Captain Boomerang

Early Life

The illegitimate son of an American toy-maker, W.W. Wiggins, and an Australian woman, Betty Harkness, George Harkness was raised in poverty in the small town of Kurrumburra, Australia. His stepfather, Ian Harkness, hated the boy and made his life miserable.

In school one day, Harkness crafted a boomerang. He discovered he had great skill with the aboriginal weapon and often used it for mischief with his best friend, Mick Wentworth. He further honed his skills while spending some time hiding from the law in the Australian bush.

When Harkness was eighteen, he and Wentworth robbed a general store and were able to make their escape with the aid of Harkness's boomerang. However, this incident caused Harkness's stepfather to kick him out of the house. His mother gave him a plane ticket to Central City and told him to get in touch with Wiggins.

Wiggins had been searching for a spokesman for W.W. Wiggins Game Company's latest product, a toy boomerang. Under the alias "George Green", Harkness auditioned for and got the job. Wiggins outfitted him with a costume and gave him the name "Captain Boomerang."

Silver Age Career

Harkness, however, had other plans for his new alter ego. He began a string of jewellery thefts. This alerted the attention of the Flash, and the Scarlet Speedster caught him in the act during one of his heists.

However, Captain Boomerang fooled the speedster by claiming that he was being impersonated. He even brought the Flash to his apartment and introduced him to actors posing as his parents, stating that they would starve if he was convicted of the robberies and lost his job as Wiggins's spokesman. The next time that Boomerang encountered the Flash, he knocked him out with one of his boomerangs and tied the unconscious speedster to his "Rocket Boomerang", which he sent hurtling high up into the Earth's atmosphere. However, on the descent back to ground, the Flash released himself and captured the villain.

Once, he planted special getaway boomerangs in every jail within one hundred miles of Central City, where they would remain invisible until he concentrated his brain waves to materialize them. One year later, he had the chance to use one of them. He was being transported to the state pen, but an anonymous phone call (which had actually been made by Boomerang's father, Aussie Green) said that there was a bomb in the patrol wagon that he was being transported in. The police evacuated the wagon and put Captain Boomerang into temporary custody at the police station. However, he used one of his getaway boomerangs to escape. As he escaped, he hurled a boomerang at Barry Allen for rubbing him the wrong way (a little earlier, the scientist had told one of the police officers not to take off the villain's straitjacket). Barry quickly changed into the Flash, and tried to apprehend Boomerang by creating air gusts, pushing the villain in front of him. However, the Captain contorted his body into the shape of a boomerang, which caused him to hurtle back towards the Flash, knocking him down. All of this had been recorded by Boomerang's father and put into a scrapbook entitled Flash -- This is your Death! Boomerang set Flash up in a machine, that sent the hero hurtling like a boomerang into another dimension, filled with terrible monsters. However, Flash stayed in the shape of a boomerang, knowing that he would be returned to his sender. Foiled, Boomerang and his father attempt to get away with a special flying boomerang. Flash then creates a waterspout as they fly over a lake, bringing them back down, where Flash takes them to police headquarters.

Legends

Amanda Waller recruited Captain Boomerang to her new Suicide Squad, in exchange for a pardon and prison release. He was forced to wear an explosive bracelet that would detonate if he disobeyed orders. They attacked Brimstone at Mount Rushmore. Blockbuster died in front of him. Boomerang distracted the monster with projectiles while Deadshot made the kill. Boomerang was furious when he realized that they were all supposed to die, and Rick Flag explained that every one of them is expendable including himself. Waller tried to keep Boomerang locked up, but Flag insisted on honoring their deal and released him. Boomerang immediately returned to the streets and embarked on a crime spree in New York City, where he battled Changeling and The Flash. G. Gordon Godfrey captured Boomerang and promised to execute him on live television. Boomerang threatened to expose the Suicide Squad unless they rescued him. Waller sent Deadshot to kill Boomerang, but Flag stopped him. Bronze Tiger chased Godfrey and Enchantress took down the Warhounds while Flag released Boomerang. Boomerang thanked him, and Flag punched Boomerang in the face.

Suicide Squad

Captain Boomerang is forced to continue serving with the Suicide Squad, but he still has to wear an explosive bracelet (unlike other permanent members) because Waller does not trust him. It is immediately established that the other Squad members do not like working with Boomerang, because of his loud racist and sexist attitudes. Boomerang sexually harasses his teammate Plastique, so Mindboggler uses her powers to embarrass him in front of the group. They are sent to destroy the terrorist group Jihad in Qurac, and Boomerang is told to neutralize their speedster Jaculi. Boomerang is used to dealing with the Flash, so he easily defeats Jaculi and kicks the terrorist off a roof to his death. Boomerang sees that Rustam is about to kill Mindboggler, and decides to let her die as punishment for humiliating him. When Belle Reve is attacked by the Female Furies, Boomerang chooses to simply hide and avoid conflict as others are dying. Boomerang is sent undercover to discredit the racist vigilante William Hell, and he infiltrates the Aryan Empire. Deadshot is forced to shoot an apple off of his head, and he does so with his eyes closed. He is part of the team sent by the President to arrest Firestorm. In this fight he is easily knocked out by Batman. Waller decides to let Boomerang live outside the prison, and he is given an apartment in New Orleans. They call Boomerang in as backup when they are fighting the People's Heroes in Russia, and he uses an exploding boomerang to defeat Sickle. He also knocks out Enchantress to stop her killing Deadshot, and says this is because he was cold and wanted to go indoors. Captain Boomerang returns to a life of petty crime and branches out to Gotham with Mirror Master. Both men were apprehended by the Batman. After Scudder died, Digger started impersonating Scudder as the Mirror Master. Warden Economos sends the team to destroy Manhunters during Millennium. Boomerang tests the explosive bracelets by telling Slipknot they do not work, and Slipknot blows his arm off trying to escape. He is nearly killed by Manhunters when he runs out of ammo, but he survives the encounter with Deadshot. They do not receive public credit for this mission. Waller sends Boomerang undercover with Black Orchid and Vixen to take down drug czar Xavier Cujo. Cujo tries to execute Boomerang, but Boomerang talks his way out of it. They get to their weapons and fight their way out, with Vixen killing Cujo. Boomerang tries to steal a large package of cocaine to sell for himself, but Black Orchid drags him away.

