Heart Breaker

Early life
Billy Robert Kanigher is the son of Francine Kanigher, a prostitute, and Jack Watson, an office worker who left Francine two months after Billy was born. Francine was abusive to her son and did not care for him. During his college years, Billy Kanigher was in the audience of a sexual education video showing. The images got into his mind, and just two days later, he attempted to rape a female student, got expelled from college and had his mother sued.

However when Billy went home that night, he was attacked by his mother, who made continuous threats to the young student. Unwilling to take anymore abuse from his prostitute mother, Billy retaliated and stabbed her in the chest 17 times. Although he was terrified by what he had just done, he began to realize that he actually enjoyed it. Leaving no traces, Billy quickly left Pittsburgh and moved into a small apartment in Crystal City. It was here that he began a life of crime, joining the Ventura crime family as a thug and being educated about how the crime organization in Crystal City works.

After months of crime, Billy, now working under the name Heart Breaker, had earned the respect of the daughter of the family, Jenni Ventura. This respect was quickly turned into love, but also as greed, as the couple desired nothing more than to take over the Ventura crime family. So one night, both teamed up and assassinated the mob boss. Blaming an enemy mob, Jenni Ventura, being the only child of the fallen boss, was crowned as the new boss. In her new position, she promoted the Heart Breaker as her partner, and the two later got married. However only weeks into their marriage, the Heart Breaker grew disatisfied by Jenni's abuse of power, and murdered her in her sleep. Billy thought nothing of the killing, believing that he is doing his female victims a favour by putting them out of their misery, rather than having to emotionally break their hearts. Now with Jenni Ventura out of the picture, the Heart Breaker took over as the new mob boss, renaming the crime family as the Heart Breaker crime family.

While ruling as the new mob boss, a young african-american woman caught Billy's attention. One night after being framed by an enemy mob, the Heart Breaker, sporting a new outfit, teamed up with the young woman, calling herself Iris Bennett, and fought their way out of the sight of the police. Laughing over their effort, the two hit it off, and eventually were engaged and married. But once again just a few weeks after the ceremony, Billy was unhappy with the way Iris has been acting, and had her killed with another 17 stabs to the chest. Now single once again, the Heart Breaker desired nothing more than a new wife. So he went on another killing spree (this was about the time the Crystal League was formed), however this time he only killed male victims; the only women he killed were the ones that refused to marry him.

The first and only woman to accept his offer was a blonde-haired woman named Dawn Pullman after the Heart Breaker killed every man in a dance club. Despite Dawn's disapproval, the two got married, but during the honeymoon, Billy's rape attempt was dismissed by Dawn. In retaliation, Billy murdered her by repeatedly attacking her with a stun gun. However before hiding the body, the Heart Breaker made love to Dawn's corpse (his first necrophilic act) and dismembered it into pieces.

Heart broken once again, the Heart Breaker goes on another killing spree, once again in search of a new wife. However while raiding a small bar, he learns about the arrival of a super-powered woman who fights under the name Silver Frost. With a great desire of her power, the Heart Breaker began a search for the female superhuman, obsessed with manipulating her powers for himself.

Heart Breaker
After weeks of creating chaos across the city, the Heart Breaker finally catches up to who he thought to be Silver Frost (who was actually Frostbite who had switched bodies with Silver Frost at the time), kidnaps her and traps her in his mob's hideout. For days the Heart Breaker tortured and physically seduced his prisoner, but to no prevail. However to his surprise, his captor was not fighting back, forcing him to question whether or not his new love had superpowers or not. This eventually grew as a frustration for the Heart Breaker, but before he could assault his captor, the Crystal League, alongside the real Silver Frost (who's in Frostbite's body at the time), arrive on the scene and battles with the Heart Breaker's minions. It was at this point that the Heart Breaker held his prisoner at gunpoint, threatening that he would shoot his captor if the Crystal League makes another move. However to even his own surprise, Frostbite finally manages to activate Silver Frost's power and knock the Heart Breaker out with a blinding kick. The Heart Breaker failed to gain victory in his first encounter with the Crystal League, and as a result, he was put behind bars.

Several months later the Heart Breaker was busted out of prison by Tele-Kid, alongside Tarantula, and accepted his offer to become a founding member of the notorious group of villains known as the Platinum League in an attempt to rival their superpowered enemies. The Heart Breaker was chosen to battle with the Crystal League member, X-Ray. But during a confrontation between the two, the Heart Breaker fell deeply in love with her, and refused to clash with his new love. Instead he sends the remainder of his minions against her as he retreats, leaving behind all of his Platinum League partners. During his abscence, the Heart Breaker has been recruiting more thugs, rebuilding his crime family and taking back his stranglehold on Crystal City, and all the while, confessing his love to himself over and over again, promising himself that one day he will gain the affection of X-Ray.

Now in control of an abandoned church, the Heart Breaker finally seizes his opportunity. While the rest of the team were distracted, the Heart Breaker sent his men to gang up on X-Ray, who was all alone in a dark alley, and knocks her out. He traps X-Ray with a specialized, immovable collar (a mechanized device that rings itself around a victim's neck, preventing any form of light manipulation, including X-Ray's force field generation). With no other choice, X-Ray accepts the Heart Breaker's proposal, and is forced to prepare to be married to him. However during the ceremony, as the Heart Breaker makes his wedding vows, X-Ray makes one final attempt of removing the collar, in which she is successful, and defeats the Heart Breaker's goons single-handedly. The Heart Breaker is then once again thrown back into prison, but his mob still remains as a leaderless crime family.

