John Hart


 * For the Royal Navy officer of the same name, see: here. 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 similar as an attempt at sarcasm. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)

With the Time Agency
Hart was a former partner of Jack Harkness during their time in the Time Agency, both professionally and sexually. During their time in the Agency, Hart was trapped in a two-week time loop with Harkness for a period of five years; after a brief argument, Hart agreed that he had been "a good wife, too". (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) He had been in rehab for drink, drugs, sex and even murder. By the time Hart re-united with Jack, the Agency had closed.

After the Agency
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 Torchwood 3 team Hart could not 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 vortex manipulator to the skin on John's wrist and added a Ninth Generation Detonator to it. Gray then threatened to activate the detenator if John did not comply with his plans. (TW: Exit Wounds) John planted several bombs in an abandoned warehouse and the Torchwood team detected it as having came through the rift. At first they assumed it was Weevils, but as they investigated, they found bombs which detonated with the team inside the building. The team escaped from the rubble, injured but alive. Jack's vortex manipulator started to beep and revealed John in a hologram form showing that he had Gray. John told Jack he was going to wreak havoc in his world. (TW: Fragments) John lured Jack back to the Hub and killed him. With the others dealing with various aliens in Cardiff, John took Jack, who had came back to life, to 27 AD Cardiff, where he met Gray. He was then ordered by Gray to bury Jack alive, but refused as he still loved his old friend, but Gray threatened to activate the detonator if he did not comply. 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. 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 the time period. (TW: Exit Wounds)

John Hart visited Ianto's funeral in 2009, watching from a distance and saying "Take care, Eye Candy". Some time afterwards, John ended up in Mexico, making a living by buying and selling alien artefacts from a rift off the Gulf. There, he met Beatrice and experienced "love at first sight". However, she stole an old-model vortex manipulator 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 Hussar's jacket and boots from ancient Italy. The jacket's top left hand button was missing. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)

Special abilities
Captain John's vortex manipulator allowed him to Time travel and teleport. The manipulator'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, John possessed evolved pheromones which made him more sexually attractive. (TW: Fragments)

Behind the scenes

 * James 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.