Hyperion (Grandmaster's Creation) (Earth-616)

The Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe, once traveled to Earth-712, inhabited by the Squadron Supreme, and there he challenged the time-traveling Scarlet Centurion to a contest. In this contest, both would chose a team of champions to engage in combat with one another. The Grandmaster used the Squadron Supreme, while the Scarlet Centurion assembled a number of the Squadron's enemies as the Institute of Evil. After the Grandmaster won the contest, the original Squadron expressed unwillingness to participate in any future game. Therefore, he decided to create his own Squadron of superhuman beings.^[2]

Upon returning to Earth-616, the Grandmaster transformed three Earthmen into Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer, all of them counterparts of Squadron Supreme members. Looking for a fourth member, and with the original Hyperion in mind, it was then that the Grandmaster created his own version of Hyperion out of extradimensional matter, gifting him with similar superhuman powers and artificial memories. This new Hyperion was made to believe he was Zhib-Ran, a space explorer from the other-dimensional planet Yttrium, located in one of the microverses. In these false memories, during one of "Zhib-Ran"'s space travels, a dimensional rift was bombarded by the extradimensional energy of the first atom split by a particle accelerator on Earth. The energy, magnified through the rift, caused Yttrium to explode. The resulting energy of his exploding planet gave "Zhib-Ran" his superhuman powers, and after drifting helplessly in the void, the Grandmaster "rescued" him from certain death and took him to his own universe.^[3]

Criminal Career[]

This new Hyperion reasoned that since Earth was responsible for the destruction of his homeworld, he would take vengeance there. The Grandmaster named him "Hyperion" after the Titan of Greek mythology, and after introducing him to the counterpart versions of the Squadron Supreme he had gathered, he created the Squadron Sinister. With this new team, the Grandmaster traveled to the future time period of Kang the Conqueror (a temporal counterpart of the Scarlet Centurion) and challenged him. When Kang chose a group of Avengers as his champions, Hyperion faced off against Thor. While Hyperion initially seemed to have the upper hand, Thor used his enchanted hammer Mjolnir to magically shrink, depower and imprison Hyperion within a small glass globe. Soon after, the Grandmaster lost the game and abandoned the Squadron Sinister.^[3]

Hyperion was released from his glass prison by Nebulon, an alien from the race of beings known as Ul'lula'ns , who was in search of worlds with useful mineral resources. Hyperion regained his natural size and superhuman powers, and was joined by Squadron Sinister members Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer, who were also aided by Nebulon. The three Squadron members decided to aid Nebulon in his master plan: submerge the entire Earth underwater to make it easier for his race to mine the mineral resources. To this end, they created a powerful laser cannon capable of melting Earth's icecaps. They coerced Squadron Sinister member Nighthawk, who had since reformed, to join them, but he instead betrayed them by contacting the Defenders for help. The Defenders traveled to the Arctic and engaged the villains in battle. During the fight, Nighthawk fired the laser cannon at Nebulon, who was overwhelmed by the cannon's power and imploded, apparently killing Hyperion and the other Squadron Sinister members in the process.^[4]

Unbeknownst to the Defenders, Nebulon had teleported himself to a world called Zaar, inhabited by the Ludberdites. There, he used their technology to transport Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer back to Earth. They soon battled the Defenders, but were once again defeated.^[5] The Defender Doctor Strange cast a spell upon the three Squadron members, which caused them to forget their evil pasts and their powers. Hyperion, no longer believing he was an alien whose world had been destroyed, adopted the name of Mr. Kant and became the manager of the Arnold Columbo Health Spa in Queens, New York. There he met the warrior Thundra, who came from an alternate future Earth, when she applied for a job as an instructor. Immediately after hiring her, Hyperion regained his lost memories when he was confronted by Black Panther, Ms. Marvel and the Vision, members of the Avengers. Hyperion attacked them, but was eventually convinced by the Vision to find the scientists responsible for the destruction of Yttrium so he could prevent them from doing the same to another world, instead of mercilessly destroying the Earth.^[6]

Hyperion's quest was futile, since Yttrium never actually existed, and soon he returned to his villainous ways. When the Squadron Supreme's Hyperion journeyed to Earth-616 to offer Thor a role in a movie, the Squadron Sinister's Hyperion used the other Hyperion's dimensional transporter to travel to Earth-712, in search of a weapon that could destroy both Earths. In that "Other-Earth", the evil Hyperion incapacitated his counterpart and temporarily replaced him. During this short time, he met Emil Burbank, better known as Master Menace, the archenemy of the original Hyperion. They partnered to battle Thor and the heroic Hyperion, but were both defeated. The criminal Hyperion was then imprisoned in a cell that sapped his superhuman energy.^[7]

