Doctor Diehard - Countdown

Countdown

In the Countdown to Final Crisis tie-in series Lord Havok and the Extremists, A new version of Diehard is introduced on Earth-8. Hans Leckter runs a school for Metahumans, and chooses the best students to join his special team, the Zen Men, much like Marvel's Professor X. Diehard is the most openly rebellious member of the Extremists, constantly challenging Lord Havok's decisions. His school is destroyed by Monarch's forces in #4, killing his students and wife, causing him to lash out at Havok in his grief, and after unsuccessfully trying to rally the Extremists against him, is killed by his teammates.

In #5, how Diehard came to join the Extremists is revealed. His school was deemed too dangerously powerful by the government, and was laid siege to by the Meta-Militia. Rather than risk a fight, Hans, then a man of peace, willingly surrendered. He and his students were placed in an internment camp, where they was power-dampening chips were planted in their palms, and they were given the choice to live in the camp's squalor, or join the Meta-Militia, which some of Hans' students, like One-Eye, agreed to. Some time later, Hans' daughter, Anna, was killed by a guard who had tried to force himself upon her, and his son, Jack, was killed trying to avenge her. Their death caused Hans to throw off the reins of peace, and, after a repentant One-Eye destroyed his chip, lead his students in a rebellion. Their first escape attempt failed miserably, but the second, with help from Lord Havok, succeeded. In gratitude for Havok's assistance, Hans joined the Extremists.