Supreme Power

Supreme Power (August 2003) is a comic series written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Gary Frank. It features a rebooted version of the superhero team Squadron Supreme, itself a representation of DC Comics' Justice League of America.

Supreme Power ongoing series

Issue #1

Jimmy Carter [on what to do with baby Hyperion]: He's a child of the United States. See to it he's raised like one.

Man watching Hyperion [after seeing his "flash vision" manifest and kill a puppy named "Spot"]: Huh...well...I guess Spot was kind of the right name after all.

Issue #2

Nighthawk's father: Hear that, Rosalie? You know what kind of bird that is?
Nighthawk's mother: Oh, and you do?
Nighthawk's father: It's a nighthawk. See, most hawks hunt only during the day. But the prey they're chasing, well, they've got an advantage, because during the day, you can see the hawk's shadow. But a hawk that hunts at night, well, you can't see it, can you? Can't see his shadow. Can't stop it.
Nighthawk's mother: You're making this up.

[a soldier asks Joseph Ledger why they call him "The Doctor"]

Doctor Spectrum: You want someone to perform a job with precision? Without making an error? You want a surgeon. A Doctor.

[after Hyperion's first day at normal school]

Hyperion: I don't... I just don't fit in, that's all. I don't belong there.
Hyperion's father: It'll be okay, Mark. You have a purpose. You're important. That's what matters.
Hyperion: I know, it's just... there really isn't anyone else in the world like me, is there?
Hyperion's father: Not that we know of, Mark. Not that we know of.

Issue #3

Hyperion [to Washington Herald reporter Jason Scott]: Good evening Mr. Scott. I've been told to ask you a question. Would you be interested in winning the Pulitzer this year?

Bill Clinton: Ladies and Gentlemen, I now present to you a truly extraordinary American. An amazing young man previously know only by his designation as part of Project Hyperion: Mark Milton.

Jason Scott: Where are you from, Mark? Really?
Hyperion: I don't know. I don't know...

Jason Scott [last line]: You say I got the story. But what if I missed the story? What if Hyperion isn't alone after all?

Issue #4

General Casey [on Hyperion]: You've given America a new star.

Hyperion [after seeing The Blur]: I'm not alone... I'm not alone.

Issue #5

Dr. Bill Steadman [to General Casey, after Dr. Spectrum wakes up from his years-long coma]: Well. I think it worked, General.

Hyperion [seeing the The Blur appear on TV]: Finally. Finally! Yes!

Issue #6

[The first meeting of Hyperion and The Blur]

The Blur: Hey.
Hyperion: Hey.
The Blur: How's it going?
Hyperion: Good. You?
The Blur: So Far.
Hyperion: So why'd you run away that day I saw you?
The Blur: Wasn't ready to talk to anybody yet. Wasn't ready to come out.
Hyperion: Then why were you running all over Georgia every couple of days? Even blurred by speed, you must've known that sooner or later somebody would get a picture of you.
The Blur: Yeah, I knew it was a risk. But I couldn't not do it, y'know? I mean, knowing what I can do, how fast I can run, to just stay home, sittin' around the house... I'd've gone nuts.

The Blur: You ever see one of those English Border Collies? Fast, strong, smarter than any other dog on the planet. But you got to keep them busy, you got to give 'em homework and projects and goals. I knew a guy had one, didn't keep its mind occupied, and over the summer it took apart his front porch with its bare teeth, board by board. You don't give a dog like that something important to do, a problem to solve, it goes crazy. And the last thing the world needs is somebody like you going crazy, you know what I'm saying?
Hyperion: I suppose.

[The first meeting of Hyperion and Nighthawk, after a long, preachy monologue from Hyperion]

Hyperion: Anyway, I just wanted to tell you all that because I think what you're doing is well-intentioned, but you need to broaden your horizons a bit. So? Do you have anything to say?
Nighthawk: Yeah. I'd point out that you haven't done shit to stop those guys down there from doing what they're doing.
Hyperion: I try never to get between a professional and his work. Have a good night.
Nighthawk: Prick.

Dr. Bill Steadman: Was I talking to Corporal Joe Ledger or was I talking to the ship?

