Chapter 5 - An Amazing Adventure

It had been only fifteen minutes into the resumed session when the phone in the psychiatrist's office rang; earlier, the session had been temporarily put on hold only because both doctor and patient had been instructed to head to one of Tokyo-3's underground shelters after the space debris had been seen in the sky.

"Excuse me a moment, Miss Matsukaze, I shouldn't be long," Dr. Leonard Samson said, to which the girl seated across from him nodded in reply while he responded to the call. Samson, at one time the on-staff psychiatrist for NERV HQ after being brought on by the U.N., had experienced quite a lot in his short time in Tokyo-3, not the least of which being exposed to enough gamma radiation to transform him into a green-haired version of his biblical namesake. After doing his part to not only help Misato Katsuragi gain full control over her She-Hulk side, but also aid in bringing down the SEELE conspiracy, he'd decided to stick around the city for a while, mainly helping NERV staffers deal with the aftermath of the failed SEELE assault on NERV HQ. Recently, he'd agreed to fill in for a fellow therapist who ran a practice in the city proper, and today was conducting a session with one of his colleague's patients.

Said patient was one Nene Matsukaze, a redhead (a rarity in this part of the world) who went to the same school as the now-former EVA pilots. While a friendly face overall, the one quirk about her was her tendency to talk to her favorite teddy bear, who she called 'Sandy' due to the shade of its fur. She'd believed that said bear was inhabited by a spirit, hence the visits to the therapist her father insisted upon out of concern for her wellbeing, especially given the battles the city had been embroiled in during the past year with the Angels. While Samson had been different from her usual therapist, she did find him to be a kind and understanding fellow who made no judgement when it came to Sandy.

Speaking of Samson, his caller turned out to be a very familiar face. "Misato? Would this call happen to be about why me and my patient were evacuated earlier?" he asked.

"Good guess," Misato said on the other line. "Forgive me for not exactly making this a courtesy call, but we've got major trouble brewing, and we're needing anyone superpowered that we can find to lend a hand. Which is why I'm asking if you can lend us both your brains and brawn, Leonard, we could really use it right now."

"Understood, Misato. I'll be right down, I just need to make sure my patient's in good hands for the time being."

"All right, see you then," Misato said before she hung up on her end.

On Samson's end, he hung up the phone as he got up from his chair. "Miss Matsukaze, I'm afraid we'll have to cut today's session short-there's a growing emergency that I'm needed for, so the receptionist will be along shortly to escort you back to the shelter. I hope you understand."

Nene nodded again. "No problem, Doctor, go right ahead. Me and Sandy will see you tomorrow then. (Hopefully.)"

"Hopefully, indeed," Samson said in turn as he exited the office. "See you tomorrow."

As soon as he closed the door, Nene got up from her chair, Sandy still in-hand, and walked over to the window where she looked out on the downtown area. Figuring she only had a moment, she held up Sandy and began speaking to the teddy bear. "You feel it too, don't you? Is there anything we can do?"

"Unfortunately, my avatar, this is one battle we cannot be a part of," an ancient presence replied with an air of almost bitter reluctance. "Though I am loathe to say it, even with the skills I have imparted onto you, the approaching challenge is one meant for the others within this city who are more qualified to deal with this. There will be other opportunities, I assure you-for now, this is not to be one of them. Like it or not, we must put our faith in the so-called 'superwomen'. They will most certainly require it."

Nene nodded in affirmation. "I understand, Lord Khonshu," she managed to get out before the door to the office opened and the receptionist told her it was time to go.

NERV HQ, minutes later...

By the time Dr. Samson had arrived, the remainder of the intact retractable buildings had been brought underground into the Geofront, leaving only the pyramid that was NERV HQ standing, and plenty of open space for a gathering unlike any on the planet. Samson, clad in his unofficial 'super' outfit (made up of a red t-shirt with a sideways lightning bolt, a pair of black pants, and yellow boots), looked around at the myriad of faces who'd joined those already on the premises.

