Forgotten Justice League - Day 2 (Hourman)

Day 2 - Forgotten #JusticeLeague

Hourman

Forgotten Justice League members:

The cinematic debut of The Justice League is in 2 days, and to countdown let's take a look at members of the Justice League most have forgotten or never knew about.

The version of Hourman that was a member of the Justice League of America was created by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter and first appeared in JLA issue 12 in November of 1997.  This Hourman was known as Matthew Tyler and would have superhuman strength, speed, invulnerability, flight, laser vision and manipulation of space-time.   This Hourman was an 853rd century android (though he describes himself as an "intelligent machine colony") constructed by Tyler Chemorobotics (formerly TylerCo). Although he is an android, he possesses the full range of emotions and human flaws that an ordinary human does. Nonetheless, the technology with which he was constructed is far advanced beyond anything conceivable in the 20th century.

Why the android was built is unknown, although it seems likely that he was in fact commissioned by the New God Metron, who sought to make it his replacement and apprentice. Rex Tyler (the original Hourman), who served as the biological template for the android, spent some time in the future and was involved in its construction.

The original Hourman, Rex Tyler, was created by Ken Fitch and Bernard Baily and first appeared in Adventure Comics issue 48 in March 1940.  This Hourman was a member of the Justice Society of America, the All-Star Squadron, and the Freedom Fighters.  The android Hourman briefly used the alias Matthew Tyler and he considered himself at times both as Rex Tyler and as a descendant of Rex Tyler.  The android Hourman was destroyed in Rex's place during a battle with the villain Extant giving his hourglass to Rex with the hopes that Rex would one day rebuild him.