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Max

Sorry Max but you're not quite Incorruptible

Qubit

Qubit... you should've tried killing the Plutonian sooner

Hello everyone, so yeah I'm reconsidering my retirement, especially since these two characters haven't had a proper proposal yet. A while back I read both Irredeemable and Incorruptible, and as a friend of mine said on Discord, there is no pure good in the series. No not even in Incorruptible, but we'll get to that soon. For now let's talk about two characters in particular who pass the admirable standards of the series, but have their inconsistencies.

What is Irredeemable/Incorruptible?[]

Irredeemable and Incorruptible are two comic book series written by Mark Waid and published by Boom comics. In the series Irredeemable, we follow the superhero known as The Plutonian... as he has a mental breakdown due to the pressure of being a superhero and becomes the world's greatest supervillain. Meanwhile in Incorruptible, we follow the supervillain named Max Damage... as he learns how bad he was after witnessing The Plutonian's rampage and aims to become a superhero. Meanwhile back in Irredeemable, the Plutonian's former allies, the Paradigm, try to stop their former ally.

That's the basic premise of both series, a hero turning into a villain and a villain turning into a hero. Now that we're all on the same page, let's talk about Qubit first.

Who is Qubit? What makes him admirable?[]

Qubit is an expy of the 10th Doctor, as if the pointy hair and gadgets didn't give that away. Before the start of the series, Qubit befriended the Plutonian and even nicknamed him Tony. Needless to say he was horrified when Tony snapped one day and became a threat he had to stop. But that didn't stop Qubit from trying to see the best in his fallen friend. So Qubit heads to Singapore to try and stop the Plutonian from killing everyone there. The Plutonian responds to this with his now infamous "choose 10" line. Meaning Qubit would have to choose 10 people who Plutonian would then spare... and then the rest would die. Yeah, these books are dark. Despite this particularly heinous kick the dog moment, Qubit didn't give up on trying to redeem the Plutonian.

Throughout the series, Qubit looks for non lethal ways to stop the Plutonian's rampage. Time and time again this would fail and in the end of the series, Qubit has had enough and teleports a wax bullet into the Plutonian's heart, threatening to kill him if the Plutonian doesn't save the world one last time from the radiation that's destroying the Earth (long story, and if I explain that in detail I'll get off topic). So at Qubit's command, the Plutonain earns the faux redemption to end all faux redemptions and saves the world because he's going to die either way. But after the Plutonian's death, Qubit spreads his consciousness across the multiverse and into the minds of Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster of all people. Inspiring them to create Superman in the process.

Sorry about how short this section is, but the thing is Qubit isn't really the main character of Irredeemable, that's the Plutonian. Qubit is a side character who happens to be arguably the most admirable member of the Paradigm by being the one to actually stop the Plutonian. Now with that out of the way, let's talk about Max Damage

Who is Max Damage? What makes him admirable?[]

Max Damage, formerly the FBI's most wanted fugitive, had an epiphany the day the Plutonian destroyed Sky City. Realizing what it's like to be on the receiving end of a supervillain attack, Max decides to put his selfish ways behind him and become a superhero. Introduced into the series by turning his former crew in to the police (much to everyone's surprise), Max ends his illegal relationship with his sidekick Jailbait (yeah we'll get to that later), and tells his former enemy, the police lieutenant Armadale that he's going straight. Starting off by merely doing the exact opposite of what he did as a supervillain, Max grows a conscience over the course of the series and learns what it means to be a hero.

As for what Max achieves over the course of the series, he starts by defeating the supervillain Orjean (or Origin as Max mockingly calls him). After which Max and Jailbait go after another villain named Amberjack, who found a way off the planet. Max fights Amberjack and tries to use the teleportation device to send Jailbait somewhere safe. Jailbait takes this the wrong way and leaves. After rescuing a girl named Annie and making her the new Jailbait (she's 22 this time), Max finds out the original Jailbait (named Terri), was captured by a supervillain named Deathgiver and had her finger cut off and mailed to them. Max and Armadale save Terri and get her to a hospital. After which Max goes to sleep which causes his powers to reset, leading to an attempt on his life. Fortunately, he's saved by Annie and the two of them go after Lois Lane expy, Alana Patel.

Long story short, turns out Alana was kidnapped by white supremacists who worship the Plutonian, Max saves her and they discover that the white supremacists have a giant weapon called Retribution. Teaming up with Armadale, Max and company manage to stop Retribution from destroying Coalville, saving a lot of lives. Now having the attention of the Paradigm, Max is given an offer to join them. Max accepts on the condition that they save Coalville first. Just as this happens, Annie shows up and kills Qubit (yes really). Fortunately, fellow Paradigm member, Kaiden, manages to revive Qubit. However, Max is still forced to turn Annie in for committing murder in the first place.

