Review
Similar back story to Invincible , also published by Image Comics. Like Omni-Man, Alpha One comes from a distant civilization of advanced humans. However, his ambitions weren’t shared by his people, and crashed into Earth by mistake while being transported to a prison in Venus.
Snapshots
[Journalist] Does Alpha One report to you first or act of his own accord? [Captain Shaw] If someone needs help and Alpha One is able to get there, he does. He’s not waiting for anyone’s green light other than his own. Officially, Alpha One reports to me after each… intervention. [Journalist] And it’s your job to ask questions later? [Captain Shaw] Exactly. We work hand in hand with Alpha One, but not just in a bureaucratic sense. Alpha One is there at the beginning to make the save. Section Omega is there at the end to wrap it up.
[Drug dealer] Got God right here in this bag, but you ain’t meeting him till I meet Ben Franklin.
[Cole] You– You killed them? [Alpha One] Of course not. Ricochets, Cole. They wouldn’t stop shooting at me. Tragically, they were caught in their own crossfire.
An eerie introduction to Alpha One’s disregard for human life in its current state. Plants seeds for his human experiments later on.
[Leader #1] Please, we have substantial earthquake damage in Chongqing. How soon could Alpha– [Leader #2] Yes, we were hoping Alpha One could mediate a dispute between several warring tribes before bloodshed– [Leader #3] The drought in our country is severe. We desperately need Alpha One to irrigate our–
[Cole] I think when someone like you moves through our world, it gives us a false sense of security. That nothing bad will ever really happen because Daddy is always there to fix things. [Alpha One] A father must also discipline his children. Teach them things that only the wisdom brought by passing years will reveal.
[Alpha One] I was fiercely loyal to the dream of a planet living in peace, with a populace united under that same ideal. Answers to the problems that plagued us were at our disposal. None of them were willing to voice them except me. My views were not… popular. My ideas, my master plan, were deemed too radical. No one could see the apparent logic of sacrificing ten percent of the planet’s population to save ninety percent of it. These cowards that didn’t share my vision tried to suppress it. This… I would not let stand. Unfortunately, one single soul, even powered by righteous fury, may still fall against many.
Utilitarianism (for the greater good of the majority) is explored in comics. Like cinematic Thanos, Alpha One is blindly utilitarian to the point of murder. Superman in the Injustice series is also utilitarian, but the cost for his greater good is totalitarianism. Of the three, Injustice’s Superman is the most fleshed out utilitarian-gone-overboard villain.
References
- The Mighty #01. Peter J. Tomasi; Champagne Keith; Chris Samnee; Peter Snejbjerg. 2022.
- The Mighty #02. Peter J. Tomasi; Champagne Keith; Chris Samnee; Peter Snejbjerg. 2022.
- The Mighty #06. Peter J. Tomasi; Champagne Keith; Chris Samnee; Peter Snejbjerg. 2022.
- The Mighty #10. Peter J. Tomasi; Champagne Keith; Chris Samnee; Peter Snejbjerg. 2022.
Regulatory capture in spandex. Contrasts with the legitimate regulation that Ironman fights for in Civil War .