Warning! Spoilers ahead for Challengers of the Unknown #2!He may be gone, butDarkseidis only growing more powerful since his physical body was destroyed. The DC All In event started with a bang that resulted inthe Justice League’s classic foemeeting and untimely and explosive end.
It was Darkseid’s destruction that ushered in the debutof the Absolute Universe. But beyond the creation of that perilous world, things have only gotten stranger, with more calamities and catastrophes piling up. Now a team that’s quite familiar with death is toying with the idea that in death,Darkseid has only become strongerthan ever.
Darkseid is Connected to Everyone Who Has Died in the DC Universe
The Challengers of the Unknown are Facing a Grim Reality
InChallengers of the Unknown #2by Christopher Cantwell, Jorge Fornés, Sean Izaakse, Amancay Nahuelpan, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Matt Herms, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Challenger member June Robbins reflects on how she created her robot, Ultivac, and how it helped her cheat death like the rest of her team. June also thinks about how she was forced to destroy Ultivac when the concept of death drove it to murder. Buta signal seemingly sent by Ultivac is being sent from the ocean floor, and it’s calling out for June.
…Darkseid’s death has possibly ‘activated’ them all in some way…
June teams up with Batman, Aquaman, and the Sea Devils to investigate the signal when the heroes run into a swarm of robotic sharks. June receives a telepathic communication from Ultivac, who tells her where she can find him. June and Batman head out to the Karakoram mountain range where they find Ultivac. The giant robot attempts to kill Batman, but June manages to calm Ultivac down and tell her what’s bothering him. Ultivac tells June thatwhen Darkseid died, Ultivac awakened and realized that those ‘stained with death’ have no place in this reality anymore.
Batman causes an avalanche to stop Ultivac, knocking out June, who has a vision of Ultivac that morphs into the visage of Darkseid. After the mission is completed, Batman informs Mister Terrific that Ultivac is seeking Darkseid energy while June is sent into quarantine along with her teammate Ace, who was previously subjected to a Darkseid anomaly. June joins Ace in isolation and brings him up to speed, telling him that every Challenger has survived death, butDarkseid’s death has possibly ‘activated’ them all in some way after the New God’s physical body was destroyed.
How Darkseid Died and What it Did to the DC Universe
From New Universes to New Anomalies
At the end ofAbsolute Power, the multiverse was sealed off to protect the Prime DC Universe, but this wound up having the unintended consequence of driving Darkseid mad. With all his power coalesced in one form, he went to the ends of the DC Universe to find some way of breaking the pattern he was stuck in. Darkseid bonded with the Spectre, and he attacked the Justice League. Despite the power at his disposal,Darkseid’s body was destroyed and a wave of energy went out all across the DC Universe.
This can be seen in theDC All In Special #1 (2024)!
Most of this energy broke through the multiversal barrier, where it settled on the Elseworld, a young and impressionable Earth. This ended up creating the Absolute Universe, a dark mirror to the Prime DC Universe where the heroes face greater challenges while having fewer creature comforts compared to their counterparts. Booster Gold ventured out into this world, and accidentally wound up traveling to its future, where Darkseid had formed his own incarnation of the Legion of Super-Heroes. But while most of the Darkseid energy remained in the Absolute Universe,parts of the Prime DCU were affected as well.
Since Darkseid died, strange aberrations have popped up. In Aquaman’s corner of the world, he found a pearl that seemingly seems connected to Darkseid. And as prophesied by the Source Wall, Earth has witnessed the arrival of a New God in the form of a child named Kamal. Thankfully, the Justice League is doing their best to stay on top of all these different anomalies, and are working alongside the Challengers of the Unknown. However, while investigating one anomaly,Superman’s eyes began to glow quite similar to Darkseid, raising the question of how much influence the New God still has.
Darkseid Can ‘Activate’ People Who Have Been Affected By Death
He Could Control So Many Powerful Heroes Now
The Challengers of the Unknown spends a lot of its second issue highlighting how Darkseid is the ultimate personification of death, which is understandable. It also makes sense that the Challengers would be particularly vulnerable to these anomalies, considering that they’ve been joking about how they’ve been living on borrowed time since they first formed their team. But it seems like June and others are coming around to the idea that those who have been touched by deathin some way really are at risk of being influenced by Darkseid.
The Challengers only avoided death, but Ultivac was destroyed and if June’s vision is true, then Darkseid has formed some kind of connection to him (which would explain why he’s trying to seek out Darkseid energy). But more than that, Superman infamously died at the hands of Doomsday, and his eyes were glowing ominously after making contact with the first aberration. The death/Darkseid connection might also explain why the New God is seemingly tied in with the recent destruction of Atlantis.Darkseid is making a conscious effort to go after heroes who diedor had a brush with death before.
This wouldn’t be the first time previously dead heroes were targeted. Those who remember Blackest Night may recall that the Lord of the Unliving Nekron tried to do the same thing with his Black Lantern Corps. Nekron was able to draft both dead and resurrected heroes into his army, so who’s to say that Darkseid couldn’t do the same thing? The real question is why? It could be that he’s trying to slowly infiltrate the Justice League to undermine their efforts andprevent them from stopping him when Darkseid makes his inevitable return.
Darkseid’s Plan Could Finally Give Him His Ultimate Victory
The World’s Greatest Heroes Have All Died Before
In a world where superhero resurrections are surprisingly common, many, if not all the best superheroes have been touched by death in some way. If Darkseid really is able to take control or influence those who have died, then the heroes are at a serious disadvantage. Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and more have all died and come back to life just like Superman did. IfDarkseid’sout to corrupt the heroes who have died, the DC Universe may already be his.
Challengers of the Unknown #2is available now from DC Comics.
Darkseid
Darkseid is a tyrannical supervillain in DC Comics, ruling the hellish planet Apokolips. He seeks the Anti-Life Equation to control all sentient life and eliminate free will across the universe. With immense strength, energy manipulation, and Omega Beams that disintegrate targets, Darkseid is a relentless foe of Superman, the Justice League, New Gods, and free people everywhere.