Issue #7

Bryce [on Hyperion]: I mean, Christ, why not just use him to rescue a cat stuck up in a tree somewhere in Jersey ?

Bryce [to Hyperion]: What the hell were you doing in China? You don't even have a passport, for chrissake...

Hyperion: If I should decide to go to China, or Argentina, or Australia, or anywhere else-- Who's going to stop me?

Doctor Spectrum [meeting Hyperion]: Big mistake, buddy. Big mistake.

Issue #8

Hyperion [after Doctor Spectrum hits him]: I felt that. I...felt that. This must be what pain feels like. Do it again.
Doctor Spectrum: Are you out of your--
Hyperion: I SAID DO IT AGAIN!

Hyperion [after taking Doctor Spectrum's full power]: My turn now.

Hyperion [touches the Doctor's crystal by accident and is given memories of his journey to Earth]: I don't... I don't understand--

Hyperion [seeing the destruction of wildlife after the fight]: I'm sorry... I'm sorry..I don't know what happened, I just... I'm sorry...

Last page: UBI DUBIUM, IBI LIBERTAS (LATIN) WHERE THERE IS DOUBT, THERE IS FREEDOM.

Issue #9

Dr. Bill Steadman [on Hyperion]: We thought we understood the limits of his abilities. We were wrong. He's been holding back.

General Casey [after arming the last defense weapon against Hyperion]: Ready when you are, you son of a bitch.

Hyperion: I've seen the files. You used me. Manipulated me. Tried to brainwash me into being the perfect citizen, somebody who would do what he was told, without asking questions. You faked the death of my so-called parents so I'd rely more on you, on the government. You put me through all that...
General Casey: Why not?
Hyperion: Why not?
General Casey: You're not human. You know that now. You look like us. But you're not one of us. So what difference does it make? You don't have any rights, we don't have any obligation to treat you one way or another. You're a weapon. My job was to make sure that weapon was pointed the right direction.
Hyperion: A weapon
General Casey: Yes. Nothing more.
Hyperion: You know what I could do to you right now, right ?
General Casey: I know. I know what you could do to all of us.

General Casey [last words before detonating twenty Daisy Cutters]: ...never, ever let your weapon fall into enemy hands.

Dr. Bill Steadman: Did it work? General? Did it work? General...?

Issue #10

Princess Zarda [kills an old woman and then looks at her own hairs, a few of which had been grey]: Gone now.

[Princess Zarda finds the injured Hyperion]

Princess Zarda: I'm here for you...I've come for you. I've come...to help you.
Hyperion: Who... who are you ?
Princess Zarda: I am the woman you love.
Hyperion: How can.. I don't even know you...
Princess Zarda: That will change. You will change. I'm here now. Here for you. Hold on.

[after Princess Zarda heals Hyperion]

Princess Zarda: Better now. Better. Yes.

Issue #11

Hyperion: Who are you?
Zarda: I had a name. Zarda. But I have not used it in a very long time. I have been waiting, all that time. Waiting for you.

Zarda: Most of it was in the dark, you see. But, I'm in the light now. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.

Zarda: We're here to pave the way. For the others. We're here to rule. To conquer. To kill.

The Blur: Mr. Richmond? They said you wanted to see me.
Nighthawk: I did. I have a question for you, Stanley. A very important one.
The Blur: Yeah? What's that?
Nighthawk: Were you planning to actually do anything with your life, or are you content to be a walking, talking ad campaign for every racing, jogging and sporting-equipment sponsor on the planet?

Nighthawk: Wait. Take a good look, Stanley. What do you see?
The Blur: He cut their arms off he-
Nighthawk: No. Look closer. At the flesh, the finger-point bruises, the cartilage. Those arms weren't cut off. They were torn off. Whoever the killer is, he didn't just murder them... he tore them, limb from limb. Something like that takes a lot of strength... more than any normal person could possibly possess. There's someone else out there, Stanley. Someone like you, and Hyperion, with one difference. This one to likes to kill.

Issue #12

Nighthawk: So even though I don't like it, I took steps to bring in some help. If this guy really is one of you, we're going to need all the help we can get.
The Blur: Why the reluctance?
Nighthawk: I don't trust him.
The Blur: Because he's white?
Nighthawk: Because I don't trust him.
The Blur: Uh-huh.

