Warning! Contains spoilers for Outsiders #5!
The Justice League always managed to identify and defeat the biggest threats to the DC Universe, but Batwoman has just discovered the Dark Messiah — a threat the DCU will never see coming. Given the child’s shocking parentage, his threat-level isn’t very surprising at all.
During Outsiders #5 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Robert Carey, Batwoman and the Outsiders meet Nocturna at her club, a place where citizens can get together with villains for some quality time together. During this party, Nocturna reveals to Kate that she’s had a child. This birth is certainly surprising, because vampires can’t typically sexually reproduce. At first, Kate even assumes the child has been kidnapped.
Nocturna goes on to explain that not only is the child her flesh and blood, but he’s the “Dark Messiah.” Nocturna seems to have had an asexual birth, and now her child, who she calls “The End,” is entirely human and perfectly capable of ending the world. Nocturna states that all she has to do is nuture him to adulthood, and then he’ll bring about the apocalypse.
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DC’s Greatest Threat Yet Has Been Born to the Vampire Nocturna
The threats to the DC Universe over the years are usually pretty obvious, given their massive scale: when the Anti-Monitor first appeared, for example, and threatened reality itself, he was a threat that everyone was very aware of. What makes this new Dark Messiah so terrifying is that, aside from Kate Kane, no one is aware that this child exists. It seems that the Dark Messiah won’t be ready to destroy the world for at least another ten years, and it’s hard to say what heroes will be around to stop him by then.
As Nocturna points out, the Dark Messiah looks exactly like a human. Unlike his mother, the child is entirely human. This means he’ll be able to hide in society with no issues at all. It’s unclear exactly what powers the Dark Messiah has, if any, but one thing is for sure: the DC Universe has a habit of being nearly destroyed by secret attacks. In DC vs. Vampires, the Earth was taken over — and the Justice League destroyed — by vampires who chose to bide their time. In the landmar series Infinite Crisis by Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, and others, a conspiracy nearly destroyed the planet because the Justice League didn’t notice until it was too late.
Even the Justice League Should Beware the Dark Messiah’s World-Ending Threat
Right now, there’s a monster that could destroy the DCU, and only Batwoman knows about it. It’s unlikely that the Dark Messiah will become a major threat anytime soon, considering he is currently a baby. But with the Justice League constantly busy with other major threats — like the upcoming Absolute Power event by Mark Waid and Dan Mora — the Dark Messiah is unlikely to show up on their radar anytime soon. His mysterious nature means he is the one villain that might finally destroy the Justice League.
Outsiders #5 is available now from DC Comics!
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