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Monitor (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Monitor is a fictional character
created by writer Marv Wolfman
and artist George Pérez
as one of the main characters of DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths
limited series
.
The character began appearing, along with his assistant Lyla, in numerous DC Comics titles beginning in 1982, three years before the Crisis began in July 1985; these appearances made it seem that he was some sort of weapons dealer for supervillains. This was all part of the setup Wolfman and the staff of DC Comics planned for the Crisis, showing the Monitor currying favor with villains such as Maxie Zeus
, prior to calling on the heroes. The Monitor was depicted in the shadows for all of his appearances in DC's mainstream superhero titles, and his face was first revealed in one of their few remaining non-superhero titles, the war comic G.I. Combat
issue #274.
, a scientist from the planet Maltus who was attempting to see the beginning of the universe. As a result of his actions, an infinite number of parallel universes were brought into existence side by side, separated only by minuscule vibrational differences, none of them as strong as the single universe that existed earlier would have been.
Monitor was born on Oa's moon, apparently as the living embodiment of all positive matter universes. One of these universes was composed entirely of antimatter
, and on the moon of Oa's counterpart, Qward
, a hideous mockery of life was born from its very soil, a being that would come to be known as the Anti-Monitor
.
conquered his universe, the Monitor watched him, and when the Anti-Monitor sensed his presence, they began battling across the dimensional barrier in a war that lasted one million years.
A simultaneous attack rendered them both unconscious, and they lay unmoving for more than nine billion years, until the Monitor felt his evil counterpart awaken, as a result of another experiment on the creation of the universe by another scientist, which resulted in the destruction of that scientist's universe. He found this scientist, a man who would become known as Pariah
, and used him to follow the Anti-Monitor's path of destruction in his newly-created spaceship.
As the Anti-Monitor consumed worlds with his destructive antimatter, thus increasing his power as his antimatter universe expanded to fill the 'gap' that had been left by the loss of the universe, the Monitor grew weaker. He studied every universe for the means to fight the Anti-Monitor, but even though countless universes were threatened, he took the time to save an orphaned girl, the only survivor of a shipwreck, and raised her on his ship.
That girl, Lyla, grew up to become Harbinger
, having been granted great powers by the Monitor. (They cared for each other, but whether it was a romantic relationship or simply a father/daughter relationship was not made clear).
The Monitor went so far as to provide supervillains with technology, supposedly for money but in reality as a way to test the heroes and villains of Earth and find out which ones might help his cause.
When the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter wave began approaching the main Earths of the Multiverse, the Monitor directed Harbinger to track down an initial force of fifteen specific heroes and villains the Monitor needed to fight his foe (this initial group featured Kal-L
, Doctor Polaris
, Dawnstar
, Geo-Force
, Cyborg
, Killer Frost
(With her mind temporarily altered to make her more accommodating), Firestorm, Psycho-Pirate
, Solovar
, Blue Beetle
, Psimon
, Green Lantern
, and Arion
). He explained to them what was going on, and sent them to protect giant tower-like devices that he had created on several places across space and time; his plan was to merge the surviving Earths into a single one that could resist the Anti-Monitor's attack. He also sent Harbinger to recover the infant Alexander Luthor, Jr.
, the sole survivor of Earth-Three, whom he believed would be of invaluable assistance.
When Harbinger returned, one of her incarnations had been attacked by one of the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons, and that corruption caused her combined self to attack and kill the Monitor. However, he had foreseen the attack, and used his death to power the machines that would pull Earth-One and Earth-Two into a netherverse created from the energies liberated by his own death, saving them from the Anti-Monitor's unstoppable antimatter wall. He left Lyla a recorded message explaining this, trusting that she and the Multiverse's heroes would complete the job and preserve the worlds before their vibration slowed down to an extent where they would destroy each other as they existed in the same place simultaneously.
