- "You hold out on me and you'll regret it!"
- —Edward Hanson
Edward Hanson is a villain in the series.
He was a scientist who suffered a terrible accident that mutated his body into a shadow that was vulnerable to light. Hanson then became a killer for hire.
History[]
Dr. Hanson was a scientist who worked at a chemical division for O'Neil Incorporated. During an experiment involving radioactive isotopes, he suffered a terrible accident which mutated his body into a grotesque dark shadow. To make matters worse, he was unable to survive in light and even the slightest shade of it would harm him.
Season 4[]
At some point, Hanson met Lex Luthor, Jr. and agreed to help him murder several scientists related to the creation of an android named Vixen (that Jr. himself had helped create) in exchange for a antidote to cure his condition.
After taking out two of them: Angelo Martinelli and Lawrence Rankin by sliding under the door and snapping their necks, Hanson paid Jr. a visit asking for the antidote. Jr. told him that his work was not quite finished yet.
Hanson furiously grabbed him by his jumper and swore he would regret it if he welshed on his side of the deal. In retaliation, Jr. took a flashlight and shone it at Hanson, making him rear backwards against a wall in pain. Jr. then told him that he understood why Hanson didn't feel himself but if he roughed him up again, the antidote as well as Hanson's chance to ever live a normal life would go down the drain.
Jr. then sent him out promising to give him another target and said he had big plans to make Hanson's former boss Walter O'Neil pay.
Hanson then murdered another target named Paul Fleming and returned to Jr.'s lair again. Appearing on a nearby wall, he overheard both him and his other employee Leslie Luckabee saying that they would soon have exactly what they want and delighted that they now had the secret of Superman's identity from a recording left behind by Lex Sr..
Jr. then said that there never was an antidote to begin with, so Hanson had been played for a sap all along. They then made a cruel joke of Hanson being kept to stay on as he was handy to have around and wouldn't be able to do anything else except get a sideshow job at a carnival.
Hanson was livid and slammed his clenched fist on a nearby table, so hard that a piece of wood fell right through. He picked up a picture of Lois Lane that had fallen from the same table and decided to kill her as she was so precious to Jr. and then kill Jr. himself as vengeance.
He then went to Clark and Lois' house and attempted to kill Lois saying first it would be her then the son of the man who knew Superman's identity.
Superman arrived and after Lois' advice, who had found out Hanson's weakness earlier, the Man of Steel used his laser vision to light up a crystal chandelier.
The bright light made Hanson painfully fall to the ground until he disintegrated away to nothing.