Omega (comics)
| Omega | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance |
Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes vol. 2, #250 (April 1979) |
| Created by |
Jim Starlin Paul Levitz Dave Hunt |
| In-story information | |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength, stamina, agility, durability, power and reflexes, goliath size (varies), burning skin, some kind of burning rays from eyes. Able to hate the entire universe at once (see text). |
Omega is a fictional DC Comics entity created to be the physical embodiment of universal hate. Omega first appeared in Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes vol. 2, #250 (April 1979), and was created by Jim Starlin (as Steve Apollo), Paul Levitz, and Dave Hunt.
Fictional character biography
In their early history, the Legion of Super-Heroes defeated a renegade Controller, and as a reward were gifted with a Miracle Machine, a "simple" (to the Controllers) device that turned thoughts into reality. At the time, Brainiac 5 cautioned that it was dangerous, as if someone rashly wished to be dead for a second, they would be. The Legion locked the machine inside a solid block of Inertron and hid it in their vault.
Some years later, Legion member Brainiac 5 went insane (originally due to stress, a later retcon suggested it was induced by Glorith). Feeling he had never been sufficiently compensated for the many times he had saved the cosmos, in his insanity he decided to destroy it as payment. Retrieving the miracle machine, he could have easily destroyed the earth, perhaps even the galaxy, but not the entire cosmos. As he put it, he couldn't "dream a death that large," but he could dream up a being that could.
Thus, Omega was born, created by the Miracle Machine as a physical manifestation of all the hate in the cosmos. A huge fiery humanoid figure, he appeared at the edge of the galaxy and started walking towards Earth at a tremendous speed. At this point, no one in the Legion knew his origin, only that he set off an alarm. Superboy and Mon-El were dispatched to investigate. After shrugging off a punch from Mon-El (a Daxamite with Kryptonian-class abilities), Omega knocked out Mon-El with a single punch.
By this time, Chameleon Boy had figured out that Brainiac 5 was up to something. Brainiac 5 neutralized Cham, but not before he managed to get a message to Wildfire, who accused Brainiac 5 in front of the group. Dropping the charade, Brainiac 5 took credit, claiming revenge in the moment the universe would be destroyed. The Legion dispatched squads to stop Omega, all to no avail, as were the attempts by the United Planets to stop his progress. Dream Girl had a vision of Wildfire standing alone at the headquarters, facing Omega, then "the world seemed to explode."
While the attempts to stop Omega were proving futile, Princess Projectra and Saturn Girl finally managed to get through to Brainiac 5, who offered them a choice: if they let him rule the universe, he would destroy Omega. Facing either this or the risk of using the Miracle Machine as last-ditch attempt to save the universe, they told Brainiac 5 he could rule the universe. He immediately dispatched a ship to retrieve retired Legionnaire Matter-Eater Lad from his homeworld, a hero whose only ability was his ability to eat any form of matter.
In an effort to buy more time, Wildfire faced Omega alone where Dream Girl had seen him in her vision, and opened his containment suit, releasing all of his anti-energy at once at Omega. This destroyed the Legion headquarters but did not even knock down Omega.
Nearby, Brainiac 5 instructed Matter-Eater Lad to eat the supposedly indestructible Miracle Machine. He somehow succeeded, though the alien energies contained in the machine drove Matter-Eater Lad into an insane catatonic state. As soon as the machine was destroyed, Omega dissipated back into the multitude of hatreds throughout the cosmos.
This done, Brainiac 5 was locked up in an asylum. Omega has never again gained substance.
Powers and abilities
Immense strength (well beyond Kryptonian-class), invulnerability, burns with the fire of hatred, once seen shooting some kind of burning ray out of his eyes to destroy a ship. Able to walk at a speed of light-years per step. Able to "dream the death of the cosmos," which, if he had reached the Miracle Machine, would have ended the universe.