Julia Lynne 'Julie' Dormyer (Hawkins) / Ladyhawk

Taken for her 1987 interview with Forbes
magazine ("Masquerade")

Mother of Time Elementals. Chairman of the Board of Directors for ProStar, the company her late father founded, from 'The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli' through 'Mechanon, Inc.'. From "Coup d'Etat" on, the 45th President of the United States.

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Her destreum katanas, first featured in 'The Legacy of Doctor Destroyer', based on similar weapons she 'borrowed' from an unconscious Falchion in 'The Battle of Detroit'
• Action Girl: Duh...
  • Makes the transition to Action Mom once she marries Bob and their children start arriving
• Authority Equals Asskicking: As President, she LEADS the 82nd Airborne into battle against VIPER at its World Headquarters in 'World War VIPER'.
• Badass Driver: Heavily implied in "Yeoman's Work" when Starforce lists all the things Ladyhawk would have done differently during a routine drive from Indianapolis to Terre Haute
  • volunteers to drive Bob's Corvette in '72 Hours' because they're in a hurry and she thinks he's too polite behind the wheel
  • confirmed in 'Fields of Saguenay' when she drift-parks Bob's Corvette perfectly between a police cruiser and an ambulance
• Bookends: The very first words of dialog uttered in-universe ('You All Meet in a Lab') -- and the very last words of dialog uttered in-universe ('A Parting Glass') -- are said by Julie.
• Brick Joke: She launches a truly epic one in 'The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli' when she tries to brush off David Sutherland's romantic advances by telling him they are just as likely to run for President of the United States against each other someday. Guess what happens in-universe 34 years later?
• Catch Phrase: "I'm a ninja, boys. That's all you need to know."
• Ceiling Cling: Julie does this in a closet to avoid Clint Stanton's mooks in 'The City That VIPER Built'
• Child Genius: Implied in 'The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli' when Bob correctly deduces she skipped at least two grades in her schooling while growing up in Japan.
• Combat Clairvoyance: Usually good enough to give her an idea of either what to expect or where it's going to come from. She is almost impossible to hit in combat.
• Combat Parkour: Whenever her 'Artful Dodging' power kicks in. This is usually the only time in hand-to-hand combat that she will get flamboyantly acrobatic.
• Cry Into Chest: Does this at least twice:
  • with Starforce in '72 Hours' right after Powerfist dies
  • in 'Crowns of Krim' after her boyfriend of the week is killed by one of the supervillains, starts this on Lady Blue. She transfers Ladyhawk into Starforce's grasp partly because she's two inches shorter than Julie.
• Dark-Skinned Blond: Downplayed, as she is one-quarter Japanese.
• Deadpan Snarker: The *only* member of TASK FORCE who can go snark-to-snark with Starforce. And win.
• Deceased Parents: Assassinated by VIPER when she was nine.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Every time her Danger Sense malfunctions while she sleeps.
• Dual Wielding: with her katanas
• Dude Magnet: Most men who meet her want her so badly that she literally has to fight them off. Good thing she's a 9th-dan black belt...
• Fangirl: Became this over the Gaston Leroux novel The Phantom of the Opera after reading it as a preteen, to the point of forcing her childhood friend Yoshi to read it.
• Fragile Speedster: Her primary defense is her ability to subconsciously see one to two second into the future. And her dexterity.
• Fiction 500: Not at first, but eventually. In 'Citizen Hawkins', she finances her 2016 Presidential Campaign literally out of petty cash.
• Fights Like a Normal: Before 'The Battle of Detroit', she is underpowered compared to most of the foes that TASK FORCE fights. What makes her combat-effective is being nearly unhittable and having a variety of specialty attacks (such as her marbles, flash-bangs, or enervation gas pellets) which can set up other teammates
  • We also see her in several battles liberating blaster rifles from foes by surprise and using them herself.
• Foreshadowing: Whenever Julie's Danger Sense malfunctions, we invariably see scenes from stories which have yet to take place for her
  • In 'Greatest Generation', the almost-kiss scene in the rain between her and Bob is interrupted by a vision of Bob frantically trying to resuscitate her poolside in 'The City That VIPER Built'
  • In 'Heart of Darkness', she dreams of sharing a hotel room in Stockholm with Bob -- a scene we actually see take place four years later in-universe at the beginning of 'Nobel Week'
  • In '72 Hours', she dreams of a battle with Francois Rochemont in Doctor Destroyer's War Armor which takes place off-camera in 'The Destroyer Wars'
  • Also from '72 Hours', she sees the post-coital scene with Bob during the first night of their abduction in 'The Varanyi Civil War'
  • In 'Expedition to Earth', she dreams of her honeymoon with Bob in the British Virgin Islands -- an event still 18 months in her immediate future. This sequence is notable in that, for the barest fraction of a second as she wakes up, we also see a scene from 'Citizen Hawkins'
  • A throwaway comment in her confrontation with Vashyyl during "The Varanyi Civil War" -- plus several mentions of nightmares after her drowning and rescue in "The City That VIPER Built" -- strongly suggests that she was seeing the events of the alternate timeline in "V'Han Returns"
  • 'Fields of Saguenay' has her dreaming of the Battle of Eisenfestung from 'The Destroyer Wars'
  • Horribly, HORRIBLY subverted in 'Leap Day' as she sees an alternate-timeline version of the Nazi Flying Saucer scene from 'Greatest Generation' which results in Bob suffering a severe case of Ret Gone -- the confession of which provokes action on the part of Doctor Destroyer that almost destroys their own dimension in the process
• Full Name Ultimatum: How she generally lets Bob know he's really in trouble after they're married, as seen most notably in "The Jewel of Awad", "The Island of Shadow Destroyer", and "Mechanon, Inc."
• Glamorous Wartime Singer: Temporarily became one during 'Greatest Generation' thanks to Mr. Bassman and a spot of psionic surgery by Sage
• Good Is Not Soft: Invoked in 'Street Level' before she kills Revolution X:

