H.I.V.E.

H.I.V.E.
H.I.V.E. symbol
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	The New Teen Titans #2 (December 1980)
Created by	Marv Wolfman George Pérez
In-story information
Type of organization	Organized crime and terrorism
Leader(s)	Adeline Kane Queen Bee Brother Blood Damien Darhk
Agent(s)	Otto Muller Talia al Ghul Deathstroke Ravager

The H.I.V.E., which stands for the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination, is a fictional terrorist organization appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

The H.I.V.E. organization appeared on the fourth season of The CW show Arrow with Damien Darhk as their leader.

Publication history[]

The H.I.V.E. first appeared in The New Teen Titans #2 and were created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.^[1]

Fictional team history[]

1st incarnation[]

The H.I.V.E. Mistress.
Art by George Pérez.

The H.I.V.E. Master gathered seven unnamed criminal scientists to assist him in taking over the world and eliminating Superman and the Teen Titans. H.I.V.E.'s first known plot involved kidnapping Lois Lane and removing her memories.^[2] They subsequently attempted to learn more about the return of Superman Island from space,^[3] and hired Deathstroke the Terminator to kill the New Titans.^[4] H.I.V.E. was also responsible for turning Deathstroke's son Grant Wilson into Ravager.^[5]

Later, the H.I.V.E. Mistress murdered her husband and took control of his organization. Although clearly insane, she nevertheless garnered the same obedience from her underlings as her husband once did. She initiated an ambitious scheme called Operation: Waterworks wherein she attempted to destroy the underwater city of Atlantis. This was meant to be little more than a display of power which she would then use to blackmail world leaders into surrendering to the H.I.V.E. The Mistress' plan alerted the attention of former Titans members Aqualad and Aquagirl who in turn sought assistance from the Titans. The Teen Titans journeyed to the H.I.V.E.'s undersea base for one final confrontation. They succeeded in staving off the attack against Atlantis and also crippled the H.I.V.E.'s station. Knowing that defeat was near, the H.I.V.E. Mistress refused to be taken alive. She murdered her Inner Circle then took her own life. With her demise, this incarnation of the H.I.V.E. was gone forever.

2nd incarnation[]

The second incarnation of the H.I.V.E. was established by Adeline Kane, Deathstroke's ex-wife. They were tracked down by Tartarus, led by Vandal Savage and made up of Gorilla Grodd, Lady Vic, Red Panzer, Siren, and Cheshire.

The H.I.V.E. is later seen as members of Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains with the H.I.V.E. falling under the leadership of Queen Bee.

The New 52[]

Following the 2011 Flashpoint miniseries and the "New 52" reboot, the H.I.V.E. acronym was reimagined as Holistic Integration for Viral Equality. Additionally, the organization formed an uneasy alliance with Green Lantern villain Hector Hammond.^[6] They are led by a world class telepath named the H.I.V.E. Queen who is a zealous devotee of the alien Brainiac, claiming to be his "daughter". To the public, H.I.V.E. is a social media company that connects people to each other. However, their true goal is to kidnap humans with psychic powers and harness their energies in order to mentally enslave the world for Brainiac's return. Their criminal activities become publicly known following the Psi War storyline, when a roster of powerful telepaths clash in Metropolis. During the battle, their main headquarters located beneath Metropolis is destroyed and their entire plan thwarted.

In a flashback seen during the Forever Evil storyline, the H.I.V.E. were responsible for an act that turned S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Dr. Caitlin Snow into Killer Frost when she threatened their control of the energy market.^[7]

H.I.V.E. is later featured in Red Hood/Arsenal. A group of H.I.V.E. soldiers, led by the H.I.V.E. Regal, have planted a "transubstantiation bomb" aboard a U.S. Navy ship set to go off during a ceremony. Once the bomb goes off, it is supposed to release a psionic virus that will infect all the U.S. Military personnel present with the goals and ideals of H.I.V.E. However, Red Hood and Arsenal infiltrate the ship during the ceremony and Arsenal disables the bomb while Red Hood fights off the soldiers and kills the H.I.V.E. Regal.

H.I.V.E. returns in Teen Titans Vol 4. During a trip to New Orleans, the city suddenly comes under psionic attack from the H.I.V.E. Queen who quickly seizes control of every mind in New Orleans except the Titans who are shielded by Raven's magic. The mind-controlled citizens then start building psionic amplifiers that will allow the Queen to expand her powers across the whole of the U.S. Managing to triangulate her location, Red Robin and Raven assault her base and defeat the H.I.V.E. Queen, freeing everyone from her mental control.

