Supreme Power
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Template:Supercbbox Supreme Power is an 18-issue comic book series which was published under Marvel Comics' MAX imprint (for mature audiences) from 2003 to 2005. It features a rebooted version of the superhero team Squadron Supreme, itself a representation of DC Comics' Justice League of America. It is written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Gary Frank, and issue #1 was cover-dated August 2003. This issue sold out immediately, and became one of Marvel's best-selling issues of the year. Demand was so great that Marvel put scans of the issue online. As of March 22, 2006, Supreme Power has moved to the Marvel Knights imprint of Marvel Comics under the name of its predecesor, Squadron Supreme, with a new first issue.
Contents |
Characters
These are equivalent to the main characters from the Squadron Supreme.
The first issue dealt with the character:
The later issues introduced:
- Nighthawk (based on Batman)
- the Blur (based on The Flash)
- Doctor Spectrum (based on Green Lantern)
- Zarda (based on Wonder Woman)
- Amphibian (based on Aquaman)
- Redstone (No DC Counterpart)
Other characters have since made their debut, most of them in the Supreme Power: Hyperion limited series including:
- Tom Thumb (based on The Atom)
- Arcanna (based on Zatanna)
- Emil Burbank (based on Lex Luthor)
- Nuke (based on Firestorm)
- the Shape (Originally had no DC counterpart was later sometimes connected to Elongated Man)
- Inertia (No DC counterpart)
Likewise, the Supreme Power: Nighthawk limited series introduced Whiteface (a version of the Joker)
Synopsis
Supreme Power
Part I: Contact (#1–6)
The story begins with the origin of Hyperion, which parallels Superman's somewhat, with a baby in a rocket crash-landing on Earth and being saved by a couple, until the Government intervenes, abducting the alien baby and raising him with the objective of turning him into a super-soldier, under a project headed by General Casey and Dr. Bill Steadman. Hyperion grows up in a controlled environment, but doesn't enjoy the confinement.
Other characters are soon introduced, starting with the Blur, a youthful farm boy living with his single mother, whose speed powers are unexplained; Amphibian, a freakish baby (female in this reality) left to die in the ocean, but who manages to survive somehow, after her mother committed suicide when she was born and her father went insane; Nighthawk, who is an African-American in this reality, but with an origin similar to Batman's, who saw his parents murdered as victims of a hate crime; Princess Zarda, apparently a Greek goddess who sleeps in a mausoleum; and Dr. Spectrum, an army colonel specialized in black ops, who is called in to test a crystal-shaped weapon taken from Hyperion's ship, absorbing into his skin and lapsing into a coma.
After Hyperion's first field missions as the Government's secret weapon, Washington Herald reporter Jason Scott learns of his existence, and the government outs him as a state-sponsored superhero to prevent a media exposé. This prompts the Blur, originally an urban myth called the "Atlanta Blur", out of hiding as a corporate icon, while Nighthawk begins acting as a vigilante who solely preys on those criminals whose victims are African-American. After Hyperion's foster parents' deaths are faked to increase Mark's dependence on the Government, he meets Nighthawk and the Blur. Dr. Spectrum wakes up from his years-long coma.
Part II: Powers and Principalities (#7–12)
The NSA removes custody of Project Hyperion from the military, unhappy with his public status. Hyperion starts acting more independently, discovering that he's being used as a decoy for American black ops around the world, and fights Dr. Spectrum on foreign soil. The two fight a long battle, doing considerable damage to the surrounding landscape and inadvertantly killing the local wildlife, and Hyperion touches the crystal by accident and is given memories of his journey to Earth. After Spectrum is defeated, Hyperion tries to learn his origins from his superior, General Clancy, who attempts to destroy him with a new weapon specifically designed to kill him. Amphibian is first spotted by humans, whom she kills in self-defense. Later she finds and helps Dr. Spectrum at the bottom of the sea, where he is healing after his fight with Hyperion.
Princess Zarda wakes up and finds the injured Hyperion, healing him in the light of the sun. She alludes to having similar origins and powers to Hyperion's, explaining she was waiting for him for 2,000 years, and they have a mission to colonize and conquer the planet, but her memories seem mixed up. After separating, Zarda goes on a rampage, disregarding human life and private property. Nighthawk finds a super-human serial killer who preys on black prostitutes and goads the Blur and Hyperion to help him stop the murderer.
