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Henry Bendix (Wildstorm Universe)

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Quote1 Love doesn't work. Freedom doesn't work. All we use freedom for is to kill each other. I'll change the world. No one will die -- unless I decide they die. I'll change the world one body at a time if I have to, until people start controlling themselves. Quote2
—Henry Bendix[src]

History

The Weatherman was the director of Stormwatch.

Origin[]

Henry Bendix was born and raised in Maladyville, Mississippi. He father was an alcoholic and would often abuse son and his girlfriends. There is some belief he may have caused the deaths of more than one. Despite his age, Henry was very much of a genius. He was still a child when he thought of the human enhancements he would later use on his super agents such as the Midnighter and even contacted other dimensions. Henry kept a diary and it revealed that a group of spider aliens called Weavers visited Henry showing him he would become a villain, but if things will be changed he could be a hero. Henry first attempted this when he found his father about to harm his current girlfriend Delia. He used an energy weapon he had built himself to kill his father saving Delia.

Later in life Bendix would design implants that would allow him to control the “Think Tank” - a weapon vehicle which he used to gain a spot on the anti- Daemonite Team One. However, after their first mission the team disbanded. After disbanding of the team Henry began to work for the government as an individual and at some point he met and fell in love with Rose Tattoo, who even left the Changers for him. Bendix would also become interested in the planet's past and contacted the Four and the Bleed]]. Bendix would later work with the U.N. to form the SPB team Stormwatch and was placed as its leader - the Weatherman. He was implanted with devices that allowed him to control the Skywatch and its systems. Bendix would often switch between Jackson King and Christine Trelane as leaders. However, this changed and Bendix would soon take a harsher, more strict role in his position.

Post-Worldstorm[]

Bendix had a son named William Bendix. The spitting image of his father, the younger Bendix was the child of a call girl that Henry paid off to raise on her own in secret. William was recruited by Jackson King to be the new Weatherman (no longer a leadership role) for the reconstituted Stormwatch Prime. This was due to most of the cybernetic integration systems having been designed for Henry's physiology, so William was the obvious choice. While seemingly a bit maniacal, William seemed to be deeply concerned that he would turn into his father, despite King's faith that he was his own man.

William's main goal was to crack his father's "memory tower," containing his most secret files. He managed to do this by uncovering a secret bunker in the Nevada desert, leading to a battle between The Authority and Stormwatch Prime for custody of it's contents. During the battle, an A.I. copy of Henry Bendix activated in response, and proceeded to release zombie-like clones of his secret Stormwatch team, seduce Rose Tattoo to his side yet again, and install itself in a younger cloned body which had been engineered with the powers and abilities of every superhuman present. William arrived at the scene and convinced Rose to kill the clone of his father, but not before he was seriously wounded by the reborn Henry Bendix. Although his body was not found by either of the teams after the resulting destruction of the bunker; the horrifically scarred William emerged from the wreckage, his father having psychically grafted his own consciousness onto William's mind. In control of his son's body, Bendix mused that the body was young and strong enough.[1]

Alternate Bendix[]

The alternate Bendix who replaced the original had a substantial impact on the team as well, though in a much more negative way. While the original Bendix had an undoubtedly ruthless and cold-hearted side, the new one was an entirely self-centered, psychotic individual pursuing an ultra-conservative agenda. He had a bizarre romantic affair with Rose Tattoo, the Spirit of Murder, apparently being attracted to her lust for death and destruction.

The new Bendix was first defeated after attacking a group of superhumans attempting to establish a utopia in South America. Though believed dead at Jenny Sparks' hands, Bendix had in fact escaped to an alternate dimension. There he prepared an elaborate scheme to destroy the Authority, the successors of Stormwatch.

Stormwatch[]

As Weatherman One, he is the controller of Stormwatch, the United Nations special crisis intervention team. He is the World's Policeman.

After Fire From Heaven Bendix fired many of the members, split the team up into sub groups and even recruited Jack Hawksmoor, Jenny Sparks and Rose Tattoo. He would punish America and Kaizen Gamorra for their actions against him and peace and even formed a secret team of Stormwatch members. The team consisted of Apollo, Midnighter, Lamplight, Crow Jane, Amaze, Impetus and Stalker . He abandoned them when their first mission was a failure.

At some point it was said that he was approached by an alternate version of himself due to the fact that Bendix's are rare and in the search for anothers. The alternate would go on to lead Stormwatch, but after causing the deaths of the Changers he was killed by Jenny Sparks by electrocuting.

The Authority[]

The original Henry would travel the Bleed for some time returning after the Authority had taken over America. Bendix decided to break the team up and remove them from their place of power. Bendix's plan began when he tricked Midnighter into leaving the team by making him believe a future version of Apollo had come warning him that he would become a evil dictator. He also tricked a group of former American superheroes called Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty. They battled the Authority and caused so much damage that the team broke up.

Years later Bendix had caused the death of Jeroen Thornedike ( The Doctor) and imprisoned his successor, however, Jenny Quantum freed the new Doctor and rebuilt the team. Bendix, with Rose and a group of aliens called the Evolutionaries attacked the Carrier having brainwashed Midnighter to battle the team. Midnighter was able to defeat the team, but Jenny and Engineer freed him and he killed Bendix afterwards by ripping his skull and vertebral column out.

Authority Prime[]

It was recently revealed that Bendix had fathered a son, William. He was raised by his callgirl mother who was paid by Bendix to take care of William alone. Jackson King needed him since many of Bendix’s systems and implants were designed to work for him and since William is his son and his spitting image he was recruited under the name Weatherman. William had been working hard to uncover some of his father’s more secret file and in doing so found the location of a secret bunker used by Bendix to produce many of his superheroes.

But as Stormwatch heads to Nevada to find the bunker the Authority arrives also claiming it and a fight begins. However, Bendix programmed the bunker with an A.I. version of himself that released an army of zombie cloned members of his secret Stormwatch team. He was even able to get Rose Tattoo to rejoin him and produced a new body made with the powers of everyone in close proximity. William arrives and convinces Rose to kill his father but it caused destruction of the bunker. Neither team found William, but later it was revealed that Henry had imprinted himself on his son’s younger and stronger body surviving the destruction.

The Wild Storm[]

With the relaunch of the Wildstorm Comic Imprint, Bendix was soon reinvented for the latest comic book publishing. He's now the director and weatherman of Stormwatch, a sort of breakaway civilization looking to expand and colonize the rest of the planetary solar system outside of Earth. His organization and that of I.O director Miles Craven have a rather tenuous non-aggression pact with one another, that being Skywatch station and it's occupants own the whole of space and beyond while International Operations claims the whole of the world and it's ruling bodies.

Both vast power brokering extents have been secretly working behind each other's backs for years, altering the coarse of human history through invasive genetic and eugenic experimentation. Stormwatch utilizing their vast resources in order to create a second class race capable of surviving in a post-extinction level era global habitat in the wake of apocalyptic calamity.

Creating many post-humans whom were regular people that Bendix had abducted planet side, where his people would use to conduct their extensive metahuman research on then release back into the wild for the programs own safety. This tumultuous treaty was soon disrupted entirely when one of I.O.'s research engineers, Angela Spica went and brandished a nanobionic chassis she'd designed to save an Internal Operations wetwork specialists intended target; Jacob Marlowe. A robotic suit which used Skywatch technology secretly stolen under Craven's authorization.

Enemies with Superboy[]

After Superboy saved refugees from Gamorra, Henry went after him and his family, sending superhuman, manipulated kids after them. Jon later realized that this was Henry's doing and came to have a talk with him.

Attributes

Powers

  • Cybernetic Enhancement: As Weatherman Bendix was equipped with Cybernetic Networking Implants that allowed him to collect and process vast amounts of informations and control the orbital station of Skywatch.[2]

Abilities

  • Sometimes confused with "Enhanced Intellect", Genius Level Intellect is a term used to describe the skill of some characters to naturally obtain a great level of intelligence. It differs from Enhanced Intellect because the intellect gathered and understood is done so naturally without any enhancements.

Many scientists and businessmen are geniuses but many scientists and businessmen are not.

Notes

  • In the Monarchy series, Henry Bendix appears, claiming to have planned his death by Jenny Sparks so that he could become an imaginary being, capable of assisting the Weavers and the Monarchy in their battle against Chimera. Jackson King visits Bendix's home and finds his childhood diary there. In it, Bendix relates the events of his first contact with the Weavers. The Authority: Revolution series seems to have retconned these events away. Therefore it is also unclear whether his youth in Maladyville, Mississippi is still part of continuity.

Trivia

  • Henry created Midnighter's and Apollo's genetic enhancements.
  • In the multiverse Henry Bendix is a rare concept only possessing at least 2 - 4 counterparts while everyone else has as many counterparts as there exists realities.
  • Benix has appeared in the following non-WildStorm Image publications: Team Youngblood #7.

See Also

Links and References

References

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