The Blur: See, I lived all my life in the South, in Atlanta, and in all that time nobody--nobody--has ever described me or anybody I knew as "you people." Until you, just now. You got some serious issues, Mr. Richmond. Deal with them.

Issue #13

Hyperion: All right... we know that someone out there is killing prostitutes, mainly black, and tearing them limb from limb. Question is, what do we do about it? You invited me in on this, you must have had something in mind.
Nighthawk: Yeah, I did.

Hyperion: I'm not exactly on the best terms with the government right now.
Nighthawk: What, you guys have a falling-out or something?
Hyperion: Yeah, you could say that.

Nighthawk [to Hyperion]: You are the system.

Man [talking about Hyperion]: Old joke. Where does a six-hundred-pound gorilla sit? Answer: Anywhere he wants to.

Hooker: Mmmm...I like the way this feels, what is it, baby? Spandex? Lycra?
The Blur: It's...they say it's a special material, heat resistant...

Hooker [talking about The Blur]: Mmm, mmm... you ask me, that boy's been raised a little too close to his momma.

Redstone: Who sent you? What else came with you? I just broke two of your ribs. Three. Four. Answer my question. Or I take eyes next.
Nighthawk: ...go fuck yourself...hear that...? ...that's a sonic boom...company's coming...

Issue #14

General Richard Alexander [grilling the handlers of Project Hyperion]: You had access to an artifact from a non-human civilization! Do you realize what you had, and what you let get away from you? Do You? Then let me explain it to you! Imagine handing an F-16 to the Aztecs in 1521, when Cortez was at war with them, and instead of learning to fly so they could slice Cortez and his army to shreds, they cut off the wings to use as shields, the guns as clubs, and they take off the wheels because they figured they would look really cool hanging from the temple ceiling! This is exactly what you people and your agencies have been doing since day one, and worse still, you've been doing it in secret, not just from the public, which we expect, but from each other! As a result, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing! And what has the left hand been doing all this time? Jerking off, that's what! And what've you got to show for it? One guy [Doctor Spectrum]! And a bunch of melted metal where the ship used to be!

Redstone [killing people]: Heads up...
Hyperion: No...No! You bastard...You bastard... You sonofabitch!

The Blur:...ohmygod...
Nighthawk: Stay focused. We're only going to have one shot at this. You're sure you can do this?
The Blur [seeing a dead woman]: Fucking A.

Doctor Spectrum [to Hyperion, who asks how Michael Redstone can even be taken into custody]: Because they built it to hold you if it ever became necessary.

Soldier [about Michael Redstone]: So, General Alexander...now what do we do with him?

Issue #15

Nighthawk: What mattered was bringing him to justice, in a court of law, where the families of the people he killed could get some fucking closure.
Hyperion: We never could have brought him in alive! The only way to bring him into a courtroom is if we dragged in his body and propped it up on the judge's desk!
Nighthawk:...You know what? I got no problem with that. No problem at all.

Nighthawk: A long time ago, my dad heard Malcolm X speak at a church in Memphis. He said that during the slave days, you had the House Negro, and the Field Negro. The House Negro lived in the master's house, ate the same food as the master, lived in a warm room, usually in the basement. If the master got a cold, he was right there to help out, all cheerful and friendly because he wanted his own life to be good and that meant making the master happy. The Field Negro ate whatever scraps the dogs didn't eat, lived out in a cold shack was beaten and kicked--And when the master got sick, he prayed every day the master would die. Didn't matter if the master was technically a nice guy or not. The master represented the system, and it was the system he hated.

Nighthawk: Our backgrounds may not line up, but as much as I like Stan, he's a house Negro. And I'm a field Negro. And that's never going to--[realizes Stanley has heard the conversation] change...
The Blur: Fuck. You.

Doctor Spectrum: No, sir. Like all good Americans, I get all my news from the Internet.

[Hyperion asks the Blur if he'd like to eat]

Hyperion: I heard somebody tell an old joke the other day. Where does a five-hundred-pound gorilla sit? Answer: anywhere he wants to.
The Blur: Am I gonna regret this?
Hyperion: Almost certainly.

