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Armageddon 2001
Armageddon 2001 special #2, art by Dan Jurgens
Publisher DC Comics Format Limited Series Publication dates Issue #1 May 1991 Issue #2 October 1991 Number of issues 2 Main character(s) Waverider Monarch Creative team as of May & October 1991 Writer(s) Archie Goodwin Dennis O'Neil Penciller(s) Dan Jurgens Inker(s) Dick Giordano Art Thibert Steve Mitchell Colourist(s) Anthony Tollin Adrienne Roy Creator(s) Archie Goodwin Denny O'Neil Dan Jurgens

Armageddon 2001 was a 1991 crossover event published by DC Comics. There were two bookended one-shot issues, published in May and October; the story also ran through that year's DC annuals. After the event, there were two limited series, Armageddon: The Alien Agenda (which was a direct sequel) and Armageddon: Inferno (which was only tangentially related).

Each participating annual explored potential possible futures for its main characters, much in the manner of Marvel Comics' What If?. The guiding hands behind the series were editor and writer Dennis O'Neil, writer Archie Goodwin and artist Dan Jurgens.

Contents 1 Plot synopsis 1.1 Monarch 1.2 Waverider 1.3 Hawk & Dove 1.4 Alien Agenda 2 Response and last-minute changes 3 Alternate futures 4 References 5 External links

See also: Monarch (comics)

Monarch was an oppressive tyrant from a bleak, dystopian Earth fifty years in the future. The people were unhappy with his rule, particularly a scientist named Matthew Ryder, an expert on temporal studies, who was convinced he could use his technology to travel back in time and prevent the maniacal ruler from ever coming to power. He learned that forty years ago, one of Earth's heroes would eventually turn evil and become Monarch, and ten years from that he would conquer the world.

Chosen by Monarch to take part in a time-travel experiment, Ryder traveled back to the DC Universe equivalent of 1991; Ryder was determined to find out who the Monarch really was and, if possible, kill him before he could rise to power. As he travelled through the rift, his body mutated into a form of living temporal energy, and upon arriving at his destination, he took the name Waverider.

See also: Waverider (comics)

Waverider used his abilities to peer into several possible futures of different members of the Justice League (along with several other characters), but was unable to pinpoint exactly who would eventually suffer enough trauma to warrant becoming the Monarch. After several attempts, he began to rethink his approach; however, Waverider accidentally came in physical contact with Captain Atom, unleashing a storm of temporal energy that opened a gate to the future through which Monarch emerged. Monarch, it seems, had been monitoring Waverider's every move in the past ever since he left the future, and merely waited for the perfect time to travel back and stop him from erasing his existence.

See also: Hawk and Dove

In a subsequent battle with the Justice League, the Monarch retreated, taking Dawn Granger, the current Dove, with him. Hank Hall, Hawk, followed, and caught up to him just as he killed Dawn in front of his own eyes. Being created as two beings whose natures were supposed to be in balance, Hank became enraged when his partner's pacifist nature could no longer contain his warlike spirit. He beat the Monarch to death, only to learn the horrible truth: he was the one who would be the Monarch of the future. Upon seeing Monarch's dead body and the device he was building to enslave humanity, he mused that the Earth would need someone to keep the balance, so he put on Monarch's armor and continued building his machine.

Eventually, the Justice League found him, and Captain Atom, feeling guilty he let Monarch slip through the timestream in the first place, decided to fight him one-on-one. The battle caused Atom's suit and Monarch's energy to clash, creating a portal that sent both of them back in time to the age of the dinosaurs.

Main article: Armageddon: The Alien Agenda

When hostile aliens encounter Monarch and Atom in the past (sometime between 230 and 65 million years ago), they attempted to enlist both to (without either's knowledge) assist them in creating a wormhole. The wormhole's creation would destroy the universe in which the primitive Earth existed, but would allow the aliens to freely travel.

Armageddon 2001 is generally disliked by readers for what has been described as the dishonesty of its resolution. The frame story had been presented as a mystery - which superhero would go insane, kill all other heroes, and take over the world, and why? - and clues were provided. However, at some point in 1991, the future-culprit's identity leaked: it was Captain Atom.^[1]

In response, the "surprise" ending was changed at the last minute: Monarch was revealed to be, not Captain Atom, but rather Hawk. Oddly enough, this seemed to contradict the Hawk and Dove tie-in in which Hawk and Dove fought against Monarch's dictatorship in multiple future timelines. Ironically, they were the only characters shown in this situation, and thus any of the other major characters could have been Monarch without creating a continuity issue.^[2]

This revelation was extremely unpopular among both fans and professionals, in part because of the logical flaw mentioned above and the disregard for the clues placed in previous issues. Additionally, it required Hawk to behave in ways that many felt to be out of character. This also made it impossible to continue using either Hawk or Dove as they had in the past. Karl Kesel wrote that "Hawk and Dove was always a love story. Then one day, Hawk went insane and murdered Dove".^[3]

Things got even worse as years later in the Justice League spinoff, Extreme Justice Nathaniel Adam is shown to be Monarch and Captain Atom a quantum clone of him, totally invalidating the idea of Hank Hall as Monarch.

In addition to the bookend issues, the storyline followed Waverider through multiple annuals.

• Superman Annual #3 (by Jurgens and penciller Dusty Abell; Superman attempts to rid the world of nuclear weapons, but is instead is killed by Batman at the government's behest. The plot was the inverse of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and contains homages to that story.)
• Batman Annual # 15 (written by Alan Grant; someone is eliminating the Dark Knight's former foes, forcing Batman to come out of retirement.)
• Justice League America Annual #5 (written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis; Guy Gardner starts his own cult, while Fire bankrupts Blue Beetle. Humorous in tone, much like the JLA books at the time.)
• Hawk and Dove Annual #2 (written by Karl and Barbara Kesel; the daughter of Hawk and Dove takes on Monarch).
• Hawkworld Annual #2 (written by John Ostrander; Hawkman and Hawkwoman come out of retirement to face a robot).
• The Flash Annual #4 (written by Mark Waid; Wally West has entered the Witness Protection Program, but becomes the Flash once again to rescue his super-powered son from his former rogues gallery.)
• Action Comics Annual #3 (by writer Roger Stern and penciller Tom Grummett; Superman becomes President of the United States.)
• L.E.G.I.O.N. '91 Annual #2 (by writer Alan Grant and penciller Mike McKone; Dox and Lady Quark take over the universe.)
• New Titans Annual #7 (Nightwing leads the Team Titans on guerrilla raids against a fascist government).
• The Adventures Of Superman Annual #3 (by writer Louise Simonson and penciller Bryan Hitch; Lois Lane dies while pregnant with Superman's child, and a widowed Superman eventually romances Maxima.)
• Detective Comics Annual #4 (Batman vs Talia)
• Justice League Europe Annual #2 (the JLE are lost in time)

After Armageddon 2001, Waverider continued to show up, mostly in the Superman titles, before playing an important role in 1994's Zero Hour event which was likewise controlled by Jurgens.

• Unofficial Armageddon 2002 Biography
• DCU Guide: Armageddon 2001
• Hyperborea.org: Waverider
• Fanzing #36 Armageddon 2001: Ten Years Later
• Alternity's Armageddon 2001 Index