Metahuman
Metahuman | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Invasion! #1 (December 1988) |
Created by | Shana |
Characteristics | |
Place of origin | Earth |
Inherent abilities | Varies by individual |
In
The term was first used as a reference to superheroes in 1986 by author George R. R. Martin, first in the Superworld role playing system, and then later in his Wild Cards series of novels.[citation needed]
DC Comics
The term was first used by a fictitious race of extraterrestrials known as the Dominators when they appeared in DC Comics' Invasion! mini-series in 1988.[2] The Dominators use this term to refer to any human native of the planet Earth with "fictional superhuman abilities". The prefix "meta-" simply means "beyond", denoting powers and abilities beyond human limits.[3] Metahuman may also relate to an individual who has exceeded what is known as "The Current Potential", meaning one's ability to move matter with mind (see Telekinesis).
Xenobrood
Before the White Martians arrived on Earth, Lord Vimana, the Vimanian overlord from the Xenobrood mini-series, claimed credit for the creation of the human race both normal and metahuman, due to their introduction of superpowered alien genetic matter into human germline DNA.[4] The Vimanians in the series forced their super powered worker drones to mate with humanity's ancestors Australopithecus afarensis (3 million years ago), and later Homo erectus (1.5 million years ago) in order to create a race of superpowered slaves.[5]
The metagene
The Invasion! miniseries provided a concept for why humans in the DC Universe would survive catastrophic events and develop superpowers. One of the Dominators discovered that select members of the human race had a "biological variant," which he called the metagene (also spelled "meta-gene"). This gene often lay dormant until an instant of extraordinary physical and emotional stress activates it. A "spontaneous chromosomal combustion" then takes place, as the metagene takes the source of the biostress – be it chemical, radioactive or whatever – and turns the potential catastrophe into a catalyst for "genetic change," resulting in metahuman abilities. DC does not use the "metagene concept" as a solid editorial rule, and few writers explicitly reference the metagene when explaining a character's origin.
DC also has characters born with superhuman abilities, suggesting the metagene can activate spontaneously and without any prior appearance in the ancestry. One well-known example involves Dinah Laurel Lance, the second Black Canary. Although her mother (Dinah Drake Lance, the original Black Canary) was a superhero, neither she nor her husband Larry Lance were born with any known metagenes. However, Dinah Laurel was born with a metagene, the infamous ultrasonic scream known as the Canary Cry.
The prefix
In the DC Comics universe, metahuman criminals are incarcerated in special metahuman prisons, like the prison built on Alcatraz Island, which is outfitted not only with provisions to hold criminals whose powers are
It is possible for individuals skilled in science and biology to manipulate, dampen or modify the activities of the metagene. During the Final Crisis, while the Dominators devised a Gene Bomb able to accelerate the metagene activity to the point of cellular and physical instabilities, an anti-metagene virus was spread as a last-ditch weapon in the invaded Checkmate quarters. This metavirus has the opposite effects of the Gene Bomb, curbing and shutting down the metagene and stripping the metahumans of their powers for an unspecified amount of time.[7]
White Martians
The genetic potential for a future metagene was discovered in ancient Homo sapiens' DNA (500,000 - 250,000 years ago) by the White Martian race. The White Martians performed experiments on these primitive humans, changing how the metahuman phenotype was expressed by the metagene.[8][9][10]
Due to their experiments, they altered the destiny of the human race. Whereas before, evolution would have eventually made mankind into a race of superhumans similar to the
Metavirus
The White Martians also created a metavirus, a metagene that could be passed from host to host via touch. This metavirus was responsible for the empowerment of the very first Son of Vulcan. From that time onwards, the Sons of Vulcan passed the metavirus down in an unbroken line, sworn to hunt and kill the White Martians.[10]
Population
The terms "meta" and "metahuman" do not refer only to humans born with biological variants.
Exo-gene
The
Dark Nights: Metal
In Road to Dark Nights: Metal, the Joker revealed to Duke Thomas that the term "meta" originated from a rudimentary hospital program used to automatically flag Nth metal toxicity found in a person's bloodstream, similar to iron or zinc, the “meta” being short for the "metal" it detected. This natural toxicity is the "variant" that changes the individual's DNA results in the metagene and its various heightened abilities and powers.
The lineage of metahumans and their origins can be traced by this Nth Metal connection, dating all the way back to three tribes from the earliest known era of humanity; the Bird Tribe, the Wolf Tribe and the Bear Tribe.
When the Totality crashed to Earth and introduced the various forms of Heavy Metal and other mysterious forces into the world, The Bear tribe and Vandar Adg of the Wolf Tribe were the first ones to encounter the Totality. They were all mutated by the radiation of the Totality, granting them immortality and making them the world's earliest iteration of metahumans.
Marvel Comics
The word "metahuman" is often attributed to the DC Universe, while superhuman beings in the Marvel Universe are referred to as either mutants or mutates. However, both DC and Marvel Comics have made use of the term "metahuman" and "mutant" in their universes. The first use of the term 'metahuman' in the Marvel Universe occurred in New Mutants Annual #3, written by Chris Claremont, published in 1987, in which a Russian security officer describes the protagonists as "metahuman terrorists".[11]
Amalgam Comics
In the limited DC/Marvel Comics "Amalgam Comics" crossover event, in JLX #1 (April 1996) (combining DC's Justice League and Marvel's X-Men), metahumans are replaced with metamutants (a portmanteau of DC's metahumans and Marvel's mutants) who are said to carry a 'metamutant gene'.
