Here’s a fascinating fact: polarity is not a man-made idea; it is interwoven in our universe’s core fabric. While we might debate whose acts fall where on the spectrum of explanation these days, you have to accept that seeing things in neat opposites makes life easier.
Perhaps the Big Bang thought the same thing, for when it decided to give birth to the universe, it gave birth to two competing notions that now occupy all of creation, as well as something beyond it. Most of the known cosmos, including humans, is made up entirely of one of those things.
However, whereas matter is all around us, its antithesis is so uncommon that scientists can only synthesize it in trace amounts and for study purposes. While in our realm, antimatter is the near-absent equivalent of matter, in DC, it is the source of the other universe from which the most frightening dangers have come for a long time.
And, despite all of these threats, one entity managed to reshape the DC continuity as a whole. The Anti-Monitor, created by Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, and Jerry Ordway, first appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 and has since evolved into one of the most dangerous enemies the Justice League has ever encountered. Let us take a look at this nefarious cosmic being from the sixth dimension and how his deeds have influenced DC’s history. The origins of Anti-Monitor have been investigated.
Who is the Anti-Monitor?
Millions of years ago, on the primordial planet Maltus, there existed a civilization so advanced that it would make humanity look like prehistoric cavemen all over again. The Malthusian were at the top of the cosmic food chain: immortal beings who favored reason and rationality over all things and sought to unravel the deepest secrets of the universe. But where the rest of the Maltusian race also practiced prudency, Krona did not.
He was a brilliant scientist who was at the heart of many Maltusian inventions. He was also insatiably curious, always taking unnecessary risks, always pushing the envelope a bit too far. And then one day, he crossed the one line every Maltusian swore to never approach. Krona built a device that would allow him to view the birth of the universe; an act that was considered such a taboo in Maltusian society that he would be disintegrated into pure energy and scattered across the cosmos if he was caught.
And indeed, that is what happened to him, but before he turned into exiled space dust, Krona managed to view the birth of the universe; more specifically, the Hands that created it. But because of Krona’s forbidden experiment, a temporal anomaly of seismic proportions was unleashed and the universe splintered into an ever-expanding multiverse.
While DC has created several iterations of the Multiverse concept on the pages of their comic books, two of them would anchor its continuity on their opposing poles for a very long time. After Krona’s reality-splitting peeping tom tactics had done their job, an entity started taking form on one of the moons of the planet that would become the Maltusians’ future home; Oa. This being was created from pure positive energy and came to be known as the Monitor of the DC Universe.
The Monitor was an omniscient being in charge of overlooking the Positive Matter Universe. Upon his birth, he became aware of the existence of the greatest threat that the Multiverse would ever come to face; his twin brother. Forming on a moon of the planet Qward in the Anti-Matter Universe, the Anti-Monitor was the exact opposite of his counterpart. He is a swirling mass of anti-matter energy with a hunger for conquest and power that would make Galactus look like his pet cat.
The Anti-Monitor conquered Qward shortly after his birth and had the entire Anti-Matter Universe under his control soon after. He created a personal legion of lightning-flinging Thunderers and began venturing into positive-matter universes, devouring or conquering them as he came across them.
The Anti-Monitor then became aware of his positive matter counterpart and engaged him in a cosmic battle for the multiverse that raged on for a million years. In the end, the battle was a stalemate and both entities were rendered inert for 9 billion years after they blasted each other with a blast powerful enough to break reality.
In Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #2 it was revealed that they had been created by a primordial Multiversal entity known as the Over-Monitor. Occupying the void between DC’s various universes, he took a particular interest in the multiverse that would go on to become the home of the Justice League. He created a smaller, probe “Monitor” to oversee its development; however, disaster struck his efforts almost instantly.
Unprepared to deal with the complexity of life and the passing of time, the probe-Monitor was split into two symmetrically opposing beings upon coming into contact with the Multiverse itself. These beings would go on to become The Monitor and The Anti-Monitor. If by any chance you’re thinking that his history is unnecessarily complicated now, well…
Post-Flashpoint & Rebirth Origins of Anti-Monitor
As DC enters the Omniverse with the Infinite Frontier initiative, the Anti-Monitor’s origins have been skewed to even more cosmic proportions, adding a layer of deep tragedy to his primordial malevolence. It was revealed that our Multiverse was created by Perpetua; a creative entity that originated in the 6th dimension.
Perpetua was commissioned to create and oversee the formative years of DC’s Multiverse by the Judges of the Source. She went on to give birth to three sons, each of whom would hold dominion over one aspect of the multiverse. Mar Novu was tasked with observing all life in the positive aspect of the Universe and became its Monitor.
