King Faraday

King Faraday is a fictional secret agent featured in DC Comics. Faraday first appeared in Danger Trail #1 (July 1950), and was created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino.[1]

King Faraday
King Faraday on the cover of Danger Trail vol. 2, #4, art by Paul Gulacy.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceDanger Trail #1 (July 1950)
Created byRobert Kanigher
Carmine Infantino
In-story information
Alter egoKing Faraday
SpeciesHuman
Team affiliationsSuicide Squad
Checkmate
Central Bureau of Intelligence
PartnershipsNightshade
Notable aliasesWhite Queen's Bishop
AbilitiesExperienced espionage agent

Faraday's last appearance in the 1950s was in World's Finest Comics #64 (May-June 1953). He was picked up again after more than twenty-five years, in Batman #313 (July 1979).[2]

Fictional character biography
Danger Trail #1, art by Carmine Infantino.

He is named "King" by his father as a joke, a play on the phrase "King for a day".

An ex-soldier, he takes a position as a counter-espionage agent for the U.S. government and engages in a variety of standard spy-type capers. Some of his Danger Trail adventures are reprinted in Showcase #50 (May–June 1964) under the title "I-Spy". Faraday is later incorporated full-bore into the DC Universe as a member of the Central Bureau of Intelligence. At one point, he is Nightshade's mentor. In fact, he has a hand in both her and Bronze Tiger being recruited into Task Force X. He also teams up with Batman a few times. On two of those occasions, he helps to capture Two-Face.

One Year Later, he is a member of Checkmate, serving as the Bishop for White Queen Amanda Waller.

Faraday is part of The New 52: Futures End. He works with Grifter to investigate alien and cross-dimensional spies on Earth.

Skills and abilities

Faraday possesses no superhuman abilities but is a trained espionage agent and an expert hand-to-hand fighter and marksman.

Other versions

New Frontier

Faraday plays a prominent role in the alternate universe series DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke. King Faraday is a Chicago native who leads an effort to contain and corral the large amount of super-powered entities appearing including orchestrating "Project Flying Cloud" with Carol Ferris, Col. Rick Flag Sr. and Col. Hal Jordan. King uses various illegal methods, such as laying a trap for Barry Allen with a robotic Gorilla Grodd, even though he has not committed any crimes. Despite all this, he forms a friendship with one of his assignments: the Martian Manhunter after J'onn sacrificed his last chance to return home to save Faraday from a rocket. He is killed in the last issue of the series while defending his friend from a psychic attack from The Centre. [3]

Smallville

King Faraday appears in Smallville Season 11, based on the TV series. Faraday is a Checkmate agent who looks after a female White Martian, and raises her as a daughter, naming her Megan Morse. After Zod's attack on the Castle (one of Checkmate's bases) during Season 9 episode "Sacrifice", she and Faraday stay locked inside the facility. Faraday ends up dying, and Megan escapes.[4] His last transmissions were later found by Batman and Martian Manhunter in the remains of the Castle.[5]

Tangent

King Faraday appears in the 1997 Tangent Comics one-shot Green Lantern. In this depiction he is a Moldavian exile who is fascinated by mysteries and has his own magazine "King Faraday Digest" based around his investigations and published by "The House Of Mystery" which was managed by Roy Raymond and originally owned by Alfred Pennyworth, until Pennyworth was bought out by "Ralph Digby" an obvious play on the Elongated Man Ralph Dibny.

In his appearance in Tangent Comics he is resurrected from the grave by the Green Lantern after his death during a plane malfunction. He is resurrected with the intention of completing his last mystery so he can return to the afterlife in peace.

In other media

Television
  • King Faraday appears in Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Scott Patterson. His first appearance is in the episode "Double Date", in which he is a federal agent assigned to guard Steven Mandragora, who escapes. The 3rd season opener "I Am Legion" establishes that he is the Justice League's official liaison with the U.S. government. In the episode "To Another Shore", he and a group of government agents wearing jet packs appear in a scene, helping Wonder Woman in a fight against members of the Secret Society (who try to obtain the Viking Prince's corpse). In that scene, he refers to his fellow agents as "goldbrickin' yahoos", a catchphrase more associated with Nick Fury, a Marvel Comics character Faraday preceded.
  • King Faraday appears in the Young Justice episode "Performance", voiced by Clancy Brown. He is shown as an Interpol agent investigating Jack Haly's Circus. He later arrives in Geneva with his fellow agents to arrest Parasite and places an inhibitor collar on him.

Film
  • King Faraday appears in Justice League: The New Frontier, voiced by Phil Morris. In the film, Faraday is a Federal Agent who initially is against super powered beings who are not affiliated with the government. He and others agents take custody of a government rocket scientist that fled to Gotham. He later oversees the classified Mars mission and after noticing J’onn Jon’z attempting to board the rocket and attempts to apprehend the alien. J’onn ends up saving Faraday from being incinerated after knocking him unconscious. This act changes Faraday’s view of him and the two become friends. Faraday and J’onn soon arrive at an air force base to stop a standoff between US Soldiers and Heroes attempting to assist. Agreeing with Superman that the fear and paranoia between both sides must come to an end, Faraday shakes hands with Superman to end the hostilities. He later leads the ground forces against the Centre's dinosaur army. Faraday is gravely wounded by a T-Rex while protecting J'onn from a psychic attack by the Centre. Unable to escape from the T-Rex, Faraday ignites two grenades before being swallowed whole by the dinosaur, killing them both.
  • King Faraday appears in Catwoman: Hunted, voiced by Jonathan Frakes.

References
  1. Markstein, Don. "King Faraday". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  2. Eury, Michael; Kronenberg, Michael (2009). The Batcave Companion. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 239. ISBN 978-1893905788.
  3. DC: The New Frontier #6
  4. Smallville Season 11 Special #1
  5. Smallville Season 11 Special #1
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