It is revealed that only one human in 5,000 is viable for enhancement, with an even smaller number potentially capable of becoming "battleships". Meanwhile, in the Pacific theater, the United States Navy suffers a series of disastrous defeats at the hands of Imperial Japanese superhumans. Soon, all the major powers are embroiled in an arms race to develop more and stronger Übers, leading to new war atrocities, including the mass extermination of prisoners of war and convict soldiers by both the Nazis and Soviets. As the war escalates, the enhanced humans themselves face the dehumanizing prospect of becoming pure living weapons. "Über" received favorable reviews upon its initial release, and its first issue rapidly sold out. However, its author was accused by some critics of glorifying Nazism and white supremacism; both Gillen and the series' African-American lead artist Caanan White strongly denied that this was the case. Reviewing the first collected volume of "Über" in 2014, Kieron Moore of "Starburst" wrote that "It’s not easy reading but dark and clever stuff – you won’t laugh, you probably won’t cry, but it might make you think. It’s a world where war is horrific and people in power make horrible decisions. A worryingly real world." Emily King of Hex Dimension remarked that the comic "gives the delicious feeling that everything will go to hell for everyone involved, regardless of the side they’re on: the unpredictability of the plot makes "Über" really stand out." Shadowgum.co.uk described "Über" as "a black joke at the expense of how we have romanticised World War II...[showcasing] robust scripts from Gillen that lay the groundwork for what may turn out to be a rich epic of dark fantasy."