Sonny Sumo

SONNY SUMO

Real Name: Sonny Sumo

Class: Human magic-user

Occupation: Wise man, farmer, formerly underground fighter

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Honshu, Japan, formerly mobile

First Appearance: Forever People I #4 (August-September, 1971)

Powers: Sonny was a masterful fighter who used mental rituals to perform superhuman feats. Using his mental powers Sonny could boost his strength to superhuman levels and practice “wound rejection,” the temporary healing of any wound inflicted on his body. Sonny possessed the Anti-Life Equation within his subconscious, allowing him to mentally dominate others.

History: (Forever People I #4-6) - Sonny was a noble warrior with the ideals of a samurai, but had to use his skills to make a living as an underground fighter. When Desaad kidnapped the Forever People to his Camp of the Damned hidden in the Happyland amusement park, their Mother Box escaped and sought aid for them. The Mother Box found Sonny, but he didn’t know what to make of it. His manager Harry Sharp arranged for him to fight the deadly robot Sagutai, promising that his death defying feat would guarantee stardom. Although Sonny triumphed he was gravely wounded. The Mother Box healed him, and told him he had a mission to fulfill. Sonny was eager to accept, to fulfill his destiny as a true warrior, and freed the Forever People from Desaad’s clutches. Desaad realized that the Mother Box chose Sonny because he possessed the Anti-Life Equation, and summoned his master Darkseid, whose life’s goal was to decipher the Anti-Life Equation to enslave the universe. The Forever People feared Anti-Life, but decided that if Mother Box chose Sonny he was capable of wielding it and being their ally. They told Sonny of the war between New Genesis and Apokolips, and told him that their very nature demanded that they live free, the antithesis of Anti-Life. Darkseid was watching them on a monitor and appreciated their conversation, stating that he, too, had to be true to his nature. He had to kill the Forever People for wanting to live free, and he ordered Desaad to destroy them and capture Sonny. Sonny used the Anti-Life Equation to sap the will of Happyland’s guards and destroy the prison, freeing the multitude of prisoners within the amusement park. The Forever People knew they were doing good, but they were somewhat terrified at witnessing Anti-Life in action. Beautiful Dreamer in particular was completely horrified. Vykin brashly broke away from his group to find Desaad and punish him, but he was confronted by Darkseid, who used the Omega Effect on him. Darkseid then turned the Omega Effect on Sonny, fearing his control of the Anti-Life Equation. Sonny and the rest of the Forever People fell to the effect, with only Serifan spared, but Darkseid told Desaad he hadn’t obliterated them, only sent them to another time and place.

(Forever People I #7) - Sonny found himself in Japan hundreds of years in the past. He found peace in the simpler time he’d drempt of as a farmer and wise man, and cared for the poor. He founded an order of monks to care for others, and guard over the Forever People’s Mother Box. Highfather returned the Forever People to the present, and sent Serifan to Japan to retrieve the Mother Box. Serifan was sad that his new friend had lived and died in the past, but was proud that despite his power over Anti-Life he had chosen to dedicate his life to helping others, a fitting victory over Darkseid.

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby

Felix Black's appearance in Adventure Comics I #80 was reprinted in Forever People I #7.