Dharma (Harry Chawney) is a
fictional
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
character distributed by
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
, and the leader of the
Shadow Cabinet. Originating in
Milestone Comics media, he first appeared in ''Hardware'' #11 (January 1993), and was created by
Dwayne McDuffie
Dwayne Glenn McDuffie (February 20, 1962February 21, 2011) was an American writer of comic books and television. He co-founded the pioneering minority-owned-and-operated comic book company Milestone Media, which focused on underrepresented minori ...
,
Robert L. Washington III, and
Denys Cowan
Denys Cowan (; born January 30, 1961) is an American comics artist, television producer, media executive and one of the co-founders of Milestone Media.
Early life
Denys Cowan was first inspired by superheroes as a child from reruns of the 1950s T ...
.
Fictional character biography
Dharma is the leader of the Shadow Cabinet who can perceive the past and future of any object he touches. He has perceived countless apocalypses, and is ruthless in acting to prevent them, whatever the cost.
It is later revealed that Dharma orchestrated the
Big Bang
The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...
to create powerful beings capable of preventing an approaching apocalypse whose cause he could not determine. When his last two prospects (
Hardware and
Static) fail to meet his expectations, he absorbs the powers of the god-like being Rift, destroying the Dakotaverse, but Dharma transports the universe's heroes to the
DC Universe
The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...
and alters history so that they always existed there.
Powers and abilities
Dharma possesses powerful precognitive abilities that enable him to see the past and future. He is blind, but compensates by using his powers to guide him.
[''Shadow Cabinet'' #10]
After absorbing Rift's powers, Dharma gained the ability to alter reality.
See also
*
Shadow Cabinet
References
External links
Shadow Cabinet Bios- ''Shadow Cabinet'' Bios page, part o
the Milestone section of International Hero.co.uk
The Milestone Rave- includes a ''Shadow Cabinet'' comic book index and issue details.
*
Dharma at the DC Database Project
{{Milestone Media
Characters created by Dwayne McDuffie
Comics characters introduced in 1994
DC Comics male superheroes
Fictional blind characters
Fictional characters with precognition