Line #32 ComicBook/TheDNAgents


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dnagents.jpg]]
2
3	''The [=DNAgents=]'' was a title originally released by Eclipse Comics in 1983, written by Creator/MarkEvanier and illustrated by Will Meugniot.
4
5	It concerned a team of five genetically-engineered superhumans created by the Matrix Corporation to serve as spies/enforcers for the corporation's interests. [[GoneHorriblyRight The scientists did their job too well]], creating a group with all-too-human foibles instead of the unquestioning robots the head of the corporation, Lucius Krell, was hoping for.
6
7	The group consisted of:
8
9	* Surge: An angry [[ShockAndAwe lightning-controller]].
10	* Rainbow: The TeamMom and a telepath who could create intricate illusions. As time wore on, [[PowerIncontinence it was rarely when she actually wanted to]], however.
11	* Tank: Had SuperStrength and plenty of firepower thanks to his PoweredArmor.
12	* Amber: A peppy girl who could fly and create discs of energy.
13	* Sham: The most withdrawn of the agents, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting who had the power to transform himself into anyone he wanted]]. Because his powers had the fewest direct combat applications, he also had commando training.
14
15	They were joined by other superhuman allies like Lancer, a gleeful sendup of four-color comic heroes, and the spy Crossfire after his mantle was assumed by his bail bondsman, Jay Endicott, who became Rainbow's LoveInterest.
16
17	The comic originally ran for 24 issues from 1983-1985. Later that year it was picked up for another 17 issues as "The New [=DNAgents=]," although it was a direct continuation of the previous storyline, and not a reboot. Crossfire and Surge also had their own individual spinoff books.
18
19	In 1986 a sourcebook for use with the TabletopGame/VillainsAndVigilantes role-playing game was released (Eclipse Comics also having run a mini-series based on the RPG that year), covering the material from the first 20 issues of the main series and the spinoff books out by then.
20
21	----
22	!!The series provide examples of:
23
24	* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Probably the comic's greatest claim to fame was a "stealth crossover" it had with ''ComicBook/TeenTitans''. A thinly-veiled copy of the Titans known as Project Youngblood appeared in the pages of ''[=DNAgents=]'', while a thinly-veiled copy of the [=DNAgents=] known as the Recombatants appeared in the pages of ''Titans'', with the guest star group sacrificing themselves to save the day at the end of the arc.
25	* AuthorTract: Became this sometimes. An issue of ''Crossfire'' (which, again, was about superhuman corporate espionage) was seriously an extended angry diatribe about Mark Evanier's well-known grievances with the ExecutiveMeddling of kids cartoons.
26	* TheBigGuy: Tank, who's the team's primary combat machine with his SuperStrength and PoweredArmor loaded with guns and missiles.
27	* BlackAndGrayMorality: The agents took on some really twisted characters, but it was almost always to the benefit of their corporate bosses. Krell was not a nice guy after all, and they were usually just choosing the LesserOfTwoEvils. The Crossfire spinoff was a little more optimistic with him taking advantage of his new role to punish people the law couldn't or wouldn't.
28	* BloodTransfusionPlot: In one issue Crossfire gets a blood transfusion from Rainbow, as the agents' artificial blood is apparently universal. Although Crossfire's obviously worried that this might mean something will happen to his body eventually, [[AbortedArc nothing ever came of it]].
29	* BodyguardCrush: Surge is assigned to protect a replicant of the company CEO's (dead) daughter, and falls hard for her, it becoming his driving ambition to find a way to bring her back after she's killed. For extra melodrama, Surge kind of pathetically misremembers it as a sweeping Hollywood love story, when at most the replicant-daughter had been learning to tolerate him when she died.
30	* BoisterousBruiser: The side-hero Lancer, who kicked butt and had fun doing it.
31	* CoDragons: Positron and Electron for EvilGenius Dr. Alexi Vlasov. They kind of have to be that way, since their main power is to cause a massive shock that only works when they touch their target at the same time.
32	* CombiningMecha: The huge robot Mega Man, who used the name years before [[Franchise/MegaMan a certain video game property]] made it famous.
33	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Several, but most prominent is the agents' creator, Lucius Krell, who invested billions in creating life just to have superhuman minions to advance his own corporate interests.
