Warning: Electric Undertow is a direct sequel to the original Strikeforce: Morituri comics and Late Arrival Spoilers for that series are unmarked on this page.
Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow is a 1989 comic book limited series from Marvel Comics. It's written by James D Hudnall, with art by Mark Bagley and Carlos Garzon. Color art is by Christy Scheele.
Set in 2083, it's a Sequel Series to the original Strikeforce: Morituri. The Morituri were superhumans created to help Earth win a war against the Horde, alien Planet Looters. Unfortunately, the Morituri process was imperfect, and Power Degeneration eventually killed anyone it enhanced.
But all of that was 10 years ago and the war is over. Eventually, as seen at the end of Strikeforce: Morituri, seemingly benevolent aliens arrived, rescued Earth from the Horde, and departed. A handful of Morituri also survived the war, saved by an alien virus that somehow stabilized their powers. And the only scientist who knows how to create more Morituri, Dr. Tuolema, has been missing for a decade.
There are new threats now. A plague of Spontaneous Human Combustion is randomly killing people around the world. A team of mysterious new superhumans is trying to kill the remaining Morituri. And Earth's alien saviours are neither benevolent nor gone - they've been subtly changing the world ever since they vanquished the Horde.
Can the old soldiers of the Morituri save the world one more time?
Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow contains examples of the following tropes:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The city of Bejing is ruled by a tyrannical A.I. called "Emperor". It's actually the alien VAX-177 controlling a city-sized organic spaceship.
- Alien Invasion: The VXX199 are waging a stealth invasion against humanity and the Horde using psychically-controlled clones.
- All Atmospheres Are Equal: The atmosphere inside the VXX199 spaceship on the dark side of the Moon is conveniently compatible with human physiology.
- Artificial Human: The VXX199 use these to manipulate human social development. They're doing something similar to the Horde on Mars.
- The Assimilator: The "Emperor" A.I. sets out to do this to the protagonists.
- Benevolent A.I.: The "Will Deguchi" that Dan and Random have been talking to is actually a military A.I. originally developed by the United States government. It's been secretly manipulating world events for decades trying to guide humanity to a better future, but is being stymied by the VXX199.
- Bio-Augmentation: Ten years later, ordinary people can use the "M Process" to get perfect physical bodies.
- Brain/Computer Interface: Many people have computer implants in their heads, allowing them to instantly download or receive information.
- Brain Uploading: Inverted; when the "Will" A.I. is being attacked by the VXX199, it uploads itself into Random's cybernetically-enhanced brain for safety.
- Divided States of America: After the fall of the Paideia, the United States is fractured into three countries — Pan Cal (from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean), Atlantia (everything east of the Mississippi river), and AgLand (everything else).
- Enforced Technology Levels: Ten years later, humanity has evolved to a stereotypical Cyberpunk tech level, with Cyborgs, brain implants, and designer bodies. However, no countries have done any space development, and Earth orbit is cluttered with alien wreckage that no one has bothered to salvage. This is due to manipulation by the alien VXX199 to keep humanity planetbound for their ends.
- Expendable Clone: The superhumans who are attacking the Morituri are cloned in vats, making them a recurring menace.
- Finger Firearms: Tanaka Corporation employs techno-ninja Cyborgs with artificial hands that shoot flechettes.
- Flying Car: Hovercars are ubiquitous in the future, while police and law enforcement use flying cars, cannons, and warships.
- Friend in the Black Market: Random, Dan's friend in the Los Angeles criminal subculture. He conveniently has everything Dan needs, whether it's a head full of advanced cybernetics or resistance contacts who can help them escape.
- Gut Feeling: Separated inside the VXX199 spaceship, Yoko finds Dan simply by following her instincts.
- Hearing Voices: Ten years after the dissolution of the Paideia, Scanner is haunted by psychic messages from the late Will Deguchi. It's actually a Benevolent A.I. pretending to be Will.
- Human Resources: The limited series reveals that the VXX199 were hiding behind the Moon, modifying mankind's culture to their requirements, then inducing spontaneous combustion in the population to harness the psychic energies released.
- Life Energy: The VXX199 feed off the psychic energy of intelligent creatures.
- Master Computer: The VXX199 are defeated by having the Morituri damage its organic network enough for the Benevolent A.I. "Will" to take over.
- Mental Fusion: Dan, "Will", and the VXX199 perform a mind merge, allowing Dan to learn the aliens' origins.
- Sequel Hook: The book ends with several sequel hooks: the evolved Hordians on Mars, an impending war between Junzo Tanaka and Herman Stell, and the ruler of India, the Morituri assassin Zakir "Tiger" Shastri.
- Shout-Out: Several times in the background, a young boy with spiky blond hair and a striped shirt clutching a toy tiger can be seen.
- Spontaneous Human Combustion: This happens to random people due to psychic harvesting by the alien VXX199.
- Technopath: Scanner had a neural jack installed in his head to give him limited control of machines.
- Transferable Memory: The clones attacking the Morituri use memory transfer to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors.
