Comic Book Merged Humans

Comic Book Merged Humans
https://foxhugh.com/2016/01/03/comic-book-merged-humans/
While working on my list of superpowers, one of the more interesting superpowers I added, that was
not on my previous list of 150 superpowers, was the ability to merge human beings into a single
being (power 99). Writing about this superpower brought back a lot of memories. I first read
Childhoods End when I was a teenager and the book kind of scared the crap out of me because there
was something deeply true about the novel. In Childhoods End the Overlords look like demons. Our
fear of demons is a premonition of a fate in which humans become a single organism. Childhoods
End is a novelistic version of the Omega Point put forth by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The recent TV
series version of Childhoods End also got me thinking about the subject of MERGED
HUMANS! This article will explore (1) how humans have been merged, (2) why humans have been
merged and different (3) types of merging in comic books.
1.0) How would you create merged humans?
1.1) Cybernetic
One way of merging human is via a combination of biological and technological means. This merging
can be done for various ends. Transhumanism, or H+ for short, suggests we use emerging
technologies such as genetic engineering and/or intelligence augmentation (IA) and artificial
technology in tandem in order to enhance human potential. There are different flavors of
transhumanism including: Abolitionism, Democratic transhumanism, Extropianism, Immortalism,
Libertarian transhumanism, Postgenderism, Singularitarianism, and Technogaianism.
The flavor missing from the list is the flavor you see in any number of science fiction movies in which
emerging technologies are used to enhance humans to serve the interests of the state which are
generally military. Captain America is enhanced to fight Nazis as super soldier. In the future, the very
same Marvel Comics super solider program is used to create Nuke (Marvel), a cyborg. I actually find
the comic book version of a post human future more realistic than the H+ version. Enhanced
humans will require deep pockets which only the state has and not the politically correct. The Kree
Empire decides to use cyborg technology to create the Supreme Intelligence! The most famous
cyborg collective intelligence is of course the Borg (Star Trek). The Borg have the amazing ability to
assimilate both technological and biological uniqueness and then add them to the collective.
1.2) Superorganisms
A superorganism is an organism that consists of other organisms. In the case of superorganisms,

