Hidden People (DC)

The Hidden People are a species that feature in DC Comics.

History
The Hidden People's origins were traced to around 30,000 years ago during the time of competition between early humans and Neanderthals. Ultimately, the Neanderthal's lost the war of evolution though a number of them managed to survive this conflict. These members managed to go into hiding where their descendants continued to operate across the centuries where the legacy of their reign was achieved through pure-breeding and oral tales. This allowed the history of their kind to survive despite their culture and people dying. A number of Neanderthals attempted to retaliate and waged a disorganised guerilla war against humans which was a conflict that mankind did not know even existed. It was only around the 12th century that these Neanderthals began to organise themselves where they began calling themselves the Hidden People. At some point, they began constructing a device known as the Devolver which was believed to be the weapon capable of destroying mankind. However, eventually, they would come into conflict with one of the earlier incarnations of Stormwatch thus beginning a secret conflict between the two factions. In 1425, an attack by Stormwatch saw the Hidden People destroy an entire crusader castle rather than allow the Devolver to fall into enemy hands. One incident of activating the Devolver saw it operational for several days which led to human development being set back by a thousand years. (Stormwatch v3 #11) In 1858, the Century Baby Jenny Freedom had used her powers to fight the Hidden People in that era. (Stormwatch v3 #0) Around World War II, one version of Stormwatch that consisted of Archie Trundle, Luna, Big Band and Von Z were all killed by the Hidden People in 1944 when the Devolver was deployed against them. As a result of its use, the Stormwatch agents were all regressed into an earlier primitive state where they were unable to understand language or technology. This resulted in the Hidden People moving in to kill them whilst Archie Trundle who was the Engineer died when he crashed his plane after losing the ability to understand the controls. (Stormwatch v3 #11)

In 2012, they struck at gas platform in the North Sea in order to steal a special gas they needed for the Devolver which led to another confrontation with the latest incarnation of Stormwatch. After acquiring the substance, they were forced to quickly retreat and teleported away from the scene. The Martian Manhunter managed to pick up trace thoughts from them which included a special interest in the Engineer and wanting Stormwatch destroyed. He managed to discern the next location of the Hidden People who launched an ambush by activating the Devolver that reversed the evolution of the team members. Before it could achieve its full effect, the Engineer arrived where she absorbed the machine into her framework that caused an anaphylatic shock. Despite its terrible effects on her, she managed to regurgitate the broken machine from her body. Though defeated, the secret goals of the Hidden People was achieved as the destroyed Devolver was intended to influence the Engineer and alter her mind so that she would bring about the destruction of Stormwatch. (Stormwatch v3 #11)

Overview
This species were actually a branch of ancient humans known as Neanderthals that had fought a war of survival against mankind. Despite their initial defeat, the members of the Hidden People sought to reclaim the planet by defeating their competitors. As such, they shared the human form but had vastly different abilities and objectives. Among their natural talents was hibernation that was described as being a Neanderthal trait that allowed them to survive across the centuries. However, sometimes, the hibernation state was not so successful in which case the member of the Hidden People potentially faced death. As such, one of the chief priorities of the Hidden People was to ensure that their generation was not the last of the pure Neanderthal line. As such, they constantly watched out for the induction of new members into their ranks in order to continue the secret war against their enemies who they counted the human usurpers and the mongrel Untitled. Through means not understood, the Hidden People were somehow able to pass their personality or knowledge to their successors. Each of the Hidden People were imparted specific talents such as fire that held their past and future. They were also imparted specific weapons that were created from ancient Neanderthal principles such as the mind-gun and only allowed their wearers to operate by telepathy. One of their greatest relics was the Devolver which had taken many lives and years to build but it was hoped that it would be the weapon to destroy mankind by turning them back into their primitive roots. (Stormwatch v3 #11)

Members

 * Soul : a male Neanderthal who was given the role as leader of the group who had a weapon controlled by telepathy. (Stormwatch v3 #11)
 * Bloodline : a male Neanderthal who was also known as the wild one and able to enter into a feral state. (Stormwatch v3 #11)
 * Flame : a female Neanderthal who had the power of fire. (Stormwatch v3 #11)

Appearances

 * Stormwatch v3