" Bloodlines " is a 1993 comic book story arc published by DC Comics . It was an intracompany crossover that ran through DC's superhero annuals and concluded with a two-issue Bloodbath miniseries written by Dan Raspler . The antagonists were a race of monstrous dragon-like aliens who killed humans for their spinal fluid. A small fraction of the parasite's victims survived and become super-heroes via their ordeal. This plot device introduced a wave of "New Blood" superheroes into the DC Universe. Seven DC Comics series were spun out of the event: Blood Pack , Razorsharp and the Psyba-Rats , Hitman , Anima , Loose Cannon , Argus and Gunfire .
51-464: The villains of the crossover were the formerly imprisoned survivors of a race of alien parasites named Angon, Gemir, Glonth, Lissik, Pritor, Venev, and Slodd that could shapeshift into humanoid form. These humanoid forms were based on the initial entities they first encountered, a squadron of L.E.G.I.O.N. soldiers, most of whom perished. The bite of the Bloodlines Parasites was administered to
102-416: A humanoid of dinosaur origin. Over geologic time, Russell noted that there had been a steady increase in the encephalization quotient or EQ (the relative brain weight when compared to other species with the same body weight) among the dinosaurs. Russell had discovered the first Troodontid skull, and noted that, while its EQ was low compared to humans, it was six times higher than that of other dinosaurs. If
153-405: A generally humanoid shape is likely, though octopus- or starfish-like bodies are also possible. An opposing view is given by Mike Wall, who argues that intelligent extraterrestrials able to contact Humans would most likely have reached a phase allowing them to develop themselves into machines. Several in-universe explanations have been offered for the abundance of humanoids. One of the more common
204-494: A hierarchy of cooperating systems that make up any organism . Luis Villazon points out that animals that move necessarily have a front and a back; as with animals on Earth , sense organs tend to gather at the front as they encounter stimuli there, forming a head . Legs reduce friction, and with legs, bilateral symmetry makes coordination easier. Sentient organisms will, Villazon argues, likely use tools, in which case they need hands and at least two other limbs to stand on. In short,
255-710: A multitude of worlds toward a humanoid form. In the television series Stargate SG-1 , the Jaffa are explained as being a hundred-thousand year offshoot of humanity bred by the Goa'uld to suit their purposes, hence their almost-human appearance and physiology, while many other "alien" characters are actually the descendants of human- slaves who were removed from Earth by the Goa'uld. Any humans isolated on multiple planets after 100k+ years of adaptations would most certainly seem "alien" to Earthlings. Similarly, in its spin-off show Stargate Atlantis ,
306-410: A navel, as a placenta aids the development of a large brain case. However, it would not have possessed mammary glands and would have fed its young, as birds do, on regurgitated food. He speculated that its language would have sounded somewhat like bird song . Russell's thought experiment has been met with criticism from other paleontologists since the 1980s, many of whom point out that his Dinosauroid
357-519: A real person as possible, although these words are frequently perceived to be synonymous with a humanoid. While there are many humanoid robots in fictional stories, some real humanoid robots have been developed since the 1990s, and some real human-looking android robots have been developed since 2002. Similarly to robots, virtual avatars may also be called humanoid when resembling humans. Deities are often imagined in human shape (also known as " anthropotheism "), sometimes as hybrids (especially
408-484: A result of similar evolutionary pressures. American psychologist and Dinosaur intelligence theorist Harry Jerison suggested the possibility of sapient dinosaurs. In a 1978 presentation at the American Psychological Association , he speculated that dromiceiomimus could have evolved into a highly intelligent species like human beings. In his book, Wonderful Life , Stephen Jay Gould argues if
459-512: A superpower. These new parasites managed to take control of, or incapacitate, the entire Justice League on the moon. In order to stop them from reaching earth, Hitman (who was invited to the JLA Watchtower so that his blood could be analyzed) had to kill or maim several of the astronaut hosts. While some members of the JLA felt that this was murder, others recognized that Hitman stopped the invasion in
510-623: A trait of primates , crows , and dolphins , at some point. In 1982, Dale Russell , curator of vertebrate fossils at the National Museum of Canada in Ottawa , conjectured a possible evolutionary path that might have been taken by the dinosaur Troodon had it not perished in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago, suggesting that it could have evolved into intelligent beings similar in body plan to humans, becoming
561-607: Is a non- human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of the human skeleton . Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it is now considered rare. More generally, the term can refer to anything with distinctly human characteristics or adaptations, such as possessing opposable anterior forelimb - appendages (i.e. thumbs), visible spectrum - binocular vision (i.e. having two eyes), or biomechanic plantigrade - bipedalism (i.e.
