Absolute Power (comics)
"Absolute Power" is a 2024 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. Serving as the conclusion to the Dawn of DC initiative, the main limited series was written by Mark Waid, with art by Dan Mora. The storyline ran between July 3 and October 2, 2024. The event takes place in the aftermath of "House of Brainiac". The main event received positive reviews, with critics praising Mark Waid's writing, the art, the action, and the satisfying conclusion.
Premise
To neutralize the ability of every metahuman around the world, Amanda Waller recruits Failsafe and the Brainiac Queen into the Suicide Squad, beginning a campaign of hate and fear over people. In response, the Justice League and the remaining heroes form a resistance.Publication history
"Absolute Power" is a crossover event published by DC Comics and was released on July 3, 2024. The main limited series of four issues is written by Mark Waid and drawn by Dan Mora. During the Dawn of DC initiative, a "Trinity of Evil" was teased, featuring Amanda Waller, leader of A.R.G.U.S., Checkmate and the Suicide Squad, alongside the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, a Silver Age character who was reintroduced in 2022 during the "Failsafe" arc from Batman #125–130 by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez, and the Brainiac Queen, a female variation of Brainiac who was introduced in 2024 during the "House of Brainiac" storyline by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval.Plot
Background
In response to recent events involving metahumans, Amanda Waller decides that superpowers, regardless of whether they come from superheroes or supervillains, are too dangerous to be left unchecked. She gains the approval of the Council of Light, a group of clones of Brainiac, to take drastic measures. To achieve her goal, Waller takes over the Hall of Justice, founding the Bureau of Sovereignty to discredit the Justice League and Titans. She additionally coerces Dreamer and Green Arrow to work for her in taking over Gamorra and create an exclusive prison for metahumans.Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Batman develops the android Failsafe to counter him should he ever go rogue. Failsafe creates an army of Amazos before being defeated by Batman and recovered by Waller.
In Metropolis, Brainiac creates the Brainiac Queen as a means to experience the feeling of love he lost during his previous planetary invasions. Her primary functions involve devouring the abilities from the worlds he conquers until she gains her final form. After admitting his last defeat against Superman, Brainiac sends the Queen away, rendering her amnesiac.
After the Brainiac Queen awakens, Waller and Failsafe recruit her to help them complete their agenda and create a group of Amazos dubbed "Task Force VII" to drain the powers of superheroes worldwide.
Main story
Issue #1: "Powerless"
In Metropolis, a group of robbers attempt to escape using a helicopter. Superman tries to de-escalate the situation, but one of the robbers fires his pistol at Superman, which manages to injure him and causes him to fall from the sky.In Keystone City 28 hours earlier, Animal Man and Animal Girl land in the park and are met by a mob that nearly beats Animal Man to death. Batman and Robin watch news reports on Animal Man's attack and videos depicting superheroes committing acts of violence and destruction across the globe. Batman deduces the videos are fake, created by artificial intelligence to discredit superheroes. In the Hall of Order, Waller reveals to Sergeant Steel that the Brainiac Queen created the videos as part of her plan to take down every superhero on the planet. Failsafe arrives and activates Task Force VII.
Back in the present, Superboy and Jon Kent arrive and see Superman injured and falling to the ground. They manage to grab him, but are depowered and captured by Amazo robots. Amanda Waller starts a world-wide broadcast, stating her intention to solve the super-powered being problem permanently. At the same time, the Amazos of Task Force VII consisting of Depth Charge, Global Guardian, Jadestone, Last Son, Paradise Lost, and Velocity attack. They depower and capture the majority of superheroes around the world. As Batman deduces that Waller would not start such an attack if she had not already won, he is attacked by Failsafe. Batman tries to warn the heroes on their secret communication channel, but is intercepted by Green Arrow, who is working for Waller. He tells Batman that Waller made sure no help would arrive: she brokered a deal with the United Planets to make sure no one arrives on Earth or leaves Earth, along with locking down the Multiverse, the Timestream, and the Microverse. Meanwhile in an undisclosed location, the Brainiac Queen gives Jon Kent cybernetic enhancements and renders him amnesiac.
