Forever People - Fictional History

Fictional History

The heroes are a group of young New Gods from New Genesis who were on a mission to oppose Darkseid on Earth, and talked, dressed, and acted much like the flower children of the 1960s. In addition to the individual abilities and equipment of the members, the group can join together using the technology of a Mother Box to summon the powerful hero known as the Infinity-Man. The group travelled by use of their Super-Cycle.

They first appeared in their own title, The Forever People, in 1971, which lasted eleven issues. They mainly fought Darkseid's forces such as Glorious Godfrey in issue #3. They helped the hero Deadman track down his killers when a mystical coincidence brings him into their lives.

The series ended on a cliffhanger. In the last issue, they summoned Infinity-Man, swapping places with him on a distant planet named Adon. Infinity-Man was apparently destroyed in combat with Devilance the Pursuer, leaving the Forever People stranded on Adon.

In 1988, a six issue Forever People limited series by writer J. M. DeMatteis and artist Paris Cullins was published, showing what had happened to the Forever People on Adon. During this series, all the things that happened to them on the planet were reversed, and they were restored to our part of the universe. This series revealed that the Forever People were Earth born humans - infants doomed to die, but brought to New Genesis instead, and gathered to protect the human race. They returned to Earth to oppose 'the Darkness', a sentient but disembodied force of hopelessness. They were aided by a mysterious being named Maya, who was ultimately revealed to be the consciousness of their Mother Box.

During the events of Death of the New Gods, one of the mini-series that attempted to lead into Final Crisis, the human origin of the Forever People was retconned, and it was hinted that the five were to have been the first of the next evolution of the New Gods - godlings becoming more than the sum of their parts. In the Death of the New Gods, Superman and Mister Miracle discover that the Forever People were murdered several months prior to the discovery of their bodies, and it is later revealed that an impostor posing as Himon has been murdering the New Gods as an agent for the Source; but ultimately, the murderer turns out to be none other than the Infinity Man himself.

In the Final Crisis Sketchbook, the Forever People, along with other members of the New Gods are shown to be given updated looks, which Grant Morrison calls "more gothic art school student than flower power". In the event itself, Japan's pop culture team, the Super Young Team are revealed to be the Fifth World incarnation of the Forever People.