History Comicbook / Millennium

''Millennium'' was a Creator/DCComics [[CrisisCrossover crossover]] miniseries published as a weekly in the year 1988... twelve years before the actual millennium change. The basic concept was that the [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Guardians Of The Universe]] chose ten humans to father the next race that will take over their duties, and they ask Earth's heroes to protect them from the Manhunters, a race of [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots androids]] with a grudge against the Guardians. Things get more complicated when it turns out that the Manhunters have infiltrated the personal lives of all of the heroes.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Completely inverted. Because the public had been temporarily turned against the heroes of Earth by ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} during last year's ''ComicBook/{{Legends|DC}}'' crossover, during the events of ''Millennium'', the [[GenreSavvy majority of the public refuse to believe the Manhunters' attempts to discredit]] Earth's heroes and the Guardians. In fact, many of them act extremely trusting in [[TheAtoner order to compensate for letting Darkseid hoodwink them.]]

''Millennium'' was a Creator/DCComics [[CrisisCrossover crossover]] miniseries published in the year 1988... twelve years before the actual millennium change. The basic concept was that the [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Guardians Of The Universe]] chose ten humans to father the next race that will take over their duties, and they ask Earth's heroes to protect them from the Manhunters, a race of [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots androids]] with a grudge against the Guardians. Things get more complicated when it turns out that the Manhunters have infiltrated the personal lives of all of the heroes.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: During his appearance in ''ComicBook/SecretOrigins'', the Manhunter Grandmaster expresses displeasure at the idea that the Axis powers might win UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Completely inverted. Because the public had been temporarily turned against the heroes of Earth by ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} during last year's ''ComicBook/{{Legends}}'' crossover, during the events of ''Millennium'', the [[GenreSavvy majority of the public refuse to believe the Manhunters' attempts to discredit]] Earth's heroes and the Guardians. In fact, many of them act extremely trusting in [[TheAtoner order to compensate for letting Darkseid hoodwink them.]]

Often considered among the worst of DC's crossovers, due to a variety of factors, but mainly because of a confusing number of tie-ins (56 issues!), blatant and inexplicable retcons, and a group of [[TheChosenOne Chosen Ones]] that were largely unlikable ethnic stereotypes. Its SpinOff, ComicBook/TheNewGuardians, didn't get much better, but [[NarmCharm at least]] featured Snowflame, a villain who got his powers from cocaine use, and The Hemo-Goblin, a vampire who gave people AIDS when he bit them.

* CaptainEthnic: What most of The Chosen turned out to be in the end (and the major complaint about the series.) The worst example might be the Latino Gay Man (with AIDS) who transforms into... the sorcerer Extraño (Spanish for "Strange".)

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Completely inverted. Because the public had been temporarily turned against the heroes of Earth by ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} during last year's ''ComicBook/{{Legends}}'' crossover, during the events of ''Millennium'', the [[GenreSavvy majority of the public refuse to believe the Manhunters' attempts to discredit]] Earth's heroes and the Guardians. In fact many of them act extremely trusting in [[TheAtoner order to compensate for letting Darkseid hoodwink them.]]

* PsychicBlockDefense: ComicBook/TheSpectre has great difficulty taking on the Manhunters because they have defenses in place against mystical manipulation. [[spoiler: He manages to break through eventually of course, he is ComicBook/TheSpectre after all.]]
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: In the ComicBook/YoungAllStars tie-in Nazi supervillain Baron Blitzkrieg tells his troops not to rape a woman they captured because such behavior was unbecoming of Third Reich soldiers.

** However, the Comicbook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} crossover indicated that there was no trace of the Guardians then. Considering what happened with their series, its probably for the best.

* DoesntLikeGuns: Averted in the Batman tie-ins. While Batman abhors using guns on humans he has absolutely no problem with delivering a shotgun blast in the face to an alien robot. Robin also uses a gun to lay down suppressing fire when the robot's human agents try to rush him, although he is careful to not actually hit anybody.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: During his appearance in ''ComicBook/SecretOrigins'' the Manhunter Grandmaster expresses displeasure at the idea that the Axis powers might win UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* ForTheEvulz: Why did the Manhunters want to prevent the next generation of Guardians? Out of spite, apparently (they were once the Guardians' enforcers, but were replaced by the more merciful [[Franchise/GreenLantern Green Lantern Corps.)

