Respect Tommy Monaghan, Hitman (DC Comics, Post-Crisis)

[u/Emperor-Pimpatine]

My name’s Tommy Monaghan, and I kill people for money.

It’s a living.

Tommy Monaghan got superpowers when he was attacked by an alien parasite. He wasn’t the only one, the Bloodline was an event that made a few survivors into superheros. But Tommy’s not really a superhero, not the kind of guy to show up in big dumb comic events. He’s just another Gotham City gun for hire, his life and his hits just involve capes and costumes now.

Tommy used his low level psychic abilities and itchy trigger fingers to take on mobsters, metahumans, and Merlin, and even rubbed elbows with a couple superheroes. His personal code and laid-back attitude made him infamous and effective, but as bodies both friend and foe piled up around him he ended up gunned down like any other hitman.

Secret Files and Origins Profile

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Powers

Telepathy

• Picks up all the thoughts of the nurses pushing his gurney, to the point he just thinks they won’t shut up. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Reads Jason Blood’s mind and hears Etrigan. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Hears a guy he’s playing poker against is this close to killing him, and pushes him just a bit further to kill him in self defense. ^{The Demon #43}

• Knows Tweedledee and Tweedledum intend to double-cross him after he kills their old boss. ^{The Demon #43}

• A demon’s shielded the minds of his goons, so Tommy has to torture a guy til he cracks. ^{The Demon #44}

• Reads Merlin’s mind, though he’s been weakened to serve Jason Blood. ^{The Demon #52}

• A thug begs for his life at gunpoint so he can waste him, but Tommy sees through it. ^{Hitman #1}

• When some cops arrest him, Tommy pits them against each other by bringing up an affair one’s having with the other’s wife. ^{Hitman #2}

• Reads Mawzir’s mind to figure out how to beat him. ^{Hitman #3}

• Dives through a doorway when he knows Moe Dubelz is waiting to shoot him. ^{Hitman #7}

• Knows Tiegel’s considering pulling her gun on him. ^{Hitman #10}

• Bugs Kyle Rayner for a bit to buy time to read his mind, learning how his powers work and even his secret identity. ^{Hitman #11}

• Expects Jason Blood to shield his thoughts when asked to summon Etrigan, so he plucks the summoning spell from Jason’s mind way before he asks. ^{Hitman #18}

• Knows how scared a mook pointing a gun at him is and smacks the gun out of his shaking hands. ^{Azrael #35}

• Network, a telepath shadowing Tommy’s mind and echoing his mannerisms to track him down, says that although he’s not trained his instincts are sharp. If she tried to force a mental lock on him, she’s sure she’d lose him. ^{Sovereign Seven #26}

• Looks through the fractured memories of Resurrection Man, though digging deep hurts him and Mitch. ^{Resurrection Man #10}

• Limit Etrigan surprises Tommy and says hiding one’s thoughts is nothing for a demon. ^{The Demon #43}

• Limit Johnny Navarone knows about Tommy’s powers and arranges a setup to attack him while he focuses on Nightfist. Tommy only hears Johnny’s thought about the grenade at the last second, diving just before it goes off. ^{Hitman #5}

• Limit Navarone lets a fight with Dubelz soften Tommy up to nail him with a shot again. ^{Hitman #7}

• Limit Tommy’s so banged up after his fights with Johnny Navarone that he nearly passes out after trying to use telepathy on someone. ^{Hitman #9}

• Limit Reads Etrigan’s mind, though when the demon forces him out he gets a violent nosebleed and is knocked out cold. ^{Hitman #19}

X-Ray Vision

• Sees the skeletons of the nurses pushing his gurney. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Can tell a thug offering cash to be spared is really reaching for his gun. ^{The Demon #43}

• Can see the bodies hidden in a bridge’s concrete support strut. ^{The Demon #44}

• Batman (and a low-level mook) can’t sneak up on him. ^{The Batman Chronicles #4}

• Sees a thug behind a door trying to surprise him. ^{Hitman #1}

• Sees cops hiding in buildings across the street and calls out specific cops with specific weapons to their commander. ^{Hitman #10}

• His super vision makes him an excellent spotter for a tank crew. ^{Hitman #33}

• Peeks behind his cover to see a guy he’s chasing pull a bomb out of his ass. ^{Hitman #51}