34	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The second series ended with Krell facing the fact that the agents were too human to control, and too powerful to be left running around the way they were. Their energy was drained, leaving them nothing but lifeless mannequins in cold storage, even though Rainbow turned out to be pregnant with Crossfire's child.]]
35	* {{Fanservice}}: Certainly wasn't shy about showing off its cast's bodies. Both Amber and Rainbow's outfits shows their stomachs and include booty shorts, and Surge's uniform showed a male version of NavelDeepNeckline to display bare chiseled pecs and abs. Reprinted collections of the comics in the 2000s were even remastered to make the fanservice more evident.
36	* TheGeneralissimo: The Commander, clone-hating dictator of [[{{Bulungi}} a fictional South African nation]]. And decked out in PoweredArmor that makes Tank look puny.
37	* GreenRocks: The ore "Regeneratum," which was used to bring the agents to life while giving them superpowers, which can also exhibit healing powers strong enough to raise the dead while inexplicably failing to cure an agent of serious PowerIncontinence, or whatever else suited the writer's needs.
38	* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: The agents never went by anything but their codenames, even when they attended college to learn how to blend in with humans better.
39	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: In effect, since the fact that the agents' heroic inclinations made them more human than many humans was a common theme.
40	* InformedFlaw: Crossfire has one issue with him noting he needed to lose weight to be able to be doing all the AirVentEscape work that comes with the job...in a panel showing him with a VERY prominent six-pack.
41	* TheLancer: Surge, powerful but brash fighter who's quick to jump into a fight even if just ends up making things worse for the team.
42	** In an extremely amusing turn, Surge's own foil was a guest hero actually named Lancer, making Lancer TheLancer ''to'' TheLancer!
43	* MistakenForPedophile: In an issue of ''Crossfire'', Rainbow tries to get enough money to help the agents become independent from their corporate masters by posing for a [[SleazyPhotoshoot nude photo shoot]]. Crossfire gets her out of her contract by pointing out that while she has the body and mind of a woman in her 20's she was born in a tank and is technically only seven years old, so a nude photo spread of her is kiddie porn ([[ProtagonistCenteredMorality although the comic overlooks how by that logic Crossfire himself is a child molester for being in a sexual relationship with her...]]).
44	* MultipleChoicePast: Lancer, the self-proclaimed strongest man in the world, never told the same origin story about where his powers came from.
45	* MyBrainIsBig: Fired Matrix Corporation scientist Alexi Vlasov performed experiments on himself that ultimately made his brain so big he has to have a big glass bubble attached to his head to hold it.
46	** Also Worm of the last few issues of the second series, whose brain grew to ludicrous proportions due to a literal accident involving a glowing rock.
47	* NonHumanSidekick: Snafu, the imp-like result of an interrupted attempt to create a new [=DNAgent=], is this.
48	* OffOnATechnicality: Surge hunts down Luger, the assassin who killed his replicant girlfriend, and sets fire to the building Luger is in planning to burn him alive. Surge is then arrested and put on trial for murder, but gets off when evidence surfaces showing Luger committed suicide by shooting himself before the building collapsed on top of him. [[HollywoodLaw Yep, last we hear of that]].
49	* ReplacementGoldfish: After his daughter was (accidentally) killed by the original Crossfire, Krell had a replicant of her created. Subverted as he ignored the replicant as much as he ignored the original; he had it done mainly to test the viability of having the agents created.
50	* TheSmartGuy: Sham, who with his commando skills and ability to disguise himself takes a more cerebral approach to his duties.
51	* SixthRanger: Crossfire, who becomes a regular ally to the team after several issues.
52	* StupidCrooks: A regular character in the pages of ''Crossfire'' was a counterfeiter. A talented counterfeiter, evidently, but one who couldn't resist putting obviously fake denominations and the faces of TV personalities on the bills.
53	* TokenMiniMoe: Amber, who looks and acts like a young girl finding her place in the world (somewhat moreso than the other agents, that is).
54	* TheWorfEffect: Tank unfortunately suffers the fate of most super-team tough guys, as new villains would always show how tough '''they''' were by punching him through a wall.

Context ComicBook / TheDNAgents