Standing with Mana/Iron Maiden were Musashi and Keita, clad in their respective War Machine and Rescue armors, getting some last-minute diagnostics run by S.I.D. Off to the side with Maria/Thunderstrike were the 'reformed' Asgardians who acted as her mentors, Amora the Enchantress and Skurge the Executioner, the latter of whom appeared to have helped himself to part of the NERV HQ armory. Maya/Ms. Fantastic and Ritsuko/Spider-Woman were taking care of a bit of minor maintenance on what they'd dubbed "Dragon Man", an early biomechanical creation of NERV's that Maya had stumbled onto (and fought) when she had tried infiltrating the bowels of Terminal Dogma; the two had, with the help of Maya's cybernetic double H.I.T.O.M.I., upgraded Dragon Man to have both a higher intellect and be capable of human speech.

In another corner, Hitomi/Ms. Marvel had reconvened with both Sumire/Photon and Kenzaki Kyouya, the Kree defector who'd sided with humanity. Most significantly, Mari/Captain America (along with Makoto Hyuga, garbed in his Hawkeye outfit and carrying a full quiver of arrows) was briefing one of her handlers, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent "Dum-Dum" Dugan, accompanied by who he presumed were the pilots of the three aircraft he'd seen parked nearby, along with a couple of others he didn't recognize.

Those he did recognize were cooling their heels; for the civilian presence, he counted Shinji Ikari, his mother Dr. Yui Ikari, Lt. Shigeru Aoba, agent Ryoji Kaji, and Prof. Kozo Fuyutsuki. For those with superpowers, he counted Misato/She-Hulk, Asuka/Ghost Rider, her mother Kyoko/Darkhawk and her 'sister' Ruby, Rei/Silver Surfer, Hikari/Spirit, Mayumi/Storm, and the size-shifting trio of Kaede/Wasp, Satsuki/Stature, and Aoi/Yellowjacket. To Samson, this might have been the first significant gathering of such powered individuals since the days of World War II, if his grandfather's old stories of the wartime team known as the Invaders were any indicator. If it weren't for the events of last year, he'd almost never believe he was among them.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, Misato, Mari, and Dugan walked up to the top step leading to the entrance of NERV HQ and turned to address the gathered crowd before them. It'd become apparent, to a number of the people in the crowd, that Misato had, over time, shown herself to be a very capable leader, hulked-out or not, and as what appeared to be a super-powered 'arms race' took place alongside the Angel conflict, she began growing more into the role, especially when the children under her care wound up as part of that fight. Mari, thanks to her training by S.H.I.E.L.D. and developing a better understanding of her great-grandfather's legacy as the original Captain America, had shown to have inherited Steve Rogers's leadership capabilities as well, especially when leading some of the younger superwomen during the final battle with SEELE. From the looks of things, it appeared that those two would be commanding the efforts against Galactus.

Once Aahno the Watcher appeared alongside the trio, Misato spoke first. "If last year's proven anything," she began, "it's that through our own particular trials by fire, you've all shown yourselves to be, without hyperbole, Earth's mightiest heroes. Circumstances and secret conspiracies aside, we all came together to protect the planet from what we, at the time, deemed the greatest threat to mankind; in the process, we managed to stop an even greater tragedy from occurring." She paused a moment as her gaze went over her friends and loved ones before continuing. "It's because of all that is why we're gathered here today." A determined look appeared on her face as she turned things over to Mari, who stepped forward.

"Believe it or not," Mari began, "the end of the world is about to land on our doorstep, and just like last year, it's our job to make sure it doesn't happen-only this time, without Evangelions." Her attention turned to Aahno. "Aahno, at great personal risk, has broken his people's most sacred law to warn us about this, and Dr. Ikari, thanks to her time with the entity called the Phoenix, confirmed just how dire the situation is." She then turned to Dugan. "Agent Dugan of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s provided further intel on what we're up against. According to numerous reports they've received, strange, alien-looking metallic structures have been assembling piece-by-piece at certain points across the world, each one guarded by one of Galactus's heralds."

Dugan activated a holo-projector that showed feeds of the very things Mari had described. On one feed, a tower in the center of a whirlpool in the middle of the Indian Ocean was guarded by an aquatic-looking being that looked to be made of living water, which Aahno had identified as "Stardust"; in a mountainous region near a volcano, an identical structure was under the protection of a being made up of living flame, known as "Firelord"; on a flatland somewhere in the Asian Steppes, standing guard over the tower there was a being made up of powerful winds known as "Air-Walker"; and finally, overseeing the closest machine, which had assembled over the superstructure of the long-ruined Tokyo Tower, was a brute made of rock known as "Terrax", whom Aahno described as being the most ruthless of the four heralds. Each herald carried a weapon of some sort, with Stardust wielding a spear, Air-Walker a scythe, Firelord a staff with flames on either end, and Terrax a great axe with a unique blade. Firelord's weapon drew a number of slightly-shocked looks, as those who saw it recognized it as an item that was thought to be an Angelic Arm that was being studied at NERV's German branch; Mari had infiltrated it a few months back and had accidentally activated the item, causing her to briefly be possessed by its power, until Rei, Mayumi, and Hikari were able to free her. The object then suddenly zoomed off into space, its fate unknown until now.