DC Rebirth[]

In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". The H.I.V.E. are revealed to be the financial backers behind Meta Solutions, a company set up by the Fearsome Five. Its purpose was to steal the powers of metahumans and sell them to the H.I.V.E. on the black market. The company was taken down and Fearsome Five are defeated by the Titans.^[8] H.I.V.E. is shown to have a history with the Titans and was revealed to have hired Deathstroke's son Grant Wilson. His assignment was to kill the Titans. To this end, they granted him various superhuman powers. However, the strain proved too much and he died of a heart attack before he could complete his mission.^[9]

Membership[]

There are different memberships in each incarnation. Here is a list of its known memberships:

First H.I.V.E.[]

• H.I.V.E. Mistress -
• Franklin Crandall -
• Penelope Lord -

Second H.I.V.E.[]

• Adeline Wilson (née Kane) - The H.I.V.E. Mistress of the second incarnation of H.I.V.E.
• Damien Darhk -

The New 52 H.I.V.E.[]

• Hector Hammond -
• H.I.V.E. Queen (leader) -
• H.I.V.E. Regal -
• Dreadnought -
• Psiphon -
• Psycho-Pirate (prisoner) -
• Doctor Psycho (prisoner) -
• Unnamed foot soldiers -

Alternate versions[]

Anti-Matter Universe[]

The H.I.V.E.'s heroic counterparts in the antimatter universe in JLA: Earth 2 are known as the Hierarchy for International Virtuous Empowerment.

Flashpoint[]

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, the H.I.V.E. council members: Adeline Kane, August General in Iron, Captain Nazi, Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi, Impala, Naif al-Sheikh, Prince Osiris, Ra's al Ghul, and Red Star are taking a vote which will decide if they should be against using nuclear weapons to end the war in Western Europe between Aquaman and Wonder Woman. Though the majority of them votes yes, they are stopped by Kane's daughter followed by Kane starting the attack alone.^[10]

In other media[]

Television[]

Animation[]

• The H.I.V.E. appears in Teen Titans. There are strong indications that the Academy is actually a supervillain cult, but this is not made explicit since Teen Titans tends to be focused at a younger audience. This angle seems to be underplayed in favor of the standard "evil organization" theme. The H.I.V.E. Academy/H.A.E.Y.P. (short for "H.I.V.E. Academy for Extraodinary Young People") is depicted as an evil school/organization founded by its unnamed headmistress (voiced by the show's voice director Andrea Romano). Notable students include Mammoth, Gizmo, Jinx and Bumblebee (actually an infiltrator who later joined the Teen Titans East), as well as characters exclusive to the show such as Private H.I.V.E. (a pastiche of Captain America and Guardian), Billy Numerous, See-More, Kid Wykkyd, Angel, XL Terrestrial, I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R. and Wrestling Star. The H.I.V.E. also includes a large staff of dark-skinned faculty (who wear cloaks similar to Raven) as well as a large number of armed H.I.V.E. Troopers (whose gold and black uniforms resemble that of Private H.I.V.E.). In "Final Exam", the Headmistress offers Slade her graduates Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx, whom Slade puts on a challenge to defeat the Teen Titans. When Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx were defeated, the H.I.V.E. Headmistress tells Slade that such failures are not tolerable in the H.I.V.E. and that when Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx are retrieved from the authorities, they will be strictly disciplined. Slade told the H.I.V.E. Headmistress that, on the other hand, they succeeded in delivering his message as he shows her footage of Robin asking Gizmo who Slade is. The H.I.V.E. Academy was later taken over by Brother Blood (the main antagonist of the third season after Slade's death in the season two finale "Aftershock"). In "Deception", the H.I.V.E. Academy was infiltrated by Cyborg in the guise of "Stone", a student who can become a rock being. When Brother Blood congratulates Stone for his performance, he also scolds Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx with a reference on them being sent back to the H.I.V.E. Academy after their failure back in "Final Exam". The Academy was destroyed after the defeat of Brother Blood, but some of the students (Gizmo, Mammoth, Jinx, See-More, Billy Numerous and Kyd Wykkyd) formed their own independent supervillain group called the H.I.V.E. Five (though Kid Flash quickly realised that they actually had six members), while Blood sought out revenge against Cyborg by upgrading his own biology and imprinting Cyborg's blueprints onto himself and robot servants called "Cyclones". Most of the H.I.V.E. students later became allies of the Brotherhood of Evil and ended up being flash-frozen by Más y Menos (except for Jinx, who had defected to the Titans beforehand and helped defeat her former teammates). The H.I.V.E. Headmistress is seen on a missing person picture on a milk carton in the H.I.V.E. Academy when Brother Blood took over, but later reappears along with many of the show's villains at The Brain's meeting during the Season 5 premiere "Homecoming" and fights alongside Wintergreen in "Titans Together".
• The H.I.V.E. Five makes appearances on Teen Titans Go!. They consist of Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth, See-More, and Billy Numerous.
• The H.I.V.E. appears in the Justice League Action episode "The Trouble with Truth". This version of the group has their foot soldiers in bee-like armor and they make use of honey-like traps and are led by the unidentified H.I.V.E. Master (voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos in the first appearance and by Diedrich Bader in the second appearance). The H.I.V.E. Master planned to set off a cobalt fusion bomb in Metropolis. While Superman is busy on New Genesis, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Green Arrow head out to the Metropolis docks with Athena coming along for the ride. When they find the H.I.V.E.'s underground base, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Athena fight the H.I.V.E. Thanks to a tactic from Wonder Woman, she was able to trick the H.I.V.E. Master into voice-commanding the cobalt fusion bomb into deactivating itself. In the episode "Time Out", the H.I.V.E. started recruiting people out of a youth center in order to build their forces. Batman, Wonder Woman, and Booster Gold ended up fighting the H.I.V.E. After Wonder Woman freezes in time due to the effects caused by the Chronovore and Booster Gold gets caught in a net, Batman manages to take down the robot that was piloted by the H.I.V.E. Master.
• H.I.V.E. are the main antagonists in CW Seed's Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons with the Jackal leading a sect with Rose Wilson as "H.I.V.E. Queen" and vowing revenge on her father with the aide of Jericho.^[11]

