Comic Book / Jupiter's Legacy

Jupiter's Legacy tells the story of the legacy of the Union, a superhero team formed in the 1930s. When six friends visited a mysterious island, they and their ship's crew were granted superpowers. The six combined to forge the Union, to help America out of the Recession and promote the country's ideals.

It's now 2013, and the new generations of heroes descended from the original gifted now face a different world, and disagree with their forebears on how to save the world.

Written by Mark Millar and drawn by Frank Quitely. There's also a prequel series called Jupiter's Circle, focusing on the Union in their heyday in The '50s and '60s. In the most recent publications, the trades for Jupiter's Circle were published as volumes 1 and 2 of the series and Jupiter's Legacy as volumes 3 and 4.

A sequel series called Jupiter's Legacy Requiem began to be released in 2021. Taking place years later, it follows how the next generation follows the footsteps of their parents.

A Netflix adaptation was announced in 2018 and released on May 7th, 2021.

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Tropes for entire series include:

• Art Shift: Each of the three limited series are made distinct from one another by having a different art team; as well as switching art styles for a couple of issues or even for specific sequences within the same issue before reverting to the prime style. For Circle, the majority of the issues were drawn by Wilfredo Torres and David Gianfelice. For Legacy all ten issues were pencilled and inked by Frank Quitely. For Volume 1 of Requiem, the majority of the first four chapters are illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards and the majority of the last two by Matthew Dow Smith.
• Central Theme:
  • The transformative power of time on people’s personality and beliefs.
  • Are we free to make our own decisions and flesh out our own identities or are we destined to subconsciously repeat the previous generations’ decisions; OR do we make decisions because of cosmic forces beyond our control?
  • ”Why do we love our children?”
• Myth Arc: The island-ship and enigmatic alien race that bestowed the Union with their powers in Legacy; and the underground ancient city underneath the moon, Europa, along with the abstract communication device in Circle are revealed to be Connected All Along and revolve around the planet Jupiter itself.
• Time Skip: A vital element of the entire saga:
  • Circle chronicles the original Union’s lives starting from the 1930s and ends in the 1970s.
  • Legacy begins in 2013 only to skip ahead nine years after Volume 1’s third chapter.
  • Requiem takes place approximately three decades after the previous series.

Jupiter’s Legacy Provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Despite his best attempts, The Utopian is effectively condescending and demeaning of his own children, even when they try to make their own rational judgements. This is what causes Brandon's Face–Heel Turn.
• The Ace: The Utopian is the premier superhero of the setting, being one of the most powerful, apparently one of the first, and a leader for the superhero community in general. However, he is not quite respected as others see him as increasingly old-fashioned.
• Adaptation Name Change: Word of God says the superheroes are the same ones that the Fraternity defeated in Wanted. There the Justice League type group are called the Liberty Union, now they're just the Union.
• Adventurer's Club: What the original members of the Union were before being gifted with otherworldly powers.
• Advertising by Association: In-Universe. How Chloe manages to get by without being involved in superheroics like the rest of her family. At first.
• Anti Matter: Blackstar has an antimatter reactor in his chest.
• Badass Family: Chloe, Hutch and Jason are all superheroes that can crush buildings and travel in space with no oxygen. On the antagonistic side we have Brandon, Chloe’s brother; Walter, Chloe’s uncle; Jules, her cousin; and Raikou, her unknown cousin.
• Badass Normal: Hutch, whose father Skyfox designed a power-rod to compensate for his lack of powers. His power rod makes him capable of facing off against super-powered beings. He later takes on the Skyfox name after his father's death.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Volume 2 Chapter 2: Chloe, Hutch, and their squad-mates wanted Raikou to engage them in combat not only to distract her from their rescue of Repro, but also ensnare her in a psychic dreamscape, and absorb her telepathic abilities to increase Repro’s by tenfold.