Mari resumed speaking as she put her focus on Dugan briefly. "Given the severity of the crisis at hand, Agent Dugan's been authorized by his superiors to provide us with transportation to each of these sites, along with logistical support here at NERV HQ." She gave a brief nod to the trio of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Fitz, Simmons, and Triplett; Skye, better known as Daisy Johnson, aka the mutant agent Quake, was off on a mission with Nick Fury's special S.H.I.E.L.D. team, known as the "Secret Warriors", trying to prevent any number of villainous organizations from taking advantage of the chaos Galactus's arrival would inspire. "The plan, as it stands right now, is simple: we'll break up into four teams, one for each herald. We take the heralds down, then destroy the machines they're guarding. Once done, we then take the fight to Galactus himself. We'll be handing out your team assignments momentarily."

It was then Dugan approached Mari and Misato. "Logistics and transport aren't the only things we're loanin' ye, Lass," he said as he led them to one of the aircraft, which were apparently called Quinjets. "We also brought in a few of our more 'meta-talented' agents to help give ye more of an edge."

"Okay, so...where are they?" Misato asked curiously.

Dugan looked at his watch briefly before he answered. "One'a them, on loan from S.W.O.R.D., should be arriving right about...now."

As he said that, all eyes looked up towards the sky as a streak of light speeded towards their direction. Instinctively, everyone stepped back as the streak eventually came to a stop, as it landed with a great flash. Once it subsided, the astonished eyes of the gathered group looked on, awestruck, as the source of the streaking light, a young brunette woman of Japanese descent, rose from her landing crouch and dusted herself off. She wore a costume consisting of a blue headband, cape, and pants, a sleeveless red shirt with a blue triangular shape down the middle, and a pair of red boots; additionally, a gold v-shaped 'belt' circled around her waist, and on her arms were red near-sleeves that ended in gold bands at the bicep. On her shirt's chest was a golden raised Southern Cross shape, and most notably, on her forearms were a matching set of metallic blue bracers with four golden ovoid shapes that glowed yellow. Additionally, the interior of her cape resembled an actual field of stars.

"*Whew!* Gotta be one of my best landings yet," the young woman said. "Still need to work on my reentry..." The sound of Dugan clearing his throat quickly got her attention as she nearly jumped. "Eep! C-Commander Dugan, I didn't see you there!" she said with a quick salute.

"At ease, Lass," he said while briefly returning the salute. "Though I think ye might want to introduce yerself, considering ye'll be working with these supers behind ye."

"Oh, right!" she said as she briskly turned to face Misato, Mari, and those who came closer to get a look at the new arrival, with a bow followed by another salute. "Reporting in, ma'am! S.W.O.R.D. special operative Noriko Takaya, codename: Quasar, at your service. I've been assigned by Commander Brand to assist you in any way possible in dealing with the Galactus threat."

"Uh, thanks," a slightly-confused Misato replied as she returned the salute. "We'll look forward to it. Why don't you get yourself acquainted with the others while Dugan finishes up here."

"Don't mind if I do, ma'am," Quasar replied in turn as she walked up to the already-curious Ms. Marvel, Darkhawk, Ms. Fantastic, and Iron Maiden, who immediately began peppering her with questions about her powers.

Dugan then motioned for two people who'd been lounging around in the cargo hold of one of the Quinjets to come out and make their own introductions. "These two are a couple of mercs we call in every now and then to handle the less conventional problems the world's got to offer," he said as the two mercenaries in question came into view, "mainly because these two lassies are packin' their own handy surprises themselves".

The taller of the two women had amber-colored eyes and long, waist-length red hair tied up in a ponytail, with a bit of fringe left in front and two long bangs hanging at the sides. She wore a black, Kevlar-lined, sleeveless bodysuit, accentuated by a couple of red flame patterns around the chest, and twin holsters on her thighs, both of which complimented the matching shoulder holster. The look was capped off with a pair of black tactical boots and a combat belt around her waist, and strapped to her back was a long, custom-built sniper rifle capable of using both regular and anti-armor rounds. As if all that weren't enough to make her stand out in a crowd, the woman also had a large black birthmark all around her left eye.

