While physically Hector Hammond and Chuck Grayson were near identical in appearance, psychologically these two counterparts couldn’t be more different. The older Chuck was far more benevolent, seeking to use his scientific knowledge for the betterment of mankind, while his younger doppelgänger Hector was more malevolent, intent on using science for more sinister and self-serving means.
Hector gained his considerately intellect from a unique meteor which landed on Earth-One, enhancing his intelligence after exposure to its radiation. Chuck acquired his intellect from years of education and practical application of those lessons learned. As such, Grayson used his knowledge to assist Doctor Robert Crane in constructing a Robotman, which he soon after transplanted Crane’s brain into following the scientist’s murder caused by gangsters. Hammond forcibly recruited four scientists whose brains he mutated with his meteor, making them his genius slaves.
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While Green Lantern opposed Hammond and freed his hostages, Robotman helped cleanse his friend Grayson’s name as he was initially charged with the murder of Crane. Green Lantern and Hector Hammond would repeatedly clash throughout the years, even involving the hero’s teammates in the Justice League. Robotman and Chuck Grayson would be valuable allies and an occasion adversary of the All-Star Squadron allies, including the golden age Green Lantern!
The first conflicts involving these men and their worlds’ greatest heroes occurred when Hector was recruited by Professor Amos Fortune aka Mister Memory and when Grayson was forcibly recruited by the Ultra-Humanite.
Amos and Ultra assembled informal groups of villains foes to hasten the defeat of the League and Squadron, who opposed these malevolent masterminds. Hammond was eventually captured along with his cronies. while Grayson was soon afterwards freed from Ultra.
At that time, Hector mutated his own brain with the meteorite’s rays while Chuck’s brain was exposed to the rays emitted from Ultra’s Powerstone. This potent radiation would eventually lead to a prolonged yet immobile life for the pair, as Hector gained both immortality and immobility, and Chuck was kept in cryogenic stasis for decades after he succumbed to brain cancer leaving his mind dead. The radiation from Hammond’s meteorite and its corresponding meteor (which brought Solomon Grundy back to Earth-Two from his exile on the moon) enhanced life. As for the Powerstone and its doppelgänger on Earth-One, Eclipso’s Black Diamond, each were deadly to most humans.
Hammond would later hatch schemes involving mentally controlling the synthetic Shaggy Man and later the robotic Ace of the Royal Flush Gang, both defeated by the League. Grayson assisted Robotman in reviving the future robot known as Mekanique, opposed by his world’s Green Lantern and the All-Star Squadron.
While the history of Hector Hammond is well documented, such is no the case with Chuck Grayson as his last appearances were shortly after his becoming acquainted with his long lost cousin Dick “Robin” Grayson. It is presumed that by the mid 1940s, following a stint when Chuck worked for the United States’ Project M to build their prototype G.I. Robots based on his and Robert Crane’s Robotman, he perished.
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