Butterflies

"The butterflies breathe our air and drink our water, but our food sources don't keep them alive."

―Emilia Harcourt^[src]

"Butterflies" are a species of deadly parasitic aliens capable of disguising themselves as humans by taking human hosts and use these forms to infiltrate and live among humans.

History[]

Refuge on Earth[]

After their planet was rendered uninhabitable, some Butterflies took refuge on Earth. When they took notice to the flaws of humans, such as short-sighted industrial endeavors that are toxic to the environment and treating minor inconveniences as threats to liberty, they took it upon themselves to possess powerful people, taking an oath to correct those missteps so that Earth would thrive and both humans and Butterflies alike would refrain from going extinct for another millennia or two.

Project Butterfly[]

The Butterflies were eventually discovered by Amanda Waller and the United States Government after a plane crash where autopsies revealed the remains of these alien creatures inside the victim's skulls. In response to the incoming threat they posed, she tasked her Suicide Squad monitoring team to handle the situation under the operation name: Project Butterfly and teamed them up with Peacemaker, a skilled vigilante whose skills they'd be needing in such a perilous operation, as petty revenge for concussing her and rendering her unconscious long enough to allow and aid Task Force X in their final battle with Starro the Conqueror in Corto Maltese.

After Chris's failed attempt at romantically winning over Emilia Harcourt at her favorite bar, he mates with Annie Sturphausen at her place, who then tries to kill him in a very savage manner. He managed to beat her back and ultimately reduce her to "spilled gumbo in the parking lot" when he activated his sonic boom helmet at point-blank range. While he gathered up his belongings in a desperate attempt to escape from incoming police who were alerted to the explosion caused by the helmet, he called up Harcourt, demanding to know everything about Project Butterfly. Eventually, Clemson Murn presented everything known about Project Butterfly in a laughably terrible PowerPoint put together by John Economos, including their origin and what horrors they're capable of.

At some point, Murn was revealed to be a Butterfly fighting as a rebel against the incoming threat his kind are preparing. He explains that when he defected and searched for a host, he made a conscious effort to find the most despicable person with a good reason to have their body possessed. His host was a murderer, but when he was overtaken, the Butterfly discovered that Murn had the potential to change for the better, to which the Butterfly who assumed Murn's identity came to regret.

When Detective Song's investigation leads to Peacemaker's trailer, him and Vigilante take cover in the treetops, but when the jar containing Goff's butterfly is broken, it makes a play for Song and immediately overtakes her through the mouth.

Battle at Coverdale Ranch[]

When Peacemaker is beset by the Cow during the climax of the Battle at Coverdale Ranch, Goff explained their true agenda and tried to sway Peacemaker over to their side in light of this new revelation, but he refused to let his friends down and fired Adebayo (wearing the human torpedo helmet) at the cow, killing it for good and effectively vanquishing the rest of the Butterflies by eradicating the creature capable of producing their food source.

Biology[]

"The butterflies' unique genetic structure and chemistry interact with the hosts' bodies, giving them strength far beyond that of a human being."

―Ik Nobe Llok^[src]

Butterflies are rodent-sized, insect-like creatures that burrow into and reside within the heads of humans and other similarly-sized animals. The Butterfly nests on the brain of the victim and controls it, enabling the Butterfly to use the body as an extension of itself so it can live among humans as one of them.

While possessed by a butterfly, the human host is affected by the butterfly and gains some superhuman abilities, such as enhanced strength, durability, speed, agility, and they develop a proboscis to feed on a nectar-like fluid. The process of a butterfly entering a living creature's body and nesting in their brain is shown to be lethal to the host, causing them to cough up large amounts of blood until they drop dead after which the Butterfly takes over the brain. Ik Nobe Llok confirmed that the human body that a Butterfly controls is completely dead by the time the Butterfly nests in the brain.

After the Butterfly assimilates with the brain, they also gain access to their limited memory cells which they can use as information to blend in amongst the masses undetected.

If the human host is mortally wounded by other means aside from the burrowing procedure, the environment within the body becomes inhospitable to a butterfly thus requiring them to flee as soon as possible. However, this leaves them vulnerable to be mortally wounded themselves until a new host is acquired.^[1]

Notable butterflies[]

Host bodies[]

Technology[]

Space Ships[]

The butterflies arrived on Earth through space ships. Peacemaker discovered one of their ships in Annie Sturphausen's apartment.

Teleporter[]

The butterflies had access to advanced teleportation technology, which they planned to use to move their Cow from the Coverdale Ranch to a cavern somewhere in Maine. The activation of Peacemaker's Sonic Boom helmet in the ranch's barn collapsed the room where the teleportation equipment was held, damaging it significantly.

Milker[]

The butterflies used milking equipment to extract the amber goo from their Cow, which also doubled as restraints for the beast, keeping it in a proper position to be milked.

Bottling Equipment[]

The butterflies repurposed human equipment at the Glan Tai Bottling Plant in order to contain the amber goo extracted from the Cow, and distribute it across the world.

Gallery[]

References[]