Harbinger followed the Monitor's legacy, using up her powers to draw the last three Earths (Earth-Four, Earth-S, and Earth-X) into the Netherverse. With help from Pariah, Alexander and all the surviving heroes and villains from the various Earths, she eventually defeated the Anti-Monitor at the dawn of time, and then in his own antimatter universe, saving the reborn universe from his predations. These actions resulted in a "reboot" of the multiverse as a single universe, creating an amalgam of the five surviving Earths which possessed the strength to resist the Anti-Monitor's attack.
Ironically, the existence of the scheming but benevolent Monitor has apparently been forgotten by everyone except his closest associates as a result of the change in history.
, Alexander Luthor, Jr.
revives the multiverse by splitting the merged Earths, in an effort to find a "perfect earth" because he believed the surviving Earth to be corrupted. His plan is thwarted by Conner Kent, who destroys the tower he created to splinter the Earth. The re-collapse of the Earths resulted in excess energy that created a wholly new multiverse
consisting of 52
identical Earths. Luthor's use of the Anti-Monitor
's armor to recreate the Multiverse acted as a "seed program" to proliferate all cloned universes with their own Monitor. The histories of the 52 Earths were changed as a result of Mister Mind's multi-dimensional rampage. As a result of there being worlds with different histories, the Monitors now work as a collective to prevent interaction between the universes that could lead to a new Crisis.
al origin for the Monitors, including the first one featured in Crisis on Infinite Earths, is later given during the Final Crisis.
There is revealed that the Monitor himself was nothing but a probe sent by an unseen, yet powerful being, an Overmonitor, the Original Monitor, an incorporeal and unfathomable being of limitless imagination who became aware of the concept of stories by stumbling upon the original Multiverse, which existed as a minute lesion within itself. Willing to understand it fully, he fashioned a probe allowing him to interact with the budding Universes. However, corrupted by the sheer complexity of Multiverse, the probe was split into two symmetrical and complementary beings: the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor, a being of pure good and a being of pure evil battling one against the other as told in the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The attempt to know and map the Universe was deemed a partial success, as after the death and the rebirth of the Universe from Dax Novu, the Firstborn of the Monitors (it's still uncertain if Dax Novu was meant to be the Monitor himself, or a later creation of the Overmonitor), a new race of Monitors
was spawned in the World of Nil, the netherworld surrounding the universe. These Monitors, made each one different by accepting the concept of time and mortality, became a race of cosmic vampires, feasting and needing stories to stay alive. On their world they grew in time a fascination with the Superman
mythology, the very first story they came to know, employing a thought robot with the appearance of the original Superman (the Earth-1 version) to guard them against menaces. The same concept of time and mortality, and the repressed loathing the original Monitor had for the germs, the beings living in the Multiverse, turned Dax Novu into Mandrakk, the Dark Monitor, the negation of life itself. Superman, inhabiting the Thought Robot, defeats Mandrakk/Dax Novu. Later, a different incarnation of Mandrakk (Rox Ogama), battles his son, Nix Uotan, and is killed during the Final Crisis by the Green Lanterns.
In the end, Superman heals the damaged Multiverse with a replica of the Miracle Machine
. However, Nix Uotan, now with the appearance of a human being living in Metropolis, retains his role as the sole link between the Overmonitor and the Multiverse.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
created by writer Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
and artist George Pérez
George Pérez
George Pérez is a Puerto Rican-American writer and illustrator of comic books, known for his work on various titles, including Avengers, Teen Titans and Wonder Woman.-Biography:...
as one of the main characters of DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
.
The character began appearing, along with his assistant Lyla, in numerous DC Comics titles beginning in 1982, three years before the Crisis began in July 1985; these appearances made it seem that he was some sort of weapons dealer for supervillains. This was all part of the setup Wolfman and the staff of DC Comics planned for the Crisis, showing the Monitor currying favor with villains such as Maxie Zeus
Maxie Zeus
Maximillian "Maxie" Zeus is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He is a criminal mastermind who believes that he is the god Zeus from Greek mythology. He is an occasional enemy of Batman...
, prior to calling on the heroes. The Monitor was depicted in the shadows for all of his appearances in DC's mainstream superhero titles, and his face was first revealed in one of their few remaining non-superhero titles, the war comic G.I. Combat
G.I. Combat
G.I. Combat is a long-running comic book series published first by Quality Comics and later by National Periodical Publications, which was the primary company of those that evolved to become DC Comics.-Publication history:...
issue #274.