  • Volume 2 Final Chapter: When Jason is incapacitated by Ruby Red, he bluffs that Neutrino is proceeding with the release of every Supermax inmate. Ruby Red calls his bluff, but Jason tempts her with “call them if you don’t believe me”. Anxiously, she does… which gives Neutrino the advantage she needs to release the inmates by traveling into Red’s communicator and surfing on an electron into the prison’s control room.
• Beware the Superman: The central plot of the series is Chloe, Hutch and Jason trying to free the world from Walter and Brandon's dictatorship.
• Big Bad: Walter. He corrupted his nephew, made him kill his brother, and overthrew the government to satisfy his own ego.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Big and screwed-up enough to cause a global political coup and be divided into two separate factions of superhumans that war against each other.
• Cain and Abel:
  • Walter and Sheldon. The former secretly hated his brother’s guts; and the ideological rift managed to bring that hatred to the surface.
  • Brandon and Chloe. After the former murders their father, the latter is appalled and devastated; vowing to give Brandon physical payback.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Volume 1 Chapter 3 Done in horrific fashion with Brandon to Sheldon. Complete with the former blasting the latter’s face off.
• Central Theme: Parents and children. How does parenthood affect us, and how are we shaped by our parents?
• Clark Kenting:
  • The Utopian is the most notable example in the series. He lives his life as a mechanic and lives in a suburban house with his wife. He explains this by saying that it keeps him grounded.
  • Chloe herself uses a wig and glasses to hide her identity when not explicitly being her more celebrity status.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: The Utopian is like a father figure to every child except his own children.
• Combo Platter Powers: Common in this setting. Chloe is a Flying Brick with a sonic scream, while Jason has similar Flying Brick powers in addition to super-intelligence and telekinesis. Brandon has telekinesis, eye lasers and the ability to control lightning.
• Contemplate Our Navels: The final issue of the second arc reveals that in-between feeling sorry for himself and getting himself drunk, Skyfox spent his years as a recluse thinking over the big questions; or at least, trying to.
• Control Freak:
  • The Utopian has been repeatedly called out for this throughout the story.
  • It's clear Walter is this to a fault as the story progresses.
• Cruel Mercy: Volume 2 Final Chapter The punishment that Chloe, Hutch, Jason, and the reformed super criminals bestow on the remaining forces of Walter’s regime (including Brandon and Jules): removing their powers and incarcerating them in the Supermax.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Skyfox was not present for the majority of Hutch’s life due to the public perception of him as a hero-turned-supercriminal-turned-fugitive. Subverted when Jason emphasizes that he never bothered trying to return to Hutch whenever he had the opportunity.
• Decon-Recon Switch: The series starts by viciously deconstructing the idea of Reed Richards Is Useless and superhero families by depicting a political coup where the Superman expy is murdered by his own son, followed up by superbeings completely failing in their attempts to reform Western society. However starting from the final issue of the first arc Chloe, Hutch and Jason start reconstructing the idea of superheroes, striving to live up to selfless ideals and create a better world despite their own flaws.
• Deliver Us from Evil: While Chloe was never evil per se, she certainly went from morally bankrupt hedonist to mother of the year without missing a beat. Hutch is a straighter example, as he seems to have made a complete 180 from bad-boy super-criminal to responsible family man the moment he found out Chloe was pregnant.
• Disappeared Dad:
  • Skyfox to Hutch. He was absent for most of Hutch's life, even when not in prison.
  • Walter it turns out also has a daughter, Raikou, he never knew about from a one-time tryst.
• Drunk with Power: After the coup, Brandon becomes more and more prone to lashing out and browbeating others.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Mark Millar says the unnamed Superman Substitute in Wanted was a depowered Utopian.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Walter and Jules to each other as father and son. The latter is nothing but patient and respectful to Jules. It also helps that Jules is VERY supportive of his father’s vision.
  • Walter is also this to Brandon. However, it is subverted after a while after the latter’s increasing instability.
• Everyone Has Standards: Chloe may have felt alienated by her father’s perfectionism and his overbearing concern with his own legacy. But she never thought he deserved death by her own brother and uncle.
• Evil Uncle:
  • Walter to Chloe. He attempts to murder her just because she supports the “old establishment”.