Spectrum and Dr. Bill Steadman discover the scientist currently in charge of Hyperion's project has created a retro virus based on Hyperion's DNA, which has been grafted to military convicts who volunteered as human guinea pigs. One of those test subjects tore out an entire prison wall with his bare hands, as was the super-powered serial killer, who escaped captivity with other test subjects and is at large and out of control.
Part III: High Command (#13-18)
Hyperion, Nighthawk, and the Blur have formed an uneasy partnership in order to capture the super-human serial killer. After finding him a fight is started that slaughters 35 humans and destroys or badly damages private property. Doctor Spectrum shows up and takes Michael Redstone, the super-human serial killer, into custody, to a prison originally made for Hyperion.
General Richard Alexander is appointed head of the government's super-hero program and attempts to bring Hyperion back under government control and track down the other super-humans the Government made. Hyperion, Nighthawk and the Blur break up over a political disagreement. After learning of his extraterrestrial origin and the Government's propaganda, Hyperion declares himself outside the system.
Doctor Spectrum is ordered to look for and capture Amphibian for the Government, after a picture showing her killing the first humans who spotted her is revealed to the media. Spectrum learned she killed them in self-defense, and after capturing her and giving her the name "Kingsley Rice", he starts a romantic relationship with her. Later, he meets Princess Zarda who attempts to remove the power prism and retrieve her memories. But before that can happen, she is attacked by Amphibian in retaliation for harming Spectrum. Later, Zarda kills a woman and steals her identification.
General Alexander makes a final attempt to sway Hyperion back into the government's fold. When he refuses, he leaks information to journalist Jason Scott that Hyperion is an extraterrestrial. Alexander then drafts all existing super-humans into the army's super-human program. Hyperion vows to stop it and warns the Blur about it.
Spin-offs
Doctor Spectrum: Full Spectrum is a six-part limited series written by Samm Barnes, exploring the character's origins and his relationship to the crystal weapon that is the source of his power, as he lapsed into a coma and it was absorbed into his skin. This series was launched while Supreme Power went on hiatus after issue #12.
Two more spin-off limited series were also published, namely the five-issue Supreme Power: Hyperion and the six-issue Supreme Power: Nighthawk. The first deals with the U.S. government's attempts to capture and contain Hyperion with the use of a newly assembled superpowered team, while in the second Nighthawk is pursuing an escaped serial killer. Supreme Power: Nighthawk takes places before Hyperion's first meeting with Nighthawk while Supreme Power: Hyperion takes place after issue #18 of Supreme Power.
Saga of the Squadron Supreme is a one-shot written by Michael O'Connor who retells the events of Supreme Power in one issue.
Squadron Supreme (vol.2)
Template:Future comic The US military creates two teams of super-powered agents, one for international and public missions and one for covert operations. Mark informs Jason Scott of the project and gives him a list of the super-humans working for the government. The US President gives a press conference and announces that Hyperion, Blur, Doctor Spectrum, Zarda, Amphibian, Tom Thumb, Arcanna, Emil Burbank, Nuke, Shape and Inertia will be operating as a team, code-named the Squadron Supreme.
After Squadron Supreme is outed, the government asks the team members to filling in Identification and non-disclosure forms, three days later the nano-virus that Hyperion ship was released with in the last stages of entry, belived only over North America. The government was wrong, a African General named John M'Butu, a fast-rising tribal leader who is leading a genocidal in the region of salawe by Uganda. After survived an assassination attempt the US now know he is special, psychological abilities called "The Voice". The Team goes to the region "to take him out". Template:Endspoiler
Ultimate Power
Ultimate Power is a comic book mini-series that takes place in the Ultimate Universe. Slated for an October release, this nine-issue mini-series will be tying the Ultimate Universe into the Supremeverse (Supreme Power Universe) and will be written by the superpower trinity of Brian Michael Bendis, J. Michael Straczynski, and Jeph Loeb. 1
Differences between Supreme Power and Squadron Supreme
While the Squadron Supreme had started off as Justice League knock-offs and had moved on in different directions thanks to the works of the late Marvel editor and writer Mark Gruenwald, JMS brought Supreme Power back to its JLA roots, in order to put a different spin on the team's individual members.
