Irredeemable is an American comic book series written by Mark Waid, drawn by Peter Krause and Diego Barreto, and published by Boom! Studios. The series follows the fall of the world's greatest superhero, the Plutonian, as he begins slaughtering the population of Earth. His former allies, the superhero group The Paradigm, attempt to find a way to stop his rampage while dealing with their own feelings of betrayal and hopelessness. Irredeemable #1 premiered in April 2009, and the series ended in May 2012, after thirty-seven issues and one special. Peter Krause was the artist for the first twenty-four issues, after which Diego Barretto took over as artist. A spin-off, Incorruptible, was released in December 2009, which follows one of the Plutonian's greatest enemies, Max Damage, on his journey to become a superhero in the wake of Plutonian's fall. Waid brought both series to a conclusion in May 2012.
Publication history Initial pre-publication publicity utilized the tagline "Mark Waid is Evil! Mark Waid is Irredeemable!", which culminated with the release of a limited edition "Mark Waid is Evil" tee-shirt at the 2009 New York Comic Con. On February 23, 2009, Boom! Studios released a trailer, by Craig Kennedy at CK Creative, for the series on YouTube and posted the first 7 pages of the first issue on the company website.
The first issue, which included an afterword by Grant Morrison, featured a cover by John Cassaday, a 1-in-4 variant cover by Barry Kitson, and a 1-in-50 incentive cover signed by Mark Waid with artwork by Jeffrey Spokes. The incentive variants by Spokes for the first 12 issues of the series spelled out "Irredeemable", with one letter being featured on each cover. A silver holofoil edition, limited to 500 copies with a cover stating "Mark Waid is Evil", was released at the 2009 Emerald City Convention. The first issue sold out of Diamond Comics Distribution on the day of release, which caused the publisher to immediately solicit a second printing of the comic. The second printing's cover is a sketch version of Kitson variant and a 1-in-20 incentive reprinting of the Spokes cover, not signed by Waid.
In April 2011, Krause announced that he would be leaving the series to focus on opportunities outside of comics. Krause claimed that he made the decision in February 2011 after finding himself facing stress and deadlines from multiple commitments. These commitments resulted in art duties for multiple issues of the series being shared between Krause, who drew pages involving the Plutonian, and Diego Barreto, who drew pages relating to the Paradigm. Starting with Irredeemable #29 in September 2011, Krause officially left the series, being replaced by Diego and his father Eduardo Barreto.
On February 3, 2012, Waid announced that he was bringing both Irredeemable and Incorruptible to an end with issues #37 and #30 respectively in May 2012. Waid stated that he was "stretched thin right now both personally and professionally", and that the cast of Irredeemable were moving naturally towards the series ending he had planned, and so Waid desired to "go out big and grand". Waid did not rule out revisiting the Irredeemable series in the future to explore some of the characters but intimated that this would not be possible for some of them, following the series' end.
Creation and development
Irredeemable is author Mark Waid's third and "most complex" story concerning the "cost of superheroics" or the "path of villainy". Kingdom Come concerned the "ethical price of heroism" and Empire premised the ultimate failure of superheroes, but Irredeemable is "about how the lessons we learn about right and wrong as children can become warped and twisted when challenged by the realities of the adult world." Waid realized that the concept was one he could never properly explore at either DC or Marvel Comics, a "Twilight of the Superheroes"-style story revolving around the premise of "how does a man go from being the world’s greatest superhero to its greatest supervillain?"
Waid's premise stems from the rejection of the idea that, in "superhero comics, pretty much everyone who’s called upon to put on a cape is, at heart, emotionally equipped for the job." He expounds of this by stating that:
The beauty of Superman is that he can deal with that level of adulation without it going to his head, without it warping him, but he's a very special individual. We presume, whenever we write superheroes and we come up with superhero origins, that anybody who gets the powers of a superhero — even if they are like Spider-Man and they've got things they've got to work out that issue and responsibility and power and responsibility — we assume that they eventually have the emotional makeup it takes to overcome these things. Well, what if you gave that level of power to someone who, at heart, didn't have that emotional capability?
Waid further notes that, "by the classic superhero rules," a hero can't concern themselves with what people think of them, but that if "you are so far removed as to not care what people think of you, it takes one less step to not care what people think."
During the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Waid stated that he had developed ideas for ending the story but had no end issue planned while sales of the book continued. During the same event, he added that he did not have any intention of rehabilitating the Plutonian character or redeeming him for his actions, saying "There's no hope for Plutonian...but that said, I never actually said the title Irredeemable refers to Plutonian."
Plot summary
Volume 1 (#1–4) The Plutonian, a powerful being once thought to be the world's greatest superhero, has now become its greatest supervillain. He has destroyed Sky City—the metropolis he once protected—and murdered millions of people across the globe. The series starts with the Plutonian killing his former ally, the Hornet, and his entire family. The remaining superheroes, the Paradigm—Bette Noir, Scylla, Charybdis (Cary), Volt, Qubit, Gilgamos, and Kaidan—search for the reason behind Plutonian's change by speaking to his former sidekick Samsara, whom Plutonian lobotomized with his heat vision.