  (Ladyhawk has just drawn both of her katanas while walking toward Revolution X)
  Revolution X: "You're a hero! You wouldn't kill me..."
  Ladyhawk (interrupting): "WHY is it that villains always assume that just because someone is good means that they're *soft* as well?"

• Good With Numbers: Her forensic accounting skills have sometimes been jokingly referred to as her superpower.
• Great Detective: In her career, she:
  • Uncovered smoking-gun evidence of financial wrongdoing in ProStar's previous management ('You All Meet in a Lab')
  • Figured out either what Biomaster was going to do ('The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli', 'Yeoman's Work') or where he was ('Piranharecho')
  • Partially averted when she attempted to trace Bob's escape attempt in 'Reign of the Destroyer' -- she lost his original trail but ended up finding him quite by accident checking up on Minuteman
  • Subverted in 'Operation Phoenix' when Doctor Destroyer deliberately leaves a trail for her which leads TASK FORCE into a death trap
  • This sequence while meeting with Lady Blue concerning Bob's disappearance in "The Jewel of Awad"

    Lady Blue: "Okay. I've been really busy for the past week, since a bunch of mercs tried to kidnap *me* from my Secret Headquarters."
    Ladyhawk: "It's a brownstone in the Little Poland neighborhood of Brooklyn, where you grew up. Would you like me to give you its street address?"

