Strikeforce: Morituri

Last updated

Strikeforce: Morituri
Strikeforcemori.png
Strikeforce Morituri, art by Brent Anderson
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
ScheduleMonthly
Format Ongoing series
Genre
Publication dateDecember 1986 – July 1989
No. of issues31
Main character(s)Jason Edwards
Dan Baker
Yoko Watanabe
Fiona Windsor
Tam Van Ok
Zakir Shastri
Julio Gonzales
Aaron Ray Leonard
Patricia Lynne Sobrero
Clinton Brian Rogers
Bruce Higashi
Woodrow Joshua Green
Carol Rayweick
Macintire Kenlin
Lorna Leigh Raeburn
Harold Carl Everson
Robert Greenbaum
Jelene Anderson
Louis Armanetti
Aline Pagrovna
Pilar Lisieux
William Deguchi
Ruth Mastorakis
Greg Mattingly
Domenica Contreras
Burke O'Halloran
Walther Feyzioglu
Akiya Bandaranaike
John Crenella
Creative team
Created by Peter B. Gillis
Brent Anderson
Written by Peter B. Gillis
Artist(s) Brent Anderson

Strikeforce: Morituri was a science fiction comic book series published by Marvel Comics from 1986 to 1989. The series was created by writer Peter B. Gillis and artist Brent Anderson.

Contents

The premise is that aliens have invaded Earth and nearly succeeded in conquering it and stripping it of its resources. A scientist discovers a process which can provide humans with superhuman powers, effectively creating a group of defending superheroes. However, the process would also ensure that the empowered humans would die within a year of being empowered. The series thus focused on the heroism of the main characters in fighting the invaders, while living with the knowledge that their fates were sealed regardless of whether or not they prevailed. [1]

The title comes from the Latin phrase " Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant " ("Hail Caesar, we who are about to die salute you"), a salute that according to popular legend (although not academically agreed) was uttered by Roman gladiators before battle in the arena. The subtitle of the comic was "We who are about to die".

Gillis and Anderson left the series within two years. The series ended after thirty-one issues, while under the tenure of writer James Hudnall and artist Mark Bagley.

Within the Marvel Comics Multiverse, the Strikeforce: Morituri universe is designated as Earth-1287.

Plot summary

In 2069, an alien race called "the Horde" arrived in Earth's solar system (it was later revealed that the actual name of the race was the 'Va-Shaak'). Although they were technologically advanced far beyond humanity at that time, they were extremely savage. Examples of this savagery include the retaliatory slaughter of human slaves (this was shown after the victory of the Black Watch), the nuclear destruction of San Diego (also in response to the Black Watch's assassination of the Earth Commander of the Horde Forces), and the decapitation of children (especially by literally ripping their heads off) in order to establish dominance over newly captured human slaves (one particularly brutal terror-tactic favored by the Horde early in the war was to capture large numbers of humans in order to take them just outside the Earth's atmosphere and then eject them from the ships, allowing them to burn up in re-entry so watchers on the ground could see the streaks representing their burning forms. This tactic became known to humans as 'a Highdive'). [2]

It was later discovered that they had stolen their technology from a kindly alien race that visited their planet who were attempting to rescue the Horde species. The Horde had caused severe environmental damage to their planet due to excessive pollution which laid much of the world an uninhabitable wasteland. After pulling the Horde back from the brink of extinction the aliens planned to leave the Horde planet in peace once their rescue mission was accomplished. Before they could leave, however, the alien pacifists were ruthlessly and mercilessly attacked and slaughtered by the Horde. The Horde stole the aliens' ships and advanced technology for themselves and set out into space to establish their savage and war-like empire. [3] The Horde traveled the galaxy in order to steal resources, food, and technologies, since they had no knowledge of how to fix the ships they used. They viewed the Earth and other such planets as a resource to be plundered and discarded once all resources have been used up. If the Horde had wanted to completely conquer mankind, then they could have easily done so. Instead, they satisfied themselves with brutal raids that left the Earth functioning, but reeling under their vicious onslaught. The Padeia Institute, which governed the entire planet at the time, began to organize Earth defenses against these attacks.