  • Though they never interact, Brandon’s dictatorship tendencies make him qualify as this to his nephew, Jason.
  • Double Subverted Trope Double subverted with Walter to Brandon. In the first volume, they get along very well. Even partaking in the global coup. In the second, Brandon’s Hair-Trigger Temper makes Walter consider deposing Brandon at some point.
• Flying Brick: The most common powers by far, often combined with other powers such as telekinesis and sonic screams.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Skyfox as well as his grandson Jason.
• Golden Mean Fallacy: Both Sheldon's way (stay out of politics entirely) and Walter's way (take over and run things) is declared to be a mistake, with the heroes ultimately deciding to take some vaguely defined middle way of having "a partnership" between supers and normals.
• Good Parents: What Chloe and Hutch ultimately become after the Time Skip to their son, Jason. They are equal parts affectionate, supportive, and empathetic to him while simultaneously giving him Tough Love when they need to.
• I Believe I Can Fly: Most superheroes seem to be Flying Bricks, albeit much weaker than the Superman Substitute protagonists.
• Illegal Religion: One of Walter's reforms for the US is abolishing religion. We later learn that all houses of worship became schools, with Brandon saying they're being put to good use now. This, as you'd expect, prompts protests and even terrorist attacks from religious people.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The extremely gruesome fate of Grace in Chapter 3.
• Island of Mystery: The island that granted the heroes that make up the Union their powers. It has a cloaking field, calls to one of the heroes in dreams to come visit, is made of alien metal, has a room inside that's larger than the island and has extra-dimensional aliens on it who grant superpowers.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope:
  • Walter was always a contemptuous piece of work since Circle, but he takes his negative traits to the next level when he orchestrates a political coup, has his former sister-in-law impaled, manipulates his nephew into killing his own younger brother, the Utopian, and establishes a dictatorship on the USA, with his nephew as the figurehead.
  • Brandon was suffering from disillusionment from his father’s overbearing ways and the decline of the USA, but it exacerbated to him colluding with his uncle to reshape the USA’s political climate into a dictatorship, and murders his own father in a fit of rage.
• Kick the Dog: To spite Hutch for being the son of Skyfox, Walter uses his telepathy to endanger an airplane’s passengers and its crew; burdening Hutch with the terror of trying to save them.
• Legacy Character: In the conclusion, Chloe inherits her mother’s identity as Lady Liberty, Hutch inherits his father’s: Skyfox, and Jason chooses his grandfather’s identity, the Utopian for their future efforts.
• Mind over Matter:
  • The Utopian and his direct family have telekinetic powers.
  • Skyfox is also gifted with this ability.
  • Chloe and Hutch’s son, Jason is also blessed with this power.
• Mind Prison: Walter's "Psychic Painting" technique; a full-sensory psychic illusion that people's minds can freely interact with while anything can be done to their catatonic body.
• Mood Whiplash: In Chapter 4, just when Hutch and Skyfox are bonding and about to fully reconcile, the next page features a two-page splash panel of Skyfox’s ship exploding and the rebel superhumans falling and scattering.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Mark Millar has said that the life and memoir of Carrie Fisher was the main inspiration for the character of Chloe. He empathized with the idea of being the daughter of two iconic superstars and applied it to superheroes.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Walter claims that superheroes aren't doing enough to help society and should lead instead of just treat the symptoms of its issues. It quickly becomes apparent that he just wants things done his way, and either doesn't care about the consequences to others or refuses to accept that he just doesn't know what he's talking about.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Jason is encouraged by his parents to do this so as to hide from other superhumans, as he is super-intelligent..
  Hutch: Let's go home so we can fake flunking your homework.
• Papa Bear / Mama Bear: The moment Chloe and Hutch sense Jason is in trouble, they drop everything and rush over to fight his attackers.
• Patricide: Brandon kills his father the Utopian to take over America.
• Power Parasite: Repro, a flamboyant Arabic super-criminal, can steal one superhuman's powers at a time. This makes him one of the few individuals who can defeat Raikou.
