Owen Mercer

Captain Boomerang
Captain Boomerang. Panel from Identity Crisis #6 (2004) by Rags Morales
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Identity Crisis # 3 (October 2004)
Created by	Brad Meltzer Rags Morales
In-story information
Alter ego	Owen Mercer
Team affiliations	Rogues The Society Outsiders Suicide Squad Black Lantern Corps
Notable aliases	Owen Harkness, Captain Boomerang Jr.
Abilities	Uses a wide variety of gimmicked boomerangs; limited superspeed called "speed bursts".

Captain Boomerang (Owen Mercer) is a comic book superhero existing in the DC Comics' main shared universe. He is the son of the original Captain Boomerang (George "Digger" Harkness) and Meloni Thawne.^[1]

Owen shares many relations to various superheroes and supervillains. His father is supervillain Captain Boomerang; his half-brothers are Bart Allen and supervillain Inertia; and two of his ancestors are Professor Zoom and Cobalt Blue the twin brother of Barry Allen.

Fictional character biography

Origins

During the beginning of the Identity Crisis storyline, "Digger" Harkness found himself an obsolete villain in the modern world of supervillains. Regularly going up to the supervillain satellite looking for jobs, asking favors from the Calculator, he was at the end of his rope looking for a job to put him on the map again.

During this time he felt it was finally time to reach out to the son he never raised, Owen Mercer. Before Harkness's death, the two bonded. Taking up his father's legacy, he became the second Captain Boomerang. Captain Cold, brother to Golden Glider (who was believed to be Owen's mother), took Owen in as one of the Rogues.^[1]

Rogues

Though Owen initially had no real attachment to the Rogues (and even voiced various, albeit short, opinions out loud), he grew to enjoy the purpose and sense of family the team offered after finding that his father's body had been stolen for use in a lab (which was later revealed to be part of a plan to get memories from Harkness).

Around this time the Rogue War began, in which the "reformed" Rogues fought the Rogues under Captain Cold. Ashley Zolomon is told by Harkness himself (he's briefly revived by the "reformed" Rogues as part of an experiment) that Golden Glider is not Owen's real mother. Later, it is revealed in Flash #225 (January 2006) that Meloni Thawne is the mother of Owen Harkness, formerly Owen Mercer, the new Captain Boomerang, having conceived him by the original Boomerang while he was trapped in the 30th Century. It is unknown whether she gave birth to Bart Allen or Owen first, or how Owen made it back to our own time.

The Society

During the Infinite Crisis, Owen was part of Luthor's group of villains. He, Captain Cold, and Mirror Master were sent to guard a factory against the Outsiders, under the command of Deathstroke (who was actually Arsenal in disguise). When the ensuing battle between Outsiders and Rogues destroyed the machinery in the factory, the Rogues and other villains wouldn't help in the fight at all and then at the explosion, he is saved by the Outsiders, while the Rogues left them at the base to blow up. He is then turned over to the authorities off-panel.

During the 52 series, Owen is part of a Suicide Squad sent by Amanda Waller to attack Black Adam.

Outsiders

During the events known as One Year Later, Owen finds himself placed in the metahuman prison known as Iron Heights. There he finds himself being the cellmate of Black Lightning, who was arrested for a murder that Deathstroke the Terminator committed.^[1] It is soon discovered that the other inmates have learned of Black Lightning's identity and are planning to murder him. The Outsiders become aware of this and attempt to break Pierce out of jail. Unfortunately it goes terribly wrong. As they escape, Black Lightning asks that they take Owen with them, which they grudgingly agree. As they escape, the Outsiders' jet, the Pequod, is shot down, and while the team escapes, the world believes them dead.

Because of this event and the Freedom of Power Treaty, the team now works covertly. Most of the current Outsiders were believed dead until a botched mission revealed their presence to the world. His history as a Rogue has been exploited several times by team leader Nightwing from torturing dictators to taking down a cloned Jay Garrick. However, it is revealed that his desire to join the Outsiders comes from his desire for a family. Nightwing allowed him to join his team partially because Arsenal felt he would be worthy, and because Owen has been striving to find a family since the death of his father and the outbreak of the Rogue War.

Owen searched out the current Robin because of their connection, where their fathers killed one another. While Robin originally believed Owen was searching for him in order to finish the fight his father started, in Robin #152, Owen revealed that he wished to make amends with the younger hero, and has offered his assistance to help Robin destroy a bomb created by the Joker. The two later spend the following night spreading out old hideouts of several villains. Afterward, Robin gained a bit of civil respect for Boomerang despite what their fathers did to another. Boomerang attempted to shake hands with Robin, but Robin refused the gesture feeling unready to make that step.

At some point during his tenure with the Outsiders, Captain Cold approached the mercenary Deathstroke with an offer concerning Owen. In exchange for kidnapping Deathstroke's daughter Rose (who had betrayed her father and joined the Teen Titans) and delivering her to her father, Deathstroke would track down the Outsiders and turn Owen over to the Rogues. The villains planned to force Owen to cooperate with the team by administering the same mind-controlling agent that Deathstroke had used on his daughter as well as Batman's partner Cassandra Cain. However, this plan fell apart when Rose escaped and helped the Teen Titans defeat the Rogues, which lead to Deathstroke backing out of the deal.^[2]

Owen has also developed a close friendship with Supergirl, Kara Zor-El.^[1] After Supergirl returned from her time away with Power Girl, Kara began looking to start a normal life on Earth and went out a 'date' with Owen, during which they spoke of their past problems. Kara has nicknamed Owen 'Boomer'. Although the pair often flirts with one another, they have never progressed to a romantic relationship. This comes primarily from the fact that Kara continues to show interest in Nightwing, and jokingly says that what she and Owen has is more of a brother-sister relationship, in which he has an unhealthy fixation on his 'little sis'.