Humankind's best hope was discovered in 2072, when Dr. Kimmo Tuolema perfected the Morituri Process. This was a two-step process that allowed people with a specific type of genetic structure to have a new metabolism overlaid on top of their original one, granting them enhanced physical attributes. The second phase of the process would allow for unique superhuman powers. However, there were three mitigating factors inherent in the use of the Morituri Process:

The first group of test subjects, later known as "the Black Watch", were volunteer soldiers. Of the five members, two died before seeing active service during a power activation exercise in a specialized testing area known as 'Biowar Facility Alpha' (nicknamed 'The Garden'). The remaining three had their first field test in Cape Town, South Africa, taking on Horde forces there; though they were successful in battle, none of them survived (one was killed in battle, another succumbed to the Morituri Effect as they were escaping, and the last was killed with a Hordian nuclear device moments afterward). Commander of the program, Beth Luis Nion, had also secretly undergone the Morituri Process, after starting an affair with a member of the Black Watch, although she kept her powers a secret. Tuolema later deduced that the older the subject, the quicker their system would reject the process – it was at this point that Dr. Tuolema realized recipients between 18 and 21 were the optimal choice regarding maximized life expectancy.

The Morituri Process consisted of two distinct phases: In the first phase, candidates underwent a procedure which granted them an enhanced physicality (in some cases, Morituri gained physically impressive forms), as well as enhanced physical strength and endurance, which made it easier to endure the second phase of the Morituri Process (designed to grant actual metahuman powers). After completing this stage, the volunteers would be placed in 'The Garden', a booby-trapped test facility designed to heighten stress levels and precipitate the emergence of each candidate's powers (Dr. Tuolema based 'The Garden' on the vid-comics his daughter had shown him of the X-Men's Danger Room). In 2073, the first of the new Strikeforce: Morituri entered active service.

The Morituri suffered heavy fatalities during their conflict with the Horde – sometimes from enemy action, but principally through the Morituri Effect, the term given to the body's rejection of artificial metabolism implanted by the Morituri Process. The threat posed by the Horde meant that there was never a shortage of volunteers willing to give up their lives defending mankind. Right from the start, the Morituri showed a propensity for disobeying orders in order to grasp opportunities to attack the enemy; knowing their time was short, they resented being kept out of action for any length of time.

It was the fourth generation of Morituri who saw a real change to the process. The fourth generation was sub-divided into two groups; one was created without the input of Dr. Tuolema, with disastrous results – the volunteers eventually choosing to be euthanized rather than continue in the twisted bodies they ended up with. [4] The fourth generation of Morituri created under Dr. Tuolema's supervision benefited from a major breakthrough; Jason Edwards (a.k.a. Revenge), who had been a captive of the Horde prior to becoming a Morituri, contracted a virus which eventually proved to counter the body's rejection of the Morituri Process. [5] When this was discovered, the surviving Morituri regained a chance to live a full lifespan (too late for the first and second, and all but one of the third generation). [6]

The war with the Horde was unexpectedly brought to a close. A new race of aliens, dubbed the VXX199, entered Earth orbit, destroyed the Horde fleet, and then departed without explanation. [7] Other problems soon arose: the Morituri process being performed on a trio of killers with the intent to assassinate the surviving members of the Strikeforce and the Prime Minister, and the fragmentation of the Paideia back into independent nation-states due to the exposure of the conspiracy (by a high-ranking government minister) to kill the Prime Minister in order to seize power. [8]