After over a year in prison, the Heart Breaker was finally released from prison, this time by a wealthy billionaire named Maximillion Schroeder, who revealed to him his plan in reforming the Platinum League and taking control of Crystal City while the Crystal League were trapped in a virtual world created by Emaou Yokoyama. So for months, the Heart Breaker remained as a lieutenant of the Platinum League, alongside Master Man and Red Ghost, while he took over his old crime family once again, who have remained ever so loyal to their leader since his imprisonment. However when news got out that the Crystal League have been freed from their virtual captivity, the entire Platinum League prepared for the inevitable battle that was to come. The Heart Breaker personally challenged X-Ray for a confrontation in his old hideout, in the abandoned church. The Heart Breaker makes several attempts at seducing his love while she overcame several of his obstacles, but to no prevail, as X-Ray refuses to quit. Realizing that his men were not good enough to battle with X-Ray, the Heart Breaker makes a hasty retreat to Maximillion Schroeder's lair, reuniting himself with his fellow partners in the Platinum League.

Several weeks later the Crystal League discover the location of Maximillion Schroeder's lair, where they engage in a huge battle with the rest of the Platinum League. The Heart Breaker was immediately defeated in the hands of X-Ray, while the rest of the Platinum League suffered a crushing defeat in the hands of the Crystal League. As Crystal City slowly returned to normal, most of the criminals were put back behind bars, as some others disappeared into the unknown. The Heart Breaker was one of the first to be locked away once again, however little did he realize that he was secretly admired by one of the few former Platinum League lieutenants to retreat unharmed, Stoneheart.

After months of imprisonment, the Heart Breaker was once again busted out, but this time by his secret admired, Stoneheart, who confessed her love for him as soon as they reached safety. As a showing of gratitude, the Heart Breaker assigned Stoneheart as his new partner, and the two began spreeing across the city, rebuilding the Heart Breaker's fallen crime family. He had finally achieved his goal. He had finally attained the love of a super-powered woman, and he had the power to make her do whatever he wanted, and the duo have proven that they were more than a match for the authorities. However this was all put to a stop when the Heart Breaker's crime family grew back to its full self, and the Heart Breaker had no further use for Stoneheart. But when this news came to Stoneheart, the Heart Breaker was long gone, and even his crime family was nowhere to be seen. The Heart Breaker was now once again the leader of an established mob, but he knew that he had to be very careful not to cross Stoneheart again, at least until he knew that he had the power to finally kill her.

After several months of hiding, the Heart Breaker makes his move back into the city, now with a completely new look. His mob, now wearing masquerade garments, stormed across the city, this time with much heavier weaponry, with the objective to search and destroy Stoneheart, as well as capture X-Ray once more. However they were shocked to find out that Stoneheart had aligned herself with the Crystal League, convincing them that she has turned over a new leaf. With this new alliance, the Heart Breaker's masquerade crime organization was ultimately defeated until the Heart Breaker was left for Stoneheart to personally fight. The Heart Breaker was left for dead after being heavily beaten up by Stoneheart, who was convinced not to kill him by the heroes, and thus the Heart Breaker was once again sent back to prison, this time more beaten up than ever.

It took over 2 years until the Heart Breaker could fully recover from the beating his received in the hands of Stoneheart, but upon hearing the news of Stoneheart's imprisonment, the Heart Breaker cleverly organized a plot for his loyal minions to bust him out of prison. This plot was successful, and the Heart Breaker was once again out on the streets, wreaking havoc just like he used to, however this time in search of X-Ray, who was rumoured to be missing from action. However once he found her, he was disheartened to learn that she was pregnant. Because of this, the Heart Breaker realized that she did not love him back, and he realized the error of his ways. The Heart Breaker was heart broken. After a sudden change of heart, the Heart Breaker announced his retirement as a mob leader, and surrendered himself to the police, which was perhaps the only thing that he has ever done right.

Powers and abilities
The Heart Breaker has no superhuman abilities, but is a highly cunning criminal strategist. He is not especially talented in fisticuffs (although his endurance has grown from having to engage in them over the years), but he always employs weaponry, such as stun guns and dual M9 pistols, of which he uses to successfully escape the clutches of the law. He is also considered to be a charmer, being able to seduce any woman that he desires through his irrestitable charms.

Nightmare Blackout
The Heart Breaker appears in X-Ray's nightmare in the Nightmare Blackout story arc. Suffering from amnesia, X-Ray finds herself newly wed to the Heart Breaker. The two set off on their honeymoon, where the Heart Breaker prepares to murder his wife.

Spiritual Rebirth
The Heart Breaker was one of few villains to be cloned and morphed into a minion of Trastámara Aragon to battle the Crystal League. However this version possessed several superhuman physical attributes including strength and agility.

Trivia

 * Heart Breaker was planned to only appear as a one-off villain, appearing in only one issue of the Crystal League series. However because of the range of creativity with the character, the Heart Breaker returned as a recurring villain.
 * Heart Breaker joined the original Platinum League as a replacement for Master Man.
 * Heart Breaker wore a bright red suit with a black undershirt, red tie, black shoes and a red bowler. In his new look, he wore a classic baroque Carnevale masquerade attire, including a red brocade jacket with an attached lace jabot, red velvet knee pants, a black velvet cape, undersleeves with lace cuffs, a matching hat and a red masquerade mask.