Often considered among the worst of DC's crossovers, due to a variety of factors, but mainly because of a confusing number of tie-ins (56 issues!), blatant and inexplicable retcons, and a group of [[TheChoseOne Chosen Ones]] that were largely unlikable ethnic stereotypes. Its SpinOff, ComicBook/TheNewGuardians, didn't get much better, but [[NarmCharm at least]] featured Snowflame, a villain who got his powers from cocaine use, and The Hemo-Goblin, a vampire who gave people AIDS when he bit them.

''Millennium'' was a DC Comics [[CrisisCrossover crossover]] miniseries published in the year 1988... twelve years before the actual millennium change. The basic concept was that the [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Guardians Of The Universe]] chose ten humans to father the next race that will take over their duties, and they ask Earth's heroes to protect them from the Manhunters, a race of [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots androids]] with a grudge against the Guardians. Things get more complicated when it turns out that the Manhunters have infiltrated the personal lives of all of the heroes.

Often considered among the worst of DC's crossovers, due to a variety of factors, but mainly because of a confusing number of tie-ins (56 issues!), blatant and inexplicable retcons, and a group of Chosen Ones that were largely unlikable ethnic stereotypes. Its SpinOff, ComicBook/TheNewGuardians, didn't get much better, but [[NarmCharm at least]] featured Snow Flame, a villain who got his powers from cocaine use, and The Hemo-Goblin, a vampire who gave people AIDS when he bit them.

** The second ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders tie-in features the Outsiders defending the underground kingdom of Abyssia from the Manhunters.

* CaptainEthnic: What most of The Chosen turned out to be in the end (and the major complaint about the series.)
** The worst example might be the Latino Gay Man (with AIDS) who transforms into... the sorcerer Extraño (Spanish for "Strange".)

* DeepCoverAgent: Every comic published at the time was [[ExecutiveMeddling forced to reveal]] that one member of the cast was a Manhunter spy, never mind how much sense it made. Example: in Superman's case, the ''entire'' population of Series/{{Smallville}}! (via MindControl.)

* EvenEvilHasStandards: During his appearance in ''SecretOrigins'' the Manhunter Grandmaster expresses displeasure at the idea that the Axis powers might win UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* ForTheEvulz: Why did the Manhunters want to prevent the next generation of Guardians? Out of spite, apparently (they were once the Guardians' enforcers but were replaced by the more merciful GreenLanternCorps.)
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Completely inverted. Because the public had been temporarily turned against the heroes of Earth by ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} during last year's "Legends" crossover, during the events of Millennium the [[GenreSavvy majority of the public refuse to believe the Manhunters' attempts to discredit]] Earth's heroes and the Guardians. In fact many of them act extremely trusting in [[TheAtoner order to compensate for letting Darkseid hoodwink them.]]

* MagiBabble: The speech given by the Guardian to the Chosen, trying to sound very profound but being {{Narm}} instead.

* OmniscientMoralityLicense: During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Starheart forces [[Franchise/GreenLantern Alan Scott]] to take actions that are moderately destructive to the Allied war effort in order to make sure the ancestors of the Chosen are not killed before they procreate.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: In the YoungAllStars tie-in Nazi supervillain Baron Blitzkrieg tells his troops not to rape a woman they captured because such behavior was unbecoming of Third Reich soldiers.

Often considered among the worst of DC's crossovers, due to a variety of factors, but mainly because of a confusing number of tie-ins (56 issues!), blatant and inexplicable retcons, and a group of Chosen Ones that were largely unlikable ethnic stereotypes. Its SpinOff, TheNewGuardians, didn't get much better, but [[NarmCharm at least]] featured Snow Flame, a villain who got his powers from cocaine use, and The Hemo-Goblin, a vampire who gave people AIDS when he bit them.

** Also, WonderWoman spends some time in Tartarus during her tie-ins.
** The second BatmanAndTheOutsiders tie-in features the Outsiders defending the underground kingdom of Abyssia from the Manhunters.

** The worst example might be the Latino Gay Man (with Aids) who transforms into... the sorcerer Extraño (Spanish for "Strange".)

* DeepCoverAgent: Every comic published at the time was [[ExecutiveMeddling forced to reveal]] that one member of the cast was a Manhunter spy, never mind how much sense it made. Example: in Superman's case, the ''entire'' population of {{Smallville}}! (via MindControl.)
** The [[WonderWoman Greek god of nature, Pan]], turned out to have been replaced by an alien robot, too.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: During his appearance in ''SecretOrigins'' the Manhunter Grandmaster expresses displeasure at the idea that the Axis powers might win WorldWarII.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Completely inverted. Because the public had been temporarily turned against the heroes of Earth by {{Darkseid}} during last year's "Legends" crossover, during the events of Millennium the [[GenreSavvy majority of the public refuse to believe the Manhunters' attempts to discredit]] Earth's heroes and the Guardians. In fact many of them act extremely trusting in [[TheAtoner order to compensate for letting Darkseid hoodwink them.]]
* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: The Manhunters painted their ''entire homeworld'' yellow in case a GreenLantern found it.

