The first generation Sheldon Sampson/The Utopian – A patriotic American who lost everything in the
Stock Market Crash of 1929, and who in 1932 charters a boat to a mysterious island 600 miles west of Cape Verde after the island appears to him in a dream. Sheldon, who believes that the United States was the greatest idea in human history, and for whom the
United States Constitution is sacred, is convinced that the island holds gifts that will return the country to greatness. After journeying to the island with his brother Walter and a group of five old college friends, including his future wife Grace, he becomes a Superman analogue named the Utopian, with headquarters located in New York City. Sheldon's first wife is a television executive named Jane, who is good friends with Grace in the 1960s. Jane had thought Sheldon would have proposed to Grace after they acquired their superhuman powers, as Grace's family was as rich as Sheldon's, and she long harbored a crush on him, but as Sheldon tells Jane, he was not in love with Grace. However, Sheldon and Jane, who are unable to bear children, eventually divorce, and by 2013, he and Grace are the married parents to Chloe and Brandon, whom Sheldon views as shallow celebrities, feeling that he has failed them as a parent. He approaches crises reactively and leads by example, though he is criticized by Walter and the younger generation as old-fashioned and out of touch. Sheldon leads the Union according to a strict moral code, suspending Walter's son Jules from the main team for dating a woman that he rescued from a fire. He also believes that superheroes should not unilaterally interfere in the actions of their government but should obey their elected leaders, which puts him into conflict with Walter, Sheldon can survive in the vacuum of space indefinitely, and can fly 170 million miles in less than three hours in the 1960s, allowing him to travel at least as far as the Jovian moon
Europa. He can also create a telekinetic bubble around himself and others, and use it to carry a quantity of breathable air to areas of vacuum so that non-superhumans inside the bubble can survive. His sense of hearing is so acute that even in the thin atmosphere of Europa, he is able, in 1965, to pick up an ultra-high frequency, low pulse-beat signal broadcast by a handheld transmitter 1,000 miles under the moon's surface that is inaudible to the normal human ear. – Sheldon's brother who, after visiting the island in 1932, The only person on whom Walter's telepathic powers do not work is Sheldon, Like Sheldon, Walter can travel to and survive at the altitude of orbital satellites. Walter advocates more direct political activism on the part of superheroes and feels that they need to fix the ailing economy and tell President Obama what he should be doing in his second term. with connections in the Hollywood entertainment scene, he hails from a prominent political family in San Francisco. He is also a closeted homosexual who patronizes male prostitutes. Richard's friend
Katharine Hepburn opines that regardless of the
lavender marriages in Hollywood during that time, Richard, by virtue of risking his life for others every day, should not have to hide his homosexuality. When FBI Director
J. Edgar Hoover discovers Richard's secret life, he attempts to blackmail Richard, threatening to ruin his life if he does not reveal his teammates' secret identities. and the ability to project yellow energy blasts that can burn a target or knock a superhuman opponent unconscious. the youngest of which, his younger son, was an infant during the timeline of ''Jupiter's Circle'' #1. After she begins a relationship with Walter, George leaves his estate to Sheldon, cuts all ties with the team, ends his superhero career, and moves to Kentucky, where he lives incognito. He is defeated through the intervention of Skyfox, who rescues the Union and restores their powers.
The second generation Chloe Sampson – Sheldon and Grace's daughter. has not followed in their footsteps as a superhero, preferring instead a socialite's life of nightclubs and drugs. She believes she is frequently in conflict with her mother because her mother is irritated by Chloe's non-confrontational nature, and instead engages in charity work, thinking it will please her, but Chloe's brother Brandon believes she cynically participates in indiscriminate endorsement work for personal gain and to curry favor with their mother. Chloe also laments how perfect her parents are, regretting that she will never be as "cool" as her father or as attractive as her mother. She prefers dating "disappointing bad boys" rather than superheroes because the latter would be akin to "dating her father", and according to her therapist, she does not maintain proper relationships because she always compares her relationships to her parents' idealized marriage.
Brandon Sampson – Sheldon and Grace's son.
Jeff – Jeff first appears in ''Jupiter's Circle'', where he is introduced as a nephew to both George/Skyfox and Fitz/Flare, and a member of the teenage superhero group Teen Scene, a group whose activities are funded by George. He has the ability to transmute matter on a molecular level, enabling him to change one substance into another. For example, he once rearranged all the air molecules in an office into a gas similar to
methoxyflurane, rendering every non-superhuman in the office unconscious (though he himself was immune to this). He can transmute air into a hard substance in order to create barriers from attack, and transmute concrete into tendrils with which he can attack opponents. Other applications of this ability include the formation of an unidentified pink substance that he can conjure for different functions, including a lighter-than-air platform beneath his feet that allow him to levitate himself, and as a restraining device, one strong enough to immobilize Joan Wilson, a superhuman who once grew to the height of a building. Wolfe carries a walking stick, and has been depicted using it to manifest his abilities, as when, for example, he negated the flight ability of a fleeing Jason Hutchence, though it was not made clear which ability he used to do this. He attempts to apprehend Chloe and her family in issue 5, but they manage to escape him. He has also married Neutrino (Gabriella) and the two have a daughter together, Maisie.
Sophie Hutchence – Sophie is Chloe and Hutch's only daughter. ==Critical reception==