Electric Undertow

From December 1989 to March 1990, Marvel published an additional five-issue miniseries, Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow. This took place ten years after the events of the last issue and dealt with the fate of the VXX199. They were waiting behind the Moon, slowly modifying mankind's culture to their requirements, planning to induce spontaneous combustions in the population and then harness the psychic energies released. The four remaining Morituri learned of this, thanks to some bizarre allies (including a sentient A.I. which had taken the holographic form of dead Morituri Scatterbrain, and usually only appeared to and communicated with Scanner; Random – an information specialist/broker with cybernetic neural implants; and Dr. Tuolema's private Morituri squad), and travelled to the VXX-199's base, where they destroyed its CPU, ending this second alien threat. [9]

Characters

The Black Watch

The First Generation of Morituri

The Second Generation of Morituri

The Third Generation of Morituri

The Fourth Generation of Morituri (a.k.a. the Morituri Monsters)

Unidentified Morituri #1 – massive psionic powers, including telepathy and psionic energy blasts which he used to enhance Scatterbrain's powers so that the Morituri could gain the upper hand and ultimately defeat their opponents (the Super Hordians) in one particular battle.

Unidentified Morituri #2 – Powers unknown, but appeared to have growth or super-strength.

Unidentified Morituri #3, most likely Carol Rayweick as this was the only noticeable female of this group. Powers unknown, but appeared to have some sort of avian/aquatic growths.

Unidentified Morituri #4 – Powers unknown but energy-related; mutated into an unstable energy form contained in a special shielded area.

The Fifth Generation of Morituri

The Sixth Generation of Morituri (a.k.a. Death Force: Morituri or the Morituri Assassins)

The Seventh Generation of Morituri (a.k.a. the Alien controlled Morituri or Morituri Clones)

The Eighth Generation of Morituri (a.k.a. Kimmo Tuolema's Morituri)

This series was unique in that it did not have a set "roster" such as the X-Men, the Avengers or the Justice League of America. With members dying routinely, the mixing of generations was gradual and tragic. Several issues feature the last of a previous generation mixing with the new guard.[ citation needed ]

Continuity

The setting of Strikeforce: Morituri is a continuity of its own and resembles no future seen in any other Marvel title. The Horde appear to have gathered trophies from residents of the Marvel Universe, including Captain America's Shield, the Silver Surfer's board and Galactus's helmet, as well as shelves of what appear to be power batteries used by DC Comics' Green Lantern Corps. [30]

In 2014, Marvel's X-Force referred to scientists from the mainstream Marvel universe who reached the "Strikeforce: Morituri" universe and stole the Morituri Process technology used to create their superhumans. [31]

Creators

Writers

Art

Reprints

Strikeforce: Morituri is being reprinted in Trade Paperback Format by Marvel comics during 2012:

Additionally in January 2012 Marvel released Strikeforce: Morituri – We Who Are About To Die #1, reprinting issue 1 of Strikeforce: Morituri. [32]

In other media

Television

Film

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Universe</span> American comic book shared universe

The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and many Marvel superheroes live in this universe, including characters such as Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Wolverine, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and Captain Marvel, Blade, Black Widow, Hawkeye, among numerous others. It also contains well-known supervillains such as Doctor Doom, Magneto, Ultron, Thanos, Loki, The Green Goblin, Kang the Conqueror, Red Skull, The Kingpin, Doctor Octopus, Carnage, Apocalypse, Dormammu, Mysterio, Electro, and the Vulture. It also contains antiheroes such as Venom, Namor, Deadpool, Silver Sable, Ghost Rider, The Punisher, and Black Cat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longshot (Marvel Comics)</span> Comics character

Longshot is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Ann Nocenti and artist Art Adams, he first appeared in Longshot #1, the first issue of a six-issue miniseries that represents the first major work of both Nocenti and Adams. The Longshot series established Longshot as an amnesiac fugitive from another dimension who discovers that he has a "good luck" power that protects him from harm when his motives are pure. He also discovers that he was a slave who led a rebellion on his dystopian world against his former master and enemy, Mojo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eternals (comics)</span> Group of comic book characters

The Eternals are a fictional race of humanoids appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They were created by Jack Kirby, making their first appearance in The Eternals #1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molecule Man</span> Fictional character

