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The Blackrock is a powerful black gemstone that is also a villainous tool from DC comics and media, and it gave birth to the supervillain named after the object.
Blackrock was created by Dr. Peter Silverstone in an attempt to increase ratings for the United Broadcasting Network. Silverstone hypnotized Sam Tanner, the president of the network, and later Tanner's nephew, Les Vegas, to fill the role. A third Blackrock (an energy construct) was created by Tanner's command not much later.
However, Silverstone eventually wielded the Blackrock himself, using the powerful stone that could metabolize electromagnetic energy into energy to achieve flight, energy blasts and superhuman strength, and fought Superman several times. This rock looks similar to simple coal, thus the name Blackrock.
Post-Crisis[]
In The Post-Crisis comics, the Blackrock was stated to be a symbiotic alien life form, much like Venom from Spider-Man, rather than a creation of Dr. Silverstone. However, its appearance and powers are almost exactly the same.
Abuse of the Blackrock's powers blinded Silverstone and drove him insane. He was found by an ex-convict, Sam Benjamin, sitting muttering to himself and watching constant television in an apartment. This convict beat Silverstone to death with the Blackrock and stole it. Despite the power it bestowed upon him, he was, ultimately, too inexperienced with the rock. He was defeated by Superman, who took the stone and threw it towards the sun while Sam was sent to prison, likely at the same state as Silverstone.
A short time later, Lex Luthor's son from Earth-Three, disguised as his father, sent Bizarro to retrieve the Blackrock from the sun. He, then, gave it to a South American woman named Lucia. This woman was a well-known drug smuggler and revolutionary who had been imprisoned by Superman in the past. She hated Superman almost as much as the Blackrock itself did. Because of this, she was able to use the Blackrock's power well. However, even with the Blackrock's power, and her strong conviction, she was still unable to overcome Superman, and the Blackrock withdrew into itself.
It was eventually revealed that Superman had kept the Blackrock, but eventually sealed it away in his Fortress of Solitude. The Blackrock somehow, broke free of the fortress and came into the possession of Plastic Man. The Blackrock was eventually removed from Plastic Man, and taken into custody by Batman, who decided that he needed the rock's power to defeat a currently possessed Superman, only to be under it's influence as were the other Justice League members and Jimmy Olsen before him. This all staged by Despero but in the end, he lost.
Powers and Abilities[]
In the pre-Crisis continuity, the Blackrock was remade more than once, with one version able to grant its user the abiility to travel via television broadcast antennas. Unbeknownst to Silverstone, when Superman attempted to use his X-Ray vision through it, it had the unintended effect of swapping personalities between Superman and Blackrock.
In the post-Crisis comics, the wielders of the Blackrock seemed to all develop different powers based on their personality. All of them gained superhuman strength, superhuman endurance, flight, and energy blast abilities. The Blackrock also had the power to absorb energy to empower the one who wielded it.
While Plastic Man and Batman had the Blackrock, neither of them was not keen on using its abilities very much.
Lucia[]
Lucia was originally a South American drug smuggler and wannabe revolutionary. A short time after Superman defeated Blackrock, Alexander Luthor, disguised as Lex Luthor, dispatched Bizarro to retrieve the Blackrock from the Sun before passing it on to Lucia, who was in jail after being arrested by Superman. Her intense feelings of hatred towards the Man of Steel matched those of the Blackrock, and she proved particularly adept in using it. However, her skills were not enough to defeat Superman, and the Blackrock withdrew in to itself.
Trivia[]
The name "Blackrock" is a reference to the 1970s nickname for the CBS headquarters building in New York City ("Black Rock," so named due to its dark granite exterior), suggesting that UBN was pre-Crisis Earth-1's fusion of CBS and NBC (UBN's Les Vegas being an obvious analogue of Chevy Chase working on a show imitating Saturday Night Live).
