Skyhook

Origin

In 1880s London the man known to the children he abducted as Uncle Hook. Aleister Hook abducted children and brought them to an abandoned church where he performed satanic rituals. After being seen abducting a child, Aleister locked himself and his young brainwashed children in the abandoned church. A mob of men, women and parents broken down the doors to the church to reclaim their children who were still pledging allegiance to Uncle Hook. The mob restrained Aleister by hanging him upside-down over a pentagram. The mob debated his fate and then proceeded to burn down the church with Aleister still inside. While Aleister made a final plea of forgiveness to God, Satan rebuked him by reminding Aleister that his bargain was made with him. Strange cries were heard and one witness saw a strange figure emerge from the flames. However, Aleister's body was never recovered from the charred remains of the church. But, soon after this incident his new form boarded a cargo ship bound for 1880s America.

The abandoned St. Christopher's Church is where he operated from. He would gather runaway or abandoned children and place them in pods. These pods would cause the children to mutate and grow bat-like wings for them to fly. Skyhook would send these children out to commit robberies for him.

Storylines

Modern Age

Superman was attempting to locate Jamie, one of the runaway children. She was the daughter of Maggie Sawyer, a Metropolis police officer. They found his lair and Skyhook, who was placing Maggie's daughter in a pod. Skyhook took Jamie as a hostage. Maggie fired her gun and wounded Skyhook causing him to fall into a estuary. Superman rescued 23 of the children who were still in the pods. Jamie has slightly mutated, but not noticeably.

Skyhook returned and once again continued his abductions of children (Bobby Davis and Oliver T. Wohl). Skyhook used the aqueducts as his new base of operations. He was pursued by Superman, Jim and Maggie Sawyer, but he met his fate at St. Christopher's Church when he was impaled by a cross wielding religious statue. With Skyhook's death the wings that the abducted children possessed disappeared.

The St. Christopher's Church was later turned into the nightclub Blazes by Jerry White and Angelica Blaze.

DC: Rebirth

Skyhook appears in Rebirth as a well known and dangerous criminal operating in Metropolis. Much like his original counterpart, he is known kidnapping and mutating children. Combined with his other crimes, he is known as a bogeyman among kids and kept at arm's length by Metropolis criminals. One of the few villains brave enough to work with him was Crash, arms dealer and brother to superhero Steel. After enlisting help from him for a theft, Crash decided to stiff Skyhook of his cut to have more money to support his children with. Unwilling to let that stand, Skyhook retaliated by kidnapping his youngest son, Ezekiel. This act created enmity not just with Crash, but with Steel, Zeke's sister Natasha, and Lana Lang, who would later become Superwoman. Eventually, the police gave up on finding Zeke or Skyhook and he remained a free monster.

After Crash escaped from Stryker's Island, the hunt for Skyhook was renewed by the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit in hopes the search would lead them to Crash. Also entering the fray was Superwoman, who wanted to apprehend Skyhook before Steel or Natasha could take their revenge on him. After locating Skyhook, she failed to bring him in after her armor lost power during the fight. Staying underground to avoid his pursuers, Crash was first to track him to one of his hideouts. Despite being armed with advanced weaponry, Crash was no match for Skyhook's powers. Before he could kill his foe, Superwoman arrived and went another round with him. During the fight, Skyhook mentioned Ezekiel's capture to rattle her cage. The effort failed, and Lana was able to defeat him and give him to the MSCU proof that he was responsible for Zeke's kidnapping.