Remember MMM: Gladiator from a few weeks back? Okay, this guy’s Marvel’s other answer to DC’s Superman. Unlike Gladdy or the big S, there is no single iconic version of Hyperion, but rather many. Don’t believe the hype with Hyperion!*
*If it helps, I’m ashamed of that line, too.
Last week’s poll re-cap: With 44% of the vote, you chose Christine Palmer as the version of Night Nurse you most want made for Marvel Legends. Second place went to modern Linda Carter with 28%. Fwooshers loves them some naughty nurse hotties.
Make My Marvel! – Hyperion
With powers similar to Superman, there’re a lot of Hyperions floating around the Marvel multiverse. Let’s look at a few of the more iconic versions.
Squadron Supreme – Earth 712
Mark Milton, a cartoonist, is the last living eternal on Earth. Mark helped form and leads his reality’s version of the Avengers, the Squadron Supreme. Speaking of Earth-616’s mightiest, Hyperion and his team have had several dealings with the Avengers of Marvel’s main reality. Hyperion and the Sqaudron were trapped in the Earth-616 universe for a time, but were eventually able to return to their own reality. Later, Hyperion and several other Sqaudron members enacted a plan to take over their own Earth and re-establish it as a paradise. Though they began with the noblest intentions, Hyperion eventually realized the immorality of forcing utopia on others. Unfortunately for the citizens of another reality, their Hyperion did not come to that conclusion.
King Hyperion – Earth 4023
When the Hyperion of this reality chose to take over the planet, the citizens fought back. The result was a nuclear war that wiped all life from the planet, save for "King" Hyperion himself. King Hyperion was hijacked by the Weapon X team, a more by-any-means-necessary version of the reality-hopping Exiles. He quickly took over leadership of Weapon X, killing several other members in the process. The Exiles and the remaining members of Weapon X teamed up to stop, and eventually kill, King Hyperion. Unbeknownst to the survivors, the Timebreakers had been storing and displaying both teams’ deceased members in the Panoptichron. Hyperion was displayed with the rest of the hero Hummels. From there, his body slowly absorbed solar radiation which it used to regenerate itself. Hyperion broke free and took control of the Crystal Palace and the means by which the Exiles were transported across realities. The Exiles, upon learning the truth, transported to the Palace and fought Hyperion. Several members were killed and/or injured before Beak recruited two alternate versions of Hyperion to aid the Exiles. With the help of the Hyperion of Squadron Supreme from Earth 712 and the blind Hyperion of Earth 5764, King Hyperion was defeated. Unable to destroy or permanently imprison King Hyperion, the team made the decision to return him to his own, desolate reality where there no one left for him to harm.
Squadron Sinister – Earth 616
The Hyperion of the main Marvel reality was also evil, though perhaps less driven than his Earth 4023 counterpart. A member of the Grandmaster’s Squadron Sinister, Hyperion came into conflict with both the Avengers and the Defenders. He became trapped in the Earth 712 reality, where he learned that he was actually an inorganic clone modelled after the Hyperion of that reality. He caused a great deal of havoc posing as his heroic counterpart before he was killed by the Hyperion of that reality.
Supreme Power – Earth 31916
This version of Hyperion shared the same extraterrestrial origin as DC’s Superman, however the U.S. government quickly learned of his existance as an infant and took possession of both he and his spacecraft. The government shaped his upbringing in an attempt to make him "the ultimate American." Hyperion eventually learned the truth of his manufactured childhood and escaped. The government decided that Hyperion was too dangerous to live and dispatched a team of superbeings to take him down. An accidental time-jump showed Hyperion a dark future where, much like in King Hyperion’s reality, he’d made himself ruler of Earth. Fearing that possibility, Hyperion chose to surrender and re-join the military’s superhuman program.
Earth X: Heralds – Earth 1121
This elderly Hyperion was the lone superhuman survivor of his world when the X-51 of Earth-9997 recruited him to his team of dimension-hopping heroes to warn other realities of the Celestial embryos growing within their own Earths. He promised his aid in exchange for death. Following the death of his friends and lover, the immortal Hyperion wish only for his life to end. He eventually was killed and reborn as a citizen of Paradise X.
How to make it: A single-carded release would be fine, but ideally this one should be part of a two-pack. With all the alternate good/evil versions, Hyperion is actually his own arch-nemesis. So, package him with himself. The best combo would likely be the Squadron Supreme version teamed up with King Hyperion. In this case, the two extra heads included would both be for the SS figure: one with a cheesy little mask to make the Squadron Sinister version, and one with shades to make the blind version. That knocks out four of the seven possible versions while giving fans of the character the most iconic versions of the character. Alternatively, Hyperion could be packaged with one of the higher-profile Exiles cast members, preferably Blink or Morph.
Which version of Hyperion do you most want made for Marvel Legends?
Supreme Power ver. 1 (red)
Supreme Power ver2. (blue)
Sqaudron Supreme
King Hyperion
Paradise X
Squadron Sinister
Hyperion (blind)
*Some images courtesy of ComicVine*
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