SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Supergirl #12, on sale now.


One of the long-running mysteries of DC Comics' Rebirth has centered around what’s going on with the Legion of Super-Heroes and how it relates to the larger DC Universe. We’ve seen Saturn Girl is currently locked up in Arkham, while Phantom Girl is set to join The Terrifics in the coming months, but we don’t know the reason these Legionnaires are showing up in the twenty-first century. One person that’s just as curious as we are is the Emerald Empress, another citizen of the thirty-first century who has travelled back in time in order to find Saturn Girl, though she's recently changed her attention to National City and Supergirl.

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In Supergirl #12, by Steve Orlando, Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, Michael Atiyeh and Steve Wands, the Emerald Empress assembles a new Fatal Five comprised of familiar characters from this era of DC in order to take the fight to Supergirl and the DEO and change the future forever.

The Fatal Five, in their original incarnation, were created by Jim Shooter and introduced in 1967’s Adventure Comics #352. In their first appearance, the group was actually rounded up by the Legion of Super-Heroes who needed help from the universe’s most dangerous criminals in order to stop an even greater danger than a team of villains. With a Sun-Eater threatening the entire system, the Fatal Five and the Legion of Super-Heroes worked together to destroy the the entity, although Ferro Lad perished along the way, sacrificing himself in order to make sure the system was safe. Following their victory, The Fatal Five turned on the Legion of Super-Heroes, but were defeated and sent packing to fight another day.

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The original incarnation of The Fatal Five was led by Tharok, a once small-time crook who lost half of his body in a bungled robbery; his form was rebuilt with robotic parts that boosted his intelligence to that of a supergenius. His cyborg brain also allows him control over The Fatal Five’s big bruiser, Validus, a brutish creature of unknown origin who was eventually revealed as the son of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, sent back in time and monstrously transformed by none other than Darkseid.

The Emerald Empress is a woman named Sarya, who hails from the planet Venegar. She has no powers of her own, but wields the powerful Emerald Eye of Ekron which can fly, shoot deadly blasts and augment the Empress’ own abilities as well. It has been implied in numerous stories over the years that the Empress herself is actually under the Emerald Eye’s control and on more than one occasion the Eye has sought out replacements to Sarya to be the new Emerald Empress.

The final two members of the original incarnation of The Fatal Five are The Persuader and Mano. The Persuader is a sort of cosmic executioner with an atomic axe that cut through literally anything, including hypothetical or theoretical concepts, including time and space. Mano is an alien from the planet Angtu with the mutant power of an anti-matter touch, which can destroy anything he comes across, including his home planet which he destroyed, killing every other member of his race.

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Emerald Empress Builds Her Fatal Five

The Emerald Empress first showed up in the twenty-first century looking for Saturn Girl due to a vision she had of her defeat at the Legions’ hands, but she found herself imprisoned and a member of the Suicide Squad before she was busted free by Maxwell Lord. After their rogue group disbanded, the Empress sought out Saturn Girl in Arkham Asylum and saw that her vision was wrong. Supergirl would be to blame for her eventual defeat, so she has spent the last few issues traveling the DC Universe and recruiting an all-new Fatal Five comprised of some of the most dangerous foes around.

Emerald-Empress-Supergirl

There are certain comparisons to be made between old and new members, but it seems that Emerald Empress has gone for efficiency and power over a simple one-to-one series of replacements. There are some major similarities between some of the new Fatal Five, if not in appearance or powers then thematically, and they pose a threat to Supergirl unlike any other villainous group has before.

Supergirl-Fatal-Five

The most recognizable member of the group is, without a doubt, Solomon Grundy -- but this isn’t the real Grundy. This is a force-grown Grundy, created from a stolen follicle of hair from the original. As such, he's even more savage and brutish than the real Grundy; he’s also more easily controlled, making him somewhat the Validus of the group.

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Also on the new Fatal Five is the most recent incarnation of Magog, a character with a somewhat confusing backstory that was somewhat streamlined for The New 52. Originally introduced as a character representative of the new breed of superheroes in Mark Waid and Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come, Magog's new origin saw him lose his family during the Apokoliptian invasion that saw the formation of the Justice League. Once gifted powers by Circe, he blamed the superheroes for the loss of his family. He shares a similar role on the new group as The Persuader did on the original, although they have very different powers.

Magog-Grundy-Fatal-Five-Supergirl

The final two members of the new Fatal Five will be recognizable if you’re fans of Supergirl adaptations. Indigo was originally introduced as a member of the 21st century Outsiders, but was eventually revealed to be Brainiac-8. She had yet to surface in the current continuity until now, but fans of the Supergirl television show will recognize her as a villain from the show’s first season. Lastly, Selena is based on the character of the same name from the 1984 Supergirl feature film but her comics debut has expanded her character somewhat, as an imprisoned sorceress freed from her realm by the Fatal Five.

The threat of The Fatal Five has been building in the pages of Supergirl for several months; now that they've struck, it’s easy to see they're as fearsome, ferocious and, well, fatal as their 31st century counterparts. As the team attempts to rid the future of the House of El’s legacy, and Supergirl has a giant Grundy to deal with, will we finally get more answers as to what’s currently going on with The Legion of Super-Heroes and will this story point towards the larger mystery of DC Rebirth heading into Doomsday Clock later this year?