8 Awesome Superheroes That Aren’t From Marvel Or DC

X-O Manowar

While Tony Stark’s Iron Man is seen as the supreme armored superhero, Valiant’s X-O Manowar has built up quite the reputation for himself, selling over eight million copies to date and becoming a cult hero. Also, let’s be honest: he has a much better backstory than Tony’s rich-boy-turned-do-gooder spiel. Yawn!

For those who aren’t clued up on the character, here’s what’s up: Aric of Dacia is abducted by aliens in fifth-century Europe. Deciding he doesn’t like the anal probes, he grabs hold of one of their greatest weapons (yip, you guessed it): the X-O Manowar armor. He returns to Earth where centuries have passed due to time-space relativity, but Aric now finds himself lost in the new civilized world with the greatest weapon in his possession.

Way back in 1996, X-O Manowar teamed up with Iron Man for the video game adventure Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal. While it wasn’t exactly an enjoyable experience by any means, it at least allowed the character to break through to another medium and piggyback off of Iron Man’s popularity. Soon, you’ll be able to see X-O Manowar in the live-action world as well, since he’s set to appear in Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe, with Derek Theler playing the role of Aric.