[Hyperion and Blur are in a restaurant]

The Blur: Raised in a bubble? Man, I can't even imagine what's that like.
Hyperion: It took me a long time to realize that they were conditioning me to be the perfect citizen. Guess I didn't want to accept it at first, even though I kind of suspected it all along. They knew they couldn't intimidate me, knew how strong I was, so they trained me to respect the law because the law is a concept, and as such it was the only thing bigger and stronger than I was. But that concept was only as strong as my belief in it.

Tom Thumb [seen in a flashback]: Hey! What the fuck are you looking?

General Richard Alexander: The question is simply this. Why? Why do you kill, Mr. Redstone?
Michael Redstone: Because I can. Because I'm good at it. And Because--because I like it.

General Richard Alexander: Smart bombs and dumb politicians do not a happy marriage make.

Issue #16

[General Alexander is working on a pocket watch while talking to his granddaughter.]

Lucy Alexander: Is it broke? Are you fixing it?
General Richard Alexander: No. I'm taking it apart.
Lucy Alexander: Why?
General Richard Alexander: To see what's inside.

Bar keeper: Anything? Anything at all?
Hyperion: No.
Bar keeper: That's fifteen beers, nine tequila shooters and three margaritas. Not even a buzz?
Hyperion: No.
Bar keeper: Dude, now that's a heart-breaker.

Hyperion's mother [to Jason Scott]: The world has to know... he can't be trusted. Because he's not one of us. He's...He's not Human.

Issue #17

General Richard Alexander: Hello, Mark. General Richard Alexander. Mind if I join you?
Hyperion: It's a free country. At least that's what I was told growing up, but it turns out that a lot of what I was taught isn't true.

Hyperion: I've decided I'm outside the system.
General Richard Alexander: And what exactly does that mean?

Doctor Spectrum: No...the children must not fight...the children must not fight...the--What the--!? Kingsley...?

Zarda: Better. Beautiful. Better. A new beginning. A fresh start. A new...me.

Issue #18

[a letter writen by Hyperion read by General Richard Alexander ]:

My name is Mark Milton. At least, that's the name I was given when I arrived here. What my real name is, where I come from, I may never know. And everything I once thought I did know... was a lie. If we are a product of the food we ate as a child... and I was raised on a diet of lies... then what am I? Who am I? Who am I to you? And maybe more importantly who are you... to me? I once asked the man I thought was my father, the man who said he was my father, do you love me?... I love you... as much as you love me. And now that equation is closed, the lie reciprocated. Thanks to you, I have my answer. And he has his. Lies. Lies. All lies. I called this country home. I was loyal. I believed. I believed in all of it. And you have destroyed it. That is, you have destroyed it within the borders of the country I had come to love. Perhaps you did not stop to think that there are other nations, for which this would not be a problem. I was not your first mistake. I was not even you worst mistake. But it was a mistake. One that I suspect you will, in time, come to regret. Your worst mistake... has not yet been made. That is the reason behind this letter. To warn you against making it. Where I go, I will go alone, and unimpeded. Otherwise, there will be consequences. Do not come after me. Do not send your people after me. Because I have decided to stop playing the game by the rules you have set up. Your game has a name. "The doctrine of proportionate response." Now, we will play a new game. My game. My rules. I want you to understand those rules. I want you to understand that I love this country. I love this country... as much as my country... loves me. That is the first thing I want you to understand. The second thing... will be self-explanatory. You have all this because you believe you have the power to act with impunity. You, who walk in the shadows, who play with life the way a child plays with blocks. You have no idea what power is. But at 8:30 p.m. Eastern standard time, your definition of power will become a bit clearer. Here's what you are going to do. You will not come looking for me. You will leave me alone. You will repair the damage you have done to my reputation. And will reconsider everything you think you know about me. Everything. This letter, and the North Pole geologic event at 8:30pm, which I estimate will register 10.5 on the Richter scale... the largest tectonic blast in recorded history, a seismic energy yield equal to a one teraton explosion...will constitute my last communication. Do not force me to send a second one. Stop what you are doing. Stop it now. Or I will end it for you.

