Heroes Reborn Week Six Reveals The Most Brutal Member Of The Squadron Supreme
Each week we learn more about the Squadron Supreme, we see more and more of their brutality. Doctor Spectrum seemed to be the worst one, but with Heroes Reborn week six, there’s a new blood-drenched psychopath – and this is the scariest one. Power Princess – the Wonder Woman of this team. Her name sounds silly, but she is horrifying. Spectrum is powerful, yes, but without that prism thing, he’s nothing. Just Coulson’s lapdog. Power Princess always has her power. There’s no “off” button with her. More than that, more than enjoying the violence, she has no moral reasoning for it.
Heroes Reborn Week Six: Power Princess and Absolute Power
Wait – did she kill Howard the Duck? Someone find Howard! (Image: Heroes Reborn #6, Marvel Comics)
The Last Utopian Meets the Last Son of the Gods
Writer: Jason Aaron
Erica D’Urso
Colorist: Jason Keith
In the image above, we see Power Princess’s home – the Statue of Liberty. We also see her “sculpture garden,” which consists of all of her enemies, turned to stone. Heavy hitters, like Knull and Hela, all reduced to lawn ornaments. We also see later that she has Hercules, who she frees long enough to interrogate. But inside her luxurious abode, she has the heads of various Marvel monsters on her walls. However, the most telling item she owns, showing just how powerful she is, is the Siege Perilous, a powerful artifact able to give anyone a new life while teleporting them somewhere else in the world. Power Princess uses it like Instacart:
Um, the blood on her arm wasn’t there before she reached into the mirror. (Image: Heroes Reborn #6, Marvel Comics)
But what really sets her apart from the other members of the Squadron Supreme is how she looks at her teammates, friends, and even her lovers at times: disposable. She’s so bored with the everyday killing that she considers manipulating Hyperion and Nighthawk into a second Civil War just to have a battle to fight. Her need for violence might be insatiable, but she’ll get her fill soon.
Heroes Reborn Week Six Brings Back the Bro of Thunder, the Deity of Anti-Dieting, Thor
Power Princess could settle this with just one big hug; that’s all Thor needs. (Image: Heroes Reborn #6, Marvel Comics)
In Heroes Reborn week one, when we last saw Thor, his mead horn turned into Mjolnir, and he disappeared. But we finally learn where he ended up – the ruins of Asgard, confused and sober. And “verily, not like it.” However, even though he is back in Asgard, he doesn’t quite remember who he is, and because of that, Power Princess pretty much kicks his ass:
So much punching. They should call her Punching Princess instead. (Image: Heroes Reborn #6, Marvel Comics)
In fact, she punches him so hard that his beard came off. As a fellow bearded man, all I can say is “DEAR GOD OWWWWWW” Now, at this point, you probably want to see the gods punch it out. Well, do I have news for you!
The God of Thunder Returns! And Immediately Teleports Away.
Oh, it’s about to go down. (Image: Heroes Reborn #6, Marvel Comics)Oh, that news was that there wasn’t a grand battle. However, he doesn’t fly off, and we’ll get to that. What he does do is piss off Power Princess, who really wanted to keep punching him. It’s like her favorite thing. He also leaves her with a mystery, one that she brings back to the Squadron. Just one word that they have no reference to, but unsettles them nonetheless:
Avengers.
Now, where did Thor go?
Drunk History
Okay, she lost her chance, but someone still needs to hug the God of Gorgeous Hair. (Image: Heroes Reborn #6, Marvel Comics)
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Ed McGuinness
Inker: Mark Morales
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
When Power Princess was a little girl, cutting the heads off of frost giants in Iceland, Thor was drinking. And when she was fighting alongside Namor in World War II, Thor was drinking. In fact, his mead horn had a really useful enchantment: it never runs dry. Sure, later on, it turns into Mjolnir, but for several hundred years, it was the best drinking horn in the land. When Gorr unleashes the Godbomb, Thor is on the floor of a bar in the fetal position.
This backup story is a bit different from all the others. We don’t get a piece of the puzzle but the history of a character. It’s only on the last page and last panel that Echo, the Phoenix, finds him and tells him to join her. But aside from that, it’s just flashbacks to Power Princess doing awesome things while Thor drinks. And that’s unfortunate.
This issue is the weakest of the main event so far. Because of the two characters involved, there was a lot of potential for dynamic storytelling – and we get a little of that – instead of mostly drinking and punching. Sure, comics need action, and we learn about Power Princess’s past, but it wasn’t doing anything new. Each issue before this had something unique about it. But not this issue. In fact, this should have been issue #2 or #3. Nighthawk should have closed out the solo stories. Aaron definitely wanted to show the Squadron becoming more violent, but the story came to a halt here, aside from the “Avengers” line. Thankfully, we still have the tie-ins, which we’ll explore soon.
What did you think of the main title for Heroes Reborn Week Six?
(Featured Image: Heroes Reborn #6)
Roman Colombo finished his MFA in 2010 and now teaches writing and graphic novel literature at various Philadelphia colleges. His first novel, Trading Saints for Sinners, was published in 2014. He's currently working on his next novel and hoping to find an agent soon.
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