Beware the Superman indeed.note
- Protecting the Marvel Universe by any means necessary!
Squadron Supreme was an Avengers team book published by Marvel Comics, launched as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel relaunch in December 2015, following the massive Secret Wars event earlier that year. It is written by James Robinson, with art by Robert Kirk. It ran for 15 issues ending in January 2017.
After the planetary incursions destroyed their worlds, five heroes have come together to protect their new home, no matter the cost: Hyperion, Nighthawk, Thundra, Doctor Spectrum, and the Blur. And god help anyone who stands in their way.
Tropes found in Squadron Supreme (2015)
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: A meta-example with the Blur (of Earth-148611) for the Whizzer. This lines him up with the New 52 version of Wally West, who is half-African American.
- All-Loving Hero: Hyperion used to be this before his death and apparent rebirth.
- Amazonian Beauty: Power Princess and Thundra.
- And This Is for...: Namor, by two separate characters.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Warrior Woman gains control of an army of multiple alien species known as the Myriad by slaughtering all her challengers in a gladiatorial arena on a distant planet. It's suggested that Modred's magic should have been enough to subjugate them, but being the Blood Knight that she is, she intentionally chose this method.
- Badass Boast: Jim Hammond has one in issue three, where he claims he'll defeat the Squadron with a burst of radioactive flames. Also, he has an army of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents behind him....Difference between me and Johnny Storm is I can make my flames Radioactive. Non-lethal to you, Hyperion... although it looks like you felt it. But what about you others? You're good at fighting super heroes, how good are you at fighting cancer?
- Badass Crew
- Badass Normal: Nighthawk.
- Berserk Button: Doctor Spectrum goes white hot when she hears that Warrior Woman is planning to bring Namor Back from the Dead via time travel.
- Beware the Superman: While the Squadron has attacked several high level threats, there are plenty of civilians, government agencies and superheroes who are wary of their extreme methods.
- Big Bad: Long dead former Avenger and infamous traitor Doctor Druid.
- Breaking the Fellowship: By the end of the series, the Squadron Supreme suffer internal conflicts and it actually leads to blows in the case of Hyperion and Nighthawk. The former gets sick of fighting good people, and being led by a guy who won't even let in his plans. The others feel the same way, and they disband, going their separate ways.
- Brick Joke: In a very dark sense. In issue 1, when the team kills Namor, Spectrum kicks his head. When she and Hyperion go to resurrect Namor, he's understandably annoyed at witnessing this.
- Brought Down to Badass:
- Warrior Woman drained the power of another Power Princess and left her for dead. It didn't slow her down very much. In fact, she fought her Evil Counterpart well enough without them.
- This happens to Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch at the series' climax. After Nighthawk attempted to immobilize him, it seemed that the darts that he fired at him had actually shut him down permanently - killing him. It turns out that it only changed his powers, leading him the ability to emit radiation, but not burst into flame - making him more of a "Human Reactor".
- Canon Immigrant: The entire team is composed of heroes from dead alternate Earths.
- Captain Ersatz: Of the Justice League, as per usual of the Squadron Supreme.
- Hyperion for Superman
- Nighthawk for Batman
- Power Princess and Thundra for Wonder Woman
- The Blur for The Flash
- Doctor Spectrum for Green Lantern
- Chekhov's Gun: Thundra is watching the Squadron Supreme fighting Atlantis in issue 1 for unknown reasons. Later we learn that former deceased Avenger Doctor Druid has taken over Weirdworld using a mind-controlling gem. However, it doesn't affect people from other realities like the Squadron and herself, which is why she required their aid.
- There's also a secret cabal composed of various alien races the Squadron has encountered in Avengers #0 and Nighthawks solo mission during the third issue.
- Crazy-Prepared:
- Nighthawk. He has a number of contingency plans pre-made with the Blur which he can signal using his eye blinks.
- The team encounter Blue Marvel and discover that he's this during an otherwise perfect infiltration of a research facility working on creating black holes. In fact, Blue Marvel was so Crazy-Prepared that if tipped Nighthawk that it may not be from Blue Marvel's foresight, and rather the precognition of someone.
