Hyperion is a fictional character that appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character debuted in The Avengers #69 (Oct. 1969), with six notable versions to date - two supervillains belonging to the team Squadron Sinister (from Earth-616) and another villain and two heroes from alternate universes, and a zombified clone.
Publication history
Squadron Sinister (Earth-616)
The first Hyperion in Marvel Comics debuted in the title the Avengers. This story arc introduced the supervillain team the Squadron Sinister, whose four members were loosely based on heroes in DC Comics' Justice League of America, with Hyperion based on Superman.
The Squadron Sinister are assembled by the cosmic entity the Grandmaster to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang - the superhero team the Avengers. The Avengers defeat the Squadron and thwart the Grandmaster, with the Thunder God Thor miniaturizing Hyperion and trapping him in a glass sphere. The Squadron reappear in the title Defenders, reunited by the alien Nebulon. The villains receive greater power in exchange for the planet Earth, and create a giant laser cannon in the Arctic to melt the polar ice caps, thereby covering the entirety of the Earth's surface in water. The superhero team the Defenders prevent the scheme and defeat the villains (and Nebulon), with the Hulk overpowering Hyperion.
After this defeat Hyperion and his two remaining team mates are teleported off world by Nebulon, and later return to Earth. Acquiring an energy-draining weapon, the villains plan to threaten the Earth once again but are defeated by the Defenders and the Avenger Yellowjacket.
Hyperion has another brief encounter with several members of the Avengers, who seek a way to separate the Power Prism of Doctor Spectrum from fellow Avenger the Wasp. The character battles Thor once again and encounters the Earth-712 version of Hyperion from the Squadron Supreme. Hyperion is also involved with the warrior woman Thundra, with the relationship ending when she discovers a means of returning to her own dimension. In the Earth-712 universe Hyperion is told by the villain Master Menace that he is an inorganic duplicate created by the Grandmaster modeled on the Hyperion from that universe. A bitter Hyperion then impersonates the Squadron Supreme's version of Hyperion for several weeks before dying in battle against the original. The Grandmaster briefly resurrects the character as part of the Legion of the Unliving, a group created to combat the Avengers.
A new Hyperion is made when the Grandmaster later reappears and reforms the Squadron Sinister. Hyperion is joined by a new Doctor Spectrum (Alice Nugent, former lab assistant of Henry Pym); the Whizzer (now called Speed Demon) and Nighthawk. This Hyperion originated from the Microverse, like the original Sinister Hyperion claimed before learning his origins were a lie. Courtesy of a phenomenon known as the Wellspring of Power - an interdimensional source of superhuman abilities - the Grandmaster increases the Squadron Sinister's powers and they battle the New Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts team leader Baron Zemo defeats the Grandmaster, and in the ensuing chaos Hyperion and the members of the Squadron Sinister scatter and escape.
Squadron Supreme (Earth-712)
Thomas and penciller John Buscema also created an alternate universe team of heroes called the Squadron Supreme in the title Avengers, using characters that shared names with those of the Squadron Sinister (this caused confusion in Marvel's production department, as the covers of Avengers #85 and #141 (Nov. 1975) claimed the issues featured appearances by the Squadron Sinister, when in fact it was the Squadron Supreme that appeared in both issues). The last known Eternal left on Earth-712, the character is a founding member of the Squadron Supreme and has a civilian identity, Mark Milton.
The Earth-712 Hyperion appears on every occasion with the Squadron Supreme, and the group first encounter beings from the Earth-616 universe when four Avengers - the Vision; Scarlet Witch; Quicksilver and the second Goliath - accidentally arrive. The Avengers first battle and then assist the Squadron Supreme against the global threat posed by the mutant Brain-Child, before returning to their own universe.
Hyperion and the Squadron Supreme fall under control of the artifact the Serpent Crown and battle the Avengers in the Earth-616 universe before being freed; encounter Thor when he battles the evil Hyperion and enlists the aid of the Defenders against the villain the Overmind and his ally Null, the Living Darkness when they threaten the Earth-712 universe.
In the 12-issue Squadron Supreme miniseries (Sept. 1985 - Aug. 1986) Mark Gruenwald picked up from where Earth-712 was last seen in Defenders #114 and revealed Hyperion's origin. In the miniseries, Hyperion and other Squadron members resolve - against the advice of Nighthawk - to assume control of the government of the United States on Earth-712. Hyperion helps establish the behavior modification program; defeats and brainwashes the Institute of Evil; and is trapped in an inter-dimensional zone by the evil (Zhib-Ran) Hyperion. Forced to ally himself with Master Menace to escape, Hyperion battles Zhib-Ran to death and while victorious is blinded. After a battle to the death with Nighthawk and the Redeemers, a team formed to stop the domineering Squadron, Hyperion relents and relinquishes power.
