Warning: this article contains spoilers for Justice League Odyssey #24.
Darkseid may be one of the most terrifying villains of the DC universe, but this week’s Justice League Odyssey proves he really doesn’t understand time travel. Dan Abnett’s Justice League Odyssey has seen a handful of Justice Leaguers face the greatest threat of all time – literally. Epoch, the self-styled Lord of Time, intended to rewrite history in order to erase Darkseid.
Unfortunately, Darkseid considered Epoch’s Revision Mechanism to be the perfect tool, and now he’s poised to become the true Lord of Time, using the Revision Mechanism to rewrite history and ensure all of creation falls under his control. Justice League Odyssey #24 sees Jessica Cruz launch her “Hail Mary” plan, a last desperate chance to assemble enough forces to defeat Darkseid. The stakes have never been higher; they have literally one last shot, and if they miss, Darkseid will have triumphed. Fortunately, Darkseid doesn’t even know they’re coming.
Ironically, the issue also reveals Darkseid doesn’t understand time travel quite as well as he pretends. In one key scene, he blackmails Gamma Knife into serving him by revealing how Epoch rescued her from an ill-considered – and apparently fatal – time jump. But this time jump was a key moment in Justice League Odyssey, because it transported Green Lantern Jessica Cruz back to the present day for the final battle with Darkseid. This should immediately concern Darkseid, because it means Epoch had foreseen everything right up to the present moment. When he snapped his fingers and transported Jessica Cruz away, he was doing what he knew must be done in order to create the present moment.
Time travel is notoriously tricky, and Jessica Cruz had been deeply concerned even Epoch didn’t understand it well enough, but it seems he had correctly interpreted the flow of events and was ensuring his actions shepherded in a specific history. The idea can be compared to Doctor Strange in Avengers: Infinity War, who identified 14 million different timelines and had the responsibility of trying to ensure the right one – the one in which Thanos was defeated – took place. Given Epoch was deeply concerned about Darkseid, he wouldn’t have gone to all these lengths if he weren’t looking to arrange an outcome that worked against Darkseid’s interests.
But here’s the real irony; Darkseid is in charge of Epoch’s Revision Mechanism, which means all of time and space is laid out before him. For all that’s the case, though, he hasn’t even noticed the problem. Again, that’s probably something Epoch factored in; he knew he understood time travel a lot better than his opponent.
Justice League Odyssey #24, written by Dan Abnett with art by Cliff Richards and cover by José Ladrönn, is available now.