humans are merged via biological means rather than cybernetic means. In one scenario, aliens may
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arrive and have the ability to merge humans via biological means and humans lose their identity as
individual i.e. they become the fictional version of eusocial. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the
seminal movie of this type. The comic book version of an alien that takes over humans is Starro (DC)
and Starro uses little star fish that attach themselves to the head of humans including even
Superman to take them over an make them part of a collective intelligence.
Marvel decided to make a montage of the The Stepford Wives and The Midwich Cuckoos and created
the Stepford Cuckoos (Marvel) who are quintuplets with a telepathic hive mind. Marvel also created
the Uni-Mind (Marvel). The Eternals are a race that has all the powers of Superman, more or less,
and can merge into a single Uni-Mind due to their Eternal physiology rather than via technological
means. There is a loss of individual identity but only temporarily. The Overmind (Marvel) is an alien
belonging to the Eternals of Eyung and the receptacle for entire population of several hundred
million minds. The individual minds have been totally erased. The High Evolutionary use some sort
of compound to accelerate human evolution and creates the Entity (Marvel) in What If -The
Avengers Lost the Evolutionary War V2 #1 but individuality is retained while powers are
amalgamated.
The comic book writer, Alan Moore has the Swamp Thing accidently become a collective intelligence
in Swamp Thing V2 #61 (1987). The Swamp Thing creates a plant based superorganism. Alan Moore
always uses a unique POV to make an old topic interesting. The problem of unmerging the collective
is seen from the POV of those merged first and the Green Lantern who wants to save the merged
innocents and tries different solutions. Compare this POV driven approach to storytelling to how the
Uni-Mind, Ubersaurus and Mangog are summarily unmerged.
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In Memetic (Boom), aliens use a meme of sloth with a hypnotic spiral in the background in order to
create merged humans
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Brit (Image) fights a one-shot unnamed merged human supervillain in Brit V1 #1.
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1.3) Technological Singularity
In the technological singularity scenario, computers create even better computers and those better
computers create even better computers and on and on until computers quickly reach a level of
artificial intelligence (AI) that soon totally surpasses human intelligence. This article is about
merging humans not AI so lets assume computers dont like waste and merge humans into the
machine. In real life, I think super computers would either ignore us or eliminate us but
conquering us or more salaciously conquering our women seems to sell more books and tickets!
In the comic book version of the technological singularity the computers mostly conquer humans or
try to eliminate us but we put up a really good fight. Brainiac (DC) is the number one comic book
robot that goes this route. Brainiac shrinks cities so he can study them the way a youngster studies
an ant farm. The concept is totally insane but a lot of fun and allows for a slew of Kandor related
stories since this is the city Brainiac saved from the destruction of Krypton. If there is no Kandor
then there is no Superman Emergency Squad! Finally, if there is no Superman Emergency Squad
then you cant have a fight between them and Supergirl in Action 276.
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Ultron (Marvel) used to want to eliminate humans but lately he has started to merge humans.
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A similar plot twist happened in the Terminator franchise. In Terminator Genisys, Skynet turns
John Connor, the leader of the human resistance, into a Terminator! I suppose both 1.1 and 1.3 are
examples of cyborg technology from a technological point of view but I would say if you as a human
are mostly computer and more importantly it was done to you by a computer than its still an
expression of technological singularity and a very important difference in terms of novelistic conflict.
1.4) Unknown Means
In the case of the Omega Point, the role of biological and technological merging of humans is not
specified and/or irrelevant. Merged humans provide theological answers so the ends not the means
are more relevant. In Childhood's End one assumes scientific means are used but as in the case of the
Omega Point, the details of how this merging happens is not specified. Odin creates Mangog
(Marvel) using magic but magic isnt much of an explanation. Mostly I just dont want to make a
whole category just for Mangog!
2.0) Why would you create merged humans?
2.1) Evolutionary Imperative
Merging human is just the right thing to do! Come on humans as individuals suck! You know it! I
know it! We are going to destroy ourselves in the next twenty minutes anyway so we might as well
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merge and go up the evolutionary ladder. Do you think microbes liked being part of a larger
multicellular body? Of course not! Its the next stage and we will be happier for going up the ladder.
The Borg know assimilation is just the right thing to do! Teilhard de Chardin doesnt suggest there is
a choice but God is behind the plan so it must be the right thing to do.
2.2) Governance
Two brains are better than one and two thousand brains are probably better than two. The Kree
Empire use technology to create the Supreme Intelligence which is an amalgam of the best and
brightest minds of Kree history. The Supreme Intelligence is created to create a cosmic cube but
refuses but is kept around anyway for governance. The Eternals merge into a Uni-Mind temporarily
to make big decisions.
2.3) Military
Merged humans might have military applications. Maybe the Borg didnt create a hive mind mostly
for military purposes but they do tend to kick Starfleet around without much trouble. Even the Q
(Star Trek) dont mess with the Borg. The Overmind (Marvel) and the Ubersaur (Astro City) were
created specifically for combat!
2.4) Punishment
Hell is other People, according to Sartre. Odin is obviously a big fan of Sartre and decided the best
way to punish a people was to merge them into a single entity called Mangog. Mangog in turn almost
destroys his kingdom. Odins merging makes no sense whatsoever but this is often the case with the
Marvel version of Odin! However, the idea of a criminal feeling the pain of their victim does make
some sense. In The Crow, protagonist Eric Draven makes villain Top Dollar feel 30 hours of his
(Eric's) murdered girlfriend Shelly's pain in one moment.
3.0) Type of Merging
There are at least three possibilities when it comes to merging (3.1) Mind only, (3.2) Body mostly
(lack of super intelligence) and (3.3) Mind and Body. The type of merging is sadly neglected in one of
the most popular fan boy fights: What would happen if the Uni-Mind fought the Supreme
Intelligence. The Uni-Mind can fly and seems to be an amalgam of the Eternals physically not just
mentally (3.3). The Uni-Mind, unlike the Supreme Intelligence, is more like a thousand Supermans
in one big body. Actually the Uni-Mind hasnt really shown any super intelligence feats but has vast
psionic powers and is used for governance sporadically so one assumes there is some sort of super
intelligence at work.
