The Squadron Supreme’s Skymax, Marvel’s version of the Martian Manhunter, takes one of the darkest turns in a world without the Avengers.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Heroes Reborn: Magneto & the Mutant Force #1 by Steve Orlando, Bernard Chang, David Curiel and VC’s Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Heroes Reborn has reimagined almost every single facet of the Marvel Universe by wiping the Avengers from the timeline and replacing their place in history with the Squadron Supreme. However, some things never change, and the mutants of the Heroes Reborn timeline are still hated and feared. And in this world, one of mutantkind’s darkest days in this timeline came at the hands of this Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Squadron Supreme of America.
In this version of the “Mutant Massacre,” the most brutal member of this warped vision of the Justice League was its answer to Martian Manhunter, the shape-shifting alien Skymax.
In the present, Magneto and his Mutant Force were working to break Emma Frost out of prison. They wanted Emma to strike back at the Squadron Supreme for the pain that they put mutantkind over many years. This all started in earnest when Senator Graydon Creed attempted to pass a Mutant Registration Act, leading to protests led by Charles Xavier. Of course, the Squadron Supreme couldn’t sit by and let mutants trample state ground, and none of them were more eager to violently defend it than the Squadron Supreme’s resident shapeshifting alien, Skymax.
First introduced in 1985’s Squadron Supreme #1 by Mark Gruenwald and Bob Hall, the Skrull known as Sk’ym’x, or Skymax, was the only surviving Super-Skrull left after Galactus devoured their homeworld. In this alternate reality, the Skrull Empire had been hard at work developing these super-soldiers to turn the tide of their war against the Kree. After hearing rumors of UFO sightings on Earth that might have been other Skrulls, Skymax headed off in search of his own kind only to crash land on the blue planet. He was narrowly saved from the wreckage by Joe Ledger, who Skymax gifted the Power Prism to, transforming Joe into Doctor Spectrum. The two would go on to join the Squadron Supreme together, but after finding no sign of other Skrulls on the planet, Skymax took his leave from the team for some time. When he finally reunited with the Squadron Supreme, their world had fallen to despair and violence. Skymax fought alongside them once more to restore justice and order.
Unfortunately, the Skymax of Heroes Reborn doesn’t seem to share the same sort of stoic compassion that his predecessor was prone to, even while battling the likes of the Exiles or entire armies singlehandedly. In fact, the Skymax of this reality is openly cruel as he battles the mutants here. Skymax is quick to turn on Mystique, setting upon her with roaring flames. While he manages to take her out, Rogue is quick to respond by holding onto the alien and killing him by permanently taking his powers.
The Squadron Supreme has always been Marvel’s take on the Justice League, and there has never been any question that Skymax was their version of the Martian Manhunter, but rarely has any version of either of these characters been so blatantly hateful in their words and actions. Without a Marvel Universe counterpart of his own, Skymax is far more malicious version of himself than usual. Presumably, he is entirely a manifestation of Mephisto’s powers like the rest of the Squadron Supreme, so there is no reason to assume he would have been made anything other than devilishly cruel.
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