There have been several versions of the character: two supervillains-turned-superheroes from the mainstream Marvel Universe continuity (Earth-616), Kyle Richmond (who belonged to the Squadron Sinister) and Tilda Johnson (the former Deadly Nightshade); two S.H.I.E.L.D.

Daredevil tricks Richmond into revealing his criminal activities to the public and, after a battle atop a subway, Nighthawk makes good his escape.

Due to his family's money, Kyle got into Grayburn College where he became involved with Mindy Williams who helped him focus through his education.

[13] After apparently sacrificing his life to stop an organization bent on decimating the people of the Soviet Union, Richmond turns up alive but comatose.

[15] After an adventure with Fantastic Four member the Thing[16] Nighthawk discovers his abilities are increasing, and learns that his former Squadron Sinister teammate Speed Demon has joined the superhero team the New Thunderbolts.

After encountering teammate Hyperion, apparently resurrected after being thought dead, and a new Doctor Spectrum (Alice Nugent), Nighthawk briefly joins the New Thunderbolts,[17] but upon discovering he is being used for his fortune, leaves and rejoins the Squadron Sinister.

[21] During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Nighthawk joins Howard the Duck, She-Hulk and Frankenstein's Monster to form the Fearsome Four when Man-Thing is driven on a rampage.

[volume & issue needed] He helped psychiatrist Andrea Sterman uncover a conspiracy involving Roxxon Oil, the Commission on Superhuman Activities, S.H.I.E.L.D., Nomad, and the Thunderbolts.

[27] In the team's first mission, Nighthawk and the Squadron Supreme of America fought Namor and the Defenders of the Deep, when they targeted a Roxxon oil platform off the coast of Alaska.

He and the other members of the Squadron Supreme of America were summoned to Washington D.C., where Coulson brought them up to speed with Malekith the Accursed's invasion.

[30] During the Heroes Reborn storyline where reality is altered to feature a world without the Avengers, Nighthawk was with the Squadron Supreme of America when they fought the Masters of Doom.

Following this, Nighthawk returns to his headquarters to review Ravencroft's surveillance footage and discovers Blade and Captain America helped Lopez escape.

Putting aside their differences and without telling President Coulson, they gather clues and rule out suspects before eventually arriving in Wakanda where they confront the Avengers.

Black Panther is told by Nightwing that he resigned as the ambassador to Wakanda because "Kyle Richmond never existed" and states that he was just a "straw man" that the devil created while Nighthawk was real.

He then proceeds to join the Avengers in confronting the Serpent Society after they escaped from police custody and are killing people while making their way across the Brooklyn Bridge.

[39] Sometime later, they help Hawkeye and Red Wolf after they find barrels of epidurium, a synthetic skin used to build Life-Model Decoys, on a truck that was hijacked.

[41] Nighthawk is a superb athlete who, courtesy of an alchemical potion, possesses enhanced strength and increased agility and durability from dusk till dawn.

Roy Thomas and penciller John Buscema created an alternate-universe team of heroes called the Squadron Supreme, who debut in The Avengers #85 (February 1971).

[44] Richmond later retires as Nighthawk, feeling that he can better serve the public good as a politician, eventually becoming President of the United States.

When the Richmond working with the Overmind is revealed to be artificial, Nighthawk recalls his true identity and rejoins the Squadron Supreme.

The team implements a series of sweeping changes, including revealing their secret identities; instituting a program of behavior modification in prisons; enforcing a strict gun control policy, and developing medical technology to resurrect the dead.

They eventually confront the Squadron, and a brutal battle ensues in which several members of both teams are killed, including Nighthawk.

A horrified Hyperion realizes Nighthawk was in fact right and ends the battle, and the Squadron disband and release control of the United States to the government.

[volume & issue needed] The Earth-712 Nighthawk lacks superhuman powers but possesses extensive training and uses a variety of advanced weaponry.

For years prior to the Squadron Supreme's return, Neal had organized and supervised a resistance force dubbed the "Nighthawks" who battle the Blue Eagles enlisted by the corporate New World Order.

Nighthawk's only attempt at heroics involves leaping from the shadows at a group of petty criminals – only to break his ankle and be severely beaten.

This version of Kyle Richmond, an African-American, first appears in the limited series Supreme Power, and utilizes his wealth to train and develop advanced weaponry and devices to aid in his campaign on crime as a vigilante.

[54] Although the character aids the loose formation of heroes that eventually become the Squadron Supreme, Nighthawk chooses to remain aloof and only interacts with them when necessary.

The character also appears in the six-issue miniseries Supreme Power: Nighthawk, in which he investigates an epidemic of drug addiction in Chicago, and learns it is the work of serial killer Whiteface.

[56][57] The character worked on reforming Chicago and targeted racism and police brutality with the aid of ex-supervillain Tilda Johnson / Deadly Nightshade.