Squadron Supreme ongoing series

Issue #1

Arcanna [Trying to explain her powers to the Shape]: What's in the bowl in front of you?
The Shape: Macaroni and cheese, the man said
Arcanna: Ah, that's what he said, but until you open the bowl, how do you know?
The Shape: Are you saying he lied?
Arcanna: No, I--
The Shape: Because that would be mean--
Emil Burbank: Someone kill me now.

Issue #2

Doctor Spectrum: What do you see?
Hyperion[Hovering in the air looking at the ravaged Ugandan village from above]: I see...Pretty much what I've come to expect of mankind.
Doctor Spectrum: Yeah, whatever.

Inertia[asking Joe Ledger about Nuke]: Hey, Joe...How come Al isn't getting into the fight? He's gonna miss all the fun.
Doctor Spectrum: We don't want to casually irradiate the area, so he's doing what all good tactical nukes do - Hanging over our heads as a last resort.

Issue #3

The Shape [On possessed Kingsley attacking him]: Fishie lady hurt Shape.
Emil Burbank: Yes, so she did...And that certainly places her behaviour in the plus column...But I'm putting her down anyway.

Issue #6

Staff Sergeant: We sent Ms. Kingsley to our Dolphin Research Center in South Carolina. Just to see if she could communicate with us any way other than through Corporal Ledger.
(Shot of Kingsley swimming with dolphins, clearly enjoying herself) *Staff Sergeant: (voiceover) According to what I'm told - she's not taking her work too seriously.

Intelligence Agent [On Emil Burbank's claim that he knows how to defeat almost anyone in the Squadron]: How did you manage to come up with these solutions when we, with all our resources, failed?
(Burbank writes on a notepad in front of him for a few seconds, then holds it up. It now reads 'Smartest Man on the Planet' with an arrow pointed at him.)

Leo T.K. [After Nighthawk has broken his right arm]: What're you-- --huccccch-- what're you doing? I thought-- thought you were a brother.
Nighthawk: A brother. A brother to somebody who exploits his own and poisons the neighborhood with drugs. Somebody who does more harm to the black community than a hundred guys in white sheets because you make feeding on black women look like something cool. Which of us here looks like a brother to a cockroach-- [Nighthawk slams Leo's head to the floor] And which one of us looks like a man?

[After Nighthawk has set the crack house on fire]

Leo T.K.: Wait...Wait, you can't leave me!
Nighthawk: Police'll be here soon. Ambulance too. You just got to get outside to meet them.
Leo T.K.: I can't--
Nighthawk: Sure you can. You just have to do what you made them do. Crawl.

Reporter: Another question Mr. Milton. You and the rest of the Squadron seem to have no qualms about using your power to bring down other nations, even though by doing so you rip vast parts of their society and infrastructure apart. Some people seem to think it's okay since they're third-world countries. Do you think they'd feel the same way if all that damage was being done right here in the good old U.S. of A? If, say, L.A. were torn apart during a big fight?
Hyperion: That voice -- (Reporter punches Hyperion; he is revealed as the villain Michael Redstone)
Redstone: The reason I ask is, we're about to find out.
Hyperion: Redstone...
Redstone: Round two, pal. Come one, let's get this party started!

Issue #7

Redstone [After punching Hyperion]: That sensation is pain, in case it's been so long you've forgotten what it was like.
Hyperion: How did you...get loose?
Redstone: Get loose? I've must've hit you harder than I thought. I didn't get loose. They turned me loose.

Redstone [After using flash-vision to evaporate the water from a swimming pool and killing the swimmers]: Intense. Really makes you understand why animal fat makes the best candles, doesn't it?

Redstone: Now where were we?
Nighthawk: Where were we? We... were just about to kick your sorry white ass. Punk.

Supreme Power mini-series

Full Spectrum

(Joe Ledger meets the Crystal Weapon for the first time)
[Joe sees one of his old girlfirends walk up to him]

Joe Ledger: Anna? What are you doing--
Crystal Weapon: SO YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN CONTROL ME?
Joe Ledger: You're not Anna
Crystal Weapon: YOU'RE RIGHT.
Joe Ledger: Where am I?
Crystal Weapon: THE QUESTION IS, WHERE AM I?

