Alpha Centurion

Alpha Centurion
Cover of Adventures of Superman #527. Art by Stuart Immonen.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #3 (September 1994)
Created by	Karl Kesel (writer)
In-story information
Alter ego	Marcus Aelius
Abilities	Advanced alien armor Flight Superhuman strength Invulnerability Energy sword and shield

Alpha Centurion is the name of three fictional superheroes published by DC Comics. Created by Karl Kesel, the character first appeared in Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #3 (September 1994).

During the Zero Hour storyline, Superman was transported to an alternate timeline where he stumbled upon a Metropolis whose hero was the Alpha Centurion, a man named Marcus Aelius from Ancient Rome who had been trained by an alien race called the Virimiru only to return centuries later. The Alpha Centurion went on to fight Extant and Parallax alongside the heroes of the DC Universe in a battle to save time itself. Having to restart existence with a new Big Bang, all alternate realities ceased to exist and this Alpha Centurion was no more.

Some time later, the Alpha Centurion of our timeline showed up. He too was Marcus Aelius and, like his counterpart before him, began operating out of Metropolis. There was initially some tension between Superman and him. With Lex Luthor in hiding and the Contessa Erica del Portenza in charge of Lexcorp, AC was put in charge of Team Luthor, which was remodeled after himself. When Superman was put on trial in front of an alien tribunal, he recruited Superboy, Supergirl, the Eradicator, and Steel to rescue him. He had a brief falling out with the others, since they mistakenly believed for a time that he was the Cyborg Superman in disguise. After arriving back on Earth, he was publicly embarrassed by Lex Luthor, quit Team Luthor and left Metropolis. He aided Earth's heroes in attempting to stop the Sun-Eater from consuming the Sun during the "Final Night" cross-over event. He was last seen in Washington D.C.