William Hand

Growing up as part of the wealthy and respectable Hand family in Coastville, California, William Hand had always been the black sheep. He hated his family, and strived to do anything he could to distance himself from his three brothers. As they were all profitable in legitimate business, he turned to a life of crime.

Starting with smaller crimes such as pickpocketing, and working his way up to larger felonies, he developed his own methodically written "black book" which contains a complete listing of everything a criminal must do to succeed, as well as a contingency plan for every situation. However, he knew it was inevitable that eventually he was going to have to fight local superhero Green Lantern. A brilliant inventor, he constructed a device that would allow him to absorb and harness quantities of the power ring radiation, and use it back against Green Lantern.

The first time his mettle was professionally tested by Green Lantern, Black Hand used a device of his invention to transport the hero to an astral plane, piece by piece. Although he was only able to reduce Green Lantern by half, he took advantage of the stalemate between their powers to rob the city blind. Meanwhile, he attended a gala for the success of his three brothers to gloat over how much greater than them he had become.