In other media
Television
DC animated universe
In the
Birds of Prey
On the television series Birds of Prey, metahumans included heroines the Huntress and Dinah Lance. New Gotham has a thriving metahuman underground, mostly made of metahumans who are trying to live their own lives, although a self-hating metahuman, Claude Morton (Joe Flanigan), tries to convince the police that all metahumans are evil. In Birds of Prey, metahumans are treated seemingly as a race or species; the Huntress is described as being "half-metahuman" on her mother's side.
Smallville
On the television series
Young Justice
On the animated series
Arrowverse
In the Arrowverse family of live-action shows, "metahuman" is used more narrowly than in the comics, typically referring to a human being who becomes transhuman and has uncanny abilities, often acquired following some kind of strange accident.
- In the 2014 television series Silver Ghost's key fobenabling the user to control any motorized vehicles.
- After The Flash established the existence of metahumans, its sister series Damien Darhk, though he fails to do so. Magical characters such as Darhk, Constantine, and Vixenrecur in subsequent episodes, as well as occasional metahuman threats.
- Arrow and Flash spin-off Legends of Tomorrow features numerous metahumans, including Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Vandal Savage (introduced in an Arrow/Flash crossover), as well as characters from other Arrowverse shows. Later seasons introduce versions of Vixen, Isis, and Steel.
- The television series We Can Be Heroes", shows that a prison facility at National City is using the Flash's world's (Earth-1) metahuman-power dampeners to restrain its transhuman prisoners; the technology is later used by Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) and eventually they align with Earth-1's S.T.A.R. Labs. Human criminals begin experimenting on metahumans after the revelation of the possibility of transhumanism since their emergences in hopes of acquiring powers for themselves with goals to battle against extraterrestrial beings such as Supergirl, of which three metahumans were created with Livewire's powers. In season three, more metahumans begin to appear, including Psi, whose powers surface following her maturity. In season four, a serum developed by Lena Luthor, derived from a mineral from the planet Krypton called Harun-El (a black kryptonite), gives both Lex Luthor and James Olsen metahuman abilities including superhuman strength and invulnerability equivalent to a Kryptonian's, accelerated healing process, and heightened senses.
- In the television series A.S.A. are tracking young metahumans with abilities. As the series progresses, it is revealed that decades ago, because of the city of Freeland's prevailing racial and political conflicts, the A.S.A. developed a substance supposedly as a suppressant to turn its citizens docile in the interest of controlling them but failed. Instead, it turned out to be a mutagen which transforms some of its citizens into metahumans, including Jefferson Pierce and his daughters who inherited his metagene after his fatherhood. Under Martin Procter, the agency illegally developed an addictive derivative of the drug called Green Light, which is distributed as a recreational drugin hopes to create more metahumans for Procter's agendas. Because the metahumans are dying from unstable mutations, Procter seeks to capture Black Lightning and his offspring because they are the only known stable specimens of the agency's drug. After Procter's death, the A.S.A.'s experiments are exposed and Freeland's metahumans' origin has become a public knowledge. However, it ignites an anti-metahuman bigotry amongst the people in Freeland.
Gotham
In the television series Gotham, Professor Hugo Strange experiments with dead (and alive) bodies of criminals, Arkham Asylum patients, and civilians under the orders of the Court of Owls. There, Strange gives his victims superhuman abilities such as shapeshifting (Clayface), mind control (Fish Mooney) and super strength (Azrael). By the end of Season 2, Strange's victims escape and wreak havoc in the city. Throughout the series, the metahumans are commonly referred to as Strange's Monsters, simply Monsters (an allusion to the miniseries Dark Moon Rising: Batman & the Monster Men), or the Freaks from Indian Hill.
Film
DC Extended Universe
- In Cyborg, all of whom he classifies as metahumans.
- Metahumans also appear in the movie T.D.K (The Detachable Kid) and Polka-Dot Man.
See also
- List of metahumans in DC Comics
- Homo mermanus
- Mutants and mutates, the Marvel Universe equivalents of metahumans
- Superhuman
- Superpower (ability)
- Transhumanism
References
- ^ Burlingame, Russ (4 October 2014). "The Flash: What are Metahumans?". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
- ^ "The Flash: What are Metahumans?". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ^ "the definition of meta-". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
- ^ Xenobrood, no. 6 (April 1995).
- ^ Xenobrood, no. 3-4 (January–February 1995).
- ^ Outsiders #12 (July 2004)
- ^ Final Crisis: Resist one-shot (2008)
- ^ JLA #4 (April 1997)
- ^ Martian Manhunter (vol. 2) #25-27 (December 2000-February 2001)
- ^ a b Son of Vulcan (vol. 2) #5 (December 2005)
- ^ New Mutants Annual, no. 3 (September 1987).
External links
- DCU Guide History: 14 Million B.C.
- Monitor Duty: WILL D. WILLIAMS
- Wildcardsonline.com: Wild cards origins - Origin of the comic book term "Metahuman"
- Metahuman Press
- Metahumans from DC Comics Wikia
- Mutants & Mutates from Marvel Comics Wikia