Origins
Thirteen billion years ago, the multiverse was born due to tampering with the creation of the universe by KronaKrona (comics)
Krona is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Green Lantern #40 , and was created by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane.-Fictional character biography:...
, a scientist from the planet Maltus who was attempting to see the beginning of the universe. As a result of his actions, an infinite number of parallel universes were brought into existence side by side, separated only by minuscule vibrational differences, none of them as strong as the single universe that existed earlier would have been.
Monitor was born on Oa's moon, apparently as the living embodiment of all positive matter universes. One of these universes was composed entirely of antimatter
Antimatter
In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
, and on the moon of Oa's counterpart, Qward
Qward
Qward is a fictional world existing within an antimatter universe that is part of the . It was first mentioned in Green Lantern # 2 .-Fictional history:...
, a hideous mockery of life was born from its very soil, a being that would come to be known as the Anti-Monitor
Anti-Monitor
The Anti-Monitor is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain and the antagonist of the 1985 DC Comics miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. He first appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 , and was destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12, only to return after a long absence in Green...
.
The Long War
As the evil Anti-MonitorAnti-Monitor
The Anti-Monitor is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain and the antagonist of the 1985 DC Comics miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. He first appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 , and was destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12, only to return after a long absence in Green...
conquered his universe, the Monitor watched him, and when the Anti-Monitor sensed his presence, they began battling across the dimensional barrier in a war that lasted one million years.
A simultaneous attack rendered them both unconscious, and they lay unmoving for more than nine billion years, until the Monitor felt his evil counterpart awaken, as a result of another experiment on the creation of the universe by another scientist, which resulted in the destruction of that scientist's universe. He found this scientist, a man who would become known as Pariah
Pariah (comics)
Pariah is a fictional scientist published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 , and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.-Fictional character biography:...
, and used him to follow the Anti-Monitor's path of destruction in his newly-created spaceship.
As the Anti-Monitor consumed worlds with his destructive antimatter, thus increasing his power as his antimatter universe expanded to fill the 'gap' that had been left by the loss of the universe, the Monitor grew weaker. He studied every universe for the means to fight the Anti-Monitor, but even though countless universes were threatened, he took the time to save an orphaned girl, the only survivor of a shipwreck, and raised her on his ship.
That girl, Lyla, grew up to become Harbinger
Harbinger (DC Comics)
Harbinger is a fictional character, a DC Comics superheroine created in the early 1980s.-Fictional character biography:She and her associate, the Monitor, made several short teasing appearances in various DC comic books up until 1985, when the Crisis on Infinite Earths began...
, having been granted great powers by the Monitor. (They cared for each other, but whether it was a romantic relationship or simply a father/daughter relationship was not made clear).
The Monitor went so far as to provide supervillains with technology, supposedly for money but in reality as a way to test the heroes and villains of Earth and find out which ones might help his cause.
Crisis
Kal-L
The Superman of Earth-Two is a fictional character, a comic book superhero published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Justice League of America #73 . He is a version of the Kryptonian superhero Superman from an alternate reality called Earth-Two...
, Doctor Polaris
Doctor Polaris
Doctor Polaris is an alias used by two fictional supervillains, comic book characters published by DC Comics. Neil Emerson first appeared as Doctor Polaris in Green Lantern #21 , and was created by John Broome and Gil Kane. The second Dr...
, Dawnstar
Dawnstar
Dawnstar is a fictional superheroine in comic books published by DC Comics. She was created by Paul Levitz and Mike Grell.- Fictional character biography :...
, Geo-Force
Geo-Force
Geo-Force is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Markov is Prince of Markovia and the half-brother of Terra. Geo-Force is one of the founding members of the superhero group the Outsiders. He first appeared in a special insert in The Brave and the...
, Cyborg
Cyborg (comics)
Cyborg is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, and first appears in a special insert in DC Comics Presents #26...