Issue #2: "Resistance"
The remaining heroes regroup in the Fortress of Solitude. Waller, Brainiac Queen and Failsafe have taken over the Hall of Justice while trying to find the rest of the resistance. While Superman heals from his wound, the rest of the heroes argue who should be the leader of the resistance. Nightwing calms everyone down, and the heroes decide Nightwing should be the leader of the resistance. Nightwing asks Batman to find if Amanda Waller has a Mother Box, Superman to gather allies in the multiverse, Black Canary to find out why Green Arrow is working for Waller, and Wonder Woman and Robin to find Waller's prison. A possessed Jon Kent and Brainiac Queen attack the heroes. Brainiac Queen captures Yara Flor, Wonder Girl, and Red Tornado while the rest of Task Force VII arrive. Dreamer arrives, but is disturbed by how callous Amanda Waller is to the heroes. Blue Beetle and Mister Terrific use the Phantom Zone projector to escape and Superman asks the Fortress of Solitude to self-destruct. Wonder Woman and Aquaman destroy the glass dome containing Kandor, which allows the miniature Kryptonians to distract Brainiac Queen long enough for Dreamer to send the rest of the heroes to the Phantom Zone before the Fortress explodes. Brainiac Queen repossesses Jon Kent while Green Arrow grabs Time Commander's hourglass.Issue #3: "Last Stand"
In Gateway City, Hawkgirl asks for backup as she and Mammoth are attacked by Amazo robots. The remaining heroes land on Themyscira where Donna Troy and Wonder Woman convince Nubia to provide refuge. Barry Allen manages to get Kryptonite from the Fortress of Solitude, Black Canary and Green Arrow's team have gone out to uncover Green Arrow's motivations, Hal Jordan retrieves Waller's weapons, and Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, and Damian have gone out on their separate missions. Nightwing instructs Aquaman, Blue Beetle, Red Tornado and Yara Flor to go take out John Starr in Amanda Waller's headquarters, Donna Troy and the Amazons defend Themiscyra, and the rest will have to save the remaining heroes. Failsafe attacks the Minster of Shanghai, and Brainiac Queen starts absorbing data from all Internet servers. Amanda Waller is enraged that the Amazo robots are gaining morality and sentience and tells Failsafe to initiate a partial reboot. Aquaman's team is attacked by Bizarro, but they quickly dispatch him and find Starr. They are then attacked by Black Alice and Deadeye. During the chaos, one of Aquaman's team members is killed. Brainiac Queen and Jon Kent attack Themiscyra, but with the help of Nightwing, Mister Terrific and Artemis of Bana-Mighdall, Jon is freed from Waller's control. Jon Kent defeats Brainiac Queen by showing her that Waller is the true enemy. Batman and Superman arrive and they teleport Brainiac Queen to Pluto by using the Mother Box, with Zatanna reporting that she and Superman have unlocked the Dark Paths to enable teleportation, and Batman confronts Starr on how he can return everyone's powers. Meanwhile, Barry Allen is directed by Steve Trevor to head to the basement of Waller's base, and discovers that she is assembling a multiversal army.Issue #4: "Showdown"
The rest of the heroes launch an attack on Waller's base on Gamorra while her multiversal allies attack Barry. Hal Jordan intervenes, giving Barry time to shut down the gateway. Task Force VII overwhelm the heroes while Nightwing is forced to deal with Failsafe and Waller weakens Jon Kent with kryptonite. Batman and Ted Kord meet with John Starr where they realize the reason why Task Force VII can regenerate is they used Starr's technology to reverse their wounds before they were attacked. Starr plans to use his hourglass to override one of the Task Force VII robots, which will cause a chain reaction that will destroy Task Force VII and return the heroes' stolen powers. Starr and Batman are knocked out before they can use the device, but Green Arrow picks it up and shoots it at one of the robots, shutting down Task Force VII and restoring the heroes' powers. This also causes Failsafe to be deactivated, while Wally West and Jay Garrick combine their willpower with Hal's to hold off the multiversal army. Green Arrow explains that he knew Waller would not trust him because she had telepaths around her, which is why he had Martian Manhunter put in a telepathic input that made him believe in Waller's cause until it timed out. Dreamer returns and knocks out Waller before she can attack Nightwing, and explains how Jon dreamed of her constantly while under Brainiac Queen's control, which pulled her into the Dreamscape and allowed her to heal from her wounds. Barry is forced to sever their Earth's connection to the rest of the Multiverse to stop Waller's army from coming through, while Waller goes on a rant about how she won by manipulating the world to hate metahumans. Unknown to her, Nightwing has Air Wave record her and broadcast her speech to the world.Two days later, the world is recovering from Waller's attack. Wally and Jay Garrick confirm they cannot access the Multiverse. It is revealed that whatever Barry did to separate their world from the multiverse also severed his connection with the Speed Force. Dreamer erases Waller's memory of the heroes' identities and leaves her alone in her cell in Belle Reve. Green Arrow calls a meeting with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman at the Secret Sanctuary to explain his actions. They begrudgingly accept his apology, with Batman revealing that while most of the heroes' abilities returned, other have their powers mixed up with other heroes. Green Arrow admits that his undercover plan was not the smartest, but insists that the whole event would never have happened if they had been more communicative and never disbanded the Justice League. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman show him the schematics for the new Watchtower.