- Distaff Counterpart: Doctor Spectrum (of Earth-4290001). On her Earth, she was a deep sea diver who discovered an object of magical significance in a deep sea trench, which transformed her into a being of pure magic.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: By technicality, all the previous heroes lost their worlds this way, but especially the Squadron Supreme of Earth-712, who'd been around for over thirty years, get killed off in Zarda's backstory. For extra chain yanking, the last time they'd shown up (in Exiles), they'd just earned their happy ending.
- Face–Heel Turn: Dr. Druid. Everyone always thought he was a self important asshole, but this combined with his reputation as the worst Avenger, and the general disrespect his former teammates had for him after his death lead to him taking over Weirdworld as a cruel tyrant.
- Fallen Hero: Granted, he'd died as this already, but Dr. Druid didn't learn a damn thing from the events that led to his death, taking over Weirdworld as a tyrant.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: Happens at the end of the series. Thundra goes to Weirdworld with her daughter Lyra, the Savage She-Hulk. Hyperion returns to truck driving. Nighthawk goes to Chicago. Blur joins SHIELD. Doctor Spectrum joins the Inhumans at New Attilan.
- Foil: Blur and Doctor Spectrum; Blur is from the New Universe where, aside from the random mass empowering event that gave many people from his world powers, is entirely grounded and mundane. Consequently he's in constant awe at the magic, aliens and sheer fantasy of the usual Marvel reality, even when held hostage in a parallel dimension of magic under the mercy of a mass mind controlling tyrant. By contrast Doctor Spectrum is from a reality that parallels the fantasy of Marvel universes, but to the point where everything is practically perfect. Off-duty she constantly sulks at how much worse everything is compared to her home, staring wistfully at landmarks of ancient civilizations that are derelict here, but were still in pristine condition on her Earth.
- Good Counterpart: After Zarda is exposed as Warrior Woman, a flashback reveals that she took the place of the original Power Princess as the latter escaped the Incursion on Earth-S. Warrior Woman killed her by absorbing her lifeforce to get across Earth-616. Or so she thought.
- Hard Light: Doctor Spectrum's power set.
- Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: In issue 11, Spider-Man jokingly asks if the Squadron Supreme intend to use Reed Richards' time machine to go back in time and kill Hitler.Spider-Man: If you're planning to assassinate Hitler, it won't work — Don't you watch Twilight Zone reruns when they're on?
- Horror Hunger: Power Princess, who must drain the life and youth of her bedmates in order to stay young and vital. It's the first clue that she is not who she appears to be.
- Irony: Doctor Spectrum's Power Crystal is of Kree origin when in the mainstream Marvel universe the Power Prism is a transformed Skrull.
- It's Personal:
- The Squadron's assault on Atlantis, due to Namor being responsible for the destruction of their separate worlds. It ends with Namor's execution.
- Naturally, those who were allied with Namor in his early years, eg. Jim Hammond (the first Human Torch) and his former sidekick Thomas Raymond aka "Toro" aren't pleased to learn of a group calling themselves heroes after killing their old friend and individually move to stop them.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- Courtesy of Deadpool, natch, on meeting Nighthawk.
Are you supposed to be a Hawk? You look more like a Bat if you ask me.- Later on, Earth-616's Nighthawk (or the Skrull replacing him) says much the same thing.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Both figuratively and very literally for Namor.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Nearly every issue so far thanks to their Well-Intentioned Extremist tendencies. They eventually lampshade it, and acknowledge how counterproductive it is.
- Mage Species: According to Doctor Spectrum, her power prism is of Kree origin and in her universe they were a quote "Wizard race".
- Magical Land: The first arc involves a brief excursion into Weird World, where the ambient magic briefly overloads Doctor Spectrum's powers. To a lesser extent Doctor Spectrum's home universe has a stronger bend towards mystical forces.
- MegaCorp: Nighthawk / Kyle Richmond manages to buy out Oracle Inc. Interestingly, he heads it under an alias - Raymond Kane, and creates shell corporations for the expressed purpose of busting the heads of aliens preparing for an invasion of Earth by different parties.
