Jim Harper


 * ''This article is about the first Guardian, Jim Harper. For his successor, see Mal Duncan.

Jim Harper is a Cadmus clone, formerly active as the head of security at Cadmus's Washington, D.C. facility as Guardian.

Personality
Guardian is a calm level headed figure of authority. Unlike his employer, Dr. Desmond, he tends to be a bit more open minded on certain issues and will seek a peaceful resolution if possible. This annoys Desmond to no end and he often has to use Guardian's G-Gnome to make him see things his way instead.

Physical appearance
Guardian is a strongly built Caucasian male with red hair and blue eyes. He strongly resembles his "nephew", Red Arrow. During his time as Guardian, he wore a dark blue jump suit with a golden helmet and golden shoulder and wrist pads.

Early life
Jim Harper was cloned by Cadmus

Guardian was already a figure of some notoriety before joining Cadmus.

2010
Guardian investigated a small fire on at ground level, and after notifications from genomorphs, he found three intruders: Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash. He tried to make them leave peacefully, but when Kid Flash mentioned the weapons made in the facility—something Guardian seemed unaware about—his G-Gnome made him attack them. They fled, and eventually locked themselves in with Project Kr. They released the Superboy, but the clone's programming turned against them. They were quickly defeated.

With the sidekicks in containment pods, Guardian saw no need to return Superboy to his pod immediately. Desmond disagreed, and used the G-Gnomes to sway Guardian. But on his way back, Superboy rebelled and broke the sidekicks out. Guardian and the genomorphs chased them.

At the ground level, Dubbilex revealed that he was behind the events set in motion the previous day, so Superboy could be free. He lifted the telepathic control on Guardian, who vowed to deal with Desmond whilst the other exposed Cadmus. But Desmond would not go without a fight. He ingested Project Blockbuster, and in his new, monstrous form, knocked Guardian out.

After Desmond was defeated, and the Justice League arrived, Guardian told his story to Batman, Aquaman and Flash.

Later, The Cadmus Board of Directors appointed him as the new head at their DC branch. On his first day, Guardian appointed Dr. Spence as acting chief scientist and declared that no more G-Gnomes would be used to suppress wills nor would there be any more secret breeding projects, and that he would usher in a new "kinder, gentler Cadmus".

Guardian had his hands full searching for missing genomorphs. Over the past months, many genomorphs had disappeared. Dubbilex promised to help him, but there were no results.

When Superboy demanded entrance into Cadmus, Spence tried to dissuade Guardian from actually letting him in. Guardian did so anyway, and welcomed Superboy with open arms. Superboy inquired about another super-clone, but Guardian knew nothing of it. Instead, he gave a tour to show the new and improved Cadmus, where scientists and genomorphs worked side by side on medical research. During this tour, Superboy learned that Guardian was the uncle of Roy Harper.

Guardian was shocked when Superboy uncovered Project Match, and denied any involvement on his part, or Dr. Spence's.

The fight that broke out between Superboy and Match lead to a secret underground city created by Dubbilex. Guardian stopped Superboy from completely destroying Match, and prepared to have all of Dubbilex's secreted genomorphs placed back with Cadmus.

Guardian stared blankly into space at full attention, while Dr. Spence, Dubbilex, and various genomorphs lay unconscious on the ground. He was oblivious of Ra's al Ghul, Queen Bee, Lex Luthor, Ocean-Master, Brain, and Monsieur Mallah carting away Cadmus experiments such as the cryogenically-frozen bodies of Match and Roy Harper.

2011-2015
Jim Harper found out that he himself was a Cadmus clone. He gave up his position at Cadmus, as well as the Guardian suit and identity.

2015
Jim was in Metropolis when the Collector of Worlds trapped downtown in a spherical prison.

Jim and Batgirl looked on as Black Lightning blasted the force field with electricity from inside, while Zatanna tried to breach it with magic from outside, to no avail.

Jim waited at the edge of the field with Lightning and Batgirl.

After Nightwing displayed a holo-message telling those inside the force field about the probe that may be generating the field, Lightning went to investigate. Jim volunteered to go with him.

Jim approached the hole left by the probe, and examined the depth of it.

Jim returned to the surface with Lightning, after failing to destroy the probe.

Black Lightning and Jim Harper cracked down a group of looters at an electronics store.

With all looters arrested, Black Lightning advised people to head home, and reassured them the Justice League was on it. Jim guarded the tied-up criminals.

2016
With Green Arrow, Black Canary, Nightwing and Wally West, Jim confronted Red Arrow about his self-destructive search for Speedy. Jim tried to relate to him, since they were both Cadmus clones, but Roy wouldn't listen.

Abilities and Equipment
Guardian is proficient in hand-to-hand combat, besting Aqualad in it. He carries a golden heater shield on his wrist.

Background in other media

 * In the comics, Guardian is Jim Harper, a Golden Age hero who is cloned many times by the Cadmus DNA Project since the 1970s. He was later (in 1977) revealed to be Roy Harper's uncle (the older brother of Roy's father Will). As the gap between the war and the present day got larger, Guardian was retconned into a great-uncle instead in 2001.
 * This is his first animated appearance.