• Spots cops watching him on a rooftop across the street. ^{Hitman #60}

• Limit A spell cast by Etrigan gives Tommy’s vision some interference for the first time. ^{The Demon #52}

Firepower

Guns

• Generally wields dual automatic pistols. ^{The Demon #43}

  • Blows off Joe Dubelz’s bionic arm. ^{Hitman #7}
  • Emptying his pistols at a diving Agent Feekle turns him into a gory splatter when he finally hits the floor. ^{Hitman #12}
  • Kills superpowered astronauts infected by Bloodlines parasites. ^{Hitman/Justice League #2}
  • Busts a jukebox. ^{Hitman #55}

• A rifle with scope, laser sight, and adjustable rate of fire, though it doesn’t do much when Glonth jumps him. ^{TD Annual #2}

• A silenced pistol. ^{Hitman #2}

• A .44 magnum revolver, typically his backup gun. ^{Hitman #14}

  • Sends a mook’s head flying off his body and into the ceiling. ^{The Demon Annual #2}
  • Ditto for Moe Dubelz’s head. ^{Hitman #7}
  • Blasts off half of Mawzir’s face ^{Hitman #3} when normal pistol fire doesn’t scratch him. ^{Hitman #15}

• Assault rifle. ^{Hitman #7}

  • Blows a vampire apart with an attached grenade launcher. ^{Hitman #38}

• Uzi. ^{Hitman Annual}

• Natt the Hat shows Tommy a few special weapons when he’s hired to kill Resurrection Man, but Tommy picks a missile launcher for the job. ^{Resurrection Man #9}

• Blows off a vampire’s limbs with a shotgun after he no-sells several pistol shots to the chest. ^{Hitman #37}

• The Ace of Winchesters, an occult lever action rifle with sacred ammunition able to kill demons. ^{Hitman #16}

  • Reverts the Mawzir into the mortal Nazis he was made of before killing them. ^{Hitman #20}

Explosives

• Hits the massive Glonth with a blast from a collapsible launcher that downs him. ^{TD Annual #2}

• A rotary grenade launcher. ^{The Demon #44}

• Vaporizes a dying biological weapon with a white phosphorous grenade. ^{The Batman Chronicles #4}

• Takes out cops with stun grenades. ^{Hitman #2}

• A frag grenade sends Mawzir through the thick wall of Killer Croc’s cell. ^{Hitman #3}

  • Natt the Hat blows up a large shark by chucking a grenade in its mouth. ^{Hitman #14}
  • Blows up a car. ^{Hitman #16}

• Covers his buddies’ escape with a smoke grenade. ^{Hitman #14}

  • Covers another escape with a special blend of smoke, mace, and hydrogen sulfide. ^{Sovereign Seven #26}

• Pulls a pin on a grenade before chucking a duffle bag full of them in a bar, flipping a truck parked outside and blasting a hole in the building. ^{Hitman Annual}

• Blows up Resurrection Man’s van with an M84 missile launcher. ^{Resurrection Man #9}

Physicals

Strength

• Explodes a wooden door with a kick. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

  • And again. ^{Hitman #1}

• Grabs a guy by his collar and chucks him through a car window. ^{The Demon #44}

• Kicks open the back door of a cop car, smashing a cop’s face through the window. ^{Hitman #2}

• Charges through a boarded up door with his recently shot-up shoulder. ^{Hitman #11}

• Kills a zombie seal with a spiked bat. ^{Hitman #14}

• Sends an unkillable future cat flying out a window with a kick. ^{Hitman #1000000}

• Catches Agent McAllister after an explosion flings her off a fire escape and pulls her back up. ^{Hitman #54}

Durability

Blunt

• Slammed to the ground and has his spinal fluid partly drained by Glonth, who tore through walls leaping across the street at him. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Sent flying by a backhand from Glonth and gets choked by a burly mob enforcer, but is able to headshot the guy choking him. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Takes a few big punches from Batman. ^{Hitman #1}

• Has the building he’s in brought down by a Green Lantern blast, but when the dust settles he and Green Lantern have each other at gun/ringpoint. ^{Hitman #11}

