| |
|
| Bill Harken | |
|---|---|
| Portrayed By | Malik Yoba |
 | |
| First Seen | Pilot |
| Status | Unknown |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Jeannie Harken (wife),
Adam Harken (adopted son) |
| Profession |
Agent |
| Alpha Type |  Hyperadrenal
|
Bill Harken is a former FBI agent and a hyperadrenal Alpha on Rosen's team. His wife Jeannie thought he was still employed with the FBI. Bill was suspended from the Bureau after getting angry with a colleague and accidentally shoving him through a solid wall; he only planned on staying with Rosen's team until his suspension was over. He's since decided to stay on the team, even though the Bureau offered to reinstate him.
Events[]
Pre-Season[]
Bill was a FBI agent, before the series, but was suspended due to harming another agent. Bill joined Rosen's team until his suspension.
Season One[]
Episode One: When we meet Bill Harken, he and his wife are talking about him having been suspended. Because his wife is wearing a FBI t-shirt that is way to big on her, this makes us think that he was suspended from the FBI and this turns out to be correct. When he walks outside to leave, he finds a large SUV blocking his drive way. He then "amps up" and pushes the SUV out of the way. His DoD Alphas Initiative file tells us that he has Enhanced Strength from his fight-or-flight response. When a man witnesses him moving the SUV and is staring at him, he gets a little aggressive and says, "Have a problem?"
Physical Appearance[]
Bill is an African-American. He has a strong build and a slightly shaved head. In the first season of Alphas, he has a "badass beard". But in the second season it is not there.
Abilities[]
As a Hyperadrenal alpha, Bill has the ability to enhance his strength and speed triggered by a "fight or flight" response which floods his body with adrenaline. At first Bill needed to be in danger or get angry to enter this state but over time he learned to activate it at will. Bill cannot stay in this state for very long or else he will become cripplingly fatigued, however in Alpha Dogs Bill becomes better at using his ability thanks to Kats training. He was able to use his abilities without having any downsides and claims he doesn't need his pills anymore. Bills strength has been enough to push a large SUV several feet with his bare hands and easily break bones and send grown men flying off their feet with one strike. His speed was demonstrated in The Quick and the Dead when he nearly caught up to Eli Aquino, an alpha moving at nearly ten times normal human speed, but was unable to maintain that speed long enough to catch him.
Trivia[]
- Bill used to work with the FBI, before an incident where he broke his superior's clavicle. Despite an offer to return to the bureau during Bill and Gary's Excellent Adventure, Bill preferred to stay with the team.
- Bill can also enhance the strength in his legs, enabling him to run considerably faster.
- In addition to enhanced strength and speed, he also seems to become invulnerable, and only seems to respond to pain after he stops using his ability.
- Bill seems to be immune to Matthew Hurley's power to make people mad.
- He can stand still and take a beating from three armed men, one of whom is tasing him continuously, without moving. Partially explained by his ability to control his adrenaline rushes, as adrenaline is known to make it easier to ignore pain. The aches, pains, and injuries he must logically have collected don't seem to affect him later, either.
- Though he was as ambivalent towards Gary as everyone else on the team, Bill always laughs at Gary's antics where others would fume in early episodes This provides some early indications of his later friendship with Gary following "Bill and Gary's Excellent Adventure".