DC Just Revealed a Forgotten Justice League Hero’s New Form, But He’s Not the Only Surprise
The Atom is one of the most storied but under-respected DC heroes. In fact, back in the day, it was impossible to imagine the Justice League without him. He rose to popularity as a mainstay member in the Silver and Bronze Ages, becoming the League’s de facto super scientist. He was never the face of the team or an indomitable symbol of perseverance, but he was always someone you could count on. Even when icons like Superman and Batman left, the Atom stayed and guided the Justice League forward. Nowadays, however, he’s been all but forgotten, but DC is giving Ray a chance to strut his stuff in an all-new way.
The Absolute Universe is DC’s newest, biggest Elseworld, reimagining all of its heroes and villains in a much darker world pointed towards Darkseid’s evil. Absolute Flash has followed the young Wally West as he’s tried to make heads or tails of his strange new powers and the mysteries of Project Olympus. The solicit for issue #20 promises that he’ll make a breakthrough in that research as he comes face to face with the Absolute Atom. Not only that, but he’s proving that great things can come in small packages, as he’s bringing another as-of-yet-unrevealed hero with him for a dual debut.
Double the Heroes, Twice the Fun
The Absolute Atom is almost here, and this first look at his design is sick. We got a brief look at this from a hologram in issue #15, but here we see the full colors on display. The traditional Atom costume is made of bright red and blue, but this one is definitely darker and more in line with the Absolute Universe. There’s a lot more black, and the blues look far more like purple, with energy of the same color floating around him. Given its design and Ray’s research, it’s very likely that this is Still Point energy that he harnessed, just as Barry has. He’s clearly already mastered at least some of this energy, given how tiny he is on this cover.
However, what really caught my attention was the promise of the second major character. It could be Ralph Dibney making his debut as a hero, but given that the solicit phrased it in a way to indicate this as the character debut, I’m leaning towards not. To me, the most likely candidate is Absolute Cyborg. Silas Stone worked alongside Ray, Barry, and Mirror Master to found Star Labs, and the last we heard of Silas was that he disappeared following Project Olympus’s fall. We saw the remains of his research, which included what appears to be robots in glass cases.
The most important evidence of all is that the message Ray left for Silas specified that Victor had gone missing. Thawne easily could have kidnapped him to force Silas to work for her, or he could have just gotten caught up in some kind of horrific accident. Either way, his disappearance could definitely be the genesis point of his transformation into the Absolute Cyborg. It would make sense, given how important Star Labs is in the story and how close Wally and Victor are in the Prime Universe. This could be the start of an awesome team-up, or even the Absolute Teen Titans, and I am beyond excited to see what they do with this.
Who do you think is the mysterious second hero in the solicit? Even beyond that, are you hyped to finally see the Absolute Atom in action? I know I am.
