The upcoming event Leviathan Rising is set to shake the foundation of the entire DC Universe. While many of the heroes of the event have been revealed, it looks like there may be a few that writer Brian Michael Bendis has been saving.
During a round table discussion with the media, including CBR, Bendis teased the involvement of certain characters in the event and what kind of role they could have in the story.
Leviathan Rising follows the recent events of Action Comics, which has seen many of the organizations that control the DC Universe suddenly brought down.
"This is a point of the story," Bendis said. "Shit is happening and Batman missed it. This was planned. They waited until you weren't there and took care of it. But that's where the detective work comes in. Coming into a place that's been demolished and picking it apart."
One of the main suspects in the mystery at the moment is A.R.G.U.S. agent Steve Trevor. He appears briefly in the first issue of the miniseries and, Bendis says, "he's still a huge suspect. He's done nothing but make himself more of a suspect. He's certainly in a terrible place because someone has to pay the check. We've all seen it, someone is going to need to go in front of Congress and get their ass kicked."
In the Year of the Villain #1 prologue to the story, Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, is actually offered a place in the new world order Leviathan is trying to build.
"Barabra's not the only one [getting that offer]," Bendis teased. "There's going to be quite a few that have, and I really love this about them, they've journeyed through the DC Universe and had different roles. It's not unlike a lot of people's careers now. You have different careers. She's had different status quos, and for characters to have different status quos, for Leviathan that would seem like a target. 'You want what I want, and you're not getting it doing what you're doing. Come on board.' And as we go, we'll see how that pans out. It's quite a few people being pitched this. And as was said in the earliest things, a lot of things have blown up and we haven't seen a lot of bodies. So, as the Question says, 'when I don't see any bodies, I start asking more questions.'"
Also in the short chapter included in the Year of the Villain issue, Damian Wayne reveals to his father that he has his suspicions that Jason Todd might be the man behind the Leviathan mask.
"What I think it speaks to in Jason and Batgirl is that if you start using what makes them suspects, [there's] a lot of people who fall into this category," said Bendis. "There's quite a few people who have been on multiple teams and have had a few different journeys through this universe, or gone back and forth on this side of the coin. I think what Damian is pointing out is that. Now they're going to go after Jason, and we're going to play that out soon. Is Jason Leviathan? He's been through a lot. Roy's not around anymore, he's made choices in the past that fall under this category. But so have others. See? It's a good mystery."
Bendis also revealed that Jimmy Olsen is going to pop up in Leviathan.
"Yes. He's also in every issue of Action Comics going forward," said Bendis. "And all in connection to [Fraction]'s madness. There's something really special about the thunder [Fraction] and Lieber are bringing to [that] book. I'm promoting it because I desperately want Jimmy Olson to be the number one book in the country and for everyone to just sit there and people to not be able to wrap their heads around it for years." Bendis also admitted that the Question has "a very big role."
However, there are three DC characters Bendis seems positively giddy to bring to the forefront of the event.
"The Plastic Man we're going to do in this... I would joke for years, you can Google this, people used to say 'you and [Alex Maleev] should come to DC and do Batman,' and I'd say 'if we're coming to DC, we're doing Plastic Man,'" said Bendis. "I said it for 15 years... like the old Jack Cole stuff. But Manhunter is also on the docket, this is one that was in the family. Because the original series by Marc Andreyko... I had a lot of love for that character. And the Question! Enormous bring-back for fans. I was talking about the anecdotal thing that is my Twitter feed, it's all about the Question and Conner Kent. It's all I hear about all day. My whole year has been 'more Question, more Question.' I'm so happy we're delivering. People love faceless people."
Check back later for more from Brian Michael Bendis' discussion about Leviathan Rising, Batman, Superboys (both of them) and much more.