Wave 1 - Orion
Orion was created by famous artist-writer Jack Kirby in the early 1970s as a member of Kirby’s “New Gods”. The New Gods are a race of beings who inhabit the planets of New Genesis and Apokolips and call themselves ‘Gods’ because they exist outside of normal space and time in something known as ‘the fourth world’.
Orion is the son of Darkseid, the tyrannical ruler of the fiery, dystopian Apokolips. He was traded to the forested, utopian New Genesis as part of a child-swapping pact that would bring peace to the two warring planets. Being the son of the evil and powerful Darkseid, but raised by the wise benevolent High Father of New Genesis, Orion learned to control his power and anger in a fashion that made him the most powerful warrior either world had ever known.
Once matured, Orion confronted and defeated his father and took control of Apokolips. While control of the planet was ultimately wrested back by Apokolips, the victory set Orion on the path of an ‘intergalactic peacekeeper’. His travels across the galaxy took him to Earth, where he became a member of the Justice League and fought alongside the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman. But Orion’s true home will always be New Genesis, where he eventually returned.
As a New God, Orion possesses the primary abilities of superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and durability at the level of heroes like Superman or Captain Marvel. He also has the unique ability of not being able to be detained by any man-made barrier. Essentially, no force can contain him. Orion also makes use of the ‘Astro-Harness’ – an alien artifact of unknown origin. The Atro-Harness allows Orion to wield the ‘Astro-force’, a powerful energy drawn from an otherworldly source. In Orion’s hands, the Astro-Harness is an artifact capable of planet-destroying power.
The 4 Horsemen have expressed how much they like Kirby’s New Gods and how they intend to work as many of those characters into the DCUC line as possible. Orion’s inclusion in the very first Wave seems to support that claim. This is another great figure. He uses the same body as Red Tornado and Batman, but his trim and paint detail makes it tough to notice. The head-sculpt is spot-on. (Man, I’m getting tired of saying that… Why are the 4H so good at capturing comic likenesses?!) But where Orion sets himself apart is in his accessory – his astro-harness. The harness is molded in soft rubber so it’s plenty flexible and it follows his articulation nicely so as not to restrict his range of motion while he’s wearing it. He looks really good facing off against Darkseid up on my shelf. I can’t wait for Mattel and the 4H to tackle Mr. Miracle, Kalibak, High Father, Big Barda and all the other New Gods characters!