, Killer Frost
Killer Frost
Killer Frost is the name of two fictional characters in the DC Comics universe. They are both supervillains that appear mainly as foes of the superhero Firestorm.-Crystal Frost:...
(With her mind temporarily altered to make her more accommodating), Firestorm, Psycho-Pirate
Psycho-Pirate
The Psycho-Pirate is the name of two DC Comics supervillains, dating back to the Golden Age of Comics.-Charles Halstead:Charles Halstead is a minor character who first appears in All-Star Comics #23, created by Gardner Fox and Joe Gallagher...
, Solovar
Solovar
Solovar is a fictional character, a sentient gorilla in the . The character is the progressive leader of a race of gorillas that first appeared as supporting characters of the Flash.-Character history:...
, Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes that appear in American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939.-Publication history:...
, Psimon
Psimon
Psimon is a fictional comic book supervillain from DC Comics created by George Pérez and Marv Wolfman. He first appeared in New Teen Titans #3 as one of the founding members of the Fearsome Five, which became a frequent enemy of the Teen Titans, Superman, and the Outsiders.-Fictional character...
, Green Lantern
John Stewart (comics)
John Stewart is a fictional character, a comic book superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2, #87 , and was created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams.-Publication history:...
, and Arion
Arion (comics)
Arion is a fictional sword and sorcery hero published by DC Comics. He debuted in Warlord #55 , and was created by Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema.-Publication history:...
). He explained to them what was going on, and sent them to protect giant tower-like devices that he had created on several places across space and time; his plan was to merge the surviving Earths into a single one that could resist the Anti-Monitor's attack. He also sent Harbinger to recover the infant Alexander Luthor, Jr.
Alexander Luthor, Jr.
Alexander Luthor Jr. is a DC Comics character who turned from a hero to a villain. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, Alexander has a prominent role in the DC Universe storylines Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis....
, the sole survivor of Earth-Three, whom he believed would be of invaluable assistance.
When Harbinger returned, one of her incarnations had been attacked by one of the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons, and that corruption caused her combined self to attack and kill the Monitor. However, he had foreseen the attack, and used his death to power the machines that would pull Earth-One and Earth-Two into a netherverse created from the energies liberated by his own death, saving them from the Anti-Monitor's unstoppable antimatter wall. He left Lyla a recorded message explaining this, trusting that she and the Multiverse's heroes would complete the job and preserve the worlds before their vibration slowed down to an extent where they would destroy each other as they existed in the same place simultaneously.
Harbinger followed the Monitor's legacy, using up her powers to draw the last three Earths (Earth-Four, Earth-S, and Earth-X) into the Netherverse. With help from Pariah, Alexander and all the surviving heroes and villains from the various Earths, she eventually defeated the Anti-Monitor at the dawn of time, and then in his own antimatter universe, saving the reborn universe from his predations. These actions resulted in a "reboot" of the multiverse as a single universe, creating an amalgam of the five surviving Earths which possessed the strength to resist the Anti-Monitor's attack.
Ironically, the existence of the scheming but benevolent Monitor has apparently been forgotten by everyone except his closest associates as a result of the change in history.
The Monitors
During the events of Infinite CrisisInfinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...
, Alexander Luthor, Jr.
Alexander Luthor, Jr.
Alexander Luthor Jr. is a DC Comics character who turned from a hero to a villain. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, Alexander has a prominent role in the DC Universe storylines Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis....
revives the multiverse by splitting the merged Earths, in an effort to find a "perfect earth" because he believed the surviving Earth to be corrupted. His plan is thwarted by Conner Kent, who destroys the tower he created to splinter the Earth. The re-collapse of the Earths resulted in excess energy that created a wholly new multiverse
Multiverse (DC Comics)
The DC Multiverse is a fictional continuity construct that exists in stories published by comic book company DC Comics. The DC Multiverse consists of numerous worlds, most of them outside DC's main continuity, allowing writers the creative freedom to explore alternative versions of characters and...
consisting of 52
52 (comic book)
52 was a weekly American comic book limited series published by DC Comics that debuted on May 10, 2006, one week after the conclusion of the seven-issue Infinite Crisis. The series was written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid with layouts by Keith Giffen...
identical Earths. Luthor's use of the Anti-Monitor
Anti-Monitor
The Anti-Monitor is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain and the antagonist of the 1985 DC Comics miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. He first appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 , and was destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12, only to return after a long absence in Green...
