Mageddon

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Mageddon
Art by Howard Porter
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	JLA #37, (January 2000)
Created by	Grant Morrison (writer) Howard Porter (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Mageddon
Team affiliations	The Old Gods
Notable aliases	The Anti-Sun The Primordial Annihilator The Old Dragon The Ultimate Warbringer Tezcatlipoca
Abilities	see below

Mageddon is a fictional creature in the DC Comics universe. It is an ancient, powerful weapon with apocalyptic capabilities that operates on simple, automatic commands. Mageddon first appeared in JLA #37 (January 2000), it was created by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter.

Publication history

It first appeared in JLA # 37 (2000), although it was mentioned (as Tezcatlipoca) as early as Aztek # 1 in 1996— hints about it were made throughout Grant Morrison's writing run on JLA, since eventually it comes as a crescendo to his run, culminating in the World War III arc.

Fictional character biography

Mageddon was one of many war machines used during the Ragnarök of the "Old Gods" that led to the destruction of their world (and the subsequent creation of New Genesis and Apokolips). Mageddon was capable of unleashing primal anger in intelligent minds, making people hostile, warlike savages.

Unable to be destroyed, Mageddon was "chained" at the edge of the universe's space/time continuum inside what was described as an "immense sinkhole" of gravity. The gigantic planet of Wonderworld was created and the placed at the edge of the universe to prepare for the day that Mageddon would escape, populated by a number of gigantic heroes and super-beings (Aquaman, Flash and Green Lantern by comparison appeared to be only a few inches high). These heroes, collectively named "The Theocracy", were led by Adam One and surrounded themselves with wonders from throughout the universe (in a manner highly reminiscent of Jack Kirby's Fourth World).

Mageddon destroyed Wonderworld almost effortlessly; as it broke loose its power to affect the minds of sentient beings led brought about the world's self-destruction. Wonderworld's only survivor was the Glimmer (a legendary speedster hero from Wonderworld) who escaped by running "perpendicular to time". Mageddon then began its way through the universe heading towards Earth.

Mageddon's arrival was heralded by at least two red, eyeball-like "spores" which grew around people who had come totally under the sway of the machine. The first appeared some time before Mageddon itself arrived, attaching itself to the telepath Hector Hammond while he was incarcerated in Belle Reve prison, causing the warden, guards and inmates to go on a murderous rampage which only stopped when the spore was destroyed. The second appeared just as Mageddon appeared in our solar system and possessed Lex Luthor, whose latest Injustice Gang had attacked the Watchtower, unwittingly playing into Mageddon's plans. Mageddon's approach was also signalled by increasing global political tensions and weapons trading, which built rapidly into worldwide war which every hero in the DC Universe became involved in stopping. Eventually, the wars were averted thanks to the efforts of the fallen angel Zauriel, who died to return to Heaven and convince the heavenly host to return with him to Earth and avert the wars.

Superman attempted to attack Mageddon head on, only to be captured and turned into part of its system. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, Black Lightning and Animal Man used a Purple Ray to tap into the morphogenetic field that is the source of Animal Man's powers. They hoped that doing this would cause a temporary jump forward in human evolution for everybody on the whole planet, giving every human being superpowers that could be used to attack Mageddon. The plan only succeeded with the help of the Glimmer who appeared at what he knew to be Mageddon's final battle, the only place in history where anyone made a stand against Mageddon, and used his abilities to power the machine. As every superhuman available and the entire populace of Earth attacked Mageddon, the machine unleashed its final fail-safe: letting the "anti-sun" at its core go supernova, in a blast that would destroy half the galaxy.

Despite the crippling despair Mageddon was bombarding him with, Superman fought back with encouragement from Batman (who communicated with him via the Martian Manhunter's telepathic link), and was freed by a blind Aztek, who self-destructed in the process, fulfilling his life's mission and damaging Mageddon. Ultimately, Superman, able to absorb anti-sunlight just as well as sunlight, was able to absorb all the anti-sun's energy and shut the warhead down permanently.

Powers and abilities

• Mageddon causes sentient lifeforms to become irrational, angry and hostile, causing widespread war and madness.
• It has immense telepathic powers.
• It possessed incalculable energy powers, and detonation of its anti-sun "brain" would have decimated the galaxy.
• It was immense in size, as seen in one of the JLA pages where the Earth was dwarfed by Mageddon's "face".

See also

• Aztek (comics)
• Zauriel

References