The Molecule Man is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Fantastic Four #20 in November 1963 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. An enormously powerful entity, he is often portrayed as a supervillain, but sometimes takes the role of a reformed outlaw or reluctant hero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter B. Gillis</span> American comic book writer (born 1952)

Peter B. Gillis is an American comic book writer best known for his work at Marvel Comics and First Comics in the mid-1980s, including the series Strikeforce: Morituri and the digitally drawn comic series Shatter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet Man</span> Fictional comic book character

Comet Man is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Comet Man #1, dated February 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thena</span> Fictional character from Marvel Comics

Thena is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Martin A. Bursten and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared as Minerva in Red Raven Comics #1, but was later reintroduced as Thena in The Eternals #5. She is a member of the Eternals, a race of superhumans in the Marvel Universe. She was also a member of Heroes for Hire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quasar (character)</span> Marvel Comics superhero

Quasar is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are noted for having worn the Quantum Bands, advanced ancient alien technology that grants the wearer manipulation of quantum energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackthorn (character)</span> Comics character

Blackthorn is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toxyn</span> Comics character

Toxyn is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scaredycat</span> Comics character

Scaredycat is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radian (Morituri)</span> Comics character

Radian is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snapdragon (Morituri)</span> Marvel Comics superhero

Snapdragon is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vyking</span> Comics character

Vyking is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shear (character)</span> Comics character

Shear is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Backhand (character)</span> Comics character

Backhand is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scatterbrain (Morituri)</span> Comics character

Scatterbrain is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

Silencer is the name of different characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adept (comics)</span> Comics character

Adept is superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as member of the Strikeforce: Morituri. The character was created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson.

References

  1. Markstein, Don. "Strikeforce: Morituri". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  2. Strikeforce: Morituri #2
  3. Strikeforce: Morituri #10
  4. Strikeforce: Morituri #16–17
  5. 1 2 3 Strikeforce: Morituri #23
  6. 1 2 Strikeforce: Morituri #27
  7. Strikeforce: Morituri #24–26
  8. Strikeforce: Morituri #27–31
  9. Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow #1–5
  10. 1 2 Strikeforce: Morituri #2, 27
  11. Strikeforce: Morituri #1, 10
  12. 1 2 Strikeforce: Morituri #1
  13. 1 2 Strikeforce: Morituri #15
  14. Strikeforce: Morituri #26
  15. 1 2 Strikeforce: Morituri #12
  16. Strikeforce: Morituri #4
  17. Strikeforce: Morituri #6
  18. 1 2 Strikeforce: Morituri #13
  19. Strikeforce: Morituri #20
  20. Strikeforce: Morituri #19
  21. Strikeforce: Morituri #8
  22. Strikeforce: Morituri #24
  23. Strikeforce: Morituri #21
  24. Strikeforce: Morituri #22
  25. 1 2 Strikeforce: Morituri #28
  26. Strikeforce: Morituri #25
  27. 1 2 Strikeforce: Morituri #17
  28. Strikeforce: Morituri #31
  29. Strikeforce: Morituri #30–31
  30. Strikeforce: Morituri #7
  31. X-Force #5 (vol. 4)
  32. 1 2 "Newsarama | GamesRadar+".
  33. "Newsarama | GamesRadar+".
  34. "Newsarama | GamesRadar+".
  35. "SCI FI Adapts Marvel Series". Sci Fi Wire, (Sci Fi Channel). 3 January 2003. Archived from the original on 8 February 2003.
  36. Weinstein, Joshua L. (19 July 2011). "Waterman Entertainment Acquires Comic Book 'Strikeforce Morituri'". The Wrap. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  37. Johnston, Rich (16 May 2014). "A New Legal Conflict Brewing Over Strikeforce Morituri Between Marvel And Peter B Gillis". Bleeding Cool News And Rumors. Retrieved 17 November 2017.