A good villain is required in a good story so that the hero can save the day. DC comics have never failed to provide readers with villains that they eventually come to root for. Over the years, they have created famous adversaries with overwhelming presence and gravitas in the Universe.
One such character is Dax Novu, also known as Mandrakk, the Dark Monitor. He is a member of the Monitors, a celestial race. They are a group that monitors all aspects of the Multiverse, past, and present. He is the Monitor, the original and first of his kind from “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
He was once a well-known hero and explorer until he was converted into a monster by the Bleed, which is essentially life in its purest form. Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke created him, and he originally appeared in Final Crisis Issue 2: Ticket to Blüdhaven.
Who are the Monitors
The Monitors are a collection of cosmic creatures featured in the DC Comics novels. They are based on the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor, two prominent characters from DC Comics’ Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series, created by comic book writer Marv Wolfman and illustrator George Pérez.
Brave New World introduced the Monitors. They are an organization that keeps an eye on all elements of the Multiverse, both past and present. Most significantly, they want to avoid cross-universe crossovers, which were widespread before “The Crisis.”
The Monitor is a cosmic creature tasked with keeping the Multiverse in check. In Crisis on Infinite Earths, he played a significant role. He was divided into 52 Monitors after the first incident. He has recently merged back into one Monitor.
It all began when a scientist called Krona dedicated his life to studying the riddle of the Universe’s origins billions of years ago on the planet Oa at the center of the cosmos. A cosmic bolt of energy destroyed Krona’s time-traveling apparatus at that precise moment. Krona made it out alive, but his probing had terrible consequences. The feedback from the device’s disintegration spawned a slew of parallel worlds, all except one of which mirrored Krona’s realm.
Except for deviations caused by the rise of civilization in each one, these endless worlds, together known as the Multiverse, were identical to the original. However, another reality – the Anti-matter Universe – appeared simultaneously. It was not just an Anti-matter universe but also a land of evil, and it held the reputation of being the only plane that had duplicated the planet Oa in the world of Qward.
Another type of creation took place on the ordinarily dead moons of Oa and Qward. A creature known as the Monitor was born on Oa’s Moon. He spent the initial years of his life in meditation, channeling the vast force inside him to communicate with the cosmos and learn all of its secrets.
Simultaneously, a creature sprang from the moon of Qward in the Anti-Matter world, as if in response to some cosmic need for balance – this became the Anti-Monitor. Except, when the Anti-Monitor began to feel the existence of an entity of equivalent power in another dimension, he could have been satisfied with total dominance and command over his own Universe.
But the Anti-Monitor was dissatisfied with his own business and his quest for knowledge. Instead, he stretched his influence and rose to great power, gaining control of Qward and producing the feared Thunderers of Qward, weaning on the force of the Anti-Matter Universe.
With that realization came the necessity to act, to fight what the Anti-Monitor saw as a danger to his authority and existence. The two strong entities fought across the vibrational barrier that divided their realms. Due to their equal might, neither side could win this cosmic combat, which lasted one million years until a simultaneous onslaught from both sides rendered both asleep and immobile, a state they stayed in for over 9 billion years.
Billions of years after that battle ended, a brilliant young scientist began his own investigation into the Universe’s origins, venturing into the Anti-Matter Universe. His interference resulted in the destruction of his Universe and the liberation and awakening of the previously unconscious Anti-Monitor.
This cataclysmic catastrophe also awoke the Monitor, who recognized the existence of his evil twin, who was now free to advance into the positive matter cosmos and unleash his devastating power. The young scientist served as a signpost to the Anti-Monitor’s position and actions. Because of his fate of seeing worlds die while he is powerless, the young scientist acquired the moniker, Pariah.
The Monitor knew he wouldn’t live long enough to defeat the Anti-Monitor. Still, he could set in motion a complicated chain of events that would lead to the demise of the Anti-Monitor before his Anti-Matter reality devoured the whole Multiverse. He had saved and nurtured a young lady called Lyla from a shipwreck, and she served as his assistant until rising to full power as Harbinger, a creature endowed with power by her master and compelled to be the direct cause of the Monitor’s death by events beyond her control and knowledge.
