'The Flash': Who Is Hazard?
The Flash introduced viewers to yet another foe tonight, and it's safe to say that she has a [...]
The Flash introduced viewers to yet another foe tonight, and it's safe to say that she has a pretty colorful comic history.
Spoilers for tonight's episode of The Flash, 'Luck Be A Lady', below!
Tonight's episode saw Team Flash facing off against Becky Sharpe, better known as the DC Comics villain Hazard. In the show, Becky is bestowed with her metahuman abilities, after dealing with essentially a lifetime of bad luck. As can be seen in tonight's episode, Becky's main goal is basically personally benefiting herself, as opposed to being a more standard, revenge-centric villain.
"I wanted to play her, almost that she really does believe that it's just her time," Beard explained to ComicBook.com. "Seeing people around her having bad luck, she's like 'Well, I've been going through that my whole life. I think she's so hung up on the fact that she has finally gotten her good luck streak that she is kind of oblivious to everything else. I think her empathy is forced out the window when she's in this situation because she's never been here before and she's just trying to hold onto that luck with all she can."
But in the pages of DC Comics, Becky actually serves as a legacy character - and one whose motivations are a little bit complicated.
Infinity Inc. #34-37
Becky first debuted in 1987's Infinity Inc. #34, as a member of the Wizard's new Injustice Society. Becky, using a pair of magic dice and adopting the name Hazard, was motivated to avenge the death of her grandfather, former villain Steven Sharpe III/The Gambler. But, much like The Flash's Becky, Hazard had an optimistic view on her luck-based powers, refusing to cause anyone's death with her abilities.
The arc saw the Injustice Society taking down a wide array of DC Comics heroes, and forcing them to help them cause trouble. In Hazard's case, she enlisted Wildcat and Tasmanian Devil in helping her financially ruining a corrupt Las Vegas casino that had affected her grandfather.
When the three returned with their wealth, the plan was quickly foiled by Rex Tyler/Hourman. Hazard was briefly incapacitated by Solomon Grundy, before escaping.
Infinity Inc #51-53
Hazard then re-emerged in Infinity Inc #51, with a much different vendetta. She joined with a wide array of DC villains - Icicle, Artemis, Harlequin, Dummy, and Solomon Grundy - to murder the members of Infinity Inc.
Surprisingly, Becky followed along with the plan, despite her previous reluctance to kill someone. She joined the Dummy and Harlequin in a task to murder Pat Dugan/S.T.R.I.P.E.. When Pat's son ended up being a potential target, she used her powers to save their lives instead.
In the process, she lost her magic dice, and decided to sit out the fight between the heroes and villains. Once the fight was over, she voluntarily surrendered herself to the police.
Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #175
Hazard's final comic appearance (so far) was in a super-sized issue of Wonder Woman Vol. 2. In it, Hazard joined an array of female villains, who were hunting male superheroes turned into animals.
She joined Baby Boom in fighting Animal Man, with Hazard using her magic dice to trip the hero. That success was short-lived, however, as she was defeated by the hero Fire.
