SIX-MILLION-YEAR MAN
Real Name: Hatch-22
Identity/Class: alternate future human variant
Occupation: unrevealed
Affiliations: none
Enemies: Black Panther (T'Challa), Abner Little (Mr. Little to you!), Princess Zanda, unnamed creature in his future
Known Relatives: none
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Hatch number 22 in an alternate future Earth
First Appearance: Black Panther I#1(February, 1977)
Powers: The Six-Million-Year Man possess vast psionic powers, apparently common to all human beings in his alternate future. Hatch-22 possesses immense telekinetic abilities, and can manipulate most forms of energy with his mind, and can generate tremendous heat and magnetic force in this manner. Hatch-22 can also generate psychic images, and is sufficiently powerful in this manner that he projected his dreams as a realistic three-dimensional image while unconscious. In addition, Hatch-22 has a sensory organ on the back of his head which can detect beings behind him. He can fire a beam of "microns," subatomic particles which disintegrate matter, from this "third eye." Hatch-22 was also somewhat invulnerable to great heat, though he was knocked unconscious by a single punch from the Black Panther.
History: (Black Panther I#2 (fb))- Hatch-22 hailed from an alternate future in which human beings have evolved into nearly unrecognizable forms and live beneath Earth's surface in numbered "hatches." In that future, the "Sixth Era of Man," Hatch-22 apparently battled and destroyed a massive creature with the power to ravage planets
(Black Panther I#1)- In the course of a struggle between Princess Zanda and Abner Little of the "Collectors," Hatch-22 was drawn to the present by one of the artifacts known as King Solomon's Frogs.
(Black Panther I#2)- Hatch-22 angrily demanded to be returned to "the hatch" in his own time, and telekinetically attacked everyone nearby. Zanda's mercenaries attacked the strange being in response, and Hatch-22 proceeded to demolish her forces. The Panther, thinking quickly, began doing push-ups in front of the "Six-Million-Year Man", claiming it was a form of greeting. The Six-Million-Year Man was fascinated enough by this to drop his guard. The Panther then swiftly knocked him out with a punch.
The Panther prevented Zanda from simply killing Hatch-22, whose dreams and memories were projected as lifelike images, telling T'Challa and his allies where he had come from, and what his future was like. Hatch-22 nearly revived, but Little shot him with a chemical pellet that diffused his mental processes. Hoping to return Hatch-22 home without further incident, Zanda, the Panther, and Little set off to find a matching Frog in King Solomon' tomb to complete the time-travel mechanism.
(Black Panther I#3)- Executing a less-than-perfect crash landing, T'Challa accidentally set Hatch-22 free in the fiery blaze. Still dazed by the chemical, he began destroying everything in sight. When the Black Panther found himself in a losing battle with one of the tomb's robotic guardians, Little lured Hatch-22 to the scene, where the future man destroyed the robot. However, Hatch-22 then attempted to kill them all. At the last moment, the Panther found the second frog and sent Hatch-22 back to his proper era.
(Black Panther III#43)- Years later, on a mission to Kiber Island to retrieve one of King Solomon's Frogs, T'Challa, along with his allies Nightshade, Princess Zanda, Mr. Little, and Everett K. Ross, were briefly engaged by Hatch-22, who had been summoned forth again by the frog, but T'Challa quickly knocked him unconscious. With the frog recovered, Hatch-22 was again returned to his own time.
"If I don't have to know why that guy had 'Hatch-22' tattooed on his enormous head, so much the better..." -Everett K. Ross
Comments: Created by Jack "King" Kirby, who might've been licking frogs at the time.
Like his second run on Captain America, Kirby's Panther is somewhat controversial with fans. It's an amazingly creative and fun series, but bears little resemblance to any other version of the character, who at times seems not to be the point of his own book. Kirby's Panther is well worth seeking out, if only to enjoy Kirby's tremendous imagination.
