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Character Info[]
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Jim Harper is a Cadmus clone, formerly active as the head of security at Cadmus's Washington, D.C. facility as Guardian.
Personality[]
Guardian is a calm level headed figure of authority. Unlike his employer, Dr. Desmond, he tends to be a bit more open-minded on certain issues and will seek a peaceful resolution if possible. This annoys Desmond to no end and he often has to use Guardian's G-Gnome to make him see things his way instead.[6][7]
Physical appearance[]
Guardian is a strongly built Caucasian male with red hair and blue eyes. He strongly resembles his "nephew", Red Arrow.[2] During his time as Guardian, he wore a dark blue jumpsuit with a golden helmet and golden shoulder and wrist pads.[6]
History[]
Early life[]
Jim Harper was cloned by Cadmus[1] from the original Roy Harper. Although he was the younger clone chronologically, he was force-grown to be physically older than Red Arrow.[3] He was implanted with false memories that he was the grandson of the original Guardian, also named Jim Harper.[8]
He officially joined Cadmus as head of security in 2009.[9] Guardian was already a figure of some notoriety before joining Cadmus.[6]
2010[]
Guardian investigated a small fire on at ground level, and after notifications from genomorphs, he found three intruders: Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash. He tried to make them leave peacefully, but when Kid Flash mentioned the weapons made in the facility—something Guardian seemed unaware about—his G-Gnome made him attack them. They fled, and eventually locked themselves in with Project Kr. They released the Superboy, but the clone's programming turned against them. They were quickly defeated.[6]
With the sidekicks in containment pods, Guardian saw no need to return Superboy to his pod immediately. Desmond disagreed, and used the G-Gnomes to sway Guardian. But on his way back, Superboy rebelled and broke the sidekicks out. Guardian and the genomorphs chased them.
At the ground level, Dubbilex revealed that he was behind the events set in motion the previous day, so Superboy could be free. He lifted the telepathic control on Guardian, who vowed to deal with Desmond whilst the other exposed Cadmus. But Desmond would not go without a fight. He ingested Project Blockbuster, and in his new, monstrous form, knocked Guardian out.
After Desmond was defeated, and the Justice League arrived, Guardian told his story to Batman, Aquaman, and Flash.
Later, The Cadmus Board of Directors appointed him as the new head at their DC branch. On his first day, Guardian appointed Dr. Spence as acting chief scientist and declared that no more G-Gnomes would be used to suppress wills nor would there be any more secret breeding projects and that he would usher in a new "kinder, gentler Cadmus".[7]
Guardian had his hands full searching for missing genomorphs. Over the past months, many genomorphs had disappeared. Dubbilex promised to help him, but there were no results.
When Superboy demanded entrance into Cadmus, Spence tried to dissuade Guardian from actually letting him in. Guardian did so anyway and welcomed Superboy with open arms. Superboy inquired about another super-clone, but Guardian knew nothing of it. Instead, he gave a tour to show the new and improved Cadmus, where scientists and genomorphs worked side by side on medical research. During this tour, Superboy learned that Guardian was the uncle of Roy Harper.
Guardian was shocked when Superboy uncovered Project Match and denied any involvement on his part, or Dr. Spence's.[2]
The fight that broke out between Superboy and Match lead to a secret underground city created by Dubbilex. Guardian stopped Superboy from completely destroying Match, and prepared to have all of Dubbilex's secreted genomorphs placed back with Cadmus.[2]
2011[]
Guardian stared blankly into space at full attention, while Dr. Spence, Dubbilex, and various genomorphs lay unconscious on the ground. He was oblivious of Ra's al Ghul, Queen Bee, Lex Luthor, Ocean-Master, Brain, and Monsieur Mallah carting away Cadmus experiments such as the cryogenically-frozen bodies of Match and Roy Harper.[10] After getting a mental scan from both Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian to ensure no trace of Cadmus programming remained inside his mind,[5] he gave up his position at Cadmus, as well as the Guardian suit and identity.[1]
Jim and Roy did a sweep of all 52 sub-levels of Cadmus hoping to find the original Roy. They had no success, though Jim did confirm he was also a clone of Roy. He hoped it would make the other clone feel better, but it didn't.[11] He continued to help Roy for some time, longer than any of the others, but by October the year later he too quit.[12]
2015[]
Jim was in Metropolis when the Collector of Worlds trapped downtown in a spherical prison.[13]
Jim and Batgirl looked on as Black Lightning blasted the force field with electricity from inside, while Zatanna tried to breach it with magic from outside, to no avail.[14]
Jim waited at the edge of the field with Lightning and Batgirl.[14]
After Nightwing displayed a holo-message telling those inside the force field about the probe that may be generating the field, Lightning went to investigate. Jim volunteered to go with him.[14]
Jim approached the hole left by the probe and examined the depth of it.[15]
Jim returned to the surface with Lightning, after failing to destroy the probe.[15]
Black Lightning and Jim Harper cracked down a group of looters at an electronics store.[16]
With all looters arrested, Black Lightning advised people to head home and reassured them the Justice League was on it. Jim guarded the tied-up criminals.[16]
Black Lightning and Jim Harper made it back to the park, where they helped up Batgirl. There was no sign of Match.[17]
They noticed the force field was down, but also that those inside were 20 percent smaller.[17]
Jim stood with the other heroes as they met up to discuss the next steps.[17]
2016[]
With Green Arrow, Black Canary, Nightwing and Wally West, Jim confronted Red Arrow about his self-destructive search for Speedy. Jim tried to relate to him since they were both Cadmus clones, but Roy wouldn't listen.[1]
On April, Mal Duncan began using the Guardian suit and identity.[18] At some point, Jim became aware of it and acted as a mentor to Mal.[19]
2018[]
Jim and Roy were contacted by Dick Grayson to aid him in taking down a metahuman trafficking operation in Star City. Will was also invited, but only went along if the others helped him fill a gap in personnel. They had to guard and oversee shipping of Goode Goggles at a GWS lot. Brick managed to steal the goggles anyway by changing the drivers to his henchpeople. After finding out, the guards pursued.[20]
The quartet of guards took down the thieves, with Jim taking out one of the drivers by jumping on his cab. With Brick and his accomplices arrested, Jim and the others helped Dick take down the meta-human trafficking operation.[20]
Abilities and equipment[]
- Hand-to-hand combat: Guardian is proficient in hand-to-hand combat, besting Aqualad in it.[6] He was also able to grapple and handcuff a man with no effort.[21]
- Shield: As Guardian, he carried a golden heater shield on his wrist.[6]