Stormwatch is a 2011 comic book published by DC Comics as part of the New 52 initiative. It was a re-imagining of the Wild Storm team of the same name.
Jack Hawksmoor, Midnighter, Apollo, The Engineer and Martian Manhunter comprise a dangerous super human police force whose existence is kept secret from the world.
Stormwatch (2011) contains examples of:
- Aborted Arc: When the Martian Manhunter wants out of the group, the Shadow Lords say he can, but will one day owe them a favor, and that it will be something that he dreads more than anything else in his life. ... nope, never mentioned again.
- Ascended Meme: In the last few issues of the first 18, the characters themselves start cracking jokes and insulting Midnighter's chin-spike, and demanding he explain its purpose. Something that fans online had been mocking his new character design about for months.
- But Now I Must Go: The Martian Manhunter is as straight of an example as this can get. Out of the blue, he decides he must leave Stormwatch, because he has some kind of mysterious mission he must accomplish that he can not tell anyone. He then erases the memories of all the team members that he ever existed, and somehow struck a deal with the shadow lords to allow him to leave. Something that no one else was able to do in the thousands of years they have existed. He was then, obviously, never seen or heard from again.
- Foreshadowing: In the New 52's zero issue, Jenny tells her team members in the final page "I've been watching a movie. But it had a downer of an ending. You really get into the characters and...and then everyone dies...". A rather dark warning to the readers that the series was on its way out the door.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?: Midnighter's sexuality was pretty dubious to Apollo, until he explicitly stated it.
- In Name Only: The New 52 relaunch contains only one prominent character from the original Stormwatch and the cast is being whittled down until only the members of The Authority remain.
- In Spite of a Nail: In the New 52 version, Cornell established that Stormwatch had existed for hundreds of years, being a descendant organisation of Demon Knights, which in turn was inspired by several Camelots, all set up by Adam One/Merlin. In Starlin's first issue, the baddies kill Adam One at the beginning of the universe, meaning that none of this history exists. Why that hasn't led to humanity being taken over by the Daemonites/the Hidden People/the Evil Dolphin Army/the Questing Queen was never explained.
- Merlin Sickness: Adam One, who was an old man at the beginning of the universe and gets younger as it gets older. Appropriate, since he is Merlin.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Jenny Quantum's powers are... vague. She doesn't actually really know what she can do, or how she does it, and neither does anyone else. It seemed to generally be "If she needs to be able to do this at the moment, then that's what her powers can do."
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The Shadow Lords in the New 52 version; when Stormwatch is removed from history, they just set it up again.
- Sky Pirate: In All Star Western #17, Jenny Freedom of the 19th Century Stormwatch clashes with Smokestack Jack; Steampunk anarchist Mad Scientist based on a Cool Airship.
- Status Quo Is God: As mentioned in the description, the final issue of the New 52 Stormwatch reset the characters to where they'd been before the Kollective changed history. Except the Engineer, who got reset a bit further back, to before her Face–Heel Turn.
- Will They or Won't They?: With Apollo, until they did in issue #18.
