Harm (comics)

Harm
Harm attacks Arrowette. Art by Todd Nauck.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Young Justice #4 (Jan. 1999)
Created by	Peter David (script) Todd Nauck (art)
In-story information
Alter ego	William Hayes
Abilities	Superhuman strength and speed, body possession, mind control

Harm is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Young Justice #4 (January 1999).

William "Billy" Hayes (whose secret origin is found in Young Justice #42), is an orphan boy adopted by two loving middle-class parents and their young daughter Greta. When William (then Billy) is first adopted, Greta sees prophetic visions of his evil nature, but is calmed by Billy, who swears to protect Greta and her innocence from the bad things of the world. Later, as Billy enters his teenage years, he is approached by the demon Buzz, who offers Billy a way to become very powerful. When Greta interrupts one of their meetings, Billy tries to convince her to help him gain his power, telling her that she will gain power too. Greta senses danger and begins to cry for her father, who enters the room and finds Buzz gone, and everything appearing to be normal. Later still, Billy finally makes his preparations for his demonic ascent to power, and, wearing tribal face paint, sacrifices his sister Greta in exchange for power by dropping a tape-deck into her bath tub. Now armed with his new abilities, Billy took on the name Harm, a sociopathic young man determined to become the world's greatest murderer. His parents are unable to control the young man, and are in fact terrified of him. Harm makes his first appearance in Young Justice #4, attacking Arrowette and stabbing her through the arm with one of her arrows. The attack on the young superheroine prompts her friends in Young Justice to seek out Harm. They attempt to capture him, but Harm is able to defeat each member with ease, electrocuting Secret, keeping Wonder Girl off-balance to stop her using her powers, and hitting Superboy with knockout gas, only retreating because he heard approaching police cars and decided to withdraw.

Having captured and reprogrammed the Red Tornado while the rest of the team were dealing with a DEO facility where Secret had once been held prisoner, Harm taunts the heroes by leaving the message "Holy Beatles, kids!" Initially they believe he intends to target a Beatles convention, but just in time, they realize his real target: Pope John Paul II, the leader of the Catholic Church, currently hosting a mass in the local church. They save his life, Impulse removing the bomb Harm planted in the Tornado and Robin defeating him in one-on-one combat, but Harm escapes. Harm returns home, only to be shot dead by his father, who'd promised Harm's mother that he would "handle things."