The Arrowverse May Have Just Introduced a Major DC Villain

In the near-decade since it has been on the air, The CW's Arrowverse of shows have introduced general audiences to a wide array of comic villains. That has especially been the case for the network's crossover events, which have brought characters from the various shows together to take on villains such as the Dominators, Doctor Destiny, The Anti-Monitor, and Despero. This month, the Arrowverse's characters make their way over to comics with Earth-Prime, a miniseries of comic one-shots that will culminate in a crossover issue. Kicking off the event is Batwoman — and one sequence of the story might have teased the heroes' next threat. Spoilers for Earth-Prime: Batwoman #1, from Natalie Abrams, Kelly Larson, Camrus Johnson, Clayton Henry, Michael Calero, Marcelo Maiolo, Matt Herms, and Tom Napolitano below! Only look if you want to know!

The issue's first (and main) story takes place midway through the events of Season 3, as Ryan Wilder / Batwoman (Javicia Leslie) is attempting to wrangle the remaining Batman villain trophies, all amid the backdrop of Mary Hamilton's (Nicole Kang) turn as Poison Mary and Marquis Jet (Nick Creegan) taking over Ryan's life as the new Joker. All the while, Ryan has to deal with the latest trophy — Clayface's mud, which has gotten loose in Gotham City and bonded with a young boy named Tanner, who is using his powers to get revenge on his bullies. Throughout the course of the issue (and with the help of Supergirl's Lena Luthor), Ryan is able to freeze Tanner with Mr. Freeze's technology, sending him away to a frozen prison in Arkham Asylum. While there, Tanner — who now wants to regard himself as Clayface — complains that nobody understands him. A mysterious voice then calls out to Clayface, and tries to recruit him for a crusade against the heroes of the world — including Batwoman.

This mysterious character, whose skin appears to be blue with some sort of headpiece, proceeds to give Clayface the tools he needs for the mission, using a magic three-pronged staff to counteract the freeze effects, and opening a portal to help Clayface escape.

So, who exactly could that villain be? The clues from that specific scene point in multiple different directions — the design of the character's face evokes Eclipso, but Stargirl (which will be a part of the Earth-Prime event) already fought the villain, and he had a completely different set of powers at the time. The staff also looks unmistakably like the one used by Blue Devil, but the powers and the very M.O. of the character don't seem to match. One possibility, given the speech he gives Clayface, is that the character is actually Libra, the somewhat-obscure Justice League villain who was turned into a terrifying herald of Darkseid during the events of Final Crisis, and sought to "balance the scales" of the heroes' power. Ultimately, we'll have to wait and see how future issues of Earth-Prime continue that narrative thread — and which character it ends up being.

Which villain do you think is being teased in Earth-Prime: Batwoman? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Earth-Prime: Batwoman #1 is now available wherever comics are sold.