Harbinger Wars 2 is a Crisis Crossover published by Valiant Comics, written by Matt Kindt with a prelude by Eric Heisserer. It spins off from the events of Harbinger Renegades.
In the wake of revelations of thousands of potential "psiots" - superpowered individuals - living throughout the United States, the US government authorized the private military contractor Omen to attack the city of Rook, Michigan, which had recently been taken over by Generation Zero, a group of superpowered teenagers who sought to make the city a safe haven for anyone who wanted to get away from their own circumstances. The result was a bloodbath, as Omen's HARD Corps killed multiple kids.
Horrified by the carnage, Peter Stanchek, one of the world's most powerful psiots, has begun using his powers to activate potential psiots across the country, building an army to fight back. Meanwhile, former government operative Livewire has been trying to train her Secret Weapons, a small group of young adult psiots with seemingly useless abilities. When Omen targets the Secret Weapons, an enraged Livewire strikes back, disabling the entire power grid for the United States and bringing every surveillance satellite out of the sky.
And thus begins the Harbinger Wars.
This miniseries contains examples of:
- All-Powerful Bystander: Divinity, the closest thing the Valiant Universe has to a Physical God, elects to sit out the conflict, concerned that if he gets involved, it might have drastic effects on humankind.
- C-List Fodder: In the run-up to HW 2, Cronus, Telic, and Gamete got killed off. Valiant has vowed that there will be more casualties before the miniseries is through.
- Divine Intervention: Livewire hopes for this by appealing directly to Divinity, the closet thing Earth has to an actual God. While sympathetic, he reasons that to intervene would eventually lead to mankind giving up free will and choice, leading them to be reliant on him for direction. Disappointed but understanding, Livewire leaves and heads back to face the oncoming conflict.
- Evil Cripple: Snowbeard is a paraplegic who leads the hunt for Peter Stanchek, who he blames for his being paralyzed.
- General Ripper: The conflict is exacerbated by Snowbeard, who has vowed revenge on Peter Stanchek for activating the psiot who paralyzed him. Peter cures him at the end of the miniseries in the hopes of convincing him to learn compassion. Also not helping things is Charlie "Gunslinger" Palmer, the head of HARD Corps, who is determined to kill off the young psiots before the public realizes that they're all just kids.
- Power Incontinence: Lucia is able to create explosions with her mind. The tricky part is not creating them. She takes medication for that, but in the prelude, she is forced on the run without being able to run back to grab her meds.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Ninjak turns against Palmer after realizing that he's just a psychopath looking for any excuse to kill kids.
- Technopathy: Livewire is able to communicate with any electronics in her vicinity.
- Would Harm a Child: During their deployment to Rook, the H.A.R.D. Corps got stupid and killed several of the kids in Generation Zero.