- Mirror Match: Nighthawk vs Nighthawk. Subverted, as one is a Badass Normal Science Hero, while the other has flight powers by night. The latter is also revealed to be a Skrull.
- The Mole: Power Princess, who was actually Warrior Woman of the Squadron Sinister.
- Mythology Gag: Jim Hammond gets his powers altered so he's radioactive. Had the series not ended when it had, that probably meant he'd have wound up filling a role like that of Nuke, the radioactive team-member of the Earth-712 Squadron.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum get sent back in time at one point and the process renders them intangible in any point in history they already exist. Not unlike how it worked in Silver Age DC.
- Oh, My Gods!: Doctor Spectrum evokes Thoth's name.
- Pet the Dog: Hyperion, upon learning that his favorite coffee shop has changed brands to the employees' chagrin, flies to the source and brings back fresh beans.
- Pretender Diss: As Jim Hammond confronts the Squadron for a second time, he gives Nighthawk a Kirk Summation that, among other things, points out hawks aren't even nocturnal hunters like bats or owls.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Towards Namor, who condemned all of the new Squadron's worlds to permanent oblivion during the incursions. The Squadron destroys Atlantis, Hyperion decapitates Namor, and Doctor Spectrum uses his head as a soccer ball.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: After getting caught in Doctor Doom's time machine during the assault on the Baxter Building, Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum are thrown back into the time period leading up to Namor's death. They successfully prevent his execution taking place, form an uneasy alliance with Namor, and they return to the present. It's implied that had they not, their future would've led to the Civil War escalating and even their team divided into factions.
- Shout-Out:
- In Spectrum's home universe, the Kree are a reclusive wizard race. This isn't typical of your usual Kree, but does make them a dead ringer for the Guardians of the Universe, the blue-skinned aliens who created the Green Lantern Corps. Again, Spectrum's the Expy for Green Lantern.
- Power Princess gets depowered, much like her inspiration did for a time in the 70s.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: The argument between the Squadron Supreme and the Unity Squad.
- Sixth Ranger: Thundra, who joins the team after they save Weird World from Doctor Druid.
- Sole Survivor: An entire team of these from different universes collapsed by the Incursions. Invoked by Warrior Woman who massacred the other survivors in a bid to escape her world.
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Spiritual Successor: Partially this to The Authority, with the members deciding to take a brutal and proactive approach to dealing with threats. Their first target is Atlantis and Namor, which they pretty much destroy and kill respectively. - The Bus Came Back: This series marks the return of Thundra and several other lesser-known Marvel Characters.
- The Cavalry: Just when the Squadron has the Uncanny Avengers on the ropes, in comes Jim Hammond and an entire battalion of heavily-armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
- The Cape: Hyperion.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: They eventually undo Namor's death. Yeah, it's complicated.
- Two Girls to a Team: Power Princess and Doctor Spectrum.
- Unrequited Love: Going by her inner monologue, Thundra seems to have a burgeoning attraction to Hyperion.
- Villain Team-Up: Warrior Woman and Modred the Mystic.
- Walking the Earth: Hyperion, who on the advice from a diner patron takes a job as a semi-truck driver in order to meet and understand the people of the new Earth that is under his protection.
- Weak to Magic: Doubling as a Mythology Gag, but Hyperion is vulnerable to magic, something which places him in quite a pickle when the Squadron Supreme is dropped in Weird World.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: As ever with the Squadron. As all of the members are the Sole Survivor of their respective worlds, they have determined that this Earth will be protected at any cost, even if they have to fight the Avengers to do so.
- White-and-Grey Morality: The Squadron Supreme mean well, but their extreme methods have come into conflict with other heroes a few times too many, something that they acknowledge. Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch regards them as fanatical, perhaps even somewhat deluded, particularly after they killed his old friend Namor.
- We Used to Be Friends: Steve Rogers and Hyperion were both Avengers, but now they're enemies.
- Wham Episode: The climax of Issue 1.