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#1732869217811612-467: Is a robot that is based on the general structure of a human, such as a robot that walks on two legs and has an upper torso, or a robot that has two arms, two legs and a head. A humanoid robot does not necessarily look convincingly like a real person, for example, the ASIMO humanoid robot has a helmet instead of a face. An android (male) or gynoid (female) is a humanoid robot designed to look as much like
663-425: Is dedicated to the treatment of injuries. The World Health Organization has developed a classification of injuries in humans by categories including mechanism, objects/substances producing injury, place of occurrence, activity when injured and the role of human intent. In addition to physical harm, injuries can cause psychological harm, including post-traumatic stress disorder . In plants, injuries result from
714-531: Is overly anthropomorphic. Gregory S. Paul (1988) and Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. , consider it "suspiciously human" (Paul, 1988) and Darren Naish has argued that a large-brained, highly intelligent troodontid would retain a more standard theropod body plan, with a horizontal posture and long tail, and would probably manipulate objects with the snout and feet in the manner of a bird, rather than with human-like "hands". (Although bipedal dinosaurs often do have hands , if they don't turn them into wings.) A humanoid robot
765-476: Is sometimes defined as mechanical damage to anatomical structure, but it has a wider connotation of physical damage with any cause, including drowning , burns , and poisoning . Such damage may result from attempted predation , territorial fights, falls, and abiotic factors. Injury prompts an inflammatory response in animals of many different phyla ; this prompts coagulation of the blood or body fluid, followed by wound healing , which may be rapid, as in
816-404: Is that authors use the only example of intelligent life that they know, humans. In live-action television and films, using humanoid aliens makes it easier to cast human actors to portray alien characters. A study by the zoologist Sam Levin suggests that aliens might indeed resemble humans, given that they are presumably subject to natural selection . Levin argues that this can be expected to produce
867-516: Is that the humanoids in the story have evolved on an Earth-like planet or natural satellite , totally independently from Humans on Earth . However, some works have offered alternative explanations: In Star Trek , the explanation is given that a primordial humanoid civilization, the Ancient humanoids , seeded the Milky Way Galaxy with genetically engineered cells to guide the evolution of life on
918-620: The Blackest Night crossover, where Doctor Light mockingly mentions that most of the Blood Pack heroes had died and were quickly forgotten by the rest of the superhero community. Hitman/JLA #1, set before this, sees the Wally West Flash mention the Bloodline heroes' long casualty list and states, with irritation, that most of them are incompetent and are constantly trying to 'team up' with
969-487: The Blood Pack miniseries. Gunfire also had a short-lived series. Some of the heroes created by the aliens died in the 2005-2006's Infinite Crisis event. The only New Blood character to succeed as an independent property was Hitman , who first appeared in 1993's Demon Annual and went on to star in his own sixty-issue ongoing series from 1996 to 2001 written by Garth Ennis and drawn by John McCrea . In fact, of
1020-521: The DC Universe . The Bloodlines crossover event spanned 23 of DC's regular titles and wrapped up in the two-part miniseries Bloodbath . The alien parasites that came to Earth to gather spinal fluid sacrificed themselves to help birth a gigantic alien known as the Taker. Many long-term heroes were absorbed into the monster, only to be saved by the very heroes the parasites had created. This series spun off into
1071-665: The White House taking the Bloodlines parasites as so big a threat that they were willing to launch nuclear missiles at the Justice League to prevent the parasites from reaching Earth again. The seven Bloodlines Parasites were created for the Bloodlines crossover . The parasites premiered in Lobo (vol. 2) Annual #1 written by Alan Grant and drawn by Christian Alamy. The Parasites came from