The Supreme Intelligence is probably more intelligent because more minds make up the Supreme
Intelligence than the Uni-Mind. However, physically the Supreme Intelligence physically is a
collection of computers and brains and can only control three androids to fight (3.1). However, the
Supreme Intelligence does have vast psionic powers. The Supreme Intelligence is one of the great
manipulators of the Marvel Universe and ruthlessly created the Nega-Bomb to force the evolution of
the Kree race while not letting the Kree know about its genocidal plan directed at the Kree
themselves for a larger end! The Supreme Intelligence can access all the information of the Kree
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Empire, process that information and come up with extremely complex plans that have been
successful in the past.
Minus prep, the Uni-Mind wins in a conflict with the Supreme Intelligence. The Uni-Mind is
powerful enough to just fly through Kree space and blast the Supreme Intelligence to death. The
Supreme Intelligence has some psionic powers but not to the same extent as the Uni-Mind. Without
prep then the conflict is more or less Superman versus a computer installation!
If there is prep then the Supreme Intelligence has the vast resources of the interstellar Kree Empire
and superior intelligence to use those resources. This would be Superman versus a computer
installation which is guarded by an insane level of military resources and they know you are coming
and of course they can come after you first! The Kree Empire did create the Inhumans as their
answer to the Celestial created Eternals and if they can create a super race then surely they can create
weapons to take out a super race.
The Supreme Intelligence can send out an armada that conquers worlds, Sentries, giant robots with
vast destructive potential, and specialized weaponry designed to take out Eternals merged or not.
The Supreme Intelligence is the brain of the Kree Empire. The Uni-Mind is more agile as a body and
brain in one package but the Supreme Intelligence has a body which is the Kree Empire at its
disposal with prep. Also, the Supreme Intelligence is more redundant. The Supreme Intelligence is a
vast network and the pieces can be replaced with more brains and more computers. The Supreme
Intelligence is more of a distributed network. The Uni-Mind is a single entity flying in the sky. A
really powerful entity but one target when its all said and done. The Uni-Mind was been taken out by
a single blast from a Celestial in the past!
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The Overmind (Marvel) received vast psionic powers due to his merging but not the physical powers
of the millions that he is the merged version of or super intelligence.
What if there is a physical merging but not a merging of minds (3.2)? You merge beings to get super
strength. There are major disadvantages to having an amalgam body lacking super intelligence or
psionic powers. Mangog is a savage creature of unbelievable strength and is much stronger than
Thor. However, Mangog is easily taken apart by Odin. Super intelligence could have given Magog the
ability to create a defense against Odin.
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Ubersaurus (Astro City), in a manner similar to the Eternals, uses the inherent super powers of their
alien physiology to create a collective being that has a collective body but the Ubersaurus doesnt
appear to be all that smart and is easily defeated by some sort of ray that a super intelligent being
would have anticipated (3.2). If the Ubersaurus had psionic powers then it might have erected some
sort of psionic force field to stop the ray.
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The Swamp Thing becomes a physically impressive specimen but the merging leaves him in a state of
shock. A merged creature minus super intelligence or psionic defenses is easily unmerged with the
right technology and this seems to be the main weakness of this type of merging.
I am going to argue that the Borg are an example of 3.3 but the Borg have their little version of 3.3
which makes them very interesting. Do the Borg as a hive mind have super intelligence? The Borg
can store and process huge amounts of information as a hive mind that consists of countless
assimilated species. The Queen of the Borg serves some sort of information processing nexus
function that is not totally explained in the Star Trek universe. The Borg can adapt to all sorts of
technology almost instantly and if this isnt super intelligence certainly this ability mimics super
intelligence.
However, stratagems by Starfleet do seem to work against the Borg and Borg intelligence seems to
have blind spot when it comes to individuals. The Borg do not so much assimilate individuals as
civilizations so individuals are ignored and an individual might be able to slip past Borg defenses and
do damage to the Borg that is disproportionate to the apparent potential of the individual. A Borg,
Hugh is infected with a computer virus and the Enterprise crew is pretty sure their stratagem will
work if Hugh is assimilated again. The human equivalent would be blankets with Small Pox given to
Native Americans and a being with super intelligence would see through such a trick easily. The Borg
have assimilated humans so this particular historical example would be in their data base. The Borg
are like an idiot savant in some ways. Their knowledge is deep and detailed but their thought
sometimes lacks common sense. The Borg are more robotic and slow moving and slow thinking than
human and agile of mind and body.
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The Borg can create a custom nexus similar to the Borg Queen that deals with particular problems.
The Borg created a nexus called Locutus out of Captain Picard in order to take out the Federation.
This custom made nexus seems to give the Borg the advantages of both a hive mind and a quicker
more agile individual mind in one package. I see Locutus as being a custom made chip designed for a
particular problem. The Borg as a collective are a cybernetic system that is smart enough to create a
cybernetic expert system when needed and by assimilating Captain Picard avoid the knowledge
acquisition problem.
Do the Borg have some sort of ability to merge their humanoid bodies? The Borg as a cube ship seem
to have some sort of ability to draw on the physical reserves of all the individual Borg in the cube ship
for regeneration from attacks that would destroy any Starfleet ship (3.3). Individual Borg outside of
the cube ship do not have this ability.
I would say the Entity is an example of 3.3 taken to a higher level than any other being in comic book
history. The Entity can destroy both Eternity and Death physically because its an amalgam of most
of the Marvel Universe superheroes who have also been evolved. Even the merged humans, not super
humans, can disintegrate a Celestial with just a thought!
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In conclusion the topic of merged humans in comic books appears to be simple but actually has a lot
of components that make the topic more interesting.

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Comic Book Merged Humans

1.0) How would you create merged humans?

A superorganism is an organism that consists of other organisms. In the case of superorganisms,

1.3) Technological Singularity

1.4) Unknown Means

2.0) Why would you create merged humans?

2.1) Evolutionary Imperative

3.0) Type of Merging

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