Guardian (DC Comics)
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Facts
- height: 6'1"
- weight: 206 lbs
- eyes: blue
- hair: brown
- real name:James Jacob "Jim" Harper
- debut:Star-Spangled Comics #7
(April, 1942) - creators: Jack Kirby
- alliances:Project Cadmus, All-Star Squadron, Newsboy Legion
- powers: The Harper clone has exceptional strength, speed and a healing factor, plus an indestructible shield.
Summary
The Guardian (Jim Harper) is a DC Comics costumed hero. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Star Spangled Comics #7 (1942). The character resembles an earlier Simon and Kirby-created character, Captain America, (published by Marvel Comics) in that he had no super powers and carried a shield.
Jim Harper
Jim Harper was a police officer in Metropolis' Suicide Slum who became a vigilante to catch crooks that the law couldn't prosecute, describing himself as guarding society from criminals. He was aided by a group of boys known as the Newsboy Legion, to whom he was, literally, a guardian. The Legion grew up to become the heads of the Cadmus Project, subsequently saving Harper's life by transferring his mind from his old, dying body into a clone of himself when he was younger.
It was later revealed that Jim Harper was the uncle of Roy Harper, who became Green Arrow's sidekick under the name of "Speedy".
It's been revealed that Harper has an African-American grandniece now working for the Gotham City Police Department.
Golden Guardian
In Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 (October 1970), Jack Kirby reintroduced the boys of the now grown-up Newsboy Legion as supporting characters connected with the DNA Project (later Project Cadmus), a genetics research laboratory. One of the Project's experiments was a clone of the late Jim Harper, who took up his predecessor's role, and became the Project's Head of Security as the Golden Guardian. Post-Crisis this character was simply known as the Guardian.
The Guardian disappeared with the rest of Cadmus following Lex Luthor's rise to the Presidency, as shown in Superboy.
Post-Infinite Crisis
Following Infinite Crisis, the Guardian clone's backstory was retconned. As Dubbilex explained to Jimmy Olsen in the Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen one-shot (December 2008), Jim Harper was not killed in the line of duty, but shot by Cadmus's first head of security, Jonathan Drew (later the telepathic vigilante Codename: Assassin), upon discovering the clone was already being created.
It was also revealed that the original Guardian clone had left Cadmus early on, and was now living in the town of Warpath on the Mexican border, where he assisted Sheriff Greg Saunders.
Mal Duncan
In Teen Titans #44 (November 1976), the previously uncostumed Titan Mal Duncan took the name of the Guardian, wearing the original's outfit and an exoskeleton with strength augmenting abilities. The two Guardians finally met in Superman Family #s 191-193 (Sept 78-Feb 79), when Mal helped rescue the Harper clone from the Project's villainous counterpart, the Evil Factory.
The Crisis on Infinite Earths removed Duncan's career as the Guardian, but Harper's history remained largely unchanged, and he remained Cadmus' Head of Security even after the former Newsboys had left. Eventually, he too was killed, although another clone was created and rapidly aged to adulthood, retaining all his predecessor's memories. This Guardian disappeared along with the rest of Cadmus following an altercation with Amanda Waller and President Luthor, and his whereabouts are unknown.
In the Frank Miller graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the Guardian is one of the superheroes killed by the "Joker."
Jake Jordan
Manhattan Guardian In 2005, Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers megaseries introduced a new character based on the original Guardian, Jake Jordan the Manhattan Guardian.