Alpheus was tasked with dwelling in the darkness and creating new planets and universes to fill up Mar Novu’s domain; he’d come to be known as the World Forger. Her third son was tasked with an odd duty; he would occupy the space between Perpetua’s Multiverse and the greater Omniverse, guarding it against “threats” while ensuring that the light of creation didn’t breach the latter from his seat in the anti-matter realm.
This son was called Mobius; and after billions of years of existence, he would come to be known as the Anti-Monitor. The three brothers served their mother faithfully for eons until Mar Novu realized the folly of her ambitions. Realizing that Perpetua should have left her jurisdictional duties to her sons in accordance with the laws of the Source, Mar Novu and his siblings contacted the Judges and reported her transgressions.
The trio faced off against hordes of Perpetua’s minions till the Cosmic Raptor arrived and trapped her within the Source Wall. Angry at Mar Novu for effectively stealing his job, Mobius swore undying vengeance upon his brother before all three siblings were disintegrated, to be re-born billions of years later. Mobius was a naturally-curious individual whose interests aligned with those of Krona.
In an attempt to understand the origins of his anti-matter multiverse, he created a device that could traverse anywhere within the space-time continuum and granted its occupant nigh-omniscient knowledge. Have you guessed what it is?
Here’s your hint: it’s in his name. Yes, the Anti-Monitor is the person responsible for creating the Mobius Chair; and its position as Metron’s seat of power. Using his reality-warping chair, Mobius did exactly what Krona had done; he peered behind the veil of creation. But where Krona saw the Hands, Mobius saw the very essence of his universe’s existence; the Anti-Life Equation. Being exposed to its cosmic energy was too much for him, and Mobius was transformed into the villainous Anti-Monitor.
Anti-Monitor Various story arcs
While his backstory is as consistent as a ball of yarn, let’s get one thing straight; the Anti-Monitor is one of the greatest threats to ever emerge in DC’s history, literally re-shaping its entire continuity within his first 10 issues. He first appeared as the primary antagonist of the Crisis on Infinite Earths event. After a scientist called Pariah managed to replicate Krona’s experiment safely using an anti-matter box, he inadvertently woke the Anti-Monitor from his eons-long slumber.
The Anti-Monitor promptly resumed his grudge against his brother and tried to wipe out the entire Multiverse and re-shape it to his liking. He unleashed a wave of destruction upon the infinite multiverses of DC continuity with his shadows. The Anti-Monitor’s first attempt at assimilating the multiverse was thwarted by his brother, whose timely intervention lead to his defeat; at the cost of Supergirl’s life.
Enraged by the humiliation, Anti-Monitor drained the anti-matter energy of a million planets and traveled in time to the dawn of the Universe. Here, he unleashed a wave of anti-matter energy that outright destroyed whole universes, leaving only 2 intact in DC continuity: the Earth-One reality and the Anti-Matter Universe. Thankfully, he was stopped by Superboy-Prime, Earth-Two’s Superman, and Alexander Luthor of Earth-3, whose combined efforts managed to actually kill the cosmic being.
He reappeared in the New 52 as the Sinestro Corps’ “Guardian of Fear”, fuelling Thaal’s twisted ideology concerning sentient life’s most primal emotion. His body was rebuilt by the Manhunters, and in addition, he recruited Superman-Prime, the Cyborg Superman, and Parallax, who was using Kyle Rayner as its host, along with Sinestro as his ‘heralds’.
The Anti-Monitor was the mastermind behind the Sinsetro Corps War, which saw the legionnaires of fear do everything in their power to destroy the Green Lantern Corps once and for all. During this war, the Anti-Monitor was killed by Source Wall-shattering Superman-Prime and was resurrected as the core of the Black Lantern Central Power Battery by Nekron during the Blackest Night event.
He is the cause of the Crime Syndicate’s invasion of Earth-Prime during the events of Forever Evil. Initially, the CSA claimed their plant had been destroyed because of a global uprising against supervillains. It was later revealed that the Anti-Monitor had destroyed their entire universe, forcing them to invade DC’s Prime Universe in a bid to survive.
Despite being a central character in DC’s most-pivotal moments, the Anti-Monitor’s greatest achievement has to be killing Darkseid. [pronounce:dark-side] During the Darkseid War storyline, the Mad King of Apokolips faced his greatest moral dilemma to date when he realized that his coveted prize was cocooned within his worst adversarial nightmare. In the end, even the mighty Darkseid was no match for the Anti-Monitor.