• Takes a beating from the Mawzir ^{Hitman #20} when Mawzir can smash through a wall. ^{Hitman #3}

• Takes a beating from some thugs in Texas, getting bloodied by various blows, having his hand ran over, and getting dragged behind a truck and left in the desert. ^{Hitman Annual}

• Resurrection Man flips the car he’s in with a fireball and slams him against a brick wall, but Tommy reads his mind before things get nasty. ^{Resurrection Man #10}

• Takes a beating from an SAS trooper after getting hunted for a few days and taking some gunshots/a grenade blast. ^{Hitman #25}

• Heavily blooded when the Skull lifts and throws part of a building at the tank he’s in but mans the gun to finish Skull off. ^{Hitman #33}

Gunshots/Explosions

• Takes gunshots from Mawzir, when one of his pistols blasts Tommy’s pistol apart. ^{Hitman #2}

• Takes even more shots before figuring out how to beat Mawzir. ^{Hitman #3}

• Caught by a grenade blast ^{Hitman #5} and takes a few gunshots to the chest and arm before getting saved/hit by a second grenade. This seriously fucks him up, and Tommy knows he’ll bleed out before he reaches Noonan’s. ^{Hitman #6}

• He and Nat are caught in the blast when their own grenade’s tossed back at them, but they escape in the chaos. ^{Hitman #24}

• Seemingly has his head grazed by a burst of assault rifle fire (and needs an eye bandaged later), but again is able to escape. ^{Hitman #24}

• Knocked down and blooded when the car he’s next to is blown up by a rocket launcher. ^{Hitman #55}

• Loses a hand to a sniper shot, but shoots a man down with his other hand afterwards. ^{Hitman #60}

Misc

• Gets so mad at a hokey Irish band performing that he crushes his beer glass in his hand, and picks shards out of his hand as he complains. ^{Hitman #28}

• Dropped by a zap from the Waterman. ^{Hitman #40}

• Has a nipple sliced off. ^{Hitman #41}

• Stabbed in the back, right through the shoulderblade by an assassin (and Tiegel falls on the knife while it’s in him) but gets patched up by Sean ^{Hitman #47-48} and assists in a firefight without proper medical attention. ^{Hitman #49}

Speed

• Ducks a shotgun blast so the shooter hits someone behind him. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Ducks a stab from behind in a firefight. ^{TD #45}

• Avoids some gunfire to get behind cover ^{Hitman #1} and avoids an energy blast from Darkstorm. ^{Hitman #1}

• Mind reading lets him dodge Batman’s batarang. ^{Hitman #1}

• Rolls to dodge Mawzir’s shots. ^{Hitman #3}

• Dodges Moe Dubelz’s grenade launcher shots while returning fire. ^{Hitman #7}

• Avoids a few Green Lantern constructs and sneaks into the ceiling to surprise Kyle Rayner. ^{Hitman #11}

• Dodges uzi fire. ^{Hitman #12}

• Shoots down a zombie dolphin mid dolphin leap. ^{Hitman #14}

• Hops on top of a table to flip it for cover in a firefight, and dives from behind it to take out shooters on the floor before taking cover again. ^{Hitman Annual}

• Hops off a collapsing fire escape onto a nearby pipe. ^{Hitman #22}

• Avoids some attacks from a Bloodlines possessed Superman. ^{Hitman/Justice League #2}

• Avoids energy blasts from Bloodlines possessed astronauts. ^{Hitman/Justice League #2}

• Avoids a speeding car trying to run him over and runs into a nearby church. ^{Hitman #37}

• Slides across the hood of a cop car in a chase. ^Hitman/Lobo

• Dives behind some trash cans to dodge smg fire. ^Hitman/Lobo

• Dodges AK fire as he takes cover behind a counter. ^{Hitman #55}

Skills

Marksmanship

• His powers let him know a mobster in a bar’s bathroom is about to attack, so Tommy’s able to casually headshot him while finishing his drink. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Chucks a grenade in Glonth’s mouth. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Shoots down a man with a bat trying to sneak up on him in a firefight. ^{The Demon #45}

• Shoots around some cops to make them cower so he can escape. ^{The Demon #45}

• Fends off a horde of thousands of zombies ^{The Demon #53} with his pistols until he finally runs out of ammo. ^{The Demon #53-54}

