John Hart
- For the Royal Navy officer of the same name, see John Hart (The Sea Devils). For other individuals named Hart, see Hart.
Captain John Hart was a rogue Time Agent who traveled to Cardiff in 2008. He was an old friend and lover of Jack Harkness. Like Jack, his real name is unknown. The name 'John Hart' was an alias he made up when hearing Jack's name, his intentions were to make it the same but different as an attempt of sarcasm. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)
Profile
History
Hart was a former partner of Jack Harkness during their time in the Time Agency, both professionally and sexually. He had been in rehab for drink, drugs, sex and even murder. By the time Hart re-united with Jack, the Agency had closed.
In 2008, Captain John Hart appeared through the Cardiff Rift to ask for Jack's help in locating three radioactive cluster bombs, apparently scattered across Cardiff. Jack told the team he can't be trusted but agreed to help him. John seized the containers, trying to kill Gwen Cooper using a paralyzing lip gloss, shooting Owen and pushing Jack off the top of a building, thinking he was dead.
However, the containers, which were supposed to contain the location of an Arcadian diamond hidden by the woman he had murdered, instead contained an explosive, which latched onto the DNA signature of her killer. Using the DNA of the Torchwood 3 crew, John superficially altered his DNA. Jack and Owen were able to save John's life before forcing him back through the Rift, but not before he revealed he had found Jack's brother, Gray. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) John found Jack's younger brother Gray, who, consumed by wrath at Jack for having supposedly abandoned him, had turned against him.
Gray used John as an instrument of revenge. He molecularly bonded John's Time Agency wrist strap to his own skin and put a bomb on it. Gray then threatened to set off the bomb if John did not comply with his plans. (TW: Exit Wounds)
John planted a bomb in an abandoned warehouse and the Torchwood team detected it from coming through the rift, at first they just assumed that it was Weevils as they investigate they find that it was bombs and they detonate with them inside the building. The team escape from the ruble. Jacks Vortex manipulator starts to bleep and reveals John in a hologram form showing that he has Gray and then goes on to telling Jack he is going to make havoc in his world. (TW: Fragments)
John lured Jack back to the Hub and killed him. With the others dealing with various in Cardiff, John took Jack, who had come back to life, to 27 AD Cardiff where he met Gray. He then was forced into helping Gray bury Jack alive. Before he filled in the grave he threw a ring, which was
really a tracking device, into the hole. John was then set free by Gray but he decided to go back to Torchwood and find Jack to save him, calling it a matter of honour. He was briefly imprisoned by Gray along with Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones, during which time he sent out a recall signal that stopped a Weevil infestation of Cardiff. After Gray's defeat, and the subsequent deaths of Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper, Hart left the Hub. Jack offered to help pinpoint a Rift event that John could use to return to his own time, but Hart reflected that
it might be interesting to explore the world and get a better feel for what Jack found so fascinating about this time period. (TW: Exit Wounds)
John Hart visited Ianto's funeral in 2009, watching from a distance and saying "Take care, Eye Candy". Sometime afterwards, John ended up in Mexico, making a living from buying and selling alien artifacts from a rift off the Gulf. There, he met Beatrice and experienced "love at first sight". However, she stole an old-model Time Agency wrist strap and went after Ianto Jones, two years prior to his death, in an attempt to make him change the timeline. Hart teamed up with Rhys Williams, as Gwen was now a young mother, and sought out Ianto. (TWM: Shrouded)
Items
Hart wielded a samurai sword from feudal Japan, along with 21st century day pistols that he kept in holsters from the American Old West. He also had a vortex manipulator. He wore a red buccaneer jacket and boots from ancient Italy. The jacket's top left hand button was missing.
Special abilities
Captain John's Time Agency wrist strap allowed him to time travel and teleport through use of a built-in vortex manipulator. The wrist strap's other functions allowed him to assume control of nearby technology, such as CD players, trigger long-distance explosives and project and receive holographic messages. As a 51st century male, it is possible that like Captain Jack, John possesses evolved pheromones which make him more sexually attractive. (TW: Fragments)
Behind the scenes
- By coincidence, another character named John Hart appeared in DW: The Sea Devils.
- Marsters originally wanted to be in Doctor Who after catching an episode of the new series with his agent, but was cast in Torchwood instead.
- Marsters has expressed interest in returning as Hart. It remains to be seen if Hart will appear in Series 4.
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