was Hank really a good person way before becoming Cyborg Superman?

[u/OneManArmy0716]

Lois says that he was but Hank showed deeply narcissistic and unhinged tendencies way before buying into Luthor’s xenophobic propaganda. He almost derails a charity fund just to throw a petty tantrum and has shown to be jealous, hypocritical, immature and pretty much has an arrogant and callous disregard for collateral damage and people in general.

[u/thelastholdout]

The thing about narcissists is that they can be really charming sometimes. Lois probably met the charming side of Hank and didn't see his xenophobic, self aggrandizing side until later.

[u/Kaizer617 → u/thelastholdout]

This is very true.

[u/theatsa]

He was being what he thought a good man was. He had an important job, he was working to improve society, and was a generally kind and sociable guy. He had ambitions of starting a family and having kids too.

His drive to actually achieve these goals seemed to come less from a place of altruism, and more so from the desire to be this shining beacon for humanity. It was a narcissistic goal, but it was harmless at first because he was working towards the general betterment of society.

Superman's status as a symbol of hope made him intensely jealous, and I believe he only started being xenophobic about it out of jealousy. Like if Clark was just a farm boy, he might still consider him a possible threat, but he wouldn't care half as much about getting rid of him.

Although honestly, I don't think Hank was very self-aware of how self-serving his motives are. Probably because from the outside in, for the vast majority of his life, he's been described as a wonderful and good man. The type of person who can't even consider he might be wrong because he's categorized himself as a "good person" inherently. But I do think he realized it right before his death, that he had failed humanity and that he was doing more harm than good.

Whether or not you call him a good person depends on if you think his actions were worth more than the reason why he was doing them.

[u/BBMacsWorld]

I mean, not really. People like that are always this way. They just don't show their true colours till they get what they want

[u/Kaizer617 → u/BBMacsWorld]

Yup.

[u/Individual_Dream_213]

The show didn't give us much character development before he became a cyborg ofher than he didn't like aliens.

[u/Cybermaster19]

Despite what people show I'd say he was at least a decent person because the hate toward superman was actually caused by manipulation by lex and Waller manipulation I doubt was eventually revealed. But the incident at star labs then Brainiac invasion brought out the worst in him and he blamed superman rather than the actual causes.

[u/Western-Customer-536]

Power doesn’t corrupt, it enables.

[u/Fit-Study-7356 → u/Western-Customer-536]

All he did was show who the real Hank Henshaw was.

[u/Fit-Study-7356]

While Hank might have seen nice and charming at first his later appearances showed his true colors as an immature narcissistic bigot that was envious of Superman and blames everyone else except himself for his own issues. Hank didn’t change for the worse when becoming Cyborg Superman rather he was showing the world who he really was on the inside. Power sometimes corrupts but other times it shows who the person really is, and while there is a small layer of tragedy to Hank becoming a cyborg against his will he is too much of a psychopath who enjoys hurting others and lording over his power that it makes it impossible to sympathize with him. He didn’t lose his humanity because of the cybernetics, rather he never had any to begin with.

If anything Lois remembers him through tinted lenses and didn’t want to believe someone she once considered a friend and hero was never a good person to begin with.

[u/EmersonWilde77777]

I see it as a sort of Harvey Dent thing where his anger and narcissistic moments came out without being able to control them

[u/SecretaryFar5960]

he seems like it before fell into believing Lex and Waller's lies and it may imply he was very jealous of Superman being the beacon of Hope due do Hank was once a famous astronaut wanted to be a shining beacon for humanity towards the betterment of society

[u/Difficult_Dark9991]

I wish we got more on this, really.

My personal instincts are that Clark, not Lois, was the one who had strong opinions about Hank before emerging as Superman. Hank was an astronaut, someone trying to reach for the stars and understand them, and to a young alien growing up among humanity that must have been really inspiring and given him real hope. Hank's subsequent xenophobia must have really hurt.

But hey, maybe that's just my take from having a former astronaut (or someone with astronaut training, I don't remember any longer and fuck him anyways) on the local school board when said board was destroying programs in my high school.

[u/gamerslyratchet]

That scene really bothered me, tbh. It completely contradicts what we know about him before and it feels like a hamfisted way to set up his villainy. 

[u/Ok-Use216]

It's a product of having so little time, if they had more time in both seasons, then they could've showed how a good person went bad instead he's just depicted as all-around asshole

[u/Roam1985]

Of course not.

He was a worse Reed Richards.

Terri Henshaw would have gone full Malice if she survived the Excalibur.

Oh wait, you're asking cartoon version not comics.

Yeah, probably not, no. But good insofar as "Military service with a clean record."

[u/Puzzleheaded_Cry5098]

We totally had a few seasons of him being handsome and nice, even if the mask was starting to slip as season two went on.

[u/WingedSalim]

He was essentially a version of comic Lex without PR knowledge.

Extreamly egotistical with "pride for humanity". Could have done good in a vacuum but his inferiority complex with Superman brought out the worst in him.

[u/AndyTheSouless]

Who knows, we didn't see that

[u/CoolJack6969]

I like how the DCAU carried it out. He was essentially a good person, but a tragedy hit him and his team and that's what made him resent Superman.

[u/HearingOrganic8054]

no. he just had things going his ways and like anyone narcissist when he messed up it was never his fault.

[u/Adventure_Guy_1999]

We could ask his wife, but the writers probably forgot all about her.

[u/rleon19]

Was he a good person yes. He also had many flaws just because you are a good person does not mean you are perfect. His fear of superman I think was/is warranted, it's easy for us outside looking to be like "dude superman would never do anything bad", it is another to live in that environment.

[u/Virus-900]

I think he was a good person, but had some darker and angrier ideas that he surpressd. And it was becoming a cyborg that brought them out.

[u/_OthelloVonRyan_]

I highly doubt it.