Hardware is a genius-level Dakota City vigilante who fights injustice wearing a high-tech weaponized exoskeleton. Beginning his career as an inventor at Alva Technologies, he swore to take down his corrupt mentor Edwin Alva after learning that Alva was part of the criminal organization S.Y.S.T.E.M.. Ironically, he set out to take his boss down from inside Alva's basement using corporate resources. He has been a member of Hard Co. and the Shadow Cabinet. Hardware was created by Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan, first published as part of Milestone Media's Dakotaverse in Hardware #1. (1993)