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#17328692178111122-489: The cnidaria . Arthropods are able to repair injuries to the cuticle that forms their exoskeleton to some extent. Animals in several phyla, including annelids , arthropods, cnidaria, molluscs , nematodes , and vertebrates are able to produce antimicrobial peptides to fight off infection following an injury. Injury in humans has been studied extensively for its importance in medicine . Much of medical practice, including emergency medicine and pain management ,
1173-577: The gods of Ancient Egyptian religion ). A fragment by the Greek poet Xenophanes describes this tendency, ...Men make gods in their own image; those of the Ethiopians are black and narrow-nosed, those of the Thracians have blue eyes and red hair. In animism in general, the spirits innate in certain objects (like the Greek nymphs ) are typically depicted in human shape, e.g. spirits of trees ( Dryads ), of
1224-627: The Black Lagoon , made in 1954 by Jack Arnold . Physical trauma Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans , in other animals , or in plants . Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with blunt objects , by heat or cold, or by venoms and biotoxins . Injury prompts an inflammatory response in many taxa of animals; this prompts wound healing . In both plants and animals, substances are often released to help to occlude
1275-501: The League, while Green Lantern Kyle Rayner simply sums them up with: "Those guys are lame. I mean, they are really lame ". Hitman and Hitman/JLA both offered up sequels to Bloodlines . The first had the CIA trying to duplicate the power-giving effects of the parasites. The second, set chronologically earlier, had a separate breed of Bloodlines parasites. Hitman/JLA also had a scene showing
1326-469: The Taker was destroyed with the help of all the human New Bloods. Pax helped banish these aliens by sealing them up in the other-dimensional home of the Taker. The superhumans whose powers were awakened by the alien parasites were known collectively as "New Bloods". Individually, they were: Another New Blood, Freight Train, was introduced in Outsiders vol. 4 #30, described as: "Black Canadian mercenary with
1377-462: The ability to absorb kinetic energy and give himself superdense skin, superspeed, and superhuman strength". With corporate backing, and under the leadership of seasoned veteran Jade , some of the New Bloods formed a superhero team known as the Blood Pack. The series was created by Charles Moore and Christopher Taylor. Blood Pack was a four issue limited series. Loria would die in the final issue of
1428-900: The ability to walk on heels and metatarsals in an upright position). Humanoids may also include human-animal hybrids (where each cell has partly human and partly animal genetic contents) and human-animal chimeras (where some cells are human and some cells are animal in origin). Science fiction media frequently present sentient extraterrestrial lifeforms as humanoid as a byproduct of convergent evolution . Humanoid characters are defined by their human-like physical characteristics and forms, which can vary. These characters may appear entirely human, predominantly human-like (e.g., Saiyans from Dragon Ball Z , Martians and Kryptonians from DC Comics ), or they may possess general non-human traits while still having human-like physical characteristics (e.g., human-like Pokémon , ThunderCats characters, various characters from The Amazing World of Gumball ). In
1479-399: The back of the neck by a mouth-within-a-mouth. This bite is intended to remove the spinal fluid for sustenance. This usually killed the victim for food, but occasionally awakened superhuman powers in the recipient. This was also the means by which the creatures could reproduce. Each of the annuals involved in the crossover used this plot device to introduce a new super-powered character to
1530-493: The black ring cycling through the power set of emotions, resulting in a burst of colored energy that destroys Black Lanterns. Geist and Nightblade would later appear during Final Crisis , amongst a large group of "forgotten" characters encountering Superman in Limbo. A new Blood Pack was introduced in Faces of Evil: Prometheus , made up of other surviving Bloodlines heroes. Led by Argus ,
1581-423: The damaged area, by producing antimicrobial chemicals, and in woody plants by regrowing over wounds. Cell injury is a variety of changes of stress that a cell suffers due to external as well as internal environmental changes. Amongst other causes, this can be due to physical, chemical, infectious, biological, nutritional or immunological factors. Cell damage can be reversible or irreversible. Depending on