The character and the surviving members of the Squadron Supreme travel into space to protect their planet from the expanding Nth Man, and are exiled to the Earth-616 universe. The team encounters the hero Quasar, and take up residence at the government facility Project Pegasus. Quasar and the Eternal Makkari rescue the Squadron when the team becomes captured by the cosmic entity the Stranger. It is at this time that Makkari identifies Hyperion as an Eternal and teaches him how to restore his eyesight. Aided by team mates the Whizzer and Doctor Spectrum, the character battles the entity Deathurge, with the entire Squadron then assisting the Avengers against the villain Imus Champion before finding the means to return to their universe. The team then disband but are reunited by Hyperion once learning a corrupt government has filled the power vacuum left by the Squadron. With the aid of inter-dimensional adventurers the Exiles, Hyperion and the Squadron expose the government to a global audience.
Supreme Power (Earth-31916)
The mature-audience Marvel MAX imprint showcases the adventures of the Earth-31916 version of the Squadron Supreme. This Mark Milton was sent to Earth in a spacecraft, and seized shortly after by U.S. government agents who raised him in a tightly controlled, isolated environment and exposed him to frequent propaganda. As an adult, he became a covert agent used in strict secrecy, but eventually a reporter came too close to the truth, and the decision was made to go public, largely so he could be used as a distraction from the government's even more closely guarded secret super-operative, Joe Ledger He briefly teams with Nighthawk and Blur to find and defeat the super-powered serial killer Michael Redstone. As Hyperion discovers that he has been systematically lied to, he becomes disillusioned with his government and finally openly rebels. When the government attempts to blackmail him into returning by revealing his alien status to the public, he responds by smashing into the South Pole from space, creating a 10.5 seismic event.
In the Supreme Power: Hyperion miniseries, a hastily-assembled team of superhumans is sent by the government to retrieve him, and the resulting battleâ€"through an interaction of Hyperion's "flash vision" eye-beams, Nuke's radiation blast, and Arcanna's reality manipulationâ€"sends the combatants into a (seeming) alternate timeline where Hyperion and the Squadron Supreme (consisting of several retrieval team members plus several previously unseen superhumans) rule a dystopian world, causing Hyperion on the advice of his otherworld counterpart to rethink his ideas about power, humanity, and teamwork, leading him to surrender to the Squadron from his world. It is only afterwards that Emil Burbank deduces that it was not an alternate world they travelled to, but their own future; Burbank tells no one of his discovery.
King Hyperion (Earth-4023)
Another Hyperion, King Hyperion from the Exiles series (see below), was a part of the reality hopping team known as Weapon X. This version of Hyperion is far more powerful than his other incarnations. He seeks to conquer alternate Earths with the aid of alternate versions of Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel and in the process kills alternate versions of Magneto, The Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, and Namora, and others. He was eventually defeated by Blink and an alternate version of Gambit who used creative tactics to beat him. But Hyperion survived even though his body was blown to pieces and he was able to regenerate and regain his full power. After which he seeks revenge on the Exiles only to be engaged in battle by two alternate versions of himself, including the Earth-712 version. After which, King Hyperion is exiled to his home reality where Earth was completely destroyed by nuclear weapons in an attempt to destroy King Hyperion years before. He was later seen in Russia in the regular Marvel Universe battling the Winter Guard and the Blue Marvel. He was nominated for the Thunderbolts program by Luke Cage. King Hyperion tells the team he is the heroic version, and that the Hyperion who fought Blue Marvel had switched their places upon defeat. This turns out to be a lie, and he turns on the Thunderbolts during their first mission together. After briefly battling Juggernaut, he is brought down by Ghost, who uses the nanites in King Hyperion's spine to dose him with Argonite. Moonstone, Juggernaut and Man Thing savagely beat the weakened King Hyperion.
Zombie Hyperion (Earth-616)
Another Hyperion appeared on Earth-616 as a member of the Zombie Squadron Supreme. Like his teammates, this Hyperion is a zombified clone of the hero of Earth-712 and is created by scientists who are attempting to give Earth its own Squadron Supreme. They graft the DNA of the Earth-712 team (allegedly obtained the last time the team crossed into Earth-616) to corpses of normal humans and zap them with space radiation known as the Z-wave. This animates the super-powered team to life, but with the unforeseen consequence that they are flesh-craving zombies. Believing themselves to be the original Squadron Supreme and with no memory of how they got into the underground lab facility, the team goes on a rampage before being quarantined, apparently carrying the same virus present in the majority of Marvel Zombies books. Hyperion is the only one to escape while his teammates stay behind to try to escape their own way. He goes on an eating frenzy in the surrounding Kansas countryside before dying of Mad Cow disease which he contracted while eating a group of cattle.
Marvel NOW!
Another Hyperion joins the Avengers in Jonathan Hickman's The Avengers vol. 5, #1 (December 2012). Hickman described the decision to use a new Hyperion, rather than an existing one:
"This is yet another parallel universe Hyperion. This is not King Hyperion, or Supreme Power Hyperion, this is not Gruenwald's Hyperion. This is Hyperion without all that baggage. This is Hyperion with a fresh slate, for a very specific purpose. He comes out of what the big story is behind the whole Avengers three-year plan that I have. He's very important, very pivotal, and I think people are really going to dig where we go with that. He's not going to be our poor analogue for Superman."
