ANTI-MONITOR

The 'Anti-Monitor' is a fictional comic book supervillain, the antagonist of the 1985 DC Comics miniseries ''Crisis on Infinite Earths.'' He first appeared in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' #2 (although he remained in shadow until ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' #5), and was destroyed in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' #12, only to return in ''Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special'' #1.

Contents

Fictional character biography

Origins

''Crisis on Infinite Earths''

''Infinite Crisis''

Post-Crisis Impact

''Brave New World''

Sinestro Corps

Powers and abilities

Other versions

References

External links

Fictional character biography

Origins

Billions of years ago, on the planet Oa, there existed a race of beings, blue-skinned and immortal. One of these beings, Krona, was a scientist obsessed with the origins of the universe, even though a taboo existed amongst the ancient Oans concerning the viewing of the origins of the universe.
Krona created a machine that allowed him to see into the moment of creation. Somehow, his experiment disrupted the process of creation, with terrible consequences. The exact consequences have been rewritten over the years; originally, it was the unleashing of evil itself in the universe; later, it was assumed to be the creation of the evil anti-matter universe of Qward.
During the ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', it was also revealed to be the cause of the existence of all parallel universes in the Multiverse; several villains were sent back in time to stop him, but were defeated by Krona and the other Oans. In a final revision, it was established that it increased entropy in the universe, shortening its existence by a billion years (see heat death). In any event, two beings were created on both the moon of Oa and the moon of Qward. On the moon of Oa, the being known as the Monitor was instantly aware of his counterpart, the Anti-Monitor (although his official name is the Monitor, and he is often addressed as such, the name Anti-Monitor is used to distinguish him from his heroic positive matter counterpart). By this time the Anti-Monitor had quickly conquered Qward and as well as the rest of the Antimatter universe. In searching for other places to conquer, he also became aware of his counterpart. The two beings battled for a million years, unleashing great powers against each other, but to no avail. At the end of their stalemate, the two beings rendered each other inert for nine billion years with a simultaneous attack.

''Crisis on Infinite Earths''

Main articles: Crisis on Infinite Earths


In more modern times, the alien being known as Pariah performed an experiment similar to the one Krona attempted long ago. The end result was the reawakening of both the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor, and the destruction of Pariah's home planet. The Anti-Monitor rebuilt his army, taking over Qward and using the Thunderers as his own private army, as well as creating the Shadow Demons from the Thunderers.
He then released a massive anti-matter wave, absorbing the energies of the destroyed positive matter universes and growing stronger even as his counterpart grew weaker. The Anti-Monitor also employed the second Psycho Pirate, using his emotion control powers to terrorize the populations of the planets he sought to conquer and destroy. The Monitor, along with his aide Harbinger, gathered a group of heroes from various alternate universes in order to combat the threat of the Anti-Monitor.
After defeats from various heroes, including the Flash (Barry Allen) and Supergirl sacrificing themselves to destroy an anti-matter cannon and to save Superman respectively, the Anti-Monitor absorbed the entirety of the anti-matter universe and traveled to the beginning of time, intending to stop the formation of the positive matter multiverse and to create a multiverse where anti-matter prevails. When the heroes followed him there, he began to drain the power of most of them.
However, the actions of the Spectre, empowered by the sorcerers of the surviving Earths, brought the Anti-Monitor to a stalemate. The villains of said Earths, sent to stop Krona from viewing the origins of the universe, failed due to squabbling, allowing Krona to see the hands of the Anti-Monitor and the Spectre struggling for domination, which shattered the current multiverse.
From the ashes rose a new, singular universe. While various persons adjusted to the newly singular Earth (Including those whose worlds and histories had been destroyed with the loss of the Multiverse), the Anti-Monitor, enraged, drew this new Earth into the anti-matter universe, intending to destroy this last bastion of positive matter once and for all. What followed was the Shadow Demon War, wherein many heroes and villains lost their lives against the Anti-Monitor's forces. Finally, the combined efforts of various superheroes and villains, (Doctor Light, the heroic Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-Three, Darkseid, Superboy of Earth-Prime, and Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-Two), destroyed the Anti-Monitor by punching him into a star. The star went nova and caused anti-matter waves to erupt, threatening to destroy the entire anti-matter universe. Kal-L and Superboy-Prime were willing to resign themselves to their final fates, when Alexander Luthor, using his power to open dimensions, revealed that he had created a "paradise dimension", and he used it to prevent the Lois Lane of Earth-Two from being erased from existence when the post-Crisis universe was formed, as he foresaw how events would unfold and refused to allow Superman to have to deal with such a terrible loss. Using his own body as a portal, Alexander Luthor, Kal-L, and Superboy-Prime went into the "paradise dimension" alongside Lois.