The shorter of the two was slender and pale, with catlike facial features, most notably her yellow, almond-shaped eyes. Her salmon-colored hair was a bob cut styled into a medium-length flare. Her outfit consisted of a bright blue sleeveless coat with a yellow starburst on the front, a pair of black pants, silvery blue boots and gloves, a neon yellow scarf, and a pair of wrap-around sunglasses resting on her head. An electric guitar was strapped to her back, while a mini amp with a built in cord was clipped onto her belt.

"Ladies," Dugan began, "allow me to introduce ye to Yoko Littner, alias 'Domino'..." The redhead gave them a small smile and a wave. "...And Haruko Haruhara, better known by her stage name 'Dazzler'."

"Hey," Dazzler greeted with a flash of a peace sign.

"No offense, but you definitely look more like a musician than a mercenary," Mari noted.

"None taken," Dazzler replied. "Usually I'm the distraction whenever we're on a job, and not to brag or anything, but I'd say I'm a damn good one." As a quick demonstration of what she meant, Dazzler flipped the guitar around till she was now holding it (her shades falling onto her eyes), plugged it into the mini amp (which she turned on just as fast), and started strumming a random tune; as as the music intensified, an aura of light appeared around her that made her glow, and grew brighter until, after raising her left arm, she shot off a powerful burst of light at a garbage can in a nearby alley, sending it flying into the far wall of same.

Anticipating the awestruck 'audience's' questions, Domino quickly provided an explanation. "Dazz can convert sound into various forms of light, with equally varying intensities. And yeah, being a good singer and guitarist helps a lot with powers like that."

"Huh. Makes sense," Maya said, just the slightest hint of disbelief in her voice.

"So, what do you do then?" Asuka asked of Domino.

Domino's smile became a smirk as she answered. "Well, aside from great reflexes and agility, expert marksmanship and martial arts mastery...I'm very, very lucky."

Asuka wasn't impressed. "Lucky? Since when is 'being lucky' a superpower?" she asked in a voice dripping with equal parts skepticism and sarcasm.

Domino had just the thing in mind to answer her question as she pointed towards a building in the far-off distance. "See the tip of that antenna right there? Watch it for a second."

Asuka, despite not being entirely convinced, turned and looked to the antenna she'd pointed at, her gaze accompanied by those of a few curious others in the group. Domino then quickly drew one of her pistols from her right thigh holster and fired off a shot in the direction of the antenna. As those watching witnessed, the tip of the antenna suddenly leaned downward before falling off, traveling down at great speed until a crash was heard. The onlookers, wide-eyed, turned back to face the redheaded sharpshooter as she quickly re-holstered her weapon. "Like I said: very, very lucky."

Ritsuko snapped her fingers as realization hit her. "I get it-you possess a subconscious telekinetic ability to manipulate probability!"

"Lucky guess," Domino said. "Dealt with this kind of thing before?"

"Actually, yes," Ritsuko confirmed, as she'd been thinking about Fumiko Haguchi, the costumed thief she'd crossed paths with a few times known as the Black Cat.

As Domino and Dazzler proceeded to mingle with the rest of the group, Dugan addressed Misato and Mari. "Aside from those three, we got one more body for ye to throw at Galactus and his heralds, but he's more of a...special case." With a nod, he had two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents wheel out a slab, to which a male figure was securely strapped down. He wore a distinctive red-and-black outfit from head-to-toe, with his mask having two white 'eyes' amid two black circles that seemed to convey whatever he was expressing underneath. The man looked up at the group of superwomen and their allies, before his gaze fell on Ritsuko in particular. On seeing her, his eyes narrowed as the outline of a knowing grin appeared on his face.

"Hello, Clarice," Deadpool greeted with a bad attempt at an Anthony Hopkins impression.

Ritsuko's eyes widened considerably on seeing Deadpool, before her face became a mixture of horrified and furious. "Oh, HELL NO! There's no flipping way I'm working with that psycho!" There was no love lost between the scientist-turned-Spider-Woman and the self-described 'Merc with a Mouth', as in addition to their occasional scuffles, she wound up helping S.H.I.E.L.D. capture him in the first place.

