Absolute Power is nearly here and Amanda Waller’s mad quest to rein the DC Universe’s metahumans in is almost complete. Mark Waid discussed his event with Screen Rant and offered up his thoughts on why he feels this crusade is the natural evolution of Amanda Waller’s search for order.

With Absolute Power approaching fast, Screen Rant spoke to event writer Mark Waid to discover what fans could expect. Waid spoke of the event’s villains, both the newer foes like Task Force VII and older ones like Amanda Waller.

Mark Waid: Same with Amanda Waller. She genuinely believes she’s right. She genuinely believes that she is in a world where superheroes are more of a curse than a blessing and she needs to stop that.

Mark Waid: […]this is certainly the way they’ve been building her in the in the last couple of years in the DC Universe. She’s getting less and less interested in compromise. She getting less and less interested in doing things the way she’s always done them because from her point of view, the superheroes are just getting worse. The superheroes just getting more prolific, more predominant. And the general populace has embraced them now even harder than they have in years past. So something’s got to be done.

Waid offered up his thoughts about Waller and says that what makes her so interesting is that “she genuinely believes she’s right“ that heroes need to be reined in. He also described Waller as “getting less and less interested in compromise” and eager to fight a world where heroes are embraced “even harder than they have in years past“.

Waller Has Always Been Building Towards Absolute Power

It was after Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths that Amanda Waller finally the Earth had had enough problems caused by metahumans and resolved to rid the world of them. Backed by the Council of Light, Waller began a campaign that involved observation and making deals left and right to amass power. It was during “Beast World” that she took advantage of an alien invasion to both publicly discredit the Titans and secure more power than ever as the leader of the Bureau of Sovereignty. Now with unquestionable power at her disposal, Waller is at the last stage of her plan.

Throughout the Dawn of DC, there have been rumblings online about how Waller’s behavior is going too far, even for someone who led a team named the Suicide Squad. However, Waid raises a good point. Waller is extremely confident that her way is the right way. She’s also been in the business for a long time and she’s almost certainly grown to a point where subverting things from the shadows isn’t getting her the results she wants. It might be a bit out there for some, but Waid is correct that Waller’s recent trajectory was always going to lead her here.

Waller’s Struggle For Control of the DCU is Reaching Its Natural Conclusion

Waller has plotted and schemed from the shadows for years and while she’s found degrees of success, she’s yet to make a meaningful impact on the DC Universe. Waid wants fans to know that Waller is done with her old methods and is going for the big, public approach because she feels it’s the only way she can get things done. Is it a big change from the ways Waller has been depicted in the past? Definitely. But as far as Mark Waid is concerned, the DC Universe was always going to face this kind of reaction from Amanda Waller.

Absolute Power #1 is available on July 3rd from DC Comics.