah). Haywire tried to help Mantis and eventually, Mantis elicited help from Haywire and an assemblage of Avengers in defeating Thanos's efforts to kill her son. In the process, Haywire hoped to encounter the cosmic embodiment of Death in order to bid it to restore Inertia to life. Ultimately, Haywire got his chance, but Death did not respond to his pleas. Distraught and obsessed, Haywire leapt into the form of Death itself and was destroyed.

Powers and abilities

Haywire had the ability to psionically generate a steel-like "tanglewire" filament from his fingertips which he can use for a variety of purposes, including creating long grappling wires for locomotion, vast quantities for trapping, entangling, or binding his opponents, or forming simple shapes like spheres, cubes, and cones. The tanglewire can be sharp or safe, according to his will. The tanglewire is extremely tensile and durable; only

omnium An omnium (from Latin '' Omni'': of all, belonging to all) is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that fe ...

and

adamantium Adamantium is a fictional metal alloy appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and in various games in the Elder Scrolls franchise. It is best known as the substance bonded to the character Wolverine's skeleton and claws. In ...

can cut through it. The tanglewire is resistant to extremes of temperature and pressure. The tanglewire will remain in existence indefinitely or until he consciously wills it to dissipate, and will remain in existence if he is rendered unconscious. There is no known limit to the amount of tanglewire he can generate. He wears padded leather gloves to enable him to hold onto his tanglewire when necessary. Haywire was an athletic man, who was coached in hand-to-hand combat by

, and later by his fellow Squadron Supreme members. He was skilled in lock picking and guitar playing.

References

External links

Marvel Heroes Classic Roleplaying Game page on HaywireMarvel.com Haywire page
{{Squadron Supreme Characters created by Mark Gruenwald Comics characters introduced in 1986 Marvel Comics male superheroes Marvel Comics superheroes Squadron Supreme