Eventually, Hyperion was contacted by the Roxxon Oil Company, and told he could be taken to an alternate version of Yttrium (which did not really exist, as there never was an Yttrium) if he brought the hero Thundra to Roxxon, who had worked for them in the past. She had been offered a similar deal: in exchange for her services, Roxxon would transport her to her alternate future Earth. Hyperion contacted Thundra, who was working as a professional wrestler, and they both headed to Roxxon's main Nth Project laboratory. On arrival, she turned on the amoral company and escaped with the Nth Projector, which would enable her to return to Amazonia, her native world. Hyperion, strongly attracted to Thundra, chased after her in the hopes of convincing her to return to Yttrium with him. However, shed used the Nth Projector to return to Amazonia, and Hyperion followed her through the interdimensional nexus just before a self-destruct mechanism destroyed the device.^[8]

Death[]

Hyperion tried to follow her, thereby becoming trapped in an interdimensional void. Master Menace retrieved him and promised to send him to Amazonia after working for him. Hyperion agreed and took the place of the heroic Hyperion and feigned amnesia. His teammate Power Princess tried to teach him what he had "forgotten." He fell in love with her, and proceeded to remove all obstacles to that love: he trapped Master Menace in another dimension (where the heroic Hyperion was also trapped), and killed Power Princess's husband, Howard Shelton. In need of comfort, she turned to the villainous Hyperion, and soon fell in love.^[9]

Meanwhile, the original Hyperion and Master Menace joined forces and returned to their Earth, where the two Hyperions fought to the death. Hyperion I was blinded, and beat his villainous counterpart with his fists, until he broke down the pseudo-organic matter that Hyperion II's body was made of. After a confession to Power Princess, Hyperion II died and his body liquefied.^[1]

Legion of the Unliving[]

Hyperion was temporarily revived by the Grandmaster so that he could join the Legion of the Unliving during one of the Grandmaster's contests. He fought Wonder Man and immolated himself into a sun in order to kill his opponent.^[10]

Attributes

Power Grid^[16]

Powers

Hyperion possesses various superhuman attributes that are nearly identical to those of the original Hyperion. As the original Hyperion is one of the Eternals from the Earth-712 reality, the construct is as well.

Cosmic Energy: Like all Eternals, the cells of Hyperion's body were infused with cosmic energy that could be used for a variety of purposes. All Eternals have to train themselves for long periods of time, sometimes even centuries, in order to use the cosmic energy for the purpose they intend: which is usually the augmentation of their physical bodies, to develop psionic energies, and to manipulate the cosmic energy itself for various manipulative purposes.