• Psychic Powers:
  • The Utopian, his children, Jason, and Skyfox possess the power of telekinesis.
  • Walter/Brainwave possesses the more insidious forms of these with his telepathy, illusion-conjuration, and Mind Control.
• Psychological Projection: The Utopian is nervous that his children or grandchildren won’t embody the same values and mindset that he represented. So, in Chapter 3, when he attempts to sever the relationship between Chloe and Hutch; along with insisting that their child be raised without Hutch’s presence, it’s on the account he believes Hutch will forever remain a super criminal like his father, Skyfox, no matter how badly he wants to reform or improve.
• Psychopathic Man Child: Brandon. His uncle's manipulation and crippling anxieties convince him to kill his father.
• Recruiting the Criminal: The majority of arc two.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: Initially enforced in-universe by the Utopian, who goes to such lengths that he won't even allow his super-genius brother Walter to offer financial advice to politicians, even in the midst of a horrible recession. Later twisted around by the fact that Brandon and Walter try to improve the world, and do drastically change it, but only for the worse.
• The Reveal:
  • Volume 1 Chapter 4: The original members of the Union gained their powers through the mysterious island itself. And it isn’t an island. It’s a dormant alien ship that houses an interdimensional alien race.
  • Volume 2 Chapter 2: Raikou is the daughter of Walter through an affair of his.
• Sanity Slippage: In addition to becoming more unhinged, Brandon loses some of his grip on reality. After a suicide bomber attempts to take his life, Brandon, fueled by rage, wants to rampage through the whole country of China to vent, despite the Chinese government having nothing to do with the suicide bombing.
• Secret-Keeper: Jason's schoolmates reveal that they know about his powers, but nonetheless supports his super-heroics and promises to think up excuses for him if anyone asks.
• Shout-Out: Jason being encouraged to deliberately fail in his (extra)curricular activities seems to be this to The Incredibles.
• Signature Move: Sampson's one is to trap an enemy's mind in a "psychic painting" (essentially an extremely elaborate illusion combining all five senses) while his teammates beat down the immobilized body.
• Smug Super: Raikou is arrogant in her psychic powers, which make her almost impossible to defeat in a straight fight. She is brought down many pegs through a Batman Gambit (see above).
• Super-Intelligence: Jason is incredibly intelligent, capable of building a superhuman detector that out-classes the US government's when aged twelve.
• Superpowerful Genetics: Zigzagged. Most children of superhumans inherit their powers, but Hutch, the son of superhero turned super-villain Skyfox, does not.
• Take That!: Chloe's comment about how her father would cleverly defeat his enemies without inflicting injuries might be this towards Superman stories where writers make him partake in destructive battles.
• Tele-Frag: Walter is defeated when Hutch teleports his power-rod directly into his skull after arrogantly lowering his defenses to give him "a free try."
• Too Clever by Half: Walter assumes that his super-intelligence alone makes him best-suited to turn the economy around, but Sheldon tells him that he doesn't really have the expertise to do so. Sheldon is proven right after Walter and Brandon seize control of America, as their policies quickly tank the economy.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: As a consequence of the events in Circle, the Utopian is now anxious about maintaining a country and world that are - in his mind - slowly losing their values; as well as struggling to uphold and properly represent those values through his own bloodline. This has resulted in him becoming judgmental and, more often than not, inappropriately authoritarian to his allies, super criminals, and his family; including his adult children who are old enough to make their own choices and decisions. Played for Drama in Volume 1 Chapter 3 when it ends up costing him and the world dearly.
• Touched by Vorlons: The Utopian and the rest of the Union were granted superpowers by aliens from another dimension.
• Track Trouble: Hutch does this deliberately to a cargo train via his Teleportation Rod in order to graphically mow down and squash over a dozen Brandon/Walter-aligned soldiers threatening his son.
• Ultimate Universe: Mark Millar says that Jupiter's Legacy and Supercrooks are set in an Alternate Continuity to the rest of Millarworld where the Fraternity never got rid of the superheroes.
