The 1980s
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The 1980s were a very eventful decade. They had barely begun when George Li, an Americano-Singaporean businessman and financial genius, funded Omnicorp. Omnicorp, described as "the ultimate expression of branching out", quickly took root in practically every branch of the economy, becoming a multi-billion-dollar company in an amazingly short time. In particular, their contributions to the field of high tech made them a fortune.
The next major event was magical in nature. Ever since the return of magic in WWII, magical entities and objects previously stuck in Limbo had been slowly coming to Earth (a process that is still ongoing). In the 1980s, the largest piece so far returned: Avalon, which was still ruled by the archmage Nollius.
Nollius's reaction was to attempt world conquest, using Avalon's magical might. He did not expect mankind's technology, however, nor its metahumans. The world's superheroes, with the Global Champions at their head, drove off Avalon's forces; they were unable, though, to defeat Nollius in his seat of power. The evil sorcerer has remained on control of Avalon ever since; the elven city, flying over the Atlantic, has remained one of the main threats to world security.
It wasn't that long after Avalon's attack that Garzor returned, with a new, better battleship. This time, Omnicorp put its technological resources at the disposal of the Global Champions. Working together, they were able to hijack the ship's controls, causing it to crash in the Nevada desert - more specifically, in an area owned by Omnicorp. While Omnicorp officially declared that the purpose was to ensure that there would be no collateral damage, it is public knowledge that they immediately proceeded to salvage the ship and reverse-engineer as much of its technology as they could.
Garzor, again, escaped.
Perhaps the most important event of the decade was the rise of Professor Cryo. Formerly known as professor Michael Hart, a brilliant physicist and inventor of Carnegie Mellon University, he disappeared with no trace after the death of his wife. He returned a year later, his skin turned blue, armed with superpowers, and working on a grand plan.
In secret, Cryo contacted many of Pittsburgh's supervillains, as well as several villains from the outside - in particular, Tagton. On the day before the plan's climax, Tagton assassinated Pittsburgh's greatest heroes. The next day, Professor Cryo activated a cold generator, creating an arctic climate all over the city. Its heroes fought their way through the Professor's allies, minions and traps, dying one by one before finally reaching the cold generator and destroying it. This turned out to be the final trap, with which Cryo killed the last of them before activating a second generator and renaming the area "the Cryosphere".
What ensued was called the Battle of the Cryosphere. Heroes from all over the world, with the Global Champions spearheading them, attacked the Cryosphere, attempting to liberate it from the numerous supervillains who had taken it over. The battle ended when Professor Cryo emerged, calmly walking up to the Global Champions. He then explained to them that his machinery was powered by a device that was teleporting a steady stream of matter from the sun's core, harvesting its heat for energy. He further explained that the same device could, if necessary, instantly teleport in enough matter from the sun to cause an explosion equivalent to an H-bomb, razing the city and killing its entire population. It was programmed to do so if the Professor ordered it, if he died, or if some foreign influence on his brain was detected.
While the Global Champions were still digesting this information, the professor activated hidden cryo-cannons, knocking them out. Rather than execute the Global Champions, he just threw them out of the Cryosphere. The message sent to the world was clear: Professor Cryo was now the city's uncontested master.
Over years to come, the Cryosphere would become a safe haven for the world's supervillains, further adding to Professor Cryo's considerable power.
The last major event of the 1980s was the creation of Megalopolis: Omnicorp, using technology reverse-engineered from Garzor's ship, built this high-tech city in Rhode Island, even moving their HQ there. Megalopolis has since become a massive city, a financial center, and a great hub for super-powered activity.
