LODESTONE

Real Name: Andrea Haggard
Aliases: None
Identity: Secret
Occupation: Professional Criminal
Citizenship: United States Citizen with a criminal record
Place of Birth: Unknown
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: Former employee of Phillipe Bazin, former member of Masters of Evil VII, Lethal Legion
First Appearance: Darkhawk #7
History: A brilliant scientist by the name of Doctor Marin who worked for the crime lord Phillipe Bazin had taken notice to someone by the name of Andrea Haggard; though she showed some signs of mental instability, Doctor Marin recognized she had the ability to manipulate the magnetic spectrum and could be used in Phillipe Bazin’s defense against the new hero who had been troubling him – Darkhawk. Andrea was recruited and Doctor Marin created a “damper coat” that helped regulate her emotions as well as her powers and acted as her “costume.”

During the process of “Project: Lodestone” which would transform her and awaken her powers to their full potential – she used the iron in the blood of two scientists to murder them for the pleasure of killing, when she was suddenly overcome with pain. Doctor Marin and Phillipe Bazin explained that they’d planted a device in her head – should she ever disobey or displease Phillipe, he could, at a moment’s notice, bring her down to her knees in sheer pain. She received training from Doctor Marin before finally being sent after Darkhawk.

Darkhawk, who had just finished battling some drug dealers with powerful weapons, discovered a friend of his nicknamed “Headset” (real name Steve Rubino) had been hurt in the attack – and had just taken off the amulet to see if he could use it to heal Steve’s wounds. Lodestone was able to hone in on the signature emitted by the Darkhawk amulet and grabbed Chris Powell and demanded for him to bring forth Darkhawk – however, the amulet had still been resting on Steve’s chest.

Chris lied and said he’d seen Darkhawk flying off in a direction, pointing away. Satisfied with the answer, Lodestone gave chase, but swore that if Chris was lying, she’d track him down, find him, and kill him. This bought Chris the time he needed to regain the amulet and become Darkhawk again. He pursued Lodestone, which was easy to do, as she was leaving a path of magnetic destruction behind her. When Darkhawk had confronted her, she was ready for him and he wasn’t ready to fight someone who cared so little for the innocent people below who were being impacted by the use of her powers. This hesitation was enough for Lodestone to get a drop on Darkhawk and imprison him. She tried to use her powers to magnetically rip the amulet from Darkhawk’s chest, but she was greeted with intense pain, by Phillipe Bazin who had been remotely monitoring the battle, and feared her method of removing the amulet could potentially damage it. Darkhawk was brought to Doctor Marin’s lab, where he ran experiments on the amulet, gathering information.

Lodestone took great pleasure in boasting to Darkhawk how easily she’d defeated him and laughed that he cared about the innocent people who’d been caught up in their fight. Lodestone goes on to add that even if she wasn’t in Phillipe Bazin’s control due to the mental device in her head, she would still not be a “hero” if she were free, because there was no fun or benefit to being a hero. She thrived on her power and felt she would use it to her benefit in every way possible. It is then an alarm goes off and Lodestone goes up to investigate, only to discover it’s Phillipe Bazin’s daughter, Allegra. Allegra proves to be the method in which Darkhawk is able to escape, when she gets a hold of the device that controls the pain levels delivered to Lodestone, and overwhelms her, allowing Darkhawk to escape.

Sometime later, Lodestone is acting as Phillipe Bazin’s bodyguard, as Phillipe has Mike Powell brought before him to settle an old vendetta. However, Mike’s son, Chris (better known as Darkhawk) has tracked his father down and gets in the way of things. Phillipe commands Lodestone to attack Chris, who is in a weakened Darkhawk armor. Phillipe stabs Mike Powell, and leaves him to die then tells Lodestone to hold Darkhawk so he can shoot him in the chest. However, at the last moment, Mike Powell uses his last ounce of strength to shoot Phillipe Bazin in the back, killing him. This rattles Lodestone just enough so that Darkhawk can release a blast from his chest, knocking her out before passing out himself.

She would next appear as a part of Crimson Cowl’s “Masters of Evil” where she battled the Thunderbolts, who’d been led by Hawkeye at the time. She was then later recruited by Hank Pym, who was being manipulated by Ultron, into the Lethal Legion. She was manipulated by Ultron to build a body for him. The “good” Ultron (Ultron-12) helped Lodestone become free of the other Ultron’s influence.

Her current whereabouts are unknown.

Height: 5’9”
Weight: 125 lbs.
Eyes: Unknown
Hair: Blond

Powers: The powers of Andrea Haggard were awakened by Doctor Marin, during a project called “Project: Lodestone” which was funded by Phillipe Bazin. The awakened powers of Andrea Haggard allowed her to gain control over electromagnetic energy. She could use this power to hurl objects as heavy as vehicles of all sizes, and manipulate metal to bend lamp posts, and even refined down to the ability to control the iron in a person’s blood stream.

Note: The costume she wears, that was given to her by Doctor Marin helps stabilize and control not only her powers, but her mental state and emotions as well.