• Ungrateful Townsfolk:
  • After almost having his life ended by a suicide bomber, Brandon perceives it as an attack by the world for wanting to improve it the way he thought best.
  • Skyfox justifies his detachment from world events by recounting how after he was detained and thrown into the Supermax by superheroes, the common people cheered for his jailing despite what he believed was his attempts at freeing them from a crooked system.
• Wham Episode:
  • Volume 1 Chapter 3: Walter, Brandon, and Jules recruit hundreds of super-humans (of old and recent generations alike) to commit a political coup on a global scale; resulting in Brandon murdering his father, the Utopian, and causing Chloe and Hutch to go on the run into hiding.
  • Volume 1 Final Chapter: Chloe, Hutch, and Jason are forced out of hiding, defeat a squadron of Walter’s forces, and plan to form a whole army of unregistered superhumans and Hutch’s partners to dismantle the regime.
• Wham Line: Volume 2 Final Chapter:
  • Jason: “I’m thinking of giving my alter ego a limp to make it even less likely that I’m secretly the new Utopian.”
• You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: When it becomes clear that Brandon is spiraling out of his control, Walter makes plans to eliminate him.
• You Killed My Father:
  • Just after he reconnects and reconciles with his father, Skyfox, Hutch loses his Dad when Walter incinerates him.
  • Jules flies into a grief-driven fury when Hutch tele-frags Walter.
  • Chloe also wants to give payback to both Brandon and Walter with the former murdering their father and the latter slaughtering their mother.

Jupiter's Circle provides examples of:

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: A variation. Sheldon is a ludicrously perfect husband, and that's exactly what Jane ultimately can't stand. She decides she needs to be with a man who has at least some negative qualities, so that she doesn't have to feel inferior all the time.
• Artistic Age: The timeline would mean Flare's and Utopian's wives, who have been with them even before they got their powers and unlike them have no reason not to age like normal people, would have to be around 50 at the start of the series, yet even by the end are never drawn older than in their thirties or forties. Given how young Flare's children are, it may be straight up Continuity Snarl.
• Cassandra Truth: Jane predicts that any child of the Utopian's would constantly feel living in his shadow. The main series of Jupiter's Legacy proves her right.
• City in a Bottle: A bottled city based on Superman's bottled city of Kandor is in the the background of the Union's base.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Hobbs is modelled after Gene Hackman, undoubtedly a reference to Superman: The Movie.
• Deconstruction: The story arc can be read as one of The Silver Age of Comic Books, featuring many of the era's high-concept superheroics, but also showing the tense political climate and conservative social mores of the 50s and 60s.
• Driven to Suicide: When blackmailed by J. Edgar Hoover to reveal the identities of the Union, Blue-Bolt attempts suicide via downing some pills and slitting his wrists in the bathtub, rather than betray his friends. He survives and Skyfox figures out enough of what's going on to take care of it for his friend.
• Dysfunction Junction: Played for Drama. The series elaborates on how every member of the original Union had their own personal issues as well as how those issues affected everyone around them on both an intimate scale and a grander scale; while also hinting how these elements lead to the events of Legacy. For most of the characters, it is used to make them sympathetic, while for characters like Walter, it is used to make them unsympathetic. On the other hand, for a character like Skyfox, it is used to make him both.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • Zigzagged. The Flare abandons his family to be with a woman half his age and flaunts his new relationship to the press. His wife knew she would begrudgingly forgive him and seemingly does only to later cheat on him with a waiter. The Flare's son swore to kill him, only to immediately forgive him when they were reunited.
  • Skyfox's short turn to villainy, where he kidnaps the Vice-President, is briefly forgiven after he saves the team from Hobbs's gang and Utopian is even willing to augment the team's mission to better suit George's anti-establishment agenda. Walter makes sure to sabotage everything in short order.
• Everybody Smokes: To highlight the Deliberate Values Dissonance, characters are frequently shown smoking. Flare and Skyfox most often, but even Walter and Sheldon casually smoke while in their costumes.
