Union (comics)

Union is a fictional character in the Wildstorm universe.

Fictional character biography

Ohmen was a member of a faction, called the Protectorate, on his homeworld of Aegena. The world was mired in a long civil war, as the Protectorate fought against another faction, the Directorate, for control of the planet. The members of both factions had special "stones" (in reality, a symbiotic organism) embedded in their chests. The stones imbued them with a variety of powers, including super strength, flight, energy manipulation and a staff composed of pure energy.

At some point during the war, Ohmen was propelled to Earth via a portal, crashing into a frozen lake in Maine. There, he was rescued by painter Jill Monroe. Left severely weakened by the transit through the portal, he spent some time recovering and learning about Earth from Jill. Much later, he journeyed to New York, after seeing photographs of two unidentified beings flying over a small town in that state. It turned out the two beings were Directorate soldiers, who belonged to a secret Directorate base under the town. Captured, he was brought before Darian, King of the Directorate forces. Knowing his fate, Union grabbed staff and stone of Darian, causing it to explode. Unbeknownst to Ohmen, Darian was a paranoid man, fearing a coup from his own men and had rigged their stones to explode if his own was destroyed. The result was a chain reaction and a massive explosion that destroyed the base and the town.

Ohmen survived the explosion, thanks to being at "ground zero" and woke up several miles away. In addition, he found that he had absorbed Darian's power, turning his Justice Stone from yellow, weakest of the stones, to blue, the most powerful. Here he encountered StormWatch, who had detected the energy spike, which was similar to a villain they had recently battled in the Ukraine, Regent. After rescuing Fuji, a member of StormWatch and convincing their leader, Battalion of his willingness to help the world, he was allowed to leave. He returned to Jill in Maine and was met by two soldiers of the Protectorate. They briefed him on the portal that connected Earth to their Aegena and his transformed Justice Stone, which according to them, was the most powerful of all the stones. They also informed him of the Protectorate's intention to shut down the portal permanently. Despite this, Union decided to remain on Earth, to try to make amends for the deaths of everyone in the earlier explosion.

Deciding the best way to atone for those deaths, he appointed himself protector of Earth and he relocated to New York City with Jill, who took a job as a waitress to support them. He had a few adventures before attempting to join StormWatch. While not immediately accepted, he was eventually accepted as a reserve member. It was during this time that he was summoned by the NYPD to identify the body of one of the two Protectorate soldiers. He allied with the other soldier and a man named Crusade to fight Mnemo, an evil super genius with an oversized brain. During this adventure, Union was forced to battle the Protectorate soldier, who was revealed to be under the control of Mnemo after his Justice Stone was damaged. In the end, he was forced to fly the man into space to prevent the explosion from harming anyone. Union parted ways with Crusade on good terms after Mnemo was defeated.

Union is seen working with other heroes, such as Freak Force, to battle the demonic Malebolgia.^[1]

Afterwards, he was assigned by Synergy, a high-ranking member of StormWatch, to protect Savant, a member of the WildC.A.T.s, due to a suspected traitor within the former organization's ranks. Union got off to a bad start with the latter group when he arrived and attacked Mister Majestic. The battle was quickly stopped and Ohmen made amends by aiding the group in recovering the long lost Kherubim starship.

Union would gain new powers after his stone mutated. These powers included the ability to heal any wound and the ability to use his stone's powers without his staff. He soon retired though, after battling and defeating Regent, eldest son of Darian. He returned to action though, during the Fire from Heaven crossover. There he battled an alternate universe version of himself called 'Sword', an entity which heralded the possible destruction of Earth. They fought on the Moon, Union managing to fight on through many injuries, including broken ribs.

Union was ultimately fired from StormWatch by insane Henry Bendix, the organization's leader in the aftermath, being called a "half-bright amateur" and threatened to be shot down if he ever showed up on one of Stormwatch's operations.

Unfortunately, Union would be forced to commit suicide after a serial killer with psychic powers possessed him. This incident happens when he goes to the Authority looking for heroic assistance and is depressed to find hedonism.

He wouldn't stay dead for long however, and was resurrected by Jackson King, the former Stormwatch member known as Battalion. He was changed, however, becoming darker and unstable. He went to work for King, helping to track down an alien dream engine. He did the needed work of torture, as doing so was the only way to neutralize the threat of the engine itself. He developed a disturbing habit of taking the heads of the enemies he killed and keeping them in his room at the headquarters of The Monarchy, a group led by King.^[2]

Since the events of The Monarchy appear to have been retconned away (in Stormwatch: P.H.D. #5, it is hinted that everything was a drug-induced hallucination from King, caused by the Doctor of the Authority. King says: "At that party on the Carrier, he dosed my drink with LSD or something. I felt like I was tripping for a year." ^[3]), it is possible that Union's death and resurrection may now have never happened.

Other media

A panel from a Mark Texeira issue of Union, where the hero is laying on a couch, appears in a segue during 'Graphic', a comics-themed episode of the police procedural TV show Numb3rs.^[4]

References

1. ↑ "Shattered Image" #4 (December 1996)
2. ↑ "The Monarchy" #1-12 (April 2001 - May 2002)
3. ↑ Gage, Christos (w), Smith, Matthew (a). "Talking With The King" Stormwatch: P.H.D. 5 (May 2007), Wildstorm
4. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139210/