His career as Mirror Master was cut short when he was caught and brought to Waller, who put an end to it, and rescinded the benefits Harkness had been given, such as his apartment in New Orleans and his status as a voluntary member of the Squad. Harkness remained with the Squad until it was disbanded.

Identity Crisis

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, Harkness finally reached out to the son he abandoned, Owen Mercer. The two began to bond. Digger was killed by Jack Drake, father of Tim Drake. Digger had been sent by the real killer to attack Jack Drake, only the killer double crossed Digger and sent Drake a warning and a pistol to defend himself. Digger managed to kill Drake but not before he was shot himself. The sudden loss of Harkness caused Mercer to take up his father's mantle, and become the second Captain Boomerang.

Blackest Night

Harkness was reanimated as a Black Lantern. First, he targeted Batman and Red Robin in Gotham City with the assistance of Black Lanterns of the Graysons and Drakes. However, their efforts were thwarted by Deadman as well as Batman and Red Robin cryogenically freezing themselves, keeping their emotions from the Black Lanterns.

After that failure, Harkness and other Black Lantern Rogues attacked their living comrades. He proceeded to rip his son's heart out, killing him and turning him also into a Black Lantern. Captain Cold encased both Captain Boomerangs in ice blocks, but Harkness was able to escape while Owen perished.

Brightest Day

Harkness was one of twelve heroes and villains raised by the white light for mysterious reasons. Imprisoned in Iron Heights for crimes he committed when he was alive, Harkness makes a call to The Rogues requesting help in escaping the prison and that he become a Rogue again. Captain Cold denies helping him and tells Harkness he has to prove that he is still a Rogue by breaking out of Iron Heights himself and by taking on The Flash. Due to the exposure to the Black Ring, Harkness discovered he could manifest black construct boomerangs in times of duress. Utilizing the boomers which are able to explode on contact, he escaped from Iron Heights and sought out The Flash in an effort to win favor with The Rogues once again.

New 52

Origin

Though he liked to make up fake stories about his origin, the truth was, from an early age, Digger Harkness taught himself how to carve and throw boomerangs extremely well, having known his absentee father was especially proficient with them. Young Harkness believed that, if he could become better with boomerangs, it would somehow impress his father if they were to ever meet again.

When he was older, Harkness moved to Central City in the United States, determined to become a master thief with his boomerangs, and became the costume criminal "Captain Boomerang". However, his plan went awry when he was contested by the vigilante speedster the Flash, who constantly put Harkness behind bars. Captain Boomerang allied himself with the Flash's Rogues gallery, but, still, even their combined efforts were no match for the Flash.

At some point, Captain Boomerang was defeated and finally sent to Belle Reve Penitentiary, where he was selected to be a member of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad.

Early Missions

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New Suicide Squad

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Rebirth

While on a mission in a super-prison in the Arctic, the Suicide Squad were discovered a portal to the Phantom Zone, which Captain Boomerang wasn't smart enough to stay away from. While staring at it, Boomerang was zapped by a blast of heat vision from the newly freed General Zod, killing him. However, his consciousness was somehow transported back in the form of a ghost within the power systems of Belle Reve that was discovered when the Squad member Hack was digging through them. Hack then proceeded to remateriliaze Digger, making him human again to help stop the rampaging General Zod.

Justice League vs. Suicide Squad

When the Justice League found out about Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad operations, the team intervened on one of the Squad's missions in Badhnisia, intending to put an end to Task Force X. Trying to split up the Justice League to avoid being captured by them, the Squad each took their respective heroes - Captain Boomerang being chased by his long time nemesis the Flash. Despite the Flash catching Boomerang, the Justice League was ultimately defeated when Squad member Killer Frost used a mighty blast of ice to freeze the Justice League long enough to be detained and taken to Belle Reve.

Later, Amanda Waller revealed that the members of her original Suicide Squad, which had been kept in a secret underground facility, had been broken free by the mastermind Maxwell Lord and that she needed the Justice League and the new Suicide Squad to work together to stop them. Captain Boomerang and the Flash, now working side-by-side, together fended off inter-dimensional monsters summoned by the villain Johnny Sorrow. Even after Lord managed to summon the demon Eclipso with the Heart of Darkness, Captain Boomerang helped fend off the mind-controlled masses with the remaining members of the Suicide Squad and Batman before defeating Lord and saving the day.

Doomsday Clock

Harkness mentioned the Suicide Squad went on a mission to Kahndaq and he was the only one to escape.