His origin is that he came to Earth as a baby sent as the only survivor of a race of Eternals from a dying world. He was raised by a man named "Father" who named him Marcus Milton and taught him the morals of society. As an adult, he became the superhero named Hyperion and protected the world alongside the Squadron Supreme. When his reality collided with another reality, Hyperion was the only survivor where he floated around in the void that used to be his reality until a group of A.I.M. Scientists pulled him into the Earth-616 reality. Hyperion was in the captivity of A.I.M. until he was freed by the Avengers and offered a place amongst them. Hyperion is among the superheroes that joined the Avengers due to the threat of Ex Nihilo on Mars. Hyperion was with the Avengers when A.I.M. was sighted in the Savage Land trying to extract the formula from one of the Garden's evolution pods.
Powers and abilities
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All versions of Hyperion possess superhuman strength, stamina, speed, and durability, and flight. Each also has greatly enhanced sensory perceptions, which extends to being able to perceive the entire electromagnetic spectrum and "atomic vision" - the equivalent of heat vision. The heroic Earth-712 version of Hyperion also possesses the ability to use cosmic energy to augment his life force granting him great longevity and regenerative abilities, courtesy of his Eternal heritage. The Earth-712 Hyperion's powers and vitality are diminished when he is exposed to argonite radiation. The Earth-712 Hyperion also has a college degree in journalism.
Other versions
In various alternate universe stories published by Marvel, Hyperion often appears in group shots. The following are versions that each had a notable story presence.
Paradise X
In the Earth-9997 universe, a version of Hyperion is recruited by the robot X-51 for his squadron of interdimensional heralds. He stems from a world in which almost all superheroes perished in a nuclear attack by the governments of Earth, leaving him as the only survivor. This Hyperion kills the master villain Kulan Gath who is responsible for the deaths of many of Earth's heroes on yet another alternate world.
Exiles
The alternate universe title Exiles features a version of Hyperion referred to as "King Hyperion", who is a member of a team known as Weapon X. Although initially aiding the team to travel between dimensions to repair the time/space continuum, the character is revealed to be psychopathic and commits mass genocide on several worlds before finally being stopped and banished to his original dimension. However, King Hyperion somehow escaped this dimension and found his way to Earth 616 where he battled and was defeated by the Blue Marvel.
In other media
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Television
- Hyperion (alongside the Squadron Supreme) appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Whom Continuty Would Destroy!", voiced by Travis Willingham. He alongside Nighthawk and Power Princess are pulled from their reality by the Grandmaster in order to fight Iron Man, Hulk, and Scarlet Witch. Hyperion ended up fighting Hulk in Egypt and lost because he allegedly "held back."
- Hyperion appears in the Avengers Assemble, voiced by Brian Bloom. In the series storyline, Hyperion is an alien from another planet who attempted to end corruption with his team. However, Hyperion enslaved his own people in an effort to create order before destroying the planet when its occupants refuse to blindly obey him. Hyperion first appears in the season one episode "Hyperion" when the Avengers attempt to stop a cluster of planet-sized meteorites from striking the East Coast. First saving Manhattan from a meteor classified by J.A.R.V.I.S. as an "Earth-Killer" and when crashing the Avengers' battle with Wrecker, Hyperion introduces himself to the Avengers when they encounter him in his citadel above the city. Though Hyperion orders his computer Quagmire to show his origin story, he conceals the true story of his home world's destruction before eventually revealing his true extremist ideals. Though defeated by the Avengers and placed in a special cell stating, Hyperion is later freed by Red Skull while offered a membership in the Cabal at the end of "Bring on the Bad Guys." In the episodes "The Ambassador" and "By the Numbers", Hyperion serves as a member of the Cabal and aids the Red Skull while having the chance to take revenge on the Avengers. But in the events of episodes "Exodus" and "The Final Showdown", saved by Iron Man when he almost is killed by Red Skull's trap, Hyperion and the other Cabal members aid the Avengers in defeating Red Skull. In the second season episode "Nighthawk," it was revealed that Hyperion's team didn't perish when Nighthawk appeared on Earth. Nighthawk has mentioned about knowing of Hyperion's time with the Cabal and considered him the "hammer" of the group. At the end of the episode, Hyperion appears on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tri-Carrier and frees Nighthawk with the intent to reform their group.
References
External links
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- Hyperion at Marvel.com
- Hyperion of Earth-712 at Marvel Wiki
- Hyperion (Squadron Sinister version) at Marvel Wiki
- King Hyperion at Marvel Wiki
- Zombie Hyperion at Marvel Wiki
- Hyperion of Earth-13034 at Marvel Wiki
