DC Officially Returns [SPOILER] To Main Continuity, in a Massive ‘Outsiders’ Twist

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Outsiders #6

A major hero just came back to DC Comics, and their arrival could herald the re-appearance of a long-lost piece of the entire multiverse. Outsiders continues the adventures of Luke Fox, Batwoman, and Drummer as they explore the little-seen corners of the DC Universe. While the series owes a clear debt to the ground-breaking Planetary series, the latest issue of Outsiders makes that connection quite literal.

Outsiders #6 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Robert Carey finds the heroes stranded in a strange world called the “Place Between Pages,” a sort of purgatory for forgotten DC characters. It’s here where Drummer drops a bombshell: she’s actually Jakita Wagner, of the original Planetary team.

Realizing where they are, Drummer runs off into the idyllic neighborhood town, stopping when she gets to a mailbox marked “Snow.” When she learns that the house has been abandoned, she angrily starts destroying the town, revealing that she has super-strength and then finally confessing her true name to her teammates. This development is a major twist for this multiverse-obsessed DC series.

Planetary’s Jakita Wagner Is Back in the DC Universe – with A Vengeance

What is Planetary’s Connection to DC Comics?

Running for twenty-seven issues and a handful of specials from 1998-2009, Planetary was the brainchild of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. Originally published by Wildstorm, Planetary followed the adventures of the titular organization, whose mandate was to explore strange occurrences all across the globe. Drifter Elijah Snow is recruited into the fold by Jakita Wagner and the Drummer, and the series follows all three across their adventures in the Wildstorm Universe. It’s eventually revealed that Snow was the mysterious “Fourth Man” who ran Planetary, with his memories wiped by the organization’s greatest enemies, the Four.

Drummer revealing herself to be Jakita Wagner opens up a lot of interesting possibilities for the future of this series and the DCU at large. The new Outsiders team using the Authority’s Carrier shiftship has always suggested that certain elements of the original Wildstorm Universe have survived in the present continuity. The Carrier talking about coming from a universe that isn’t there anymore suggests a mystery for the new Outsiders to pursue, as while many Wildstorm characters have found a home in the DCU, the concept of them being unknowing survivors of a missing universe is an intriguing narrative development.

Is Jakita Wagner Hinting the Wildstorm Universe Is Coming Back?

Wildstorm Characters Have Been Making Waves in the DCU

Jakita also shows off a Planetary Guide in the final panel, one of the original books put together by Elijah Snow when he founded the organization in the early part of the twentieth century. Snow was portrayed as one of several Century Babies — infants born on January 1st, 1900 — who have recently made a comeback in this series.

Outsiders has revived the Century Babies concept for the 21st Century with the introduction of the super-powerful Jenny Crisis, so it’s certainly possible that the previous Century babies could be coming back — including the previous spirit of the twenty-first century, Jenny Quantum. The bigger question, however, is whether Jakita and the other Outsiders will find Elijah Snow hiding somewhere in the multiverse. Hopefully, DC Comics will provide all these answers and more in upcoming issues of Outsiders.

Outsiders #6 is available now from DC Comics.