Crystal Weapon: THEY THINK THEY UNDERSTAND POWER...CONTROL...PUNISHMENT...YOU. THEY'RE ABOUT TO DISCOVER WHAT REAL POWER IS. WE'LL SHOW THEM WHAT REAL POWER IS. REAL CONTROL, REAL PUNISHMENT...AND THE REAL YOU.

Crystal Weapon: THEN CONFESS.
Crystal Weapon: WHO ARE YOU?
Joe Ledger: My mother's son.
Crystal Weapon: WHO ARE YOU?
Joe Ledger: My stepfather's killer.
Crystal Weapon: WHO ARE YOU?
Joe Ledger: A soldier
Crystal Weapon: WHO ARE YOU?
Joe Ledger: A lover
Crystal Weapon: WHO ARE YOU?
Joe Ledger: A killer
Crystal Weapon: WHO ARE YOU?
Joe Ledger:A Killer
Crystal Weapon: WHO ARE YOU?
Joe Ledger: I'm a murderer! I kill and I enjoy it!
Crystal Weapon: THEN NOW AT LAST, WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON. NOW AT LAST..WE MAY BECOME ONE.

Crystal Weapon: COME JOE, DO YOU HEAR THE MUSIC? YOU WILL NEVER BE ALONE AGAIN. WHERE YOU ARE WEAK, I WILL BE STRONG. TOGETHER WE WILL PREPARE THE BEDROCK FOR THE NEW WORLD ON THE ASHES OF THE OLD. THE GLORY-- THE POWER-- I WILL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOUR HEART DESIRES. YOU WILL NEVER BE ALONE.

Crystal Weapon [last line]: NEVER ALONE

Supreme Power: Nighthawk

Issue One

Nighthawk: I'm not the law. Get back on the fucking ground.

White man [seeing three black men advancing on him]: Y-You can't fuckin' leave me here--!
Nighthawk: Yes. I can.

Steven Binst aka Whiteface [at trial]: Not Guilty

Deputy Mayor of Chicago: ...I think I'll pass. Late night?
Nighthawk: Long night.

Nighthawk [on his mask hiding his face]: This is my face. The only thing that I'm hiding... is the scars.

Issue Two

Woman: I Mean, what if Binst woke up and he had... changed?
Man: Into what... Something worse? C'mon... What could be worse?

Nighthawk: You and me are gonna talk. When we're doing talking, I'm gonna kill you. So the longer you talk, the longer you live. Understand?

ER Doctor: We got junkies droppin' like flies in here! Where the fuck is Arredondo?

Issue Three

Mayor of Chicago: But it's only drug addicts, Glen.
Deputy Mayor of Chicago: What... The fuck did you just say?
Mayor of Chicago: I said.. "It's only drug addicts.
Deputy Mayor of Chicago: And they don't matter? Why? Because they don't fucking vote?!
Mayor of Chicago: Yeah. Pretty Much.

[The Deputy Mayor hits him]

Deputy Mayor of Chicago: Mother-Fucker!

DEA Man: Crackheads are gonna smoke crack... Poisoned or not. They might ask a dealer if this is the "bad shit." Dealer's just gonna tell em "No...It's the good shit", and into the fuckin' pipe it goes.

Nighthawk: Michael Mahoney... and Nicolas Barone, the two sheriff's deputies that died two nights ago--
Federal Judge: They didn't "die"... You fucking murdered them, you goddamn vigilante fuck! You know they both had wives? and kids?

[After a press conference]

Mayor of Chicago: How did it sound?
Deputy Mayor of Chicago: Self-righteous... But good.

Steven Binst aka Whiteface [at six year birthday party for the Mayor's son]: Hi, kids. Is everbody ready to have a good time?

Issue Four

[Before a press conference]

Mayor of Chicago: I'm So... Fuckin' Ahsamed. I was Happy that all this "Drug Poisoning" shit was happening. I...I fuckin' Loved it. It Damn-near Guaranteed my re-election--All I had to do was...was look strong in the f-face of..of...of tragedy...

[At the press conference]

Mayor of Chicago: Nighthawk. Kill Him. Please...Please kill him. I'm...I can't (Shoot himself in the head)

Supreme Power: Hyperion

Issue One

"I am alone" Frankenstein--Mary Shelley

General Richard Alexander [to Emil Burbank]: This is the first time we've had someone come to us saying that his power is that he's really, really smart.