In the next volume, there are several supervillains rampant in Coalville and Max is focused on repairing it. Needing an honest man to run the city, Max turns to a lawyer named Mike Whelan who refuses to help due to a previous altercation with Max that will be talked about in why he's inconsistent. After trying his best to prove to Whelan that he changed for the better, Whelan still refuses to help Max out. This leads to Whelan getting his heart ripped out by the supervillain Charlie Hustle. Max is then captured and tortured by Hays. This time Max is saved by Terri of all people (who magically grew her finger back).

Max then begins working on his big project, his own prison to house supervillains. By this point Armadale is completely convinced of Max's redemption since he hasn't slipped into past habits unlike Armadale. Eventually Max gains the attention of The Plutonian himself. The two of them fight and Max does a pretty good job at holding his own. After the Plutonian gains the upper hand however, Max turns the tables on him by playing to the villain's ego. Ultimately the Plutonian agrees to leave Coalville alone and Max is named the town hero as a result of it.

In the final volume, Armadale eats the barrel of his own gun and Max starts to investigate why. After freeing Bill Henrie, the man framed for Armadale's death, Max has Bill reveal the truth on television. This has the unintended effect of the citizens of Coalville rioting and killing each other. Suddenly Alana (now with superpowers) shows up and fights Max. Eventually Alana realizes that the reason Max failed to be the leader Coalville needed was because she wasn't there for him. To sum up the final few issues, Max takes over Saint Lucifer's gang and has them prepare for the aformentioned radiation. But as we've already gone over, the Plutonian stopped the radiation and saved the world one last time. The series ends with Max telling stories to the people of Coalville about all the times he fought the Plutonian and agreeing to get back together with Jailbait as soon as she's old enough (still kinda greasy though, NGL).

What Makes Qubit Inconsistent?[]

Qubit's biggest prevention (and boy is this a big prevention) is that he's a principles zealot. I'll reiterate, you know how Batman outright refuses to kill even things would be better off if he did kill someone like the Joker? That's what's wrong with Qubit. He's hopelessly dedicated to Thou Shalt Not Kill to an infuriating degree. He outright saves the Plutonian at multiple points in the story, which results in even more acts of mass murder and carnage. It isn't until the very end when Qubit has to threaten the Plutonian to save the world where he abandons this tactic. Even then it's not quite subverted since it's treated like a one time only thing.

Oh and there's also the fact that Qubit is kind of an insufferable genius. He's brilliant, he knows it, and you can be sure he'll make sure you know it too. All of this makes Qubit a clear cut anti-hero in spite of his refusal to kill people.

What Makes Max Damage Inconsistent?[]

Let's... *sigh* let's talk about some of his past crimes shall we? Before the Plutonian destroyed Sky City, Max was a f*cking sex predator who regularly slept with his teenage sidekick who once again is literally nicknamed Jailbait. Sure one of the very first things he does after announcing that he's no longer a villain, is break up with her... but I don't know if you can really subvert something that messed up. There's also the fact that he racked up a body count that surpassed Saddam Hussein's (which is admitteldy mostly offscreen villainy), and a lot of his past crimes are in fact shown onscreen or have onscreen effects. Remember Mike Whelan? Well Max killed his 12 year old son during his time as a villain, and at one point we do see the skeleton of that kid, so that's onscreen villainy.

Finally, in his last act of villainy, Max stormed a biolab and stole a super virus capable of killing half of the world's population. He was on the verge of releasing the virus too if the Plutonian hadn't shown up to destroy Sky City himself. In other words, Max's past crimes are just too heinous for Near Pure Good, let alone Pure Good. I'm even planning on proposing him for Inconsistently Heinous. If I'm wrong about this and if his crimes somehow are subvertable, please correct me on this. Full disclosure though, I don't feel comfortable proposing him for anything above IA because of these reasons. There's also the fact that even post redemption Max has a hard time controlling his anger. In the second to last issue, he kicks Charlie Hustle like a football unprovoked. Sure Charlie is a supervillain who killed Mike Whelan, but still kind of a dick move Max.

Admirable Standards?[]

Like I said, Max and Qubit both pass, albeit for different reasons. Max saved Coalville from the Plutonian and earns the title of town hero, Qubit puts an end to the Plutonian once and for all. All the other heroes in the series either die going up against the Plutonian or fail the admirable standards. That's not to say there aren't a couple of other contenders in the series, Survivor could very well count himself (at one point, he comes very close to defeating the Plutonian, so I'd say he passes too). Over all though, these two are the most obvious keepers for IA, and I can't think of anyone else who surpasses them with lower resources. Keep in mind that while Max is mainly localized protection whereas Qubit saved the world, Max doesn't have all the gadgets that Qubit has access too, so it's not quite fair to compare them to each other. In other words they both pass with their given resources.

The Verdict?[]

I think they both count, but as always it's up to you.