Superhuman Strength: Hyperion possessed vast physical strength, nearly the equal of his original counterpart. At his peak, he possessed sufficient superhuman strength to lift about 90 tons.^[11] His blows were capable of hurting the likes of Thor^[12] and Hulk, with the latter commenting that Hyperion was almost as strong as he.^[13] He is strong enough to crush diamonds to dust, could punch Master Menace through a steel-reinforced steel wall^[9], could crush Valkyrie into unconsciousness with a bearhug^[5], and injure his counterpart with his blows.^[1] His battle against Wonder Man caused the entire planet to tremble, he was able to punch the Avenger so hard that he flew twenty miles and broke many bones when he landed and was able to force his way through an entire planet.^[10]
Superhuman Speed: Hyperion was able to run and move at speeds that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.^[11]
Superhuman Stamina: Hyperion's musculature was vastly more efficient than that of a human being and produced considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity. At his peak, he could exert himself for 24 hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood began to impair him.^[14]
Superhuman Durability: Hyperion possessed extraordinary superhuman durability. He could withstand tremendous impact forces, high caliber bullets, temperature extremes of up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and as low as -455 degrees Fahrenheit, falls from great heights, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. While Hyperion's body was high resistant to injury, his physical durability was somewhat inferior to that of his counterpart.^[11] Still, he displayed remarkable resistance to injury as when he first faced Thor the Asgardian hurled his enhanced hammer Mjolnir at him but failed to cause any damage, with Mjolnir harmlessly bouncing off his chest leaving him unhurt.^[12] Still, his invulnerability wasn't absolute as the combined power of his and the original Hyperion atomic vision exploding on his face was enough to blind him while a brutal beating delivered by an enraged Hyperion was enough to eventually kill him in his weakened state.^[1]
Superhuman Agility: Hyperion's agility, balance and bodily coordination were enhanced to levels beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.^[11]
Superhuman Reflexes: Hyperion's reflexes were also greatly augmented to levels far beyond human capacity. It is estimated that his reflexes were approximately 100 times that of an average human being.^[11]
Immortality: Hyperion was a being composed of pseudo-organic matter and wasn't subject to many of the same physiological limitations as humans. He was immune to the effects of aging and to all known Earthly diseases. He also required no food, water or oxygen to sustain himself at any point. However, while he couldn't die through any natural means, Hyperion wasn't truly immortal since he could, and was, killed as a result of sustaining traumatic injury.^[11]
Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his great durability, Hyperion could be injured. If injured, however, the cosmic energy powering his body enabled him to regenerate damaged tissue much faster and more extensively than a human being. Unlike his counterpart, who had received instruction from the Eternal Makkari of the Earth-616 continuity on how to develop his healing powers to the point of being able to regenerate his eyes, this Hyperion's healing powers were on the level of his counterpart prior to his instruction. As a result, he couldn't regenerate severed limbs or missing organs.
Flight: By manipulating gravitons, Hyperion could propel himself through the air at great speeds for an extended period of time. At his peak, he could achieve a speed of mach 2. Unlike his counterpart, this Hyperion hadn't gained the expertise at manipulating gravitons the same way. Hence, his flight speed was considerably lower.^[11]
Nuclear Vision: Hyperion had developed the cosmic energy in his body for the purpose of giving himself a number of different abilities related to his eyes. He could emit beams of intense heat from his eyes that could reach temperatures of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit. He could also emit radiation from his eyes in the X-ray range, granting himself a type of "X-ray vision" that allowed him to see clearly through any substance, with the exception of highly dense ones such as lead.^[11] His atomic vision apparently wasn't as developed as that of his counterpart as seen during their final encounter, when the real Hyperion's eye-beams were able to overwhelm those of the impostor.^[1]

Abilities

Hand-to-Hand Combat: Though he had no formal training, Hyperion was a formidable hand to hand combatant. He was particularly adept at using a sort of freestyle technique combined with street fighting techniques that allowed him to make full use of his powers in battle.^[1]

Weaknesses

Lead: Hyperion's powers would be greatly diminished if he were exposed to lead isotopes. The decaying particles of the isotopes dampened the quasi-nuclear energy reactions within his body. Some of his powers were also not developed to as great of a degree as those of his counterpart within the Earth-712 continuity.^[11]

Trivia

Hyperion was created as a pastiche of DC Comics' Superman. This can also be seen in the similitude of his former alias "Mr. Kant," and the alter ego of Superman, "Clark Kent," as well as in the character's original "civilian" name, "Zhib-Ran," a circuitous allusion to Superman's Kryptonian name "Kal-El" via the Lebanese writer "Kahlil Gibran."
Hyperion's origins as an artificially-created being composed of pseudo-organic matter also references Bizarro, the often manipulated imperfect clone of Superman. HIs body taking on rough, angular features in the moments prior to liquefying is also indicative of that character.
In acknowledging the influence of DC heroes, one notes that the "vulnerability" to lead has more in common with natives of Daxam than Krypton, and that Hyperion's costume is loosely reminiscent of the "Captain Marvel" character DC acquired from Fawcett.

Links and References

Gamers' Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe

References

[Squadron_Supreme_Vol_1_8-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 Squadron Supreme #8

[Squadron_Supreme_Vol_1_9-2] Squadron Supreme #9

[Avengers_Vol_1_69-70-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Avengers #69–70

[Defenders_Vol_1_13-14-4] Defenders #13–14

[Giant-Size_Defenders_Vol_1_4-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Giant-Size Defenders #4

[Avengers_Annual_Vol_1_8-6] Avengers Annual #8

[Thor_Vol_1_280-7] Thor #280

[Marvel_Two-In-One_Vol_1_67-8] Marvel Two-In-One #67

[Squadron_Supreme_Vol_1_7-9] 9.0 ^9.1 Squadron Supreme #7

[Avengers_Annual_Vol_1_16-10] 10.0 ^10.1 Avengers Annual #16

[Official_Handbook_of_the_Marvel_Universe_A_to_Z_Vol_1_5-11] 11.0 ^11.1 ^11.2 ^11.3 ^11.4 ^11.5 ^11.6 ^11.7 ^11.8 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5

[Avengers_Vol_1_69-12] 12.0 ^12.1 Avengers #69

[Defenders_Vol_1_13-13] Defenders #13

[Official_Handbook_of_the_Marvel_Universe_Vol_2_18-14] Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #18

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