Superman Analogue: Hyperion (Part 1)

While the Distinguished Competition may have the Man of Steel, but Marvel has the Strongest Man in the Known Universe, Hyperion!

Master Thread: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1346189702580342785

Original Thread: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1081381235463782401

Original Text: Hyperion started off as a one off idea. Marvel and DC editors had agreed to do an informal crossover because management wasn't letting that happen anytime soon. DC had a group of Avengers knock offs meet the JLA and the Avengers faced off against the Squadron Sinister. It went over pretty well and Marvel both reused the characters and introduced alternate reality good versions to use for tongue in cheek examples of why traditional Marvel heroes were better
This changed when Marvel writer/editor Mark Gruenwald did a 12 issue maxiseries about the characters. In the series, the Squadron Supreme's Earth had been brought to the brink of collapse by various supervillains. To save it, they had to take the world over, starting with America, and attempted to build a Utopia. Each issue followed a month in the first year of this plan. Even with the best intentions, moral compromises were made and programs that they instituted were prone to corruption if they were not maintaining it. Another cosmic event came along, showing the impotence of superheroes in the face of galactic scale threats, but left them trapped on 616. Hyperion and co made it back to their home reality eventually. Since then we've been introduced to several alternate versions, such as the extremely evil and extremely powerful one that showed up in EXiles. There's 2 big stories with the EXiles version: the first is an amazing 4 parter that I want to gush about. First he kills Magneto, hooks up with an evil Ms. Marvel, and takes over Earth in a bad way. This leads to an amazing one two punch from Blink and Gambit. Nothing hurts him, but Blink uses her teleportation to hit Hyperion with his own eye beams! And Gambit follows up by charging up his staff and jamming it in the wound! However this Hyperion comes back and in a smart attempt to fight him, Beak travels across dimensions to bring two good versions to fight him. However, this Hyperion is FAR stronger and wipes the floor with them. The EXiles barely pull off a win.
We've seen versions of Hyperion in cartoons, usually as an antagonist.
A version popped up in Earth X, looking very similar to Alex Ross's design for Supreme.
And recently a version was in the Avengers during the amazing Hickman run. He had a great bromance with Thor in it and was a wonderful example of how well a stoic Superman could work on the team.
Like I said, there have been several versions. It's almost baked into the character.
Hyperion is a great example of the flexibility of the Superman archetype. He highlights both the absurdity and consequences of the character.

Images:
1 – Exiles (2001) #45, Pencils by Jim Calafiore
2 – Avengers #69 Pencils by Sal Buscema
3 - Justice League of America #87, Art by Dick Dillin
4 - Avengers #70 Pencils by Sal Buscema
5 - New Thunderbolts #16, Cover by Rick Leonardi
6 - Avengers/Squadron Supreme Annual #'98, Art by Carlos Pacheco
7 - Squadron Supreme #1, Cover by Bob Hall
8 – Squadron Supreme Trade Paper Back Cover by Alex Ross
9 - Squadron Supreme #1, Art by Bob Hall
10 - Squadron Supreme #1, "
11 - Squadron Supreme #1, "
12 – Squadron Supreme #12, Pencils by Paul Ryan
13 – Squadron Supreme #12, Pencils by Paul Ryan
14 – Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe #1, Cover by Paul Ryan and Al Williamson
15 – Avengers #5, Pencils by George Pérez
16 – Quasar #54, Pencils by John Heebink
17 – Squadron Supreme: New World Order #1, Cover by Mike McKone
18 – Exiles #64, Pencils and Inks by Mizuki Sakakibara
19 – Exiles #63,Pencils by Jim Calafiore
20 – Exiles #38, "
21 – (Left) Exiles #40, Cover by Mizuki Sakakibara
22 – (Right) Exiles #44, "
23 –Exiles #39, Pencils by Jim Calafiore
24 – Exiles #38, "
25 – Exiles #45, "
26– Exiles #45, "
27 – Exiles #45, "
28 – Exiles #63, Art by Mizuki Sakakibara
29 – Exiles #65, Pencils by Jim Calafiore
30 – Still from “Avengers Assemble” animated series
31 – Hyperion in Earth-X, Art by Alex Ross
32 – Hyperion #1, Cover by Emanuela Lupacchino
33 – HEROES REBORN: HYPERION & THE IMPERIAL GUARD #1, Cover by Chris Sprouse
34 – Heroes Reborn Poster by Ed McGuinness
35 – Squadron Supreme #8, Cover by Bob Hall
36 – I’m sorry. This is Gruenwald’s Quasar run, but I never knew the issue number
37 – Avengers #35
38 – Thor #280, Cover by Joe Sinnott
39 – Supreme Power Vol 1 #3, Cover by Gary Frank and Richard Isanove

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