General Richard Alexander: Dr.Burbank...We've established that you are a genius...Are you also invulnerable?
Emil Burbank: No, but what does that--
General Richard Alexander: As of five minutes ago, I am your commanding officer, and if you ever put a hand on me again, I will have you drilled in places you didn't even know you had. Is that clear?
Emil Burbank: Yes, Sir.

General Richard Alexander [after meeting the Shape]: The perfect soldier. Loyal. Trusting. Impervious. Strong. Used to be a janitor...can you believe it?

The Shape: You're a doctor?
Emil Burbank: Yes.
Shape: Are you gonna try to stick Shape with pins, like the other doctors?
Emil Burbank: Perhaps later.

Arcanna [on her powers]: It all starts with what physicists like to call the ultimate observer, one who can see all the quantum possibilities and choose which will become a physical reality.
General Richard Alexander: It sounds like magic.

Arcanna[to General Richard Alexander]: Have you ever heard of the Big Bang, General? In one quantum possibility...That's me.

General Richard Alexander [seeing Nuke]: How hot is he, Doc?
Doctor: It's literally off every scale we have, General. By all rights he should have reached critical mass a long time ago.

Issue Two

Hyperion: I told General Richard Alexander not to send anyone after me.
Emil Burbank: Yes, you did
Hyperion: But here you are.
Emil Burbank: Yes, we are.
Hyperion: So a ten-point-on-the-richter-scale tectonic event wasn't enough to convince him.
Emil Burbank: Apparently not. It's the military mindset, you know. Once they make a decision, that's it. Take that mountain. Take that fort. Take… well, anything they can, really.

Emil Burbank: How thoughtless... I've forgotten to introduce the members of my support team.
Arcanna: Support team...?!

Emil Burbank: So I'll cut right to the point, Mr. Milton. We were sent here to bring you back to the states in one of three possible forms. Dead. Alive. Or something in-between.

Emil Burbank [seeing the Shape fight Hyperion]: I understand it all has something or other to do with inertia...an object at rest and all that. One of those force-of-nature things, and you can't beat Mother Nature, you know.
Arcanna: You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?
Emil Burbank: We take our pleasures where we can, my dear.

Arcanna: So why am I Arcanna while he is Mr. Gaines? A bit sexist, isn't it?
Emil Burbank: It's not a lack of respect for you skills, my dear. But you haven't seen what Mr. Gaines is capable of and why his appellation of 'Nuke' is far from arbitary.

Emil Burbank[seeing Nuke fight Hyperion]: You know what's interesting about nuclear blasts, Arcanna? It isn't just the radiation, or the initial blast. It's the shockwaves. First, a precursor wave goes out in a perfect sphere of tremendous power, thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch. When its hits the ground, or Nuke's control field, the shock wave bounces back and multiplies the sheer force of the blast hundreds of times. Thus contained, the shockwave continues to bounce back and forth to unimaginable levels. It must be the next best thing to being caught in the heart of a star at the moment of its birth. And that, my dear, is why you are Arcanna...And he is Mr.Gaines. No offense intended.

Emil Burbank: What.. What was that?
Arcanna: I not sure. But I think all that energy, launched at the moment of quantum intersection, caused a--
The Shape: Boo-Boo?
Arcanna: Something like that.

Arcanna [seeing hovering above the city a group of superhumans including Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum, Zarda, Amphibian, Tom Thumb and several others never seen]: Oh...My... Emil, you better get that fifty story brain of yours over here--Because I think we're going to need it.

Emil Burbank seeing wounded Nighthawk: Well, Well..I'd say this was just a little bit unexpected, wouldn't you...?

Issue Three

Nighthawk: After a few years, more heroes showed up, like Blue Eagle, Lady Lark and Black Archer. They fought for the government, for big business... Morons.

Emil Burbank [examining Nighthawk]: Hmmm... African-American male between the ages of twenty and forty... impressive physique... surly expression... No, nothing notable about -

[Nighthawk breaks Burbank's finger]

External links

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Supreme Power