Live-action[]

• H.I.V.E. appears in Arrow led by Damien Darhk. In the third-season episode "Al Sah-Him", Ra's al Ghul mentions that Damien Darhk was previously his competitor to the Demon's Head title. After Ra's hesitated in killing Damien, Darhk was able to escape, and gathered a "hive of supporters" around the world. He also stole elixir from the Lazarus Pit, extending his own life. Darhk (portrayed by Neal McDonough) is the main antagonist of the fourth season and serves as the leader of H.I.V.E. The media of Star City refer to Darhk's H.I.V.E. agents as "the Ghosts", due to the fact that they commit suicide when captured rather than being interrogated by the authorities. H.I.V.E. intends to initiate a nuclear holocaust while protecting themselves in a facility constructed under Star City, dubbed the Ark, so that they could lead the remnants of humanity, with Darhk as a figurehead. However, Green Arrow ultimately kills Darhk in the season finale, effectively dismantling H.I.V.E. They also briefly appear in The Flash episode "Legends of Today" where they raid an A.R.G.U.S. facility. H.I.V.E. appears in the spin-off series Legends of Tomorrow, where in 1975, they try to buy a nuclear warhead from Vandal Savage but fail. In 1987, they attempt to make a deal with KGB agents during the Cold War before they are stopped by the Legends.

• H.I.V.E. are mentioned in the second season of Titans. They are an organization that recruited Slade Wilson into a superhuman experiment. Wintergreen is Slade's handler and H.I.V.E. located Rose Wilson to her father.

Video games[]

The H.I.V.E. is featured in DC Universe Online. They are shown to serve Queen Bee when they attack S.T.A.R. Labs and LexCorp Exobyte Transports near the Metropolis Metrodome. She and the H.I.V.E. are in cahoots with Brainiac in order to deliver the stolen Exobytes to him. The players fight the H.I.V.E. again when Queen Bee hypnotizes Booster Gold. The H.I.V.E.'s foot soldiers consist of H.I.V.E. Drones, H.I.V.E. Foragers, H.I.V.E. Killer Bees, H.I.V.E. Recruits, H.I.V.E. Royal Drones, H.I.V.E. Stingers, H.I.V.E. Workers, Mortuary Bees, a H.I.V.E. Minder, and Major Honeygut.

Miscellaneous[]

The H.I.V.E. appeared in Teen Titans Go!. Issue #16 introduced H.I.V.E. Students Rock, Paper, and Scissors. Rock is a large girl who can transform her body into rock. Paper is a thin girl who can stretch like Mister Fantastic. Scissors is a punk kid who can elongate his fingers into bladed talons.^[12]

References[]