BACK TO REIGN IN THE DCU: THE RETURN OF MONARCH?

**MattBrady** · 08-01-2006, 05:14 PM

by Troy Brownfield

There was a Crisis twenty years ago, and one of the advertising slogans that followed it for DC Comics was the (still controversial) “Comics Aren’t Just for Kids!” These days, by the looks of things, DC’s new post-Crisis slogan should be “Many Happy Returns”. Recently, we’ve witnessed resets in terms of continuity and moves that place characters closer to their “iconic” forms. We’ve watched new iterations of familiar names emerge, and we’ve seen surprise returns from characters that we never thought we’d see again.

So, in that vein, it’s entirely appropriate that the biggest shocker near the end of the Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Bludhaven mini-series wasn’t that Captain Atom got in on the action, but rather that he got in on the action after being strapped into the familiar suit of armor originally worn by the Monarch. Newer readers may have said, “Who?” and long-time readers probably had reactions as varied as, “Brilliant,” “Oh no,” and “Ha! They finally did it!”

Who is Monarch? Why this move now? And how does that character’s varied and complicated history involve Captain Atom, the Lords of Order and Chaos, Zero Hour, the Teen Titans, the Team Titans, Extreme Justice, the JSA, Breach, and the Wildstorm Universe? Let’s check it out.

Captain Atom: Before we get too deeply into it, you need to understand a little about Captain Atom. Created at Charlton by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko, the good captain first appeared in 1960. Originally, he wore a red and yellow outfit, but later circumstances put him in a liquid-metal outfit that appeared when he activated his powers. That look, with its predominant blue and silver scheme, is how he appears in Crisis on Infinite Earths, which is where Captain Atom, Blue Beetle and other Charlton characters made their DC debut after they were purchased in 1983. The Charlton characters were said to come from Earth-4, and their Earth was one of the five that combined into Post-Crisis Earth near the end of that series.

Post-Crisis, Captain Atom received his own series and a revamp in 1986. He was given a distinctive new silver-skinned look, but retained his powers of strength, flight and energy blasts. The character soon joined Justice League International, and went over to Justice League Europe when that spin-off was launched.

Hawk & Dove II: The original Hawk and Dove were brothers Hank and Don Hall (and coincidentally, also co-created by Steve Ditko, with Steve Skeates). Given powers by the mysterious Voice, the conservative and temperamental Hank and the liberal, somewhat passive Don respectively became Hawk and Dove. The two headlined a brief series in the late ‘60s, then appeared in the Teen Titans, where they joined Titans West. In issue #12 of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Don died in action. Hank retained his powers, but became more unwound.

In 1988, a new Hawk and Dove mini introduced Dove II, Dawn Granger. It was revealed that their powers actually came from (again, respectively) Lords of Chaos and Order. The new pairing seemed to click at the time, and the duo graduated into their own ongoing series.

Armageddon 2001: And here’s where the complications begin. Conceived as an crossover stunt that would run through that summer’s annuals, Arm2001 launched with a #1 issue in May of 1991, and concluded with a #2 issue that October, with all the interrelated annuals in between.

Culturally, that was a fascinating summer. X-Force #1 and X-Men #1 appeared to mammoth sales. The top four films of the year at the Box Office (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Silence of the Lambs”) had genre ties, as did several other moneymakers (#6 “Hook”, #7 “The Addams Family”, #13 “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze”, not to mention other Top 50 entries like “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”, “The Rocketeer”, and others). And the tide of musical culture would change forever, with the beginning of the end (though they didn’t know it) of Guns N’ Roses as the “Illusion” records debuted, the commercial arrival of Metallica, the rapid ascent of Garth Brooks, the increasing viability of hip-hop (typified by successes from Cypress Hill, Ice-T, De La Soul, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, and others), and the “alternative explosion”, marked by landmark records by, among others, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, The Pixies, Matthew Sweet, and My Bloody Valentine.

There was also another force brewing that year, and that was message board culture. Though BBSes had been in wide use since the early ‘80s (or the ‘70s, if you count entities like Berkeley, California’s “Community Memory”), fans were getting more savvy and computers and modems were getting faster. Connected communities talked about everything under the sun, including comics. The X-revamp was big talk that year, but the mystery that began in Arm2001 would soon generate its own storm of discussion.

In the first issue, we’re introduced to Matthew Ryder, a scientist living in a dystopian future ruled by the armored Monarch. Through clandestine research, Ryder uncovers a deep secret: Monarch used to one of Earth’s super-heroes; forty years previous, he turned evil and eventually, in 2001, conquered the world. Ryder, an expert in “temporal studies”, was selected by Monarch to take part in a time-travel experiment; Ryder intended to get back to 1991, discover which hero it was, and kill Monarch before he could become evil. The experiment gave Ryder powers, like the ability to see someone’s potential future by touching them (just like Johnny Smith) and he became Waverider (just like Laird Hamilton, almost).

As the summer, and the event, unfolded, Waverider visited most of the heroes in the DCU. Then something funny happened. Word leaked out that Monarch would be revealed to be Captain Atom. I couldn’t find a confirmed original source, but the fact remains that the word spread over the nascent internet like wildfire. I remember hearing about it early in the summer, meaning that there were months to go, and essentially, many fans knew the outcome. So, according to apocrypha, DC had to do something to salvage the outcome. What they did was to change the identity of the Monarch from Captain Atom (whom all the clues had pointed to) to . . . Hawk.

See, Hawk & Dove was going to get cancelled, so they figured this would be a big surprise. When Waverider touches Captain Atom, their energy blends and opens a portal that allows Monarch to come through to the present. During a subsequent confrontation between Hawk and Dove and Monarch, the villain kills Dove. Hawk goes over the edge and beats the villain to death, only to discover his own face. Hawk then puts on Monarch’s armor and assumes his plan, the construction of a Doomsday device. Earth’s heroes caught up with Monarch, and battle ensued. Captain Atom tried to take him solo, but THEIR energies mixed, and the pair were flung through time to . . . another mini-series!

Armageddon: The Alien Agenda: Captain Atom and Monarch wind up in the Age of Dinosaurs (the Triassic, to be precise), and soon become embroiled in a scheme by aliens to open a wormhole to facilitate their travels. Of course, that little wormhole would wipe out our galaxy, but hey, not a problem! The Captain disagreed. What follows is a race through time (kinda like “Voyagers”) in which Captain Atom and the trigger for the wormhole bounce through time with Monarch in pursuit. They cover the big bases, like Rome, the Wild West, and World War II. Captain Atom, clever military guy that he is, lures Monarch to an atomic test ground where the explosion sends him home and leaves Monarch . . . elsewhere, maybe? Not the most responsible heroing, you know?

Zero Hour: Talk about your Identity Crisis . . . Hank Hall would change names again after a confrontation with Waverider in a Showcase ‘94 story that ran as a prelim to Zero Hour in issues #8 and 9 of that title. After absorbing Waverider’s energy, Hall declares himself Extant (which I suppose is a proclamation of existence). Extant appears to be the main villain behind the events of Zero Hour at first, and he is responsible for killing the Golden Age Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite and Hourman (though Hourman is later rescued due to the time-manipulating machinations of the android Hourman III, who takes Hourman I’s place). Extant is also shown to be the previously unrevealed leader of Team Titans, which had been a hanging plot point from that title, a New Titans spin-off that featured groups of Titans from an alternate future timeline. Yeah, I know. At any rate, the real Big Bad turns out to be Hal Jordan, now calling himself Parallax (which is definitely an article for another day). Extant prevents the future timeline of the Team Titans from occurring and escapes, but not before reducing Ray Palmer to a teenager. Yeah, I know.

Justice Gets . . . EXTREME!: During the mid-‘90s, there were actually several Justice League teams kicking around in their own books. One of these bore the tragically hip moniker Extreme Justice (what, did they fight crime on snowboards?). The book featured several holdovers from the JLI, including Captain Atom. At one point, the team fought . . . you guessed it . . . Monarch! Only this time, Monarch revealed himself to be . . . Captain Atom! WTF?!

The “new” Monarch reveals that Captain Atom is merely a copy of him (paging Howard Mackie!) that was created from some weirdness in the timestream. Apparently, this tied back to his origin explosion and that a tiny piece of alloy came back to Earth as “our” Captain Atom. Apparently, “Captain Atom” Monarch was stuck in the Quantum Field, where he ran into Hank Hall, who was stuck there from the explosion in Alien Agenda. It seems that “Atom” trained Hall in the use of the powers which he used as Extant (which he shouldn’t have had yet, but anyway) and Hall gave Atom the Monarch armor, though Hall would have subsequently appeared in. Extreme Justice didn’t last very long.

JSA: About a year into the run of the recently concluded JSA title, the Justice Society finally got a chance to avenge the deaths of their own from Zero Hour. Tangling with Extant and discovering that Dawn Granger was, in fact still alive, the full might of the JSA was pressed against the villain. Extant attempted to escape, but thanks to Atom-Smasher, with assistance of the New God Metron, he was forcibly swapped with Atom-Smasher’s mother, who had recently died in a plane crash. As the hero’s mother faded out, Extant faded into her seat . . . just in time to hit the ground. Extant now isn’t.

Captain Atom’s Sacrifice: During the opening Public Enemies arc of the Superman/Batman title, Captain Atom was one of the heroes that Lex Luthor tried to use to bring the renegade duo in. Atom eventually stepped up and piloted a “Composite Superman” robot built by the teenage Toyman to destroy an asteroid that was headed for Earth. Captain Atom was apparently destroyed, but nobody believed that he’d been killed in a simple explosion. Fan faith was rewarded, as Atom turned up in a later issue; he’d been acting as “The Kryptonite Man”, but was returned to normal when that energy was removed from his body. However, we did learn that he’d spent the time between somewhere else . . .

And now . . .Breach!: In 2005, DC launched Breach, a series with striking similarities to Captain Atom. That’s because it WAS Captain Atom. Well, technically. Breach was considered a hard reboot of Atom, but that notion was abandoned in favor of other tales (though I don’t think we blame the internet this time). Breach became his own character, after a fashion; however, it is revealed during Infinite Crisis that he would have been the Captain Atom of Earth-8 (supposedly also the home of Kyle Rayner, Bart Allen, Jason Rusch and others) had the multiverse lived after the first Crisis.

Captain Atom: Armageddon: Answering the “where the hell was Captain Atom during his Supes/Bats disappearance?” question, this nine-issue mini showed how Atom wound up in the Wildstorm universe. In a complicated plot involving many Wildstorm regulars, it’s shown that part of the new Void resides in Captain Atom. She takes it back, Atom returns to the mainstream DCU, and Wildstorm is rebooted in Worldstorm. And it sounds so simple . . .

Infinite Crisis: Captain Atom misses most of Infinite Crisis, and Breach spends most of it shackled to Alexander Luthor’s tower. During the issue #7 battle with Superboy-Prime, Breach’s suit is ripped. He explodes (apparently killing Looker, which is probably a conspiracy by Geoff Johns to kill characters named after Albert Finney movies), and in his place appears one confused Captain Atom, fresh from his most recent Armageddon mini.

Infinite Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Bludhaven: One year later (hee hee), we find Atom trapped in a facility in Bludhaven where his energy is being used for various purposes. The Atomic Knights keep him contained due to potential dangerous damage to his alloy. Toward the close of the series, he is given a suit of armor . . . that looks just like Monarch’s! . . . to help hold in his radiation. Atom wakes up surly, busts loose, kills Major Force (who’s probably already back by now) and then discharges a blast big enough to wipe out the rest of Bludhaven. It’s unknown at this point what Captain Atom will do, whether he will claim the Monarch name, or whether he’ll be in another mini with Armageddon in the name.

There you have it. The long strange trip of a relatively minor villain that’s spun out into a grand number of storylines – and obviously has at least a few more left in him. Like his return or loathe it, you can’t escape the feeling that, with Monarch’s return, as well as other changes in the DCU, a lot of chess pieces are being put on the board.

But in terms of Captain Atom/Monarch, the conflux of editorial changes, shifting identities, and abrupt cancellations makes for a complicated thread to follow. If DC intends to go with Atom-as-Monarch, here’s hoping that they stick with as simple a narrative line as possible. Then again, maybe that was actually Breach . . .

Troy Brownfield writes a lot of stuff for Newsarama. He almost always enjoys the history pieces, but he finds the Monarch continuity kind of infuriating. Not as infuriating as that stupid hard foul that Artest gave to Hamilton in the playoffs three years ago, but infuriating nonetheless.

CYOTI · 08-01-2006, 05:29 PM

Anyone know if Captain Atom is going to show up as a member of the JLA?

Rich L · 08-01-2006, 05:31 PM

Even though Battle for Bludhaven was a mess, I kind of dug the Monarch armor's return - but I don't really want Atom to be a bad guy long-term; I like the character (and his old book, loved the retcons the Army made to make it seem like he'd been around a long time). Plus it doesn't make sense after he redefined himself as a hero in the CA: Armageddon series.

I guess time will tell what happens to Nate!

Very nice work by the way. Any idea what happened to the 'new' Captain Atom series touted at the end of the Alien Agenda mini?

nightw1ng · 08-01-2006, 05:33 PM

gah, i keep forgetting how the histories of several DC heroes are so messed up due to the constant reboots and retcons. at least it isn't as bad as Hawkman, Supergirl, etc.

Mr Wesley · 08-01-2006, 05:37 PM

I loathe everything having to deal with Monarch, from the original unmasking through the absolutely awful follow-up minis, to Zero-Hour. Battle for Bludhaven was okay, but the fact that, now, after all the crap they've thrown at both Captain Atom and Hank Hall, they bring Monarch back--that just bugs me.

Spaz_Monkey · 08-01-2006, 05:37 PM

My god, I thought Hawkman was trapped in retcon hell....

(well, until Geoff Johns, anyway)

DAV!S · 08-01-2006, 05:39 PM

That made my head hurt

Remjer · 08-01-2006, 05:41 PM

It's stories like this that keep comics from growing into the mainstream media. What a mess

Mr Wesley · 08-01-2006, 05:42 PM

No one at DC has had any clue what to do with Captain Atom in probably 10 years, maybe more. He's usually portrayed as the conflicted tool of the government, but with the exception of his trip to the Wildstorm line, he's generally been relegated to cameos.

Spade · 08-01-2006, 05:43 PM

Please let Captain Atom be ... Captain Atom.

shady878 · 08-01-2006, 05:44 PM

i dont know whether or not to try and attempt this...what the hell!

AcidPowerZ · 08-01-2006, 05:46 PM

Good article. I've never read Arm2001, but I've heard about the "conspiracy." It's good to be spun up on it all.

TCJohnson · 08-01-2006, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich L

Even though Battle for Bludhaven was a mess, I kind of dug the Monarch armor's return - but I don't really want Atom to be a bad guy long-term; I like the character (and his old book, loved the retcons the Army made to make it seem like he'd been around a long time).

He is a JLI character. You know how much current DC editorial hates those guys. By the time this is over Captain Atom will be one of the lamest villianesses ever.

By the way, Troy Brownfield missed that the person who put Captain Atom in the Bludhaven Facility was another person dressed up like Monarch. Dun Dun Duuuun!

**MattBrady** · 08-01-2006, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Remjer

It's stories like this that keep comics from growing into the mainstream media. What a mess

heh. yeah, people throw Pekar, Persepolis, Mome, Sandman: Endless Nights or Flight down in disgust, muttering, "F'n Captain Atom/Monarch mess...screw comics man, screw 'em! Screw 'em up the screwing screwhole!"

I don't think anyone in the mainstream say, in the last ten years or so has even heard of Captain Atom.

MattB

Skyrider · 08-01-2006, 05:49 PM

...I just read it and it STILL doesn't make any sense! Matt...Troy...you just made my brain hurt.

What's worse is I can't quite figure out how it fits into...oh to Hell with it! WALL PUNCHES! IT WAS ALL THE WALL PUNCHES!

Darth Wahu · 08-01-2006, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightw1ng

gah, i keep forgetting how the histories of several DC heroes are so messed up due to the constant reboots and retcons. at least it isn't as bad as Hawkman, Supergirl, etc.

it's actually worse

J.D. Lombardi · 08-01-2006, 05:53 PM

Troy, you are my hero. Not only for writing this piece (which I'm sure took a good deal of time to research coherently) but for also mentioning the incredible 80's film, "The Looker."

HA! I thougnt I was the only one who ever say that cheesy masterpiece.

Great read dude!

Mwynn · 08-01-2006, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spade

Please let Captain Atom be ... Captain Atom.

That would be nice.

nightw1ng · 08-01-2006, 05:57 PM

i have a question: the article contradicts itself by saying Captain Atom had two first reappearances after his Wildstorm mini. one is in S/B as the Kryptonite Man, and the other in IC after Breach exploded. which one was it? i thought the S/B story took place before IC.

Mwynn · 08-01-2006, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightw1ng

i have a question: the article contradicts itself by saying Captain Atom had two first reappearances after his Wildstorm mini. one is in S/B as the Kryptonite Man, and the other in IC after Breach exploded. which one was it? i thought the S/B story took place before IC.

I have been trying to figure that one out as well. I'm going to go with there are two captain atoms and save my brain cells.

**MattBrady** · 08-01-2006, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightw1ng

i have a question: the article contradicts itself by saying Captain Atom had two first reappearances after his Wildstorm mini. one is in S/B as the Kryptonite Man, and the other in IC after Breach exploded. which one was it? .

yes.

MattB

Skyrider · 08-01-2006, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

yes.

MattB

Bwahahahahha. Awesome answer.

I believe that with Mxy putting all of the "chess pieces" back into place at the end of S/B 25, that included Captain Atom. So while he DID kinda return as the Kryptonite man at the beginning of that arc, he didn't REALLY come back until IC.

Make sense?

cncoyle · 08-01-2006, 06:01 PM

Hey, where are the New Guardians, anyway? Maybe Donna, as the new Harbinger, could get them to regroup?

(Hey, what's old is new, right?)

cncoyle · 08-01-2006, 06:03 PM

Hey, who's up for a new DC Challenge maxi-series?

(See, I remember stuff from two decades ago, too! Is DC hiring?)

tiso_spencer · 08-01-2006, 06:04 PM

Worser than you think. Hell Captain Atom's return still doesn't make any sense as was shown from Infinite Crisis #7 and Captain Atom: Armageddon.