• Everyone Has Standards: Skyfox refuses to kidnap the President of the United States as that would be too catastrophic for the country. So he kidnaps the Vice President to make his political point.
• Hates Their Parent: Fitz’s (aka The Flare) oldest son, Peter, is so enraged by his father’s cheating and womanizing that he wishes death on him.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Skyfox goes from being The Alcoholic to a Well-Intentioned Extremist, who is known as a villain though he may be a Hero with Bad Publicity; back to a hero who wants to make amends for his behavior; and BACK to a super-criminal again when Walter reveals that he brainwashed Sunny to love him.
• Heel–Face Turn: Jack Hobbs, Utopian's arch-enemy, becomes the Utopian's friend and uses his intellect to help the world.
• Historical Domain Character: Plenty of Hollywood stars and historical figures from the 1960s appear, most notably Ayn Rand, J. Edgar Hoover, Katharine Hepburn and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
• Jerkass: Walter is shown to have always been a prick, calling Bluebolt a "homo" and brainwashing Sunny into loving him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: George is a womanizing alcoholic who is nonetheless a loyal friend and committed to helping those less fortunate than him. Even his turn as a "villain" has a distinctly altruistic streak to it.
• Laser-Guided Karma: J. Edgar Hoover tries to blackmail Blue-Bolt into becoming his pawn through photos of him in a tryst with another man. He later drops the scheme when Skyfox blackmails him with his own photos of Hoover engaged in sex with his right-hand man.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Deconstructed as the Flare sees April as such. April is so excited about the life of superheroes, and seemingly gives Flare a new spark in life. But when the Flare becomes severely injured she leaves him as she says she is too young to take care of him.
• Meaningful Name: The word "Utopia" literally means "no place" rather than its popular definition as a world free from strife. This is an indicator that Sheldon's rose-colored dream of a human race in harmony and camaraderie can never come to fruition, at least not in the way he wants it to.
• Parents as People: Implied. The lesson that Peter, Fitz’s oldest child, gains from almost losing his father in a battle against aliens, and also seeing him guilt-ridden for leaving his wife Joyce. When Peter seems him horribly injured in the hospital, he tenderly lays his head on his father’s chest. This comes after previous chapter depicting Peter wanting his father dead.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: A heavy theme in the second volume with the Utopian questioning what he is doing while George influenced by Beatniks becomes convinced to intervene in social issues.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Every time Lady Liberty tries to pick-up an ordinary man to sleep with they become uncomfortable saying that something "feels wrong". Despite men wanting her, and she wants to be with them it never works out as her would be lovers innately feel they are in the presence of a super-being.
• Super-Intelligence:
  • Jack Hobb is phenomenally intelligent, yet is apparently technically human.
  • George and Walter are also noted to be hyper-intelligent as well, though Walter's is mostly an Informed Attribute.
• Title Drop: Downplayed. Though the words Circle or Legacy aren’t mentioned, the name Jupiter is finally spoken in regards to one of the titular planet’s moons; where an underground alien civilization happens to be.
• Wham Line: Volume 2 Chapter 5
  • Walter Sampson: “ I did use my powers to make Sunny fall in love with me.”
• Wham Shot: Volume 2 Chapter 1 Sheldon discovers an ancient underground alien civilization along with its technology on one of Jupiter’s moons.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: The Utopian, who sees himself as a public servant, is visibly uncomfortable to learn that Ayn Rand considers him a superman in the vein of her own fictional heroes.

Jupiter's Legacy: Requiem provides examples of:

• Aloof Big Brother: Jason possesses an air of detached professionalism when interacting with or speaking of his younger siblings.
• The Atoner: After spending 30 years in the Supermax (which included rehabilitation); as a result of jumping off the slope and his tyrannical ruling of America in Legacy, Brandon makes it his mission to be this; having converted to Buddhism, wanting to do right by those he wronged, and avoiding the extremist path he took in the previous series.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: A positive example in Brandon. In Legacy, he abhorred religion to the extent he banned it in the USA when he was President; as well as believed extremism was the only way to enforce positive change in the USA’s infrastructure. In the first issue, after 30 years of jail time - which included rehab - he has converted to Buddhism and refrains himself from using any form of extremism.