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1632-428: The eating of plant parts by herbivorous animals including insects and mammals , from damage to tissues by plant pathogens such as bacteria and fungi , which may gain entry after herbivore damage or in other ways, and from abiotic factors such as heat, freezing, flooding, lightning, and pollutants such as ozone. Plants respond to injury by signalling that damage has occurred, by secreting materials to seal off
1683-630: The explanation offered for the humanoid appearance of the Wraith is that the Wraith evolved from a parasite which incorporated human DNA into its own genome after feeding on humans, giving the Wraith their present form. In the field of ufology , humanoid refers to any of the claimed extraterrestrials which abduct human victims, such as the Greys , the Reptilians , Nordics , and Martians . In fantasy settings
1734-512: The few times New Blood characters made appearances after the Bloodlines event, a majority of the time they are killed off. Faces of Evil: Prometheus and JLA/Hitman #1 are examples. The former featured a brief cameo of the remaining members of the Bloodpack, only to have a majority of the team killed or maimed by the titular villain; it was referenced in the Justice League of America tie-in to
1785-486: The latter case, they often overlap with anthropomorphic characters, with humanoid characters being a subtype of anthropomorphism, specifically in terms of physical characteristics. Although there are no known humanoid species outside the genus Homo , the theory of convergent evolution speculates that different species may evolve similar traits, and in the case of a humanoid these traits may include intelligence and bipedalism and other humanoid skeletal changes , as
1836-616: The only way that he could. Another parasite, alone, is found by the Outsiders in a Gotham City club, being held captive, and admission charged for those wishing to gain superpowers. Nonetheless, as the parasites only activate the metagene in a number of humans, most customers do not survive the ordeal. Although the ending of Batman and the Outsiders (vol. 2) #10 had it flying off into the Gotham night with Batman on its back trying to bring it down,
1887-467: The same dimension as a powerful Shaman named Pax who gained his own powers due to being bitten by one of them and left for dead. The parasites escaped from their prison dimension. In the Lobo issue, they encountered a grouping of L.E.G.I.O.N. officers, whom they killed and took their alternate human forms from. They later ended up on Earth; while there they took to feeding on humans. The aliens feed by draining
1938-422: The same universe infiltrated a space shuttle returning to earth. When the JLA sent Green Lantern to investigate, his ring's readings showed that these parasites had genetic similarities with the Bloodlines parasites. These aliens, however, were much smaller and permanently attached themselves to their human hosts. They controlled their hosts' minds, could communicate telepathically, and gave each non-superpowered host
1989-544: The series. Most of the team's members - Ballistic, Geist, Mongrel, Nightblade and Razorsharp - were slain by Superboy-Prime in Infinite Crisis #7, the final issue of the 2005-2006 DC event, incinerated by his heat vision. During the events of Blackest Night , the five slain heroes were reanimated as members of the Black Lantern Corps and head for Earth Prime to torment Superboy-Prime. He destroys them by using
2040-482: The seven parasites. All parasites had a heavy exoskeleton, four digits on each limb (one of which is small and opposable ), skeletal faces, and the aforementioned feeding proboscis. Each parasite, however, had unique features and personalities based on the Seven Deadly Sins. Angon was red, had spiked shoulder plates, and was driven by anger. She was responsible for creating Edge, Ballistic , Jamm, and Prism. Gemir
2091-553: The spinal fluid of their prey after administering a small dose of paralytic venom . They feed using a secondary proboscis -like jaw similar to the Xenomorphs from the Alien movies. If the feeding process is performed on a human possessing the metagene , the trauma of feeding on that victim will usually activate their metagene, granting them superpowers. Those so activated took to calling themselves "New Bloods". The eight aliens included
