DC Unveils Twisted Redesign For An Iconic Hero

Warning! This article contains major SPOILERS for Absolute Superman #20.Darkseid may have authored the Absolute universe in an effort to nerf classic DC superheroes, but all it’s done is buff them, as evidenced by Absolute Superman’s titular Kryptonian recently equipping Hawkman’s Thanagarian Nth mace, Steel’s Promethium, neuron star-powered sledgehammer, Viola, and his own costume armor to battle Teth-Adam/King Shazam on the moon. This new arc quickly resulted in blows exchanged during the last couple of issues following Absolute Black Adam/Shazam’s debut, but he’s already been eclipsed by the abrupt and mysterious introduction of three characters.

Absolute Superman #18 explored Absolute DC lore further by taking a peek more than three millennia ago in Ancient Egypt, where a hooded, foresight-bearing “stranger” inspired the slave boy Teth-Adam to become the prophesied hero of the Black Land and “bring freedom to the oppressed” before he was deceived and enslaved by Brainiacs. However, Absolute Superman #20 reveals that the world already had its “rulers” three thousand years ago, including a character who is traditionally known best as a Teen Titan.

Superman Gives Us Our First Look At Absolute Raven… Or Does It?

Featured virtually in full view, one of these Justice League “rulers” that Hawkman learned about via deciphered hieroglyphics, though she isn’t named, is seemingly a Trigon-possessed Raven. She’s depicted here with the four red eyes that are usually demonstrative of Trigon’s demonic, interdimensional influence, chains and barbed wire suspended midair, and a subtle costume redesign that leans a little more heavily into a mystical or occult aesthetic.

This adds a fun little wrinkle to Absolute Superman’s Phantom Stranger character, too. It’s been explicitly teased and theorized that the Phantom Stranger is the Absolute universe’s Raven, though the reveal of this ancient-era Raven either suggests that the Phantom Stranger is merely an adaptation of the actual character she’s named after, the Phantom Stranger is Raven’s mother, Arella, or that the Raven we’ve recently received a glimpse of is one of many hostesses for the demon lord—in this original continuity, though, anything’s possible.

Absolute Superman’s Justice League Lore Is Nuts

This Absolute Superman Justice League reveal is fascinating and sure to have a massive ripple effect throughout any Absolute series that has begun teasing Justice League affiliations via its primary antagonists. Three characters are depicted in the reveal of this proposed ancient Justice League, though they are deliberately obscured, with Raven being the only one who is easily discernible: Trigon/Raven, with the former possessing the latter; Arion, God-King of Atlantis, wielding Poseidon’s trident; and Vandal Savage, whose immortality would make sense in the context of this Justice League being established thousands of years before the events of Absolute Superman.

Moreover, the Absolute Justice League belonging to antiquity all along in this canon, and not simply being something novel that Joker coined in Absolute Evil, is arresting. Indeed, a potential Justice League full of supervillains instead of superheroes has been brewing in the Absolute continuity ever since the publishing line was conceived, and it’s likely that these three characters inspired Joker and Veronica Cale to form their own Justice League in the present day.

Trigon/Raven, Arion, and Savage would be a formidable threat in any era, assuming that’s who these characters are in this universe. And, with this tiny nugget of a tease being likely to lead to some greater revelation later on, it will be neat to discover if there is meant to be one true ‘Raven’ in this canon, or if Raven is more of a vessel or shadowy figure whose iconography and visage are shared by various entities in Absolute Superman.

Absolute Superman #20 is out now.