Warning: Contains spoilers for Avengers #18!
Marvel has several variations of SupermanAnd the best known of them all just got the ending he deserved. Hyperion is one of the strongest characters in the Marvel Universe, and one that the publisher seems to fumble often. Hyperion was, at times, a hero or a villain, but now in Avengers #18, he gets a chance to start over, and this time, get it right.
Avengers #18 is written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Valerio Schiti. Hyperion is flying towards Earth at extremely high speeds, and if he hits it, the impact will destroy the planet. The Avengers conspire to find a way to stop Hyperion, and the team concludes that they may be overwhelmed. After consulting with other heroes, including Blade, the Avengers hatch a plan.
The Impossible City sends Hyperion to his home dimension of Earth-901.
Earth has recently lost all its heroes, and the City challenges Hyperion to be the hero the planet needs.
Hyperion’s Marvel Comic Origins, Explained
Hyperion’s career has had ups and downs Hyperion and the Squadron Supreme also allowed fans to see how Marvel would deal with Superman if they were his publisher.
Hyperion, or at least some version of him, has been part of the Marvel Universe since the late 1960s. Hyperion, and the rest of his teammates in the Squadron Supreme, were created to be pastiches of DC’s Justice League. Hyperion was a stand-in for Superman, Nighthawk for Batman and so on. The Squadron Supreme allowed Marvel to gently poke fun at DC and the Justice League. Hyperion and the Squadron Supreme also allowed fans to see exactly how Marvel would handle Superman if they were his publisher.
The first version of Hyperion appeared in Avengers #69, as a member of the squadron Sinister.
Hyperion’s career since his debut has been checkered. When he made his debut, it wasn’t the real Hyperion, but instead another evil variant. The real Hyperion and Squadron Supreme will appear a short time later. Marvel apparently placed the Squadron Supreme on a parallel Earth, which allowed creators to tell more daring stories than possible on Earth-616. The squadron’s ground, designated ground-712, was conquered and left in limbo. After that, the Squadron Supreme decided to rebuild their world, and attempt to control its destiny, as chronicled in Mark Grunewald’s seminal book. Squadron Supreme Maxiseries.
Related
There have been other versions of Hyperion over time, each of them poking fun at the Superman concept. In 2003, Marvel released Supreme powerAn adult-reader take on Squadron Supreme, written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Gary Frank. In this book, Hyperion is still a Superman pastiche, but a much darker one. A government agent, the Hyperion is not a nice guy, and neither is the Hyperion of 2021 Heroes reborn. In this event, Hyperion was created by Mephisto to fight the Avengers, and this version is the one that fans encounter in Avengers #18.
Will Hyperion fulfill his heroic destiny?
The people of Earth-901 need Hyperion
Hyperion gets the ending he deserves in this issue. Hyperion’s life is in shambles, and he is threatening to take it out on Earth. The Avengers, who have fought Hyperion in the past, know that he means well, but he constantly seems to undermine it. On Earth-901, Hyperion can put the past behind him and be the hero he was destined to be. The people of Earth-901 don’t care about Hyperion’s past – only his present. Hyperion has all of Superman’s powers, meaning the people of Earth-901 finally get the champion they need – and Hyperion gets the ending he deserves.
Avengers #18 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!