''Infinite Crisis''

Main articles: Infinite Crisis


Superman (and Lois Lane) of Earth-Two, Superboy of Earth-Prime, and Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-Three, from their home in the hidden pocket universe, were revealed to be observing the events of the newly-formed universe, as well as the actions of its heroes. Upon observing the events leading up to ''Infinite Crisis'', the heroes returned to the universe in an attempt to restore Earth-Two's existence, at the expense of Earth-One.
The Anti-Monitor's remains were then used as part of a tuning fork, similar to the one's used during the first Crisis. The tower then created the vibrational frequency that Earth-Two was on prior to its nonexistence, which in turn recreated Earth-Two with no visible expense to Earth-One, save the movement of characters who originated on Earth-Two to the recreated Earth-Two. Alexander Luthor then recreated the other Earths with his tuning fork, with their respective heroes forcibly migrating to said Earths. Superboy-Prime (followed soon by Bart Allen) then returned from the Speed Force wearing what appeared to be select elements of the Anti-Monitor's armor, using it as a yellow sunlight collector. How he obtained it is still unrevealed, although evidence suggests that he built it himself while he was imprisoned and it merely resembles the Anti-Monitor's armour, although whether by intention or coincidence is unconfirmed. Ultimately, the tower was destroyed when Kon-El, the modern Superboy, and Superboy-Prime crashed into it while fighting each other, Kon-El dying in the arms of Wonder Girl as Superboy-Prime fled.

Post-Crisis Impact

The Anti-Monitor, despite only being in the ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' mini-series and one issue of ''Wonder Woman,'' left a far-reaching impact on the DC universe post-Crisis. The anti-matter universe still exists, now with both Qward (said to be the counterpart of Oa) and an alternate Earth populated by counterparts of the positive matter heroes and villains (each taking the opposite role).
Perhaps the most notable impact the Anti-Monitor had on the post-''Crisis'' universe was the elimination of the multiverse aspect of the DC Universe. Previously, there existed an infinite number of Earths, each one with a unique history, that could be accessed through various means, the most common being vibrational attunement. Post-''Crisis'', with the restart of the universe as one thanks to the machinations of the Anti-Monitor, a simpler, more streamlined DC Universe seemed imminent, with characters acquired from Charlton Comics, Fawcett Comics, and Quality Comics all becoming incorporated into the new DC Universe.

''Brave New World''

At the end of DC Comics' 2006 special '' it is revealed that there are five figures calling themselves "the Monitors" watching over the new post-''Infinite Crisis'' Earth. Four of the figures resemble the original Monitor from ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' and the fifth figure is resembles the Anti-Monitor. In the pages of ''Countdown'', it has been revealed that there are fifty-two Monitors, with each of them representing one of the new alternate realities in the new Multiverse, each with a slightly different appearance. A Monitor was shown in ''Supergirl'' calling of one of his minions.^[1] This Monitor was dressed like the Anti-Monitor, but appeared to have no other connection.

Sinestro Corps

It was revealed that the Anti-Monitor was reborn following the recreation of the Multiverse and that he has been fueling Sinestro's ideology since the return of Hal Jordan, acting as the Sinestro Corps' "Guardian of Fear".^[2][3]
In addition, he has recruited Superboy-Prime, the Cyborg Superman, and Parallax (using Kyle Rayner as a host) along with Sinestro as his 'heralds'.

Powers and abilities

The Anti-Monitor was one of the most formidable foes ever faced by the heroes of the DC Universe (or "Multiverse", as it was then). In addition to possessing vast size (varying from several meters to hundreds of meters), strength, invulnerability (by the end of the ''Crisis'' series he was able to effortlessly withstand blows from Superman), and the ability to project destructive bolts of energy, he commanded an army of Qwardians and shadow demons, and had access to highly advanced technology capable of shifting, merging, or destroying entire universes.
He consumed thousands of positive-matter universes to increase his power, and was able to personally battle scores of the multiverse's strongest heroes simultaneously. He is directly responsible for more deaths than any other known DC supervillain (trillions, at least), including killing Supergirl personally.
The Anti-Monitor also showed capable of greatly augmenting another being's powers, as he did with Psycho-Pirate, whose powers were increased to levels too much for him to handle. The Anti-Monitor also possessed reality warping abilities, which he displayed by removing Psycho-Pirate's face.

Other versions

★ In the "Chain Lightning" arc of the Flash comics, history is altered when Barry Allen is killed before the events of ''Crisis on Infinite Earths''. This forces Wally West into a timeline where the Anti-Monitor was never defeated and only the Antimatter Universe remains.

★ A parody of the Anti-Monitor, called the "Aunty Monitor", appeared in Marvel Comics' ''What Th--?'' satire comic. Marvel's ''Mighty Mouse'' comic featured another parody, the "Anti-Minotaur."

★ The Anti-Monitor makes a cameo appearance in Justice League Unlimited #32. He is described by Darkseid to be a ''Celestial being composed of Negative Energy'' which Darkseid sought to gain to fuel the Anti-Life Equation.

References

1. ''Supergirl'' #19
2. "The Second Rebirth" ''Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special'' #1 (Aug 2007) DC Comics
3. "The Greatest Once, the Greatest Again" ''Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special'' #1 DC Comics (Aug 2007)

External links

★ Alan Kistler's Guide to The Crisis