The Anti-Monitor felt he had cleared the way to complete the destruction of the positive matter multiverse now that the Monitor was gone. A netherverse arose from the Monitor’s essence, absorbing the realms of Earth-One, Earth-Two, Earth-X, Earth-Four, and Earth-S, temporarily sparing them from a gradual but eventual collision path that would kill them all.
The Anti-Monitor was reportedly vanquished there, in a struggle with the Spectre. The Universe returned to normal.
However, the Anti-Monitor had managed to escape. He made one final appearance, battling the remaining heroes and Alexander Luthor Jr., the only creature in the Multiverse who is both positive and part anti-matter and the Son of Alex and Lois Luthor. The Anti-Monitor died in the last confrontation with Lex Luthor, Earth-Two’s Superman, and the Earth-Prime’s Superboy.
The Origins of Dax Novu
The first Concept created by the Over Monitor was Dax Novu. After being corrupted by the tales and emotions he’d discovered there, he was charged with studying The Flaw, which was the DC Comics Multiverse and had adopted the moniker of Mandrakk, The Dark Monitor. Dax Novu had a love affair with another Monitor named Zillo Valla shortly before slipping entirely into darkness and his own self-incarceration. Nix Uotan, a Monitor, was born from their short romance.
The original single Monitor retreated from reality to lick its wounds after the trauma of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, only to find that one of its wounds had left a scab in the form of a colossal superman built of heavenly metals. The Monitor started to subdivide itself after determining that it could no longer keep watch over its enormous body. Dax Novu was the first of these segmented Monitors.
Others soon followed, and an entire civilization began to emerge. Meanwhile, Dax Novu conducted excursions into the Multiverse in an attempt to better understand it. Dax married Zillo Valla and had a son named Nix Uotan.
But Novu discovered a shocking truth the Monitors were parasites feasting on the Multiverse and killing it in the process. When he attempted to convey this to the other Monitors, only a few, like Zillo and Rox Ogama, were prepared to listen, but most of them were terrified and rejected him. Dax was eventually given the moniker Mandrakk the Dark Monitor and imprisoned
Mandrakk survives and begins his assault on Earth, utilizing Darkseid’s own onslaught to pave the way. Both the Spectre, God’s Wrath, and the Radiant, God’s Mercy, try to stop him. But Mandrakk is able to overcome both of them, using their strength to supplement his own. He then waits for the best opportunity to strike while Darkseid was attacking.
Mandrakk reappears after Darkseid’s death, using the devastation he had wreaked to complete his plan to take New Earth into the abyss where he resides. He uses his manipulated slave, Ultraman, to overpower and subjugate his cousin Kara Zor-El in an attempt to get revenge on Superman. He encourages Superman to submit, arguing that he has vanquished both the Spectre and the Radiant and that triumph is inescapable.
He approached Superman and mocked him for his machine’s failure. On the other hand, Kal-El startled him by bringing the weapon to life with the last of the light trapped inside his cells. After that, he told Mandrakk that he had failed. The entrance of the Supermen of the Multiverse shocked Mandrakk, who took no time in bringing down Ultraman before shifting their focus to him. Nix Uotan came at that very moment, stating that the Monitors would take care of the rest.
After that, Nix went out to stop his father. He began to unleash the Multiverse’s last-ditch defenses, completing his role as Judge of All Evil. Mandrakk didn’t recognize him at first since he used his ability to transfer the Green Lantern Corps, the Angels of the Pax Dei, and the Forever People of the Fifth World to his right hand. Mandrakk noticed his kid as the Green Lanterns approached. Nix waved it aside, reminding Mandrakk that he needed to return to the darkness he called home if he wanted to survive.
He attempted to fight back, but the Supermen of the Multiverse, Nix Uotan, angels of Pax Dei, the Forever People, and many Green Lanterns stopped him. The Supermen used their collective heat vision to blast him, though they could not kill him, they did injure him. Mandrakk is taken aback, perplexed that things aren’t proceeding as planned in the Limbo book he had read. When the Lanterns drive a big spike through him, he finally dies. His real legacy as a Monitor and the Original Monitor’s first “son” was followed by his own son, Nix, the Monitor who had beaten him.
Dax Novu prepared to feed on the Multiverse once more after the celestial conflict amidst the New Gods and the rebirth of Darkseid. He had Nix Uotan exiled to New Earth with the help of Rox Ogama since he knew Nix would pose a massive challenge to his strategies to drain the Multiverse. To stop him, Zillo enlisted the help of five “Supermen” from all throughout the Multiverse. The brains of Superman from New Earth and Ultraman from the Antimatter Universe were combined to create a thought robot that would fight Mandrakk when he returned. During a tense struggle between Superman and Mandrakk, Mandrakk assassinated Zillo without recognizing her and blamed Superman for his error.
Following Barbatos’ disastrous invasion of the Universe, a group known as The Unexpected, commanded by Neon the Unknown, started looking into what they thought was an Nth Metal Isotope. Alden Quench, the Bad Samaritan, was also looking for the isotope because he idolized Mandrakk and wished to discover and restore him as the Monitor’s Dark Multiverse equivalent.
Following the isotope’s guidance, the Unexpected ultimately arrived on Nil, which had been devastated and abandoned since the Final Crisis. They soon reached the gravestone that Superman had carved and was accosted by a Fuginaut, who disclosed that the isotope they were carrying was really a concentrated shard of Bleed. The Fuginaut was attacked and slain by Mandrakk himself before he could accompany them off the planet.
During his battle with Superman, Mandrakk revealed that he had never died. Instead, he wound up in the Dark Multiverse after falling through the Overvoid. He began sending out a signal that people like Quench mistook for an invitation, committed to return to the appropriate Multiverse and feed himself on the Bleed. Truth be told, it was bait, and he fed on people who came looking for him so that he might slither back out of the abyss and arrive at Nil.
As the last thing standing between the Dark Monitor and the Multiverse, the Unexpected launched a frantic effort to prevent him from returning. The three of them could not defeat him, barely keeping up and staying alive. After understanding the Anti-God’s true character, the Bad Samaritan arrived shortly and joined the Unexpected in their attack on him. Mandrakk, on the other hand, easily defeated Quench, draining and murdering him before provoking the Unexpected to continue their useless assault on him. Mandrakk rushed Neon the Unknown and consumed him, ignoring Firebrand and Hawkman.
This was, however, part of Neon’s plan since it enabled him to travel to the World Forge and collect Quench, who returned them both to Nil swiftly. Recognizing that defeating the Dark Monitor was out of the question, Neon utilized his abilities to change Mandrakk’s physiology, letting him feed on Dark Matter while also removing his capacity to feed on the Bleed. The Unexpected then sent him back into the Dark Multiverse, which he now controlled.
What makes Dax Novu Invincible
Mandrakk was a celestial vampire in Final Crisis. He was shown to be greater than the Multiverse and to hold the combined might of 52 universes (the Multiverse in terminal crisis). He was so powerful that he could beat The Spectre and The Radiant combined.
Mandrakk is the most formidable Monitor; he was mutated and driven insane by his need for blood, thus becoming the ultimate evil. Mandrakk has superhuman physical characteristics, plot manipulation skills, reactive evolution, and adaptation qualities.
Mandrakk can fire beams with the heat of 10 billion suns thanks to Energy Projection. He can fly and develop so as to fight the Thought robots’ attacks and rising might by drawing power straight from the Bleed. Mandrakk has the ability to consume tales (besides Superman’s) and modify reality on a massive scale.
He can communicate with people through psychic methods using Telepathy. He may even transfer his consciousness to another host as he did with Rox Ogama. Mandrakk, like other Monitors, may change his size. He’s a cosmic vampire who can transform Ultra Man into a vampire. He is eternal and will live forever.
Mandrakk, the most powerful Monitor of all time
Mandrakk is the first and the most powerful of the Monitors, entities that consider DC’s infinite-dimensional Universe as a germ and have been described as a menace to all of reality. Mandrakk could feed directly on the Bleed after being corrupted and changed into a Dark Monitor, sucking energy from it to soar and blast fire beams from his hands and eyes.
Mandrakk is also portrayed as the Multiverse’s ultimate danger, capable of easily breaking whole universes. Barbatos, or Superman in cosmic armor, could not defeat him due to his incredible power. His physiology was changed further after encountering the Unexpected, permitting him to feed on Dark Matter rather than the Bleed.