Universo

Superherobox


caption = Universo, on the cover of "Adventure Comics" #349. Art by Curt Swan.
character_name = Universo
publisher = DC Comics
debut = "Adventure Comics" #349 (Oct. 1966)
creators = Jim Shooter (script)
Curt Swan (art)
alter_ego = (Original) Vidar
(Post-Zero Hour) Sarmon Ardeen
full_name =
species =
homeworld = (Original) Earth
(Post-Zero Hour) Titan
alliances = (Original) Green Lantern Corps Dark Circle
partners = (Original)Jacques Foccart
(Post-Zero Hour) Brother Blood
aliases = (Original) Argus Oranx III, President Kandro Boltax
(Post-Zero Hour) None
supports=
powers = Mind control through hypnosis

Universo is the name of two fictional Legion of Super-Heroes supervillains in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Comics universe.

Pre-Zero Hour

The original Universo first appeared in "Adventure Comics" #349 (Oct 1966) as a powerful hypnotist. With his "Hypno Stone", he is able to control the head of the Time Institute, and lure the Legionnaires into a series of traps. The Legion defeats him with the help of a Time Cube invented by Rond Vidar, who is subsequently revealed to be Universo's son.

Universo returns in "Adventure Comics" #359 (August 1967), where he manages to take control of Earth by posing as the new president, using his powers of hypnosis, augmented by a chemical placed in the world's water supply. He accomplishes this while most of the Legion is away from Earth on a mission, and they return to find the Legion outlawed. The Legion find refuge in one of Lex Luthor's abandoned hideouts and eventually, with the help of Rond Vidar, are able to thwart his plans.

A later tale from the Legion archives depicted in "Legion of Super-Heroes" Vol. 2, #295 (Jan. 1983) revealed that Universo was a former member of the Green Lantern Corps who was assigned to journey to the Time Institute on Earth, and prevent the Legion from viewing the Dawn of Time (an act which had catastrophic consequences when perpetuated eons earlier by the Maltusian scientist Krona). When he attempted to view the Dawn of Time himself, he was stripped of his ring by the Guardians of the Universe (making him and Sinestro the only two renegade Green Lanterns in pre-"Crisis" continuity). Rond Vidar would later acquire his power ring.

Much later, Universo manages to take control of Earth again, this time posing as the President's right-hand man. Universo is able to mentally control the entire Legion except the four members most difficult to hypnotize: Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy and Dream Girl. These events are depicted in a four-issue arc termed "The Universo Project".

"Five Years Later"

Years later, the Dominators seize control of Earth during its economic collapse, and Universo ends up as one of the primary leaders of the resistance movement. He is branded a terrorist by the Dominion-backed Earthgov, who accuse him of working with the Khunds. He was in fact working with the Dark Circle, though it is clear he is not working for them and has his own agenda. Jacques Foccart, Troy Stewart, and the former members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes work alongside him in resisting the Dominion control of Earth. After Earth is liberated, he uses his new status to work further schemes with Leland McCauley.

Post-Zero Hour

Following the rebooting of Legion history in Zero Hour, Universo was reinvented as Sarmon Ardeen, Saturn Girl's cousin. He first appears in the Legion/Titans crossover "Universe Ablaze" (March 2000), set in an alternate timeline in which the Titans are in suspended animation until the 31st century. He joins forces with a recreated Cult of Blood to take control of the Titans. When this timeline is negated, the real timeline has him imprisoned on his home moon, Titan.

After the return of the "Legion Lost" from the Second Galaxy, Universo makes an attempt to control Saturn Girl, and the Titanet telepathic communication network. This fails, and Saturn Girl leaves his mind in the same fantasy scenario he had created for her.

Final Crisis

Universo was among the supervillains in Superman-Prime's Legion of Super-Villains.

Powers

Universo's primary power is that of hypnosis, allowing him to control people, in a manner that lasts long after he leaves them. He is able to shift loyalties, erase memories, and even have people under his control think independently (to a degree) to accomplish the goals he sets them to. He sometimes wears a necklace which seems to enhance the power of his hypnosis. Using his mental abilities he can also appear to be someone else, so that everyone viewing him sees and remembers him as a completely different person.

At one point he may have possessed a Green Lantern power ring, but it was stripped from him. As such he had a particular grudge against Oa, the planet of the Guardians of the Universe, and he had planned in the Universo Project to use the legion to attack Oa.

Post Zero-Hour, his powers were of a more conventional telepathic nature, though he was considered the most powerful telepath in the history of Titan. During the Universe Ablaze, he attempted to greatly augment his mental powers through technological means.

References

* [http://www.glcorps.org/vidar.html Universo/Vidar at the Book of Oa website]