's armor to recreate the Multiverse acted as a "seed program" to proliferate all cloned universes with their own Monitor. The histories of the 52 Earths were changed as a result of Mister Mind's multi-dimensional rampage. As a result of there being worlds with different histories, the Monitors now work as a collective to prevent interaction between the universes that could lead to a new Crisis.
Final Crisis
A new metafictionMetafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
al origin for the Monitors, including the first one featured in Crisis on Infinite Earths, is later given during the Final Crisis.
There is revealed that the Monitor himself was nothing but a probe sent by an unseen, yet powerful being, an Overmonitor, the Original Monitor, an incorporeal and unfathomable being of limitless imagination who became aware of the concept of stories by stumbling upon the original Multiverse, which existed as a minute lesion within itself. Willing to understand it fully, he fashioned a probe allowing him to interact with the budding Universes. However, corrupted by the sheer complexity of Multiverse, the probe was split into two symmetrical and complementary beings: the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor, a being of pure good and a being of pure evil battling one against the other as told in the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The attempt to know and map the Universe was deemed a partial success, as after the death and the rebirth of the Universe from Dax Novu, the Firstborn of the Monitors (it's still uncertain if Dax Novu was meant to be the Monitor himself, or a later creation of the Overmonitor), a new race of Monitors
Monitors (comics)
The Monitors are a group of fictional comic book characters, who appear in books published by DC Comics.They are based on The Monitor, a character created by comic book writer Marv Wolfman and comic artist George Pérez as one of the main characters of DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths limited...
was spawned in the World of Nil, the netherworld surrounding the universe. These Monitors, made each one different by accepting the concept of time and mortality, became a race of cosmic vampires, feasting and needing stories to stay alive. On their world they grew in time a fascination with the Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
mythology, the very first story they came to know, employing a thought robot with the appearance of the original Superman (the Earth-1 version) to guard them against menaces. The same concept of time and mortality, and the repressed loathing the original Monitor had for the germs, the beings living in the Multiverse, turned Dax Novu into Mandrakk, the Dark Monitor, the negation of life itself. Superman, inhabiting the Thought Robot, defeats Mandrakk/Dax Novu. Later, a different incarnation of Mandrakk (Rox Ogama), battles his son, Nix Uotan, and is killed during the Final Crisis by the Green Lanterns.
In the end, Superman heals the damaged Multiverse with a replica of the Miracle Machine
Miracle Machine
The Miracle Machine is a fictitious device in the DC Comics universe. The machine first appeared in Adventure Comics #367, April 1968.It was created by the Controllers no later than 2960, and given as a gift to the Legion of Super-Heroes in the late 30th century for their work in defeating a...
. However, Nix Uotan, now with the appearance of a human being living in Metropolis, retains his role as the sole link between the Overmonitor and the Multiverse.
Powers and abilities
- Monitor's powers were never well defined, but he was able to sense his counterpart's existence in the Anti-Matter Universe and fight with him from Oa's moon using energy powers (though the feedback of the attack placed him in suspended animation for eons).
- He was able to save Pariah (and possibly empower him to never die and be always drawn to where the Anti-Monitor was about to strike next) and create an entire satellite headquarters out of nothingness.
- Apparently, he could not create the protective netherverse without dying first, although this may have been because he did not have the time to come up with a less lethal plan.
- He possessed highly advanced technology.
- As a Monitor he can, as told by MetronMetron (comics)Metron is a character created by Jack Kirby for his Fourth World series in DC Comics. He was "based on Leonard Nimoy as Spock", and designed as a character who "would frequently change sides [between New Genesis and Apokolips]"...
"Create with a thought"
External links
- Alan Kistler's DC Crisis Files - Comic book historian Alan Kistler's detailed articles on the Crisis and related events, such as Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis.