Hector Hammond

Hector Hammond is a fictional comic book super-villain featured in titles published by DC Comics. He is associated with the Green Lantern family of titles and first appeared in Green Lantern, Volume 2 #5 in March-April, 1961 in a story titled "The Power Ring That Vanished!". The character also appeared in the 2011 Green Lantern feature film where he was played by actor Peter Sarsgaard.

Biography
Hector Hammond was simply a petty criminal on the run from the law when he discovered fragments of a strange meteor in the woods. Observing that radiation from the meteor had caused the nearby plants to evolve rapidly, Hammond decided to kidnap four scientists and expose them to the meteor on a remote island. The radiation caused their intelligence to increase greatly, but also had the side effect of sapping their wills. Hammond was able to force the scientists to use their heightened intellect to create amazing new inventions, which Hammond sold for his own profit.

Hammond rapidly becomes a rich celebrity due to the wealth he had acquired. Green Lantern Hal Jordan asked his friend and mechanic, Thomas Kalmaku, to take on the role of the Green Lantern while Jordan investigated Hammond. Jordan created a duplicate power ring and costume for Kalmaku to fool Hammond, and told him to fly above Coast City so it would be thought Green Lantern was there. The scientists tried to use a device to bring this Green Lantern to them, but the ring was first pulled off his finger and fell on the island, where Hammond found it. Unaware of the impersonation, Hammond stole his ring and turned Kalmaku into a chimpanzee. Jordan confronted Hammond personally in a battle of power rings that ended only when the charge of Hammond's ring ran out, allowing Jordan to capture him and restore Kalmaku and the scientists. He removed the scientists' memory of their knowledge, and got rid of the inventions as well, feeling humanity should advance more steadily.

Hammond returned later where he has managed to escape from prison and deliberately exposed himself to the meteorite. The radiation causes his brain to grow to enormous size, granting him psionic powers as well as immortality in the process. He captured Green Lantern using a "de-memorizer" invented by Amos Fortune, but was later captured. Unfortunately, his body became immobilized, and he lost the power to speak. Trapped in a motionless state, Hammond was still able to use his psionic powers to control the minds of others. He attempted to steal the Green Lantern's ring, but Jordan managedto command his ring to drain itself of power when it left his finger, after which Jordan rendered Hammond unconscious.

Hammond was responsible for the creation of the second Royal Flush Gang and sent them after the Justice League of America. Hammond and the Gang were defeated when Professor Martin Stein, one half of the superhero Firestorm, subdued Hammond on the astral plane.

Years later, the alien race known as the Kroloteans - the beings responsible for sending the meteor to Earth, arrived on the planet, and found Hector Hammond. The aliens experimented upon Hammond and through doing so, he regained the ability to speak.

Hector Hammond was later recruited into a new iteration of the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Unlike previous versions of the organization, this was led by Alexander Luthor, late of Earth-Three. Hammond's involvement with the group was minimal.

Skills

 * Genius-level intellect

Powers

 * Mind control
 * Telepathy
 * Telekinesis

Notes & Trivia



 * The meteor that gave Hector Hammond his psionic abilities is the same mineral that prompted the evolution of the apes in Africa, which gave rise to characters such as Grodd and Solovar.


 * Prior to becoming a foe of Green Lantern, Hector Hammond unsuccessfully attempted to court the affection of Carol Ferris.


 * The version of Hector Hammond that appeared in the Green Lantern film was a xenobiology professor, an old friend of Hal Jordan and the son of United States senator Robert Hammond.


 * Hector Hammond is another in a long list of highly intelligent characters who have elongated craniums. The Marvel Comics counterpart to such an individual is Samuel Sterns, aka the Leader - who likewise gained enhanced intelligence as well as an enlarged cranium after being exposed to a foreign substance.