Triumph (comics)

Triumph
Triumph #3, artist Mike S. Miller
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Justice League America #92 (September 1994)
Created by	Mark Waid & Brian Augustyn (writers) Howard Porter (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	William MacIntyre
Team affiliations	Justice League Justice League Task Force
Abilities	Ability to control the electromagnetic spectrum

Triumph is a fictional character, a former superhero in the DC Comics universe who first appeared in Justice League America #92 (September 1994), and was created by Brian Augustyn, Mark Waid and Howard Porter, though the character is primarily associated with writer Christopher Priest. He is not to be confused with fellow DC Comics property, the Golden Age hero Captain Triumph.

Priest would reveal years later that Triumph was partially based on Neal Pozner, DC's Director of Creative Services: "His shtick was: Triumph was always right... it was what made him so annoying to his fellow heroes. ... Neal, write this down someplace, was always right. He was. At the end of the day, Neal would be proven right. That fact, more than anything else, annoyed many staffers beyond reason."

The character Triumph (real name: William MacIntyre, sometimes spelled William McIntyre) was portrayed as a hot-headed, arrogant, and self-righteous individual who felt he was "denied his destiny" to become one of Earth's greatest heroes. Via a retcon in a three part story running through Justice League America #92, Justice League Task Force #16, and Justice League International (Vol. 2) #68, he was revealed to have been the founding member of the Justice League, serving as their leader. On his first mission with the fledgling Justice League, Triumph seemingly "saved the world", but was teleported into a dimensional limbo that also affected the timestream, resulting in no one having any memory of him and his original peers now being veterans.

DC Comics fans initially disliked the character; Christopher Priest and editor Brian Augustyn decided to play to this by having the characters dislike him as well.