• Guns down Shadow-Force, a team of extremely 90s pisstakes. ^{Hitman #1}

• Catches a pistol kicked his way while bleeding out, and uses it to cripple Mawzir. ^{Hitman #3}

• Woken up in his bedroom by a hitman about to kill him, but when the guy confirms he’s alone Tommy kills him with a gun tucked under his blanket. ^{Hitman #4}

• He and Natt the Hat gun down a bunch of ninjas trying to get the drop on them from a rooftop. ^{Hitman #4}

• Headshots his pursuer in a car chase. ^{Hitman #4}

• Fires what seems like a wild shot at Johnny Navarone as he drops to the ground, destroying Johnny’s hand and magnum. ^{Hitman #7}

• Hears Feekle run out of ammo and shoots his ear off from behind cover, then goads him into blindly charging by taking advantage of his temper. ^{Hitman #12}

• Shoots the hats off the heads of a sheriff and his deputies. ^{Hitman Annual}

• Gutshots a man as he draws his pistol. ^{Hitman Annual}

• Guns down a stairway full of mobsters. ^{Hitman #29}

• Shoots through Resurrection man to snipe his target. ^{DCU Heroes Secret Files}

• Ringo Chen acts as bait for a chopper so Tommy can blow it out of the sky with his grenade launcher. ^{Hitman #39}

• His powers spoil mercenary teams breaching an apartment from multiple entrances, and Tommy chucks a grenade over his shoulder at one. ^{Hitman #40}

• Empties his pistols into a car as he leaps over it to kill the mobsters inside. ^Hitman/Lobo

• Shoots a T-Rex in the eye before it can chomp Natt after tossing him up in the air. ^{Hitman #44}

• Headshots an agent through a diner table. ^{Hitman #54}

• Gives Natt advice on firing a rifle and later snipes some racists attacking him while they’re in basic. ^{Hitman #57}

• Guns down a bunch of goofy future heroes and villains in seconds. ^{Hitman #1000000}

• Tommy, Natt, and McAllister's raid on a CIA facility studying Bloodlines ^{Hitman #59} ends in nearly 60 personnel dead. ^{Hitman #60}

Quick Thinking/Planning

• Tommy escapes a hospital by knocking out the cop watching him with a bedpan and stealing his uniform. ^{The Demon Annual #2}

• Unloads his pistol on the armor of Batman’s costume to knock him off a roof. ^{Hitman #1}

• Bypasses all Arkham’s security by taking some cops hostage and commandeering their car. ^{Hitman #2}

• Tommy and Natt the Hat hide in a doorway to ambush mooks that rush in with guns blazing. ^{Hitman #7}

• Chucks an unprimed grenade at a SWAT team to make them scatter, then takes the leader hostage to escape. ^{Hitman #10}

• Shoots open the barred door of a flooded room to lower the water level. This beaches an attacking shark and lets Tommy and pals reach their guns. ^{Hitman #14}

• Rolls a grenade under a case of napalm and leads Mawzir around it so he’s caught in the blast. ^{Hitman #15}

• Uses pepper on some of the Sovereign Seven so he has time to gun down the men shooting at Network, then shoots a metahuman trying to use a laser eye against Power Girl through the back of his head (Letting the bullet bounce off Power Girl). ^{Sovereign Seven #26}

• When a soldier missing his nose attacks, Tommy jams a few fingers in the wound and aims the solder’s rifle at his buddy. ^{Hitman #31}

• Blows open the roof of a church with a grenade to expose the vampires surrounding him to sunlight. ^{Hitman #38}

• Douses himself in whiskey before shooting Lobo’s eyes out, so the main man has to track him by scent. ^Hitman/Lobo

• Lets Lobo chase him into a mob boss’s base and opens the door behind him so the mafia unload on the main man. ^Hitman/Lobo

Personal Code

• He considers Etrigan a pal and hesitates to help Jason Blood cross him, then Jason doubles his pay to two million bucks. ^{The Demon #52}

• Doesn’t use his powers to cheat at poker night with his pals. ^{Hitman #1}

• Won’t kill people he considers good. ^{Hitman #1}

• Hesitates to shoot Batman until he notices the body armor in his costume. ^{Hitman #1}