"Uh, wrong silver screen serial killer, Webs," Deadpool bemusedly pointed out. "Anyway, how's it going? Meet any new people, try any new sushi bars?"

Ritsuko glared at Deadpool before turning to Dugan. "How could you even think of using him?!" she demanded. "He was one of SEELE's top assassins! He tried to kill me, even threatened to blow up the middle school, WITH the pilots still inside!"

"Calm down, Web-slinger," Dugan said as he tried to reassure her, even as he was met with additional glares from a few other concerned superwomen. "We know just how dirty the fella is, but his healing factor and his weapons expertise make him, much as I'd hate to admit it, useful enough to at least take care of the demolition side of things. Besides, we've got a little something to keep him in line, more or less." He then pointed out a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that was currently placing what looked like a black metallic collar around Deadpool's neck.

"Ooh, kinky..." Deadpool said as he felt the collar get locked into place with a *click* before facing the agent. "What's the safe word?"

Dugan then handed Ritsuko a small remote. "Recognize the design?"

"Yes," Ritsuko answered. "It's almost exactly like the prototype DSS choker we developed."

"Thanks to a bit of the intel we got from Cap," Dugan began to say, referring to Mari's undercover mission within NERV, "we were able to build one of our own for just this sort of occasion. Whichever team Deadpool winds up on, give the remote to someone who'll be able to do the necessary thing if he goes rogue."

"How'd you get him to sign up for this?" Misato asked, a slight edge to her voice.

"The nut's a gun-for-hire at the end of the day," Dugan answered, "it wasn't that hard to offer him the right incentive."

"You heard it from Doiby Dickles here first, ladies," Deadpool chimed in. "When it comes to saving the world, I'm not just doing it for money...I'm doing it for a crapload of money!" The glares in Deadpool's direction only intensified. "Hey, hey, it's cool, it's cool-I'll be good, no sweat! After all, it does pay for me to keep my head-literally speaking, that is. [I mean come on, my fans'll go nuts if I'm offed so early! And I still gotta consult on the movie they're making about me!]"

Despite not being entirely satisfied, it took more effort on the part of a reluctant Mari and Misato to convince Ritsuko to pragmatically allow Deadpool into their operation. With that settled (for now), Misato and Mari addressed the fully-gathered group once more as they doled out assignments.

"Here's how it goes," Misato began as she looked towards Yui. "Dr. Ikari and Professor Fuyutsuki will be running tactical from the bridge in tandem with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s techs. As for the teams to go against the heralds, we've come up with the following:

-Stature, Storm, Red She-Hulk, Domino, Deadpool, and Quasar, your target is Firelord.

-Thunderstrike, Rescue, Photon, Darkhawk, and Enchantress, you'll engage Air-Walker.

-Wasp, Hawkeye, Dazzler, Kyouya, and Dragon Man, your fight will be with Stardust.

-Leaving myself, Captain America, Spider-Woman, Silver Surfer, Spirit, Ghost Rider, War Machine, and Executioner to go after Terrax."

Mari then chose that moment to speak next. "While we engage the heralds, the remaining team of Ms. Fantastic, Yellowjacket, Iron Maiden, Ms. Marvel, and Doc Samson will use this opportunity to break into Galactus's ship and see if they can find anything we can use against him." She looked on at the faces before her with a determined expression as she continued. "Let's get one thing straight: unlike last year, this isn't a typical fight between good and evil; just like last year, we're fighting for our survival, to save the entire Earth itself. The people, all living things, are counting on us to pull it off. We're not going to fail, and that's final." She then held her shield up high. "So let's show this overgrown outer space overeater how we do things on good old Terra Firma!"

"YEAH!" most of the others shouted as they held their own fists high. Dugan, observing all this, couldn't help but be proud of Mari, since this was a moment that made clear she definitely took after her great-grandfather; and he would know, considering how many of Steve Rogers's own speeches he'd seen and heard up-close back in the day. Seeing her inspire others like that gave him further hope that they could, in fact, win the day after all...

To be continued...

