Disambiguation

This page is for the 8th Manhunter, Kirk Depaul.

• 1st Manhunter: Dan Richards
• 2nd Manhunter: Paul Kirk (Rick Nelson)
• 3rd Manhunter: Paul Kirk II
• 4th Manhunter: Paul Kirk III
• 5th Manhunter: Mark Shaw
• 6th Manhunter: Mark Shaw (Impostor)
• 7th Manhunter: Chase Lawler
• 9th Manhunter: Kate Spencer

Origin

Kirk DePaul was one of the many clones, and the last surviving, of Paul Kirk, Manhunter. He later joined the heroes for hire group the Power Company and took the mantle of his predecessor with an altered costume.

Creation

Kurt Busiek created Kirk DePaul out of a desire to use the Manhunter character in his Power Company series but created his own version so not to step on the toes of work done by previous Manhunter creators Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson. He was first drawn by Tom Grummett.

Major Story Arcs

Kirk DePaul was killed by former Manhunter Mark Shaw after mental breakdown in Manhunter #11.

In the series Trinity, also written by Busiek, the resurrected character by Morgaine Le Fey "Swashbuckler" turns out to be a resurrected Kirk DePaul.

Swashbuckler was originally the decapitated corpse of Paul Kirk clone, Kirk DePaul from Power Company, killed in San Francisco by Mark Shaw. He had been deceased some time before the Trinity series began. His gravestone was hit by one of the bolts of divine energy that created the Dreambound team, and he was reborn in Castle Branek as Swashbuckler, agent of the Dreambound. He then proceeded to enact the Dark Trinity's plans, by causing a massive blast that nearly leveled a shopping mart, all with the single objective of reaching Etta Candy and leaning upon her to "steal a kiss", during which he also stole her Department of Metahuman Affairs security card. Later, he attempted to steal Nightwing's mask; he was able to defeat Nightwing and take the mask, but was foiled when a command prompted the mask to self-destruct. He also proved skilled enough to realize Nightwing had placed a tracer on him, and threw it back at him. He vanished with an acrobatic gesture, and minutes later, escorted fellow Dreambound T.V.M. to the Joker's cell in Arkham, where the twisted man stole the madman's laughter. A Dreambound cadre with him stole some of the monster Cottus' magic clay on Themiscyra. He was also present when the Dreambound stole Maxwell Lord's skull, and briefly fought to give his teammates time to flee with the skull.

With the restructuring of reality, he was shunted into a JSI detainment center in Cuba. During his rec breaks, he met the Tattooed Man, and realized he could be used to restore the Sun-Chained-in-Ink, who had fallen during the final battle for the Trinity items. With the escape that T.V.M. orchestrated, he was restored his costume and blades; out of costume, he was seen with a large scar across his neck. He soon ended up disappointed with both Morgaine, who promptly forgot about him after his mission ended, and the new Sun-Chained-in-Ink, whom he viewed as flawed and inferior to the original. With Primat and T.V.M., he found the Atom, and saw how S.P.H.E.R.E. teleported him to the JSI base so a battle strategy to destroy Morgaine's plans could be formulated. From then on, he developed some respect for the robotic orb, not knowing that what he mistook for an advanced A.I. was in fact the innocent soul of the daughter of his boss Enigma. However, when the first Sun-Chained-in-Ink was restored, he and the Dreambound chose to flee rather than face the wrath of Despero, his armada and the Crime Syndicate, leaving behind the cybernetic organism with heavy hearts.

He and the Dreambound returned to aid the heroes in defeating the sorceress, attacking her so a final assault against Krona would imprison him and cut off Morgaine's power source. However, with his team, he was defeated and knocked out. He was seen leading the Dreambound to recover Sun-Chained-in-Ink in New Zealand, after the busted spell shunted him across the world. He was later released of all charges and resumed his position within the now utterly free Dreambound.