He defeated the New God of Apokolips with uncanny ease, after which he separated himself from the Anti-Life Equation and returned to his original form as Mobius; albeit still possessing several of his powers as the former Anti-Monitor. The last time we met the Anti-Monitor during Scott Snyder’s Death Metal run, he had somehow reverted to infancy and was being taken care of by the very God he had once struck down; Darkseid. Still, whether he’s in his Life Shell or a diaper, there is no denying the sheer power of the Anti-Monitor.
What makes Anti-Monitor so Dangerous?
To be honest, we’d be better off trying to list what doesn’t. The Anti-Monitor is one of the most-powerful beings in DC history. He is a cosmic being made of pure anti-matter energy and can manipulate that energy however he deems fit; though he does have to wear his nearly-indestructible Life Shell to seem even vaguely humanoid.
If you can somehow manage to get through his armor, which you won’t, you still have to contend with all the other things that he can do to you. The Anti-Monitor is a primordial being who is omniscient; he can see across universes in an instant and determine outcomes faster than the speed of light.
He can travel between universes without needing vibrational frequencies or a tuning fork; even though he himself was turned into one by Alex Luthor. Saying that the Anti-Monitor is physically stronger than any “superhero” in existence would be an understatement; the guy was able to swat aside a Mr. Mxyzptlk-enhanced Spectre like he was an annoying gnat, and Spectre is the literal Spirit of Vengeance.
The Anti-Monitor has full control over his physiology, being able to grow from a peanut-sized gremlin to a cosmic mega-zord at the drop of a hat. He can absorb various life forms in the blink of an eye, create lethal energy constructs out of thin air, and can greatly augment his own strength by accumulating that of others.
Being linked to the very essence of the Multiverse, Mobius can never truly be killed; he will simply keep resurrecting over and over again as long as the Anti-Matter Universe exists. At the same time, his mastery over the Anti-Matter Energy is such that it surpasses even the Omega Sanction. Darkseid’s eye beams might never miss, but Anti-Monitor’s energy projection is so advanced that he can alter the fabric of reality with it.
Yes, the Anti-Monitor’s eye beams don’t just turn you into space dust; they can also turn you into a giant turd monster for shits-and-giggles. With a single concentrated wave of anti-matter energy, the Anti-Monitor changed DC’s landscape, slaughtering trillions in the wake of his temper tantrum. And you know, if that’s what he does when he throws a tantrum, we do NOT want to test him on a particularly rough day. Sometimes, it’s better to not have all the answers, and in this case, it might just keep you sane.
Deadly Versions Of Anti-Monitor In Various Forms Of Media
The Anti-Monitor is one of the core villains of DC’s pantheon of super-individuals and has had 2 memorable TV adaptations. The first one is courtesy of the Green Lantern: The Animated Series, where he appears as the overarching antagonist of the second half of the series. In this version, the Anti-Monitor isn’t a primordial being whose existence was linked to Krona’s experiment; he WAS Krona’s experiment.
After he realized the terrifying potential of the monster he’d created, Krona banished the Anti-Monitor to another universe where he consumed almost everything. He struck a deal with a sole survivor and was able to breach the main universe, where he proceeded to clash with the Green & Red Lantern Corps multiple times.
This version of the Anti-Monitor was decapitated by Hal Jordan’s A.I. companion Aya. The more tantalizing depiction of the Anti-Monitor comes from the Arrowverse, where he is depicted as the universal threat that he truly was in the comics. In this version, Mar Novu aka The Monitor is the scientist who was attempting to uncover the origins of the Universe, not Krona.
He had hoped to find the secret of all creation; instead, he discovered the anti-matter universe and his evil counterpart Mobius. Beyond this, much of the rest of the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline followed by CW is consistent with the comics. This version of the Anti-Monitor looks very different from his comic book description and is played by semi-professional Slamball player and Sons of Anarchy’s Deputy Sheriff Cane, LaMonica Garrett.
In Conclusion
We feel like we’ve said it enough, but we’ll reiterate it one last time to drive our point home. Without the Anti-Monitor, DC’s current landscape might have been populated with far more superheroes than it already has; and that is a terrifying prospect on so many levels.
Ruthless, avarice-riddled, and utterly without contempt, the Anti-Monitor is one of the strongest (and craziest) characters to ever face off against the Justice League and the Guardians of the Universe. He’s got an entire dimension’s worth of power over Mr. Mxyzptlk, and that dastardly imp toys with creation in his free time. You put the dots together; because frankly, we’re too scared to do the math on that one.