* OmniscientMoralityLicense: During WorldWarTwo the Starheart forces [[GreenLantern Alan Scott]] to take actions that are moderately destructive to the Allied war effort in order to make sure the ancestors of the Chosen are not killed before they procreate.

* PsychicBlockDefense: TheSpectre has great difficulty taking on the Manhunters because they have defenses in place against mystical manipulation. [[spoiler: He manages to break through eventually of course, he is TheSpectre after all.]]

* RefusedTheCall: [[GreenLantern Tom Kalmaku]] decides at the last minute that he doesn't want to be one of the Chosen.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: During his appearance in SecretOrigins the Manhunter Grandmaster expresses displeasure at the idea that the Axis powers might win WorldWarII.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Completely inverted. Because the public had been temporarily turned against the heroes of Earth by {{Darkseid}} during last year's "Legends" crossover, during the events of Millennium the [[GenreSavvy majority of the public refuse to believe the Manhunters attempts to discredit]] Earth's heroes and the Guardians. In fact many of them act extremely trusting in [[TheAtoner order to compensate for letting Darkseid hoodwink them.]]

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Completely inverted. Because the public had been temporarily turned against the heroes of Earth by {{Darkseid}} during last year's "Legends" crossover, during the events of Millennium the [[GenreSavvy majority of the public refuse to believe the Mahunters attempts to discredit]] Earth's heroes and the Guardians. In fact many of them act extremely trusting in [[TheAtoner order to compensate for letting Darkseid hoodwink them.]]

Not to be confused with the TV series ''Series/{{Millennium}}'', the movie of the same name, or any other turn-of-the-century projects.

Often considered among the worst of DC's crossovers, due to a variety of factors, but mainly because of a confusing number of tie-ins (56 issues!), blatant and inexplicable retcons, and a group of Chosen Ones that were largely unlikable ethnic stereotypes. YourMileageMayVary. Its SpinOff, TheNewGuardians, didn't get much better, but [[NarmCharm at least]] featured Snow Flame, a villain who got his powers from cocaine use, and The Hemo-Goblin, a vampire who gave people AIDS when he bit them.

** However, the LegionOfSuperheroes crossover indicated that there was no trace of the Guardians then. Considering what happened with their series, its probably for the best.

Often considered among the worst of DC's crossovers, due to a variety of factors, but mainly because of a confusing number of tie-ins (56 issues!), blatant and inexplicable retcons, and a group of Chosen Ones that were largely unlikable ethnic stereotypes. YourMileageMayVary. Its SpinOff, The New Guardians, didn't get much better, but [[NarmCharm at least]] featured Snow Flame, a villain who got his powers from cocaine use, and The Hemo-Goblin, a vampire who gave people AIDS when he bit them.

''Millennium'' was a DC Comics [[CrisisCrossover crossover]] miniseries published in the year 1988. The basic concept was that the [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Guardians Of The Universe]] chose ten humans to father the next race that will take over their duties, and they ask Earth's heroes to protect them from the Manhunters, a race of [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots androids]] with a grudge against the Guardians. Things get more complicated when it turns out that the Manhunters have infiltrated the personal lives of all of the heroes.

Often considered among the worst of DC's crossovers, due to a variety of factors (see the Trope and YMMV section) though of course YourMileageMayVary on that. Its SpinOff, The New Guardians, was even worse.

!Tropes in Millennium:

** However, the LegionOfSuperheroes crossover indicated that there was no trace of the Guardians then. Considering what happened with their series, its probably for the best.

* PsychicBlockDefense: The Spectre has great difficulty taking on the Manhunters because they have defenses in place against mystical manipulation. [[spoiler: He manages to break through eventually of course, he is [PhysicalGod ''the Spectre'']] after all.

* AntiClimax: After all that build up, at the end of the series, when the moment comes for the Chosen to [[AscendToaHigherPlaneOfExistence be transformed]], they become... your average superheroes.

* MagiBabble: The speech given by the Guardian to the Chosen, trying to sound very profound but being {{Narm}} instead.