The original Squadron debuted as a fully-formed regular superhero team. When their origin was revealed, they all had previous experience as solo superheroes. This hasn't happened in Supreme Power, which didn't focus on much superhero material, and where the characters don't act as a regular supergroup would.
However in the third arc, Hyperion, Nighthawk, and the Blur formed an uneasy partnership. After a fight, the three broke up. In the Supreme Power: Hyperion limited series, the Government assembles a team (made up of Shape, Arcanna, Nuke and Emil Burbank) to capture Hyperion.
A Martian Manhunter doppelganger is missing in both Squadron Supreme and Supreme Power, due to its resemblance to Superman in terms of powers. However, a Skrull was shown in flashbacks (and the Squadron Supreme: New World Order one-shot) to occupy the Manhunter's place. No equivalent is slated to appear in the current series.
It was established in the pages of Quasar, that Hyperion I is an Eternal from his dimension. The alien origin in Supreme Power may contradict it, but until now it is still an open plot point, as the runaway ship Hyperion was jettisoned from could have been escaping from Earth.
Nighthawk, the Whizzer and Black Archer (formerly Golden Archer) have been changed from Caucasian to African-American. The Whizzer's name has also been changed to the Blur (a name taken from Marvel's DP7 series). Nighthawk is still a wealthy industrialist, but the Blur was transformed from a suburban family man into a youthful farm boy living with his mother. In the new series Lamprey is now a woman and no longer a villain.
Zarda no longer bears the moniker Power Princess or acts like a superhero, contradicting her origins as a peace ambassador and World War II superhero. She has alluded to similar origins to Hyperion, while in the Squadron she was a native of Utopia Island, equivalent to the Marvel Universe's Attilan. She also has the ability to steal the features of regular humans.
Amphibian has been turned from a superpowered human male into a humanoid female with fish-like physical characteristics. She is barely able to talk (instead communicating via telepathy) and has no grasp on civilized behavior. Thus far the only one she can (or will) speak to is Doctor Spectrum.
A new character, Michael Redstone, was introduced in Supreme Power #12. A convicted serial murderer who volunteered for medical experimentation to have his sentence reduced, he was injected with DNA taken from the vents in Hyperion's ship and as a result gained powers equivalent to those of Hyperion himself. When Redstone escaped using these powers, an unspecified number of other surviving experimentees escaped with him. These other escapees may eventually account for the other characters from the original series that we have not yet seen. The character Tom Thumb was also seen in one of his flashbacks as one of the other experimentees.
The first issue of the Supreme Power: Hyperion limited series introduced new versions of Arcanna, Nuke and the Shape. Arcanna was introduced as a scientist with the ability to perceive and influence parallel quantum dimensions. Nuke was introduced in a relatively unchanged version from the original. The Shape was introduced in a relatively changed version from the original, similar in powers to Marvel's the Blob. So far Emil Burbank has yet to develop the armored suit he wore in his previous incarnation.
In issue one of Squadron Supreme, we meet Edith Freiberg, an Army private who is a lesbian, and has the power to manipulate already-existing kinetic energy. She was also briefly seen in Supreme Power #18, where - as in Squadron Supreme #1 - she had just trashed a bar. Her Squadron codename is Inertia.
We have yet to see new versions of former Squadroners Moonglow (a disguise adopted by a pregnant Arcanna), Thermite, Professor Imam (wizard supreme), The Witness and Haywire, or former villains such as the Scarlet Centurion, Ape-X, Dr. Decibel, Quagmire, Remnant, Pinball, Mink and Foxfire.
Unlike Squadron Supreme, which gives a nod to its DC Comics inspiration with the use of fictional names for US cities and states, Supreme Power takes place in the "real" world. In terms of Marvel's parallel dimensions in which the chief world is Earth-616, the original Squadron Supreme's world is Earth-712 and Straczynski's stories are set on Earth-31916.
Bibliography
- Supreme Power Vol. 1 (MAX imprint) #1-18 (August 2003-August 2005)
- Doctor Spectrum: Full Spectrum #1-6 (August 2004-March 2005)
- Supreme Power: Nighthawk #1-6 (September 2005-February 2006)
- Supreme Power: Hyperion #1-5 (September 2005-January 2006)
- Saga of the Squadron Supreme
- Squadron Supreme Vol. 2 (Marvel Knights) #1- (March 2006-ongoing)