  • Implied in 'Street Level' as she knew Hammer's secret identity before meeting with him.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany: During her sparring match with Nebula in 'The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer'
• Improbable Piloting Skills: Submitted for your approval, Ladyhawk's combat landing at Trinity Base during 'The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer'. She impressed Destroyer so much that, four years later in-universe, he offered her the pilot's seat of his personal spaceplane when they found themselves allied against Mechanon.
  • Her opposed landing of Rochemont's VTOL in front of al-Muhsanat Jawhira in 'The Jewel of Awad' beats that effort hands down
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: to Starforce at the very end of 'The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer', thanks to Die Glocke
  • becomes a running gag between her and Starforce in '72 Hours'
• Katanas Are Just Better: From 'The Battle of Detroit' on...
• Kicking Ass In All Her Finery: Zig-zagged. Effortlessly takes down an overly-amorous and pre-superpowered David Sutherland while wearing an evening gown in 'The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli'; gets thrown the length of the Great Room by Lady Blue in 'Escalation' while wearing a cocktail dress; takes down a VIPER agent and two bodyguards while wearing a business dress in 'The City That VIPER Built'.
• Lethal Chef: She confesses to Sgt. Rendon in 'Fields of Saguenay' that she is the only person her battle butlerette Shina has ever met who could burn instant coffee.
• Love at First Sight: Literally, thanks to a latent power malfunction in 'You All Meet in a Lab'
• Ms. Fanservice: Zig-zagged. Invoked in "The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli" with her evening gown, exaggerated with her numerous pool scenes flirting with Bob in "Reconnaissance in Force," exploited in "The City That VIPER Built" to knock out Leo Samuel and riffle through his wallet for information, and done offscreen before "Mechanon, Inc." for the cover of a 2015 issue of MAXIM. Beyond those overt examples, it's usually downplayed except to state sometimes that she has an incredible figure underneath her usual outfit, superheroic or otherwise.
• Ninja: much closer to real than stereotypical
• Never Bring A Gun to a Knife Fight: Invoked three times:
  • Fighting -- and killing -- Fiacho in 'A Week at Davos', after thinking Fiacho has just shot Starforce dead.
  • Her Single Stroke Battle with General McAdams in "Coup d'Etat"
  • In 'World War VIPER', she clears a quadblaster emplacement with her katanas before using IT against VIPER troops opposing the 82nd Airborne's assault.
• Noodle Incident: The exact nature of the incident during her honeymoon which resulted in neither Bob nor Shina trusting her with a coffee maker -- mentioned to Sgt. Rendon in "Fields of Saguenay" -- is never elaborated on any further by her.
• Our Presidents Are Different: President Action in 'World War VIPER'. And HOW...
  • Shows a bit of President Iron as well in "Coup d'Etat" when her first action upon election is to close the IRS, defy an eventual Supreme Court order to re-open it, and force Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against her.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: She LOVES invoking this on her children. Especially Jillian... ('Resistance Is Futile', and to a lesser extent 'Force of Will')
  • Subverted in "Mechanon, Inc." when her 97-year-old grandmother pulls it on her
• Poker: Taught Vikon how to play without using his powers. In-universe, she made the Final Table at the World Series of Poker in 1999, and won in 2013.
• Post-Victory Collapse: In 'The Varanyi Civil War', she has a severe case of the shakes in the Sitharados' turbolift after facing down the Varanyi's Grand Inquisitor Vashyyl and being rescued by T'Nereq
  • Strongly implied in 'Street Level' during the post-battle scene where she is talking with Hammer
  • She is beginning one after killing General McAdams in the Oval Office during "Coup d'Etat"
  • Her collapse after she kills the Supreme Serpent and UNTIL takes control of VIPER World HQ in 'World War VIPER'
• Raised by Grandparents: Her grandparents in Japan.
• Romantic False Lead: Powerfist in '72 Hours', Edward Trevathan in 'Crowns of Krim'
• Shoot the Dog: Arguably, her killing of the rogue psionic Revolution X in 'Street Level' is this trope.
• Single Stroke Battle: Played straight with her fight against General McAdams in the Oval Office at the climax of "Coup d'Etat", complete with the impression from Shina's perspective that she had been mortally wounded in the process. Made more impressively badass because he used a semiautomatic blaster rifle and she used her katanas
  • ...and subverted in that she had blinded McAdams with an energy shuriken just before he started shooting
• Sitting Sexy on a Piano: Invoked during Bob's impromptu show in 'The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli'
• Slow Walk: A staple finishing move of hers when fighting with katanas, usually done as an orbit around the eventual target of her wrath:
  • Does the orbital variant to Kat el-Hassan before their battle in 'The Jewel of Awad.'
  • Does this to Revolution X in the climax of 'Street Level' after he realizes the shuriken she used on him had rendered his psionic powers useless.
  • Done to Sir Edgar Essec TWICE during their climactic duel in 'World War VIPER': the orbital variant at the duel's beginning, and the straight walk after his scimitar is shattered
• Spy Catsuit: By 'Piranharecho' it actually provides her decent protection in the unlikely event she cannot dodge an attack. Partially averted in that she deliberately does NOT accentuate her cleavage or wear high heels with it.
• Squee: Did this when she saw where Bob was taking her on their first date in 'Operation Phoenix'
• Stalker With A Crush: Comes across as this during 'You All Meet in a Lab' during her investigation of Bob
• Stealth Hi/Bye: She is a ninja, boys. That's all you need to know.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Averted in 'The City That VIPER Built. She lasts around 3 minutes in Clint Stanton's pool death trap and almost makes it out of her bonds before drowning
  • Upgraded to merely Downplayed in "The Jewel of Awad" while debating whether to use her rebreather for swimming into Al-Muhsanat Jawhira through its underwater entrance. The increased oxygen storage and transport her Varanyi medical nannies give her are apparently good for at least a five minute breathhold doing very strenuous activity underwater, according to her internal monologue before infiltration.
• Sword Pointing: She does this a lot after she gets her katanas
• Three Point Landing: 'Fields of Saguenay' isn't the only time she's done this. She loves this trope...
• Tsundere: There was a reason her nickname in DFW-area social circles before her marriage was 'One Date Dormyer'...
  • ...not to mention it perfectly describes her anger toward Bob, as revealed during their mutual Anguished Declaration of Love to each other at the end of "The City That VIPER Built"

    Ladyhawk: "When I came back to America in 1982 to see what was left of my father's company and bring my parents' killers to justice, I swore that I would *not* fall in love." (beat) "Guess what I did the first time I saw you?"
    (Bob's eyes widen in shock)
    Ladyhawk: "Yeah, you. I was so angry at myself for doing that I took it out on you. And then I started dating just to keep up appearances and *none* of those 'rich idiots with no day job' ever measured up to you and I got even angrier at you for *that*."

• Utility Belt: Not to Batman levels of absurdity, though. Her known loadout (which is pretty consistent throughout the decades in-universe) includes a rebreather, a swingline that can also be used to entangle or trip, 2 packs of marbles (when your target absolutely, positively must be on its butt RIGHT NOW), and some thermite pellets.