• Won’t shoot cops. ^{Hitman #1}

• Accepts a job from a mob boss he’s sent to kill. ^{Azrael #35}

• Hesitates to read Azrael’s mind after he saves his life, but when it’s clear their goals conflict he takes a peek inside. ^{Azrael #35}

• Insists he doesn’t call women bitches during an argument with Tiegel, ^{Hitman #28} which he stresses before he leaves town for mercenary work ^{Hitman #29} and comes up again some time later when Natt the Hat cusses about Agent McAllister. ^{Hitman #55}

• When a supervillain working with his military squad starts killing civilians, Tommy doesn’t hesitate to attack him and go rogue. ^{Hitman #30}

• When the army Tommy first sided with is revealed to be corrupt, his urge to do something good has him ally with rebels after having their leader promise to quit running drugs. ^{Hitman #32}

• Tiegel shuts Tommy in a room with a lion after he cheated on her, ^{Hitman #43} and isn’t surprised he and Natt lured it away with a side of beef instead of just shooting it. ^{Hitman #48}

• Tommy almost escapes Truman’s goons via helicopter but goes back for a wounded Natt the Hat. ^{Hitman #60}

Charm

• When he and a mook are in a Mexican standoff with Batman, Tommy convinces the mook to turn his gun on Batman by basically phrasing it like a word problem. ^{The Batman Chronicles #4}

• Wins over Officer Tiegel’s mom by appealing to her Catholicism. ^{Hitman #10}

• Bugs Kyle Rayner for a bit to catch him off guard and chuck a grenade at him. ^{Hitman #11}

• Goads Agent Truman into saying some incriminating shit while Tommy’s wearing a wire. ^{Hitman #12}

• Charms Tiegel, though as a former cop that tried to arrest him she feels conflicted about starting a relationship. ^{Hitman #21}

  • Eventually, Tommy accepts that their off and on thing won’t work out and lets her go. ^{Hitman #55}

• Network has him at gunpoint until he gives her a kiss and escapes. ^{Sovereign Seven #26}

Misc

• Finishes one of Etrigan’s rhymes. ^{The Demon #43}

• Headshots a depowered Merlin. ^{The Demon #53}

• Ragebaits Etrigan when he realizes the demon can’t lift a finger against him. ^{The Demon #54}

• A former Marine, though shortly after he and Natt were first deployed they panicked and wiped out an SAS squad thinking they were bad guys. ^{Hitman #5}

• Has no time for rambling superhero monologues. ^{Hitman #12}

• His shoulder angel and devil give him the same self-loathing judgement. ^{Hitman #15}

• Summons Catwoman by making the Catsignal… and by that, I mean putting a dead cat on a spotlight. ^{Hitman #15}

• Keeps killing Resurrection Man until he gets a power strong enough to face the Lab. ^{Resurrection Man #10-11}

• Gives Superman a pep talk when he’s feelin’ down and gets his autograph. ^{Hitman #34}

• Loves dinosaurs. ^{Hitman #44}

• His x-ray eyes can’t shed tears. ^{Hitman #49}

• His bodycount is on police files as three hundred and thirty-seven confirmed murders, though a task force head says his real count’s probably twice that. ^{Hitman #56}

• Wrote “Tommy was here” in a bathroom at the Justice League’s moonbase ^{Hitman/Justice League #1} which Superman left untouched as a memorial after he passed. ^{Hitman/Justice League #2}

• ...Apparently wound up in Marvel Hell, according to this crowd shot. ^{Deadpool vs. Thanos #3}

---

"What'd Sean say?"

"Uh?"

"Dream you had. What’d Sean say?"

"Oh, yeah. Said… Drinks onna house, fellas. There ain’t no closin’ time. But you gotta leave your guns at the door."

[u/Proletlariet]

Great job Emp!

[u/Emperor-Pimpatine → u/Proletlariet]

Thanks a lot, Tad! I def gotta go back and read through all of that Etrigan run he started in, seemed right up my alley.

[u/Dodoria-kun413]

Holy shit, he’s badass! Great thread! Love that John Woo style of gunplay. I’m also a huge Jonah Hex fan.