How could this happen?
The thing is, those Earths were made up by Hickman.
and we also got the Great Societys world, filled with Justice League archetypes.
Yet in this instance, one specific world razed into nothing is a preexisting Marvel reality.
Its the world ofSupreme Power.
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The continuity was introduced in late 2003, but the real story begins decades earlier.
Since the 70s, Marvels had its own alternate reality based on DC Comics and their superheroes.
A lot of it is because of how the book remains in the 80s superhero style.
They capture their enemies and use a machine to brainwash them into being good people.
After that series, the Squadron characters have never really been able to stick out.
Theyve had follow-up appearances throughout the years, but nothing nearly as memorable as their Utopia Project adventure.
In the early 00s, Marvels Ultimate line was tearing it up.
In 2003, they decided to use that format for the Squadron Supreme lineup by giving usSupreme Power.
The initial series, lasting 18 issues, was written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Gary Frank.
The series mainly focused on Mark Milton, otherwise known as Hyperion.
Only this time, the government shows up at their door and steals the child away.
There are five other characters based on the core Justice League here.
Regardless of the rating, the series was a success and led to a handful of spinoffs.
Its spread some kind of virus or spore that has infected random people and has given them their abilities.
Or, in the case of Nuke who is constantly leaking radiation cursed them.
They went two years into the future.
Now Burbank has to figure out how to stop this from happening.
The spinoffs kept coming.
Most impressive is the inclusion of Whiteface, an insane serial killer clown.
Way had the difficult task of recreating the Joker in a darker and more ominous way.
Doing that with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman is easy enough, but the Joker?
This ones really interesting to me because of its timing.
It reads like a calm before the storm.
The wholeSupreme Powerline was doing pretty great, all things considered.
Then it all came crashing down.
While it has its moments, the series isnt nearly as intriguing asSupreme Power.
The seventh issue is about Hyperion fighting Redstone, a villain introduced inSupreme Power.
The final page of the issue shows Hyperion, Blur, and Nighthawk about to throwdown with him.
People with subscriptions to the series were instead given issues ofMoon Knightin hopes that it would tide them over.
Still, the show must go on.
NotSquadron Supreme, though.
That was swept under the rug.
With Greg Land on art, the writing would change after every three issues.
It was also met with lots of delays, taking well over a year to be released.
The cover for the fourth issue even includes the exact same drawn face on both Hyperion and Spectrum.
Then the original Squadron Supreme shows up because why not?
And thats a pretty cool idea, all things considered.
Marvel and DC wanted to do this back in the 90s, but it got nixed.
Might as well try it again a decade later with in-house universes.
In the first storyline, almost all of the Squadron Supreme heroes have gone missing.
The only ones around are Arcanna, Fury, and Burbank.
The latter two have been able to spin their ways to freedom and have climbed up the political ranks.
So if the first six issues arent about the Squadron Supreme, whatarethey about?
Four astronauts come back to Earth and accidentally bring in another spore infection, much like Hyperion did.
More superpowers pop up, only this time, they arent DC Comics-based.
Rather, theyre Marvel-based.
What we get is essentially Ultimate-Ultimate Marvel.
Theres a teenage girl who can transform into some kind of spider creature.
Those four astronauts have gained fantastic abilities from their trip into space.
Theres an altruistic soldier from the past, clothed in the American flag.
We even see some knockoffs of Sabretooth and Venom tossed in there.
The problem with the comic is something that hurts a lot of ill-fated comics these days.
The series ends with a plot gear removing the powers from most characters, namely the Marvel-based ones.
On one hand, theres the fact that hes an egomaniac and this ruins his life.
Well never know for sure.
All of them were written by Jeph Loeb, who never really understood the character.
In all her time in the Ultimate Universe, she did a big pile of nothing.
She punched Hulk in the wang at one point, but otherwise, she was completely forgettable.
The Supreme line had one more gasp of air in its system.
In 2011, Kyle Higgins and Manuel Garcia gave us a four-issueSupreme Powerminiseries under the MAX imprint.
Hyperion has been gone for years after destroying the White House and killing the President.
In the end, we get a rather abrupt Hyperion vs.
There would never be any follow-up to that plot thread because nobody ever read it.
It fell so far under the radar that even the Wikipedia entry forSupreme Powerdoesnt reference it.
Im genuinely surprised they even released it in trade.
By this point,Supreme Powerhad become toxic and forgotten.
And now look at it.
Wiped out by Namor, Thanos, and the rest.
Not even mentioned by name.
Theyre just afterthoughts, killed in the background of Namors flashback.
Sure, it’s possible for you to argue that it might not betheSupreme Powerworld.
Still, this victimized world might as well be the real deal.
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