• Call-Back: The transmitter module from Circle that was found on one of Jupiter’s moons is shown once again and is theorized by Jason to be connected to the “island” ship and alien race that granted the Union their powers.
• Cool Uncle: Barney to Maise, Jason and Neutrino’s daughter. They enjoy playing and quipping at each other.
• Evil All Along: The Paloraxians to an extreme degree. They never wanted Earth’s superheroes to help. They have been culling them in secret so that they can take the planet for themselves; hoping to shelter themselves from the unknown doom; and proceed to slaughter every member of the Sampson family with sociopathic glee.
• Extreme Doormat: Barney confesses to his wife that this has always been an issue with him. He feels as though he has no other choice, but to let others walk all over him on the account that he is the brother of the current Utopian and doesn’t possess unique abilities like the rest of his siblings.
• Generation Xerox: Hutch lampshades that his marriage to Chloe failed just like Sheldon's first marriage because he could not handle being married to an insufferably perfect woman to the point that Chloe prefers that her daughter resent her than know that Hutch left Chloe.
• Genre Shift: This installment distinguishes itself from its previous ones by slowly incorporating its “superheroes in the real world” premise with Space Opera elements as the narrative progresses; especially when the series’ Myth Arc is finally unveiled.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Barney indicates that the reason almost anyone feels compelled to mistreat him is because he is the Utopian’s sibling and him having no powers inspires a power trip in them.
• Happy Ending Override: While a lot of things genuinely got better after the end of the original series, a lot of things also went right back to how they were at the start of the first issue, and the same conflicts that tore the last generation apart turn back up in the new one. And of course:
  So Chloe and Hutch got married and had more kids. The daughter of the world's greatest heroes and the son of the world's greatest supervillain. Of course it didn't fucking last.
• Heel–Face Turn: Compared to his portrayal in Legacy, Jules has turned over a new leaf and discarded his extremist mentality. Even, according to Jason, contributing to improving the environment. In Chapter 1, he is speaking cordially with his cousin’s children. It’s very likely this is related to his detainment in the Supermax. Though, whether or not his Turn is under the same circumstances as his cousin, Brandon, has yet to be revealed.
• Heel–Faith Turn: Brandon has repented for the crimes he committed in Legacy and converted to Buddhism.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Brandon comes out of prison having found religion and embarks on a spiritual journey to repent for his past actions and help save the world. He turns out to have been the victim of fake visions sent by the villains, and they lure him into a trap and kill him.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: When Caius mentally forces Gabrielle to put a coin in her mouth and then shrink so it kills her, Gabrielle sobs "If I ever meant anything to you..." only for Caius to cut her off with "you meant nothing to me."
• I Hate Past Me: If him declining his nephew’s offer to lay siege to China’s reeducation camps is anything to go by, Brandon is disgusted by who he was in Legacy along with his past actions.
• Jaded Washout: Hutch, as a result of his divorce with Chloe. The first time we see him in Chapter 1, he is attending a convention selling autographed postcards and prints. Unfortunately, almost everyone has forgotten him.
• Kick the Dog: Barney arrived to his cleaning job early and finished his duties to arrive home in time for a special dinner. His drunkard boss spoils this occasion by deliberately pouring beer on one of the cleaned cars just to keep him there longer.
• Like Father, Like Son: Like his father, Hutch, Barney wasn’t born with superhuman abilities. subverted when it turns out Barney is really Jason's secret identity.
• Locked Out of the Loop: It turns out even Barney's own wife had no idea he and Jason were the same person.
• Mean Boss: Barney is the victim of one. A spiteful drunkard who abuses his position just to keep Brandon at work longer than he needs to be.
• Mugging the Monster: In Chapter 2, a group of Ethiopian guerrilla thugs ambush and terrorize Brandon’s caravan that was en route to deliver supplies to a village. Possessing telekinesis, he easily transfers them many miles away from the caravan.
