Summer Day was the first Hyena, an enemy of Firestorm.
History
Bert Day had wanted his daughter, Summer, to become a police officer – just like him. Disappointed for never having a son, he pressured Summer to engage in more masculine pursuits, such as athletics. When she became old enough, she enrolled in the police academy, but dropped out soon after. She quickly realized that law enforcement, was not the path for her. Instead, she applied her energy towards more humanitarian pursuits. She joined the Peace Corps and traveled across the world. Her missions of mercy led her to the impoverished African veldt and the war-stricken regions of Nairobi.
One evening, she found a wounded tribal warrior lying in the grass outside of her tent. She leaned in close to offer assistance, but the man turned around and bit her upon throat. The man then transformed into a tremendous were-hyena right before Summer's eyes. The incident raised an alarm and shoulders ran outside of their tents. They killed the were-hyena with several blasts from their weapons, but it was too late for Summer – she had been cursed. Soon after, Summer transformed into a were-hyena for the very first time. Her compassion and rationality soon gave way to a predatory, primal need to right injustices. Whenever she found herself at great distress, she transformed into the Hyena.[1]
Summer returned to the United States and attempted to reinsert herself back into her family lifestyle. As the Hyena, she began prowling the rooftops of Manhattan, searching for prey. She was mindful to seek out victims whose disposition leaned towards criminal intent. As much as she loathed criminals, she despised law enforcement even more. Her actions soon led her into conflict with New York's newest super-hero, Firestorm. As luck would have it, one-half of Firestorm's composite form, Ronnie Raymond, had been dating Summer's sister, Doreen. During their first entanglement neither Firestorm nor the Hyena knew of each other's true identity.[2] Firestorm failed to capture the Hyena the first several times that they had fought.[3]
Firestorm eventually discovered Summer Day's diary and learned that she was in fact the Hyena.[4] They faced each other a few more times, and Firestorm was finally able to contain her. The Day family had Summer admitted into a special medical clinic in Arizona. She spent several months at the facility struggling to overcome the bouts of stress that led towards her transformations. She worked closely with a physician named Doctor Jivan Shi.[5] Over the course of several weeks, Summer and Jivan developed a romantic interest in one another. One evening, in the throes of a passionate embrace, Summer reverted into her Hyena identity and bit Jivan Shi. She passed the curse along to him and he eventually transformed into a were-hyena himself.
Doctor Shi and Summer relocated back to Manhattan. Shi became a resident physician at the exclusive Eastside Medical Center. He kept Summer at the hospital as a patient and the two continued to work with one another in the hopes of assuaging the symptoms of the curse. Shi's employment at Eastside Hospital was wrought with frustration. The chief resident, Dr. Barry Gleason, was an arrogant, spiteful man and treated Shi as a second class citizen. Before long, Shi succumbed to his animal passions and began terrorizing New York as the new Hyena.
Meanwhile, Firestorm learned that Summer had returned to Manhattan. She continued to suffer from bouts of depression and was given to memory loss and sleepwalking. When Summer turned up missing one evening, Firestorm feared that the Hyena had struck again. He encountered the Hyena at Eastside hospital, but this version of the monster was Dr. Shi. Summer eventually learned that Shi was now attacking people and voluntarily transformed back into the Hyena to face him.
Unlike on prior occasions, Summer's personality was stronger now. Instead of attempting to attack Firestorm, she actually sought to save him. Summer and Jivan began battling one another and their fight carried over to the top of the World Trade Center. Firestorm attempted to stop both of them, but accidentally turned his powers against Summer. A blast of nuclear energy struck her in the chest sending spiraling off of the top of the building.[6] Firestorm realized his error in judgment and successfully saved her from slamming into the concrete below. While Firestorm turned his attention back towards Jivan, Summer made her escape.
Later, perceiving that Firestorm was beginning to suffer the curse of the werehyena, she approached him and sought his help in preventing Jivan from hurting anyone else. While Firestorm prevented Jivan from killing Gleason, he was unable to defeat him in combat. Summer prevented Jivan from killing Firestorm, and received a blow from Jivan that enraged her. The two Hyenas fought, and Firestorm was able to capture them both by using his transmutating powers to create a canister of knockout gas. Both Summer and Jivan were taken into custody,[7] while Firestorm would be cured of the curse in Africa.[8]
In the aftermath, Summer was imprisoned in the Pleasant Hollow Convalescent Home in Pleasant Hollow, New York. Under unknown circumstances, she was recruited by a multiversal alliance of supervillains and took part in their attempt to either conquer or destroy several parallel Earths, but soon afterwards history was revised so that these events had never taken place.[9] Some time later, Summer was broken out of the Convalescent Home by Multiplex, who recruited her into an alliance of several supervillain opponents of Firestorm. Blaming Firestorm for her imprisonment, she agreed to work with them. However, the unnamed group of villains were ultimately defeated by Firestorm in combination with the Blue Devil, and Summer was once again imprisoned.
Much later, Summer was one of many villains tempted with power by Neron (New Earth),[10] but it is not clear whether or not she accepted the offer. She was next seen as one of the many female villains recruited for an army of them by Circe (New Earth).[11] Once again working with Multiplex, she attempted to ambush Arrowette and Wonder Girl, but they were both defeated with trivial ease.[12] Ultimately, Summer met her apparently final end after joining the Society, when she was killed by Deadshot in order to send a message to the leaders of the Society.[13]
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Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Therianthropy: Under moments of emotional duress, Summer Day has the ability to transform into a were-hyena. The transformation diminishes her capacity for rational intellect in favor of a more predatory, primal instinct. However, the Hyena is still capable of functioning intelligently and maintains full command of her faculties, albeit in a more hyperactive state. In most instances, the Hyena will transform back into Summer Day during moments of rest or if she is rendered unconscious. With time and practice, Summer succeeded in accentuating her natural personality within the were-hyena form. Later, she could prompt the transformation between her human and hyena form at will. It is unclear whether she retained that ability later in her career.
Notes
- Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.
Trivia
- The Hyena once employed diamond tips on her fingernails, which provided greater stabbing damage on her claw attacks.
- Only a small group of people are aware that Summer Day is a were-hyena.
- While the Hyena's profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #10 states that she formed an alliance with Multiplex early in her career, this does not seem to be borne out by the text. While the end of Firestorm #5 portrays Multiplex as planning to ally with her, he would later refer to their encounter at Pleasant Hollow as their first actual meeting.[14]
Related
- 28 Appearances of Summer Day (New Earth)
- 7 Images featuring Summer Day (New Earth)
- Quotations by or about Summer Day (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Summer Day (New Earth)
Footnotes
- ↑ The Flash #304
- ↑ Firestorm #4
- ↑ Firestorm #5
- ↑ The Flash #304
- ↑ Firestorm (Volume 2) #10
- ↑ Firestorm (Volume 2) #10
- ↑ Firestorm (Volume 2) #11
- ↑ Firestorm (Volume 2) #12
- ↑ Crisis on Infinite Earths #9
- ↑ Underworld Unleashed #1
- ↑ Underworld Unleashed #1
- ↑ Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files and Origins 2005
- ↑ Villains United #3
- ↑ Firestorm (Volume 2) #45
  This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of Firestorm and any of his supporting cast or members of the Firestorm Matrix. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Firestorm Villains category." |
 Secret Society of Super-Villains member |