Feeling rejected after Kara's relationship with Power Boy, Owen goes to a bar where he meets Cassandra Cain (Batgirl), who at the time was being mind controlled by Deathstroke the Terminator, and who has been hired to kill Supergirl. Cassandra kidnaps and tortures Owen to lure Supergirl. Unfortunately, this proves unnecessary, as Kara had tracked down Cassandra on her own, without any knowledge of Owen's kidnapping. Batgirl nearly manages to defeat Supergirl, but is defeated when Kara grows Krypton Sunstones which impale her foe. Kara then rushes Owen to the hospital where he is treated. While still in medical care, it is discovered that Power Boy has been stalking Kara.

Following Kara's rather violent break-up with Power Boy, the earth was overtaken by spirits from the Phantom Zone, which began to emerge from within Superman. Kara managed to defeat the Phantoms and return the Earth to normal. Afterwards, in Supergirl #19 Kara begins to make amends with all the people who she has hurt since arriving on earth. Amongst them, Boomer, who she apologies for letting him get hurt and leading him on. During this conversation, the matter of Owen's relationship with Kara is finally clarified. When asked by Kara how he feels about her leading him on, Owen replies, "Well, if I may ... for me to have been 'led on' would presume I thought I had a shot with you ... For me to think I had a shot with a sixteen-year-old girl -- crystal-powered hypersleep whatever junk aside ... that would mean I am a dirtbag with a thing for jailbait. Which I am not." In Checkmate #13-15, crossover with Outsiders #47-49, Checkmate abducts all members of the Outsiders except Nightwing, allowing him to infiltrate their headquarters offer them a deal: The Outsiders won't be shut down over their actions in Africa in exchange for infiltrating Oolong Island on behalf of Checkmate. During the operation, Nightwing, Owen, and Checkmate's Black Queen are taken captive by Chang Tzu, and the latter two are tortured and experimented on. After Batman rescues the Outsiders over North Korean territory, and Nightwing hands over the team to him, Owen and Nightwing are paired with each other in "auditions" for the new line up. Pushed too far, feeling he doesn't need to prove himself anymore, Owen returns to the Suicide Squad although Batman feels he could make a good double agent.^[1]

Suicide Squad

In All Flash #1, Owen as part of the new Suicide Squad captures two of the Rogues that are responsible for Bart Allen's murder, Heat Wave and Weather Wizard, in Louisiana. In Countdown #39, he and the rest of the squad chase after Piper and Trickster in Gotham City after they had escaped capture from Squad member Deadshot. The Squad however, is just as unsuccessful as Deadshot, and the two Rogues escape capture.

Blackest Night

Owen visit his father's grave along with Tar Pit, when the swarm of black rings fly into the crypt, reanimated all the deceased the villains as Black Lanterns, including his father.^[3] The Rogues battle in the Iron Heights, when the battle resulted a draw on both side and Harkness's son, Owen, arrives and took him away from the battle, believing he can bring his father back.^[4] Later on, Owen has apparently chained up his father's body and is feeding him victims such as a villain named Sandblast who was relying on Owen to get him into the Rogues. It is revealed that Owen has been deceived by Boomerang into believing the blood of enough victims can bring bring him back to life. The Rogues track Owen down with Captain Cold berating him on believing Harkness' lies. Realizing that Owen has broken the Rogues' code of honor by killing women and children, Cold shoves him into the pit. Owen has his heart ripped out by his father, with a ring flying in to revive him as a Black Lantern. The Black Lantern Owen and his father are then encased in ice by Cold.^[5] His father manages to escape and join in the mass battle against the heroes where he is brought back to life and in full health.^[6]

Powers and abilities

The original Captain Boomerang began to train Owen before he died. He has exhibited creativity in his boomerangs by creating "razorangs" and an acid-spewing boomerang.

Owen has also exhibited "speed bursts": short burst of limited super speed over short distances, most notably when throwing boomerangs. These were even possible during the time period that Bart Allen fully contained the Speed Force^{[volume & issue needed]}. However, during Chang Tzu's experiments he claimed he believed Mercer could access the Speed Force, and Mercer denied having super speed at all anymore, but Chang Tzu was able to activate Owen's speed involuntarily, causing him great pain^{[volume & issue needed]}. The exact source of this power remains unrevealed. Regardless, as of Justice Society of America #8, the Speed Force appears to have returned and is accessible to all former speedsters once more.

In other media

Film

• Owen Mercer appears in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. He is among the supervillains that attack Superman and Batman^{[citation needed]}.

Video Games

• Captain Boomerang appears in DC Universe Online as a Tech dealer in the Hall of Doom. Though it is determined to be "Digger" Harkness, the model of the character appears to be Owen Mercer.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Greenberger, Robert (2008), "Captain Boomerang", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 66, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017 
2. ^ Teen Titans: Cold Case
3. ^ Blackest Night: The Flash #1 (December 2009)
4. ^ Blackest Night: The Flash #2 (January 2010)
5. ^ Blackest Night: The Flash #3 (February 2010)
6. ^ Blackest Night #8 (March 2010)