• Muggle Born of Mages: Out of all of Chloe’s and Hutch’s children, Barney is the only one who wasn’t born with superpowers.
• Revenge by Proxy: Everyone is implicitly jealous of the Utopian (Jason). However, as average citizens, they know they don’t stand a chance against him. So, they antagonize the sibling with no powers to compensate for that.
• Rise from Your Grave: Jason simulates this by using his telekinesis on his great-uncle’s corpse to access a buried memory in its brain.
• Spanner in the Works: A huge one for the Paloraxians as their invasion is struck hard by the realization that "weak brother" Barney is actually his "brother" Jason.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death:
  • In Volume 1 Chapter 2, Brandon is lynched by the hooded strangers.
  • In Volume 1 Chapter 5, Otto is split in half by the Paloraxian Royal family.
  • In Volume 1 Chapter 6: Gabriella gets her head bisected by a coin courtesy of Prince Caius of the Paloraxians.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: The hacker who terrorized the world via cybernetic Weather Manipulation was a fourteen-year old boy who remotely accomplished his activity through rewired Christmas gifts.
• Tractor Beam: What Jason, Otto, Global Freedom, and the prison guards are lured in by into an ominous alien ship.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: In Chapter 3, during an attempted heist on the Union’s headquarters Hutch (as Skyfox) pukes thick and green body fluids all over himself and one of his heist mates as a consequence of pumping himself with drugs and drinking alcohol prior to the heist.
• Weather-Control Machine: In the first chapter, Jason must battle against a super criminal who has hacked into the Global Climate Regulator, turning it into one of these and wreaking environmental havoc across the world.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: At the end of the first chapter, Powerhouse is dismembered and turned into gory paste by an oncoming bullet train. Courtesy of three hooded strangers who “switched off” his powers.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Like his Uncle Brandon, Otto wants to organize an uncompromising interventionist approach to liberating the Uyghur Muslims from the Chinese government’s mistreatment of them.
• Wham Episode:
  • Volume 1 Chapter 2: Otto, Jason, Global Freedom, and the re-education camp prison guards are transported into an extraterrestrial ship; Jason theorizes that the communication module can contact omnipotent beings; and Brandon is lynched by the same trio who murdered Powerhouse. They lured Brandon there posing as the voice that motivated his spiritual journey.
  • Volume 1 Chapter 3: Other alien civilizations experienced similar phenomena where a small group of their inhabitants embark on an expedition to their world’s uncharted landmarks to return with otherworldly powers - similar to the Union’s original members. Every planet who has experienced this is theorized to be monitored by a Sufficiently Advanced Alien race akin to the alien race the Union encountered on the island-ship. And the Shoboths, the enemy race of the Paloraxians are planning to invade and conquer Earth.
  • Volume 1 Chapter 5: The Paloraxians were Evil All Along and demonstrate what sadistic monsters they really are. They never wanted Earth’s help. They have been stealthily slaughtering Earth’s superbeings with the three hooded strangers revealed to be Paloraxians. They hope to claim Earth for themselves to protect themselves from the oncoming threat. Amidst all of that, Otto is gruesomely murdered, and Sophie is imprisoned as Prince Caius plans to Mind Rape her into becoming his wife..
  • Volume 1 Chapter 6: Caius murders Gabrielle via Cruel and Unusual Death; and as it seems that Barney is one of the casualties, it’s revealed that it is Jason in disguise - both “brothers” are one and the same. Through his rod, Hutch rallies the family together on Earth to battle against Palorax’s forces. His legs are severed by the planet’s King, but teleports himself, the king, and a large portion of Paloraxian soldiers into the heart of a black hole as Chloe can only cry out in despair.
• Wham Shot:
  • Volume 1 Chapter 1: When Jason and Sophie are accessing Walter’s memory (via his corpse) of the Union’s alien encounter at the “island” - the event that granted them their superpowers in the first place - they witness the group encountering what is presumably their leader and, then, being slaughtered in very grisly fashion by the aliens.

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