**Author's Note(s)**

Before getting into the annotations, I must sincerely apologize, as an important thing about this story is no longer valid. As it turns out, I and many others wound up falling for, and perpetuating, a 'Paul is dead' myth, though without the 'I buried Paul' back-masking. On September 17th of this year, it was learned that OrionPax09 is, in fact, still alive, and had decided to take a long, long break from the internet in general, due to personal reasons. With that, I'm terribly sorry for spreading this lie, as again I and a number of other people were duped by Orion's employers at Silver Cow Studios, who reported his passing in the first place back in July. (There's a lot of ire being directed at them, and based on what I've read, they haven't had the best of reputations for a long time.) In spite of all that, with encouragement from both Mike313 and marcoasalazarm, I will see this story through to completion, though it still is essentially a 'What If...?'. I truly hope there aren't any hard feelings from those of you who followed this story from the start.

Now then, on to the annotations of Marvel lore (with a bit of Gainax/Khara history thrown in as well).

-Nene Matsukaze originated from the visual novel Neon Genesis Evangelion Gaiden Vol. 2 ~ Feast of Dolls ~, and her talking to her teddy bear made me think that she'd be a decent fit for the Superwomen of EVA version of a Marvel hero who recently made a big splash this year, thanks to the Disney+ miniseries starring Oscar Isaac. The patron deity of this hero, Khonshu, debuted in 1980's Moon Knight #1 by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz. (And this won't be the last we see of Nene in this story...)

-The Invaders were a team retroactively added to the in-universe history of Marvel's comics, and debuted in 1969's The Avengers #71 by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema. The lineup, in their introduction, was made up of Captain America (Steve Rogers), Namor the Sub-Mariner, the android Human Torch, and Cap and the Torch's sidekicks, Bucky and Toro.

-Galactus's heralds are inspired by the versions of them seen in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes animated series. Stardust debuted in 2005's Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill #1 by Michael Avon Oeming, Daniel Berman, and Andrea Di Vito. Firelord first appeared in 1974's The Mighty Thor #225 by Gerry Conway and John Buscema. Air-Walker, interestingly, had two different debuts-in his android form, he first appeared in 1972's Fantastic Four #120 by Stan Lee and John Buscema, while his real form debuted in 1981's The Mighty Thor #305 by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, and Keith Pollard. And finally, Terrax made his debut in 1979's Fantastic Four #211 by Marv Wolfman and John Byrne.

-Nick Fury's Secret Warriors debuted in 2008's The Mighty Avengers #13 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, a tie-in to the Secret Invasion event of the time. Led by Nick Fury himself, the original team was made up of Quake/Daisy Johnson (daughter of the villain Mister Hyde); Alexander Aaron aka Phobos, the son of Ares; Sebastian Druid, the son of Doctor Druid; Yo-Yo Rodriguez, aka Slingshot (daughter of the villain the Griffin); J.T. Slade, aka Hellfire (grandson of the Phantom Rider); Jerry Sledge, aka Stonewall (apparent son of the villain Absorbing Man); and Eden Fesi, protégé of the X-Men's ally Gateway.

-Our first non-EVA-yet-still-Gainax guest star comes in the form of Noriko Takaya, the protagonist of the 1988 OVA Gunbuster. Here she's taken on the mantle of Quasar, whose originator, Wendell Vaughn, debuted in 1979's The Incredible Hulk #234 by Roger Stern and Sal Buscema. Noriko's outfit (headband aside), however, is inspired more by Vaughn's most recent successor, Avril Kincaid, who first appeared in 2016's Captain America: Sam Wilson #7 by Nick Spencer and Angel Unzueta, a tie-in to that year's Avengers: Standoff! storyline. (I'd picture a version of Kazumi Amano being the Vaughn to Noriko's Kincaid.)

-Our other two non-EVA-yet-still-Gainax guests are from some pretty popular series, and both happen to have the powers and codenames of a couple of X-Men members. Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagaan's Yoko here is the SWOE version of the mutant markswoman Domino, who debuted first as being impersonated by the mutant Copycat in 1991's The New Mutants #98, while the real Domino debuted in 1992's X-Force #8, both by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld. FLCL's Haruko is the SWOE version of Dazzler, who first appeared in 1980's The X-Men #130 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, originally developed as a cross-promotional, multimedia character between Marvel Comics and Casablanca Records.

-Fumiko Haguchi is a "Nippon-ized" take on Felicia Hardy, better known as the Black Cat, who debuted in 1979's The Amazing Spider-Man #194 by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard, and Dave Cockrum.

-Deadpool, riffing on Dum-Dum Dugan's trademark hat, uses the name of, ironically, the sidekick of DC's Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott.