[Warning: This article contains spoilers for DC’s Absolute Power #1, on sale now.] They’re threats that even the superheroes of the DC Universe are literally powerless against: artificial intelligence and deepfakes. Wednesday’s Absolute Power #1 — the first in a four-issue crossover event series written by Mark Waid (Kingdom Come) and drawn by Dan Mora (Batman/Superman: World’s Finest) — sees Suicide Squad founder Amanda Waller steal the metahuman powers of every hero and villain on planet Earth in the wake of 2022’s Dark Crisis and 2023’s Beast World events, which granted an unchecked Waller power to override the U.S. President in times of crisis.
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As the head of the Bureau of Sovereignty, Waller took over the Hall of Justice — the former headquarters of the since-disbanded Justice League — and turned it into the Hall of Order. Then Waller’s Task Force X seized the island nation of Gamorra in a coup, made the Justice Leaguer Green Arrow an agent of “the Wall,” exploited Brainiac tech to wield the absorption abilities of his Brianiac Queen, and, finally, reactivated the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh’s Failsafe robot and his army of Amazo androids.
Absolute Power begins with Waller, Failsafe, and Brainiac Queen — a triumvirate of villains colloquially referred to as the Trinity of Evil — branding superheroes “a legitimate threat to world order” as Waller issues “a plan of action that will eliminate their threat once and for all.”
Waller’s authoritarian regime seizes control of all media and publishes AI-generated deepfakes framing superheroes for atrocities across the globe. The Captain (formerly Shazam), Supergirl, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, Firestorm, and the Titans are among the heroes who appear to be slaughtering civilians in the fabricated footage, spiking an internet-fueled “super-paranoia.” The deepfaked videos turn public opinion against superheroes. Black Lightning, Knight and Squire, and Animal Man are victims of mob violence, targeted for what Waller has framed as a global superhuman terrorist attack.
“‘Superheroes’ are anything but. They create more trouble than they avert,” Waller says. “They have absolute power, and they answer to no one.” But Waller’s disinformation campaign to discredit superheroes is just phase one, and as it turns out, the purpose of the global hack was to draw the superheroes into the open.
“We here at the Bureau of Sovereignty have been horrified by the now-constant danger of devastating metahuman attacks against ordinary citizens,” Waller says in an uncharacteristic address to the public. “Effective immediately, in the wake of these unprecedented superhuman strikes that have claimed so many lives worldwide these last few days, my Bureau is dispatching our ultimate solution to the existential danger posed by all superhumans.”
In phase two, Waller activates Task Force VII: the power-stealingAmazos. The Justice League’s robot counterparts are Last Son (Superman),Depth Charge (Aquaman), Paradise Lost (Wonder Woman), Velocity (TheFlash), Jadestone (Green Lantern), Global Guardian (Martian Manhunter),and Failsafe (Batman), who originally planned to upload alternateversions of Zur from across the multiverse into the bodies (over in ChipZdarsky’s ongoing Batman run).
Superpowers are stolen. Devices are disabled. Magic abilities are forgotten. Batman realizes too late that the attack is a blitzkrieg… and that Green Arrow is on Team Waller. Arrow reveals that Waller barricaded the multiverse, brokered a deal with the galactic-governing United Planets to contain the chaos to Earth, and sealed away the Microverse and sealed the Timestream. Superman, no longer faster than a speeding bullet, is gunned down. Waller’s Task Force VII defeats the depowered superheroes, and they’re rounded up by her armored B.S. Agents.
“What’s taken is irretrievable. There is no return mechanism,” Green Arrow tells the superheroes. “Your powers are never coming back.” Next: super no more!
Absolute Power is on sale now and the event continues with tie-ins in Batman #150, Green Arrow #13, Green Lantern #13, Superman #16, Wonder Woman #11, and Green Arrow #14. Absolute Power: Origins #1 and Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1-#3 all go on sale in July, followed by Absolute Power #2 (of 4) in August.
