Ultramarine Corps
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The International Ultramarine Corps is a team of superhuman characters created by Grant Morrison for DC Comics.
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[edit] History
The Corps was created by the U.S. as a government-sponsored group of superhumans to rival the more independent Justice League. Led by General Wade Eiling, the original members of the team were Flow, 4-D, Pulse 8 and Warmaker One. During a fight with the JLA, the UMC realised that Eiling was dangerously insane and that they were on the wrong side; they then sided with the League against their leader.
Having developed a mistrust of governments, the Corps subsequently declared themselves independent of any and all nations and built a free-floating city in which to dwell, which they named Superbia and set in the air above the ruins of Montevideo. They put out a call to other disaffected superheroes to join them in their city, and received a number of responses from around the globe, although the total population and demographics of Superbia are unknown.
With the Justice League mysteriously absent, the Corps responded to an attack by Gorilla Grodd on Kinshasa, the capitol of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Unknown to them, this was actually a preliminary incursion by the dimension-hopping Sheeda and the Corps found themselves totally outclassed. Superbia was knocked out of the sky, causing many casualties to both the onboard population and the population of the city it fell upon, and a number of the Corps were killed by Grodd and the Sheeda, led by the Nebula Man. Squire, a junior member of the Corps, alerted Batman and a rescue was attempted, which itself looked doomed to failure until the rest of the newly-returned League (themselves rescued by Squire from the pocket universe of Qwewq) arrived to help.
Disgraced, the Corps was on the verge of disbanding when Superman suggested that they enter the pocket universe and act as its defenders. We eventually discover they failed to save it (insteading placing the seed of weakness in it). It is unclear if they ever returned.
[edit] Members
[edit] Original members
- Warmaker One (Lieutenant Colonel Scott Sawyer) - has a body composed of a type of energy which phases out of normal reality, and as such is contained in a high-tech suit of power armour.
- Flow (Major Dan Stone) - a creature of living water. As time wore on, Flow became more monstrous and less humanoid in appearance and changed his name to Glob.
- 4-D (Captain Lea Corben) - given the power to change her dimensions, so that she could become four-, three-, two-, or one-dimensional at will, making her hard to capture and confine.
- Pulse 8 (Captain John Wether) - was originally in control of the fundamental forces of the universe, such as gravity, electromagnetism and the like. His more recent appearance, as The Master shows him using his powers to literally rewrite reality using something called a "Quantum Keyboard". It is unknown whether this is a further development of his pre-existing powers, a whole new power, or merely a new way of describing his old powers.
[edit] Subsequent members
- The Knight II (Cyril Sheldrake) - an English costumed hero who takes after his inspiration Batman. Cyril is the second Knight, and served under the original Knight (his father, the Earl of Wordenshire) as his Squire. Cyril has a rather coarse attitude, and engages in friendly but prejudiced-seeming banter with the Irish Jack O'Lantern.
- Squire III (Beryl Hutchinson) - a superhero similar to that of Batman's sidekick Robin. Beryl is an expert in communications and communication technology, to the extent that she can even read information patterns by touch, in a similar way to The Drummer from Planetary. She is brave and strong-willed, and cares deeply for Cyril.
- Goraiko - a large, superhumanly strong, superhumanly dense creature apparently made out of the psychic energy of a young Japanese girl who resides in some sort of sensory deprivation casket. Goraiko speaks only in haiku and mathematical equations.
- Jack O'Lantern (Liam McHugh) - an Irish freedom fighter who derives some measure of mystical ability from an enchanted jack o'lantern. He is also extraordinarily agile and, although the Knight makes fun of his slim build, stronger than he looks.
- Vixen is a model and veteran hero who has been part of many teams, including the Justice League and the Suicide Squad.
- Olympian (Aristides Demetrios) - the national hero of Greece. He apparently wears the mythical Golden Fleece, which contains the souls and abilities of many Greek heroes, and as a result, he is able to use many of those abilities, such as the strength of Heracles. There is one drawback; the presence of so many minds within his own often confuses him, making him seem as if he has a split personality. During his most recent appearance, he was described as the "disgraced 'schizophrenic Superman' of Greece", implying that this personality disorder had led to some sort of public embarrassment. Olympian is pretty clearly a pastiche of the Avenger Thor.
- Kid Impala - The young successor to M'Bulaze the original Impala.
- Tasmanian Devil (Hugh Dawkins) - is a metahuman with the ability to turn into a supernaturally large and intelligent were-devil.
[edit] Notable appearances
DC One Million #2, November 1998
JLA #24-26, December 1998 to February 1999
JLA: Classified #1-3, January 2005 to March 2005
[edit] Trivia
It is thought by some that the Corps are a pastiche or parody of such politically extreme superhuman groups as The Authority and The Ultimates. Certainly their most recent appearance in JLA: Classified conforms to this theory although it was less prevalent a theme in their earlier appearances. One further theory suggests that this most recent appearance specifically parodies The Ultimates.