Former enemies of Plutonian attempt to work with him, but they immediately betray him when he offers a way to earn his trust, resulting in a self-destruct of the facility in which they are meeting. The resulting explosion kills Scylla and injures Cary, superhero brothers who are observing the villains.
The United Nations offer Plutonian their subservience, hoping to avoid his wrath. The Plutonian takes offense when, after speaking to the Singaporean representative, he realizes that the decision is made out of fear. In response, Plutonian sinks Singapore into the ocean. Meanwhile, Qubit searches for Modeus, the Plutonian's nemesis, using multiple robots designed to look and think like the villain.
Volume 2 (#5–8) Qubit and the other heroes discover Modeus' location within Plutonian's citadel. Plutonian is alerted to the heroes' hidden location and attacks them. Cary waits to confront Plutonian while the others teleport into his lair. Cary reveals that he is aware that Plutonian, when he was still a hero, used alien technology recovered from an invasion to buy the silence of a scientist who was a vociferous Plutonian critic due to the latter's tight control of said technology. Plutonian thought the technology was safe and believed the scientist to be sincere in his criticism, but subsequent tampering released a virus that resulted in the deaths of many children. Plutonian tried to conceal his involvement in the event, but when Samsara learned the truth, Plutonian snapped, enraged that no matter what he attempts to do, people are terrified of him.
Plutonian attempts to kill Cary, but Cary reveals that his brother's death has made him significantly more powerful. The rest of the Paradigm returns, having failed to locate Modeus, but they have recovered Plutonian's captive Encanta. The group witness Cary beat Plutonian into submission. Plutonian flees and hides in Samsara's grave.
Volume 3 (#9–12) Qubit teleports to his base with Encanta, believing she may know how to find Modeus. Encanta details how Modeus had her cast a spell that would put him in the "safest place on Earth". Samsara's restorative powers revive him in his grave to Plutonian's gratitude, but it is revealed that Modeus secretly possesses Samsara's body. Meanwhile, in response to Cary's new power, the US military summons the demon Orian to destroy the heroes entirely. Orian kidnaps Bette to use as bait and learns of her secret past by threatening her husband Gil's life. Bette reveals that she had an affair with Plutonian before his fall, using a magical candle that renders Plutonian mortal to allow them to have sex. Bette stole a piece of the candle wax, but she did not tell the other Paradigm members about it, fearing that her affair would be exposed. The Paradigm confront Orian, but even Cary is unable to compete with his power. The military captures the team, except for a fleeing Bette, and Cary, who is dragged away by Orian into his own dimension.
Volume 4 (#13–15) Encanta is teleported from Qubit's lab by a rogue Modeus robot that is revealed to be in possession of Scylla, who is still alive. Cary and Orian return to Earth, agreeing to work together to kill Plutonian. Bette liberates Qubit, Kaidan, and Volt from prison, but she finds that Gil has already escaped. The group teleport to Bette's home to retrieve the wax fragment that she has crafted into a bullet, but Gil has already taken it. Cary, Orian, Gil, and Bette confront Plutonian. While they fight, Modeus/Samsara pushes Volt over a cliff to his death. Bette shoots at Plutonian with the wax bullet, but Qubit uses his portals to redirect the bullet and kill Orian, having correctly surmised that Orian intended to invade Earth after Plutonian's death. Plutonian and Samsara retreat, and the Paradigm shun Qubit for wasting the opportunity to stop Plutonian. It is revealed that Qubit retrieved the wax bullet after it killed Orian.
Volume 5 (#16–19) At Volt's funeral, Kaidan discovers she can summon the spirits of her fallen comrades. For their alliance with Orian, Cary destroys the controls for the US nuclear arsenal, making them dependent on the Paradigm's power. Elsewhere, Modeus/Samsara offers Plutonian a chance to undo his actions. Kaidan realizes that Scylla is alive when she fails to summon his spirit. Modeus/Samsara and Plutonian travel to Sky City with a magical gem. Plutonian laments that only Modeus could figure out how to use the gem to restore Sky City, and he reminisces about the time he realized that Modeus was in love with him. Plutonian reveals that he is aware of Modeus' possession of Samsara and burns off Samsara's face. Qubit shows Kaidan and Cary a recording made by Hornet prior to his death, detailing a deal he made with the aliens the Vespan when they invaded Earth; the locations of habitable alien worlds in exchange for them leaving Earth alone, but returning to subdue the Plutonian if he ever turned evil. Hornet activated the signal to the Vespan before he was killed. The Vespan arrive and subdue Plutonian with advanced technology. The rogue Modeus robot and Encanta find the injured Modeus/Samsara and transfer Modeus into the robot's body. Plutonian is taken off world, kept passive in an artificial reality where he is still a hero.
Volume 6 (#20–23)