The Hourman of the 853rd century is a sophisticated android constructed by Tyler Chemorobotics. He is a diamond generation intelligent machine colony constructed from technology that is vastly beyond anything conceivable in the twentieth century. While Hourman is an android, he is an android in name only with as full a range of emotions and failings as any human. The exact commission of his construction is unknown but it could be conjectured that he was designed and originally engineered by the New God Metron. Metron sought a replacement and apprentice so took on the newly constructed Hourman.
The already powerful Hourman was a member of the Justice Legion A until he came into the possession of the Worlogog. The Worlogog was an ancient artefact constructed (possibly by Metron) from solid tachyons. It is a map of the universe in miniature which a mortal (or immortal) mind can alter mentally which then causes reality to shift to fit the new map. The stone had been lost for centuries on Earth until it was unearthed by a Lexcorp requisition team. Luthor not fully understanding the stone used it to manipulate the alien J'emm with his Injustice Gang against the Justice League of America.
, Batman and J'onn J'onzz managed to defeat the gang and the stone fell into Superman hands creating a temporal split. In one universe Superman destroyed the stone therefore causing a timeline that allowed Darkseid to conquer the Earth. The corrupted Metron from the timeline travelled back to the common origin and took the rest of the League into his future to search out the stone for Darkseid. Knowing that he must intervene to preserve his timeline the future Hourman sought out the time lost Green Lantern V (Kyle Rayner) who was on his way to Wonderworld and explained to him the concept of the Worlogog and how it must be preserved.
Eventually Green Lantern V, Aquaman and Flash III ended up in the alternate Darkseid future where they recruited the help of their surviving team-mates to travel back to the common origin. They arrived in time to get a telepathic message to J'onn who stopped Superman from destroying the stone. With the distraction Luthor and his team turned the tables and for a brief moment the Joker was in control of the stone. Once he had been defeated the Justice League handed the Worlogog to the real Metron for safe keeping. Metron then passed the Worlogog on to Hourman making him its custodian as a sign of the passing of Hourman's apprenticeship. From then on Hourman was the master of time and Hypertime as a member of the Justice Legion A.
A little over two years after he first obtained consciousness Hourman was instrumental in the organisation of the celebrations for the return of Superman Prime to the 853rd century. As part of the celebrations Hourman would use the Worlogog to transport the Justice Legion A into the past to meet the original Justice League, then he would send the League into the future to participate in a form of "super-Olympics." Everything was planned for except the intercession of the ancient Superman villain Solaris I. The Tyrant Sun secretly placed a mechanical virus into Hourman's machine body. Once in the past the so called "Hourman Virus" disabling Hourman's time travel abilities stranding the Legion in the past and the League in the future.
The Hourman Virus spread to the Justice Legion and then to the rest of the world. Being a nano-mechanical virus it effected both humans and machine causing the native metahuman population to view the Legion as hostile. At the same time they had to deal with the destructive schemes of an ever more paranoid Vandal Savage. The Justice Legion discovered that the Virus was actually Solaris' core program and to defeat it they would have to create the body of Solaris in the twentieth century for the Virus to download into. Wallowing in self pity Hourman was of little use to his team mates or to himself.
When the Hourman Virus was eventually over come Hourman's time powers were restored and he was able to transport the Justice Legion A into the future to witness the defeat of Solaris by Superman Prime, Superman M* and Green Lantern V. During the celebrations Hourman reached into the past, seconds before Krypton exploded and created a duplicate of the planet in the 853rd century. He then reached back and plucked the population of Krypton from their world in the seconds after the launch of Kal-El's rocket and before Krypton's final destruction. All this created the world of New Krypton where Superman Prime could life amongst other superpowered Kryptonians, including his parents, as a gift from his comrades in the Justice League and Legions.
The celebrations finally finished and Hourman was left with his persistent feelings of inadequacy and guilt in letting Solaris use him as a carrier for the Hourman Virus. Realising that he needed to develop more as a person and as a hero he decided to journey back to the twentieth century, only there could he find a more "normal" society away from the distracting wonders of the 853rd century. He arrived at the Justice League Watchtower, having signalled ahead that he was coming, to serve as the replacement for the Martian Manhunter (who was on a temporary leave of absence). He put his foot in it from the start by letting the League know that they faced a war with the Fifth Dimension and inquired it he had arrived before or after it.
Hourman did not find himself fitting in well with the Justice League. He learned that there is an emotional side to time from the Flash. However generally he showed little patience for things that he did not deem "necessary" and would skip seconds or minutes during a conversation because his time vision allowed him to see how it played out. Often he would pull other Leaguers along with him. It was after one of these impromptu side steps of an inconvenient conversation that the League decided to act.
Green Lantern, Zauriel, Huntress II and Flash decided to introduce Hourman to the Batman to see if he could talk some sense into him (or to give him some dating techniques). They interrupted Batman during a battle with the Mad Hatter and annoyed him by upsetting his finely planned tactics. Nevertheless he granted Hourman the cold logic of his experience and told Hourman to think before he acts. Hourman took the advice literally and used his time vision to learn the history of the Justice League through Batman's experiences. From them he discovered the perfect person to guide his growth, the one person associated with the League that was anything close to being a normal human, Snapper Carr.
Lucas Carr had been the Justice Leagues maintenance man and unofficial mascot during their early years until the Joker manipulated him into betraying them. After that he got a job at STAR Labs, joined a band of space travellers and eventually settled back down in Happy Harbour. Everybody use to call him Snapper due to the habit of constantly Snapping his fingers. Hourman and the League found Snapper waiting for them in a Happy Harbour cafe. He had been expecting them for sometime after a premonition of their arrival (time can get a little crazy around Hourman). Armed with certain amount foreknowledge Snapper took Hourman (who he instantly nicknamed Tyler) under his wing.
The two instantly hit it off, but an unfortunate incident with Amazo convinced Hourman that he was even more a a liability that before. It was then that Snapper proposed a solution. Hourman was having problems fitting into the mortal world because of his omnipotence more that his lack of experience. They knowledge that you can recast time to correct any mistake means that you never learn from the them. Impulsive as normal Hourman acted on the idea. Concentrating he broke down the Worlogog which was the source of his time powers and scattered its component tachyons. He retained the ability to use his time visions and time travel abilities for a hour at a time (with an hours "recharge" time after wards before they could be used again), and the permanent abilities of Miraco strength and speed.
His earlier encounter with Amazo had unsettled Hourman (even in his new down powered form). Amazo was the first android, the Adam of his kind and Hourman was troubled that all android might be evil. Seeking answers he used his "Hour of Power" to seek out Professor Ivo and from him he learned of the existence of Tomorrow Woman. She was an android created by Ivo and T. O. Morrow in order to kill the Justice League, instead she broke her programming and died a hero. Wishing to learn more about her Hourman used his Time Vision to recreate her. She lived for a further fifty minutes during the rest of his Hour of Power, yet during that time she lived life to the full, saving people and teaching Hourman that his actions have consequences on other people. When the hour was up she vanished leaving a hole in the heart he never knew he had, He realised that he could bring her back again but it would be been for his benefit and not hers.
When Hourman helped the JLA battle the threatened invasion from the Fifth Dimension he encountered the surviving members of the Justice Society for the first time. His programming gave him the memories and feelings of the original Hourman so he automatically felt a connection with the Society. Later when the original Sandman was killed he was asked to attend the funeral by Jay Garrick and was swept up with other heroes in the battle for the future Doctor Fate. When the smoke cleared Hourman joined the newly reformed Justice Society (the Manhunter having returned to duty with the League in the meantime).