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2142-402: The story was interrupted with a Batman R.I.P. crossover, leaving the parasite's story unresolved. Some of the characters whose metagenes were activated by the parasites are Argus , Loose Cannon, Razorsharp, Terrorsmith, Hitman and Gunfire . If too much parasite venom was absorbed by the host's system it would cause hideous abnormalities, as seen with Terrorsmith. The mother alien known as
2193-403: The tape of life were re-wound and played back, life would have taken a very different course. Simon Conway Morris counters this argument, arguing that convergence is a dominant force in evolution and that since the same environmental and physical constraints act on all life, there is an "optimum" body plan that life will inevitably evolve toward, with evolution bound to stumble upon intelligence,
2244-419: The team included Gunfire, Anima, and Hook. Hook was killed by an impostor Prometheus. Gunfire's hands were amputated and Anima was killed in an ensuing encounter with the real Prometheus. Bloodlines was divided into four "chapters": Outbreak , Earthplague , Deathstorm , and Bloodbath . The order of the storyline is as follows: As part of The New 52 (a reboot of DC's continuity), the Bloodlines crossover
2295-588: The term humanoid is used to refer to a human-like fantastical creature, such as a dwarf , elf , gnome , halfling , goblin , troll , orc or an ogre , and Bigfoot . In some cases, such as older versions of the game Dungeons & Dragons , a distinction is made between demi-humans , which are relatively similar to humans, and humanoids, which exhibit larger differences from humans. Animals that are humanoid are also shown in fantasy. Humanoids are also used in some old horror movies, for example in Creature From
2346-646: The trend in Troodon evolution had continued to the present, its brain case could by now measure 1,100 cm ; comparable to that of a human. Troodontids had semi-manipulative fingers, able to grasp and hold objects to a certain degree, and binocular vision. Russell proposed that this " Dinosauroid ", like most dinosaurs of the troodontid family, would have had large eyes and three fingers on each hand, one of which would have been partially opposed . As with most modern reptiles (and birds), he conceived of its genitalia as internal. Russell speculated that it would have required
2397-406: The woodlands (the hybrid fauns ), of wells or waterways ( Nereids , Necks ), etc. With regard to extraterrestrials in fiction , the term humanoid is most commonly used to refer to alien beings with a body plan that is generally like that of a human, including upright stance and bipedalism , as well as intelligence. In much of science fiction , humanoid aliens are abundant. One explanation
2448-424: The wound, limiting loss of fluids and the entry of pathogens such as bacteria. Many organisms secrete antimicrobial chemicals which limit wound infection; in addition, animals have a variety of immune responses for the same purpose. Both plants and animals have regrowth mechanisms which may result in complete or partial healing over the injury. Cells too can repair damage to a certain degree. Injury in animals
2499-413: Was red with bat-like wings. He was motivated by greed and had flaming hair in his human form. He was responsible for Joe Public, Myriad, Sparx , Cardinal Sin, and Samaritan. Glonth was a light blue, rotund beast with a lion-like mane who was motivated by gluttony. He created Loose Cannon, Hitman , and Chimera. Pritor was the prideful blue parasite with butterfly wings. He created Lionheart and Geist. Lissik
2550-426: Was revamped and integrated as a six-issue miniseries. When a meteor crashes to Earth, bringing with it an unspeakable alien presence that terrorizes a nearby small town, the lucky ones die first. As for the rest, they find themselves locked in a hellish struggle for control of their bodies and their minds. Humanoid A humanoid ( / ˈ h juː m ən ɔɪ d / ; from English human and -oid "resembling")
2601-474: Was the lustful pink/purple parasite with moth-like wings. She created Anima , Nightblade, Hook, Terrorsmith, and Mongrel. Slodd was a slothful, off-white parasite with large patagium beneath his arms. Venev was an envious, green, six-armed parasite responsible for creating Argus , Razorsharp, Gunfire and Ragnarok. All of the Parasites gave themselves over to feed the Taker. A new group of parasitic aliens from
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