WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Justice League Odyssey #15 by Dan Abnett, Will Conrad, Rain Beredo, Pete Pantazis and Andworld Design, on sale now.
Justice League Odyssey has certainly placed the cosmic corner of the DC Universe in dire straits. While Lex Luthor and Perpetua reshape reality in their Doom War, Darkseid has created his own pocket outside of their purview called Sepulkore. With the brainwashed Cyborg, Azrael, and Starfire as his generals, the villain now has his own piece of reality he can continue plotting from.
As Jessica Cruz, Blackfire, Orion and Dex-Starr strike a deal with the Eskaton (devourers of New Gods) to hunt down the Lord of Apokolips, though, they don't realize they may have one more ally in the mix. That's because Issue #15 brings Space Ranger, a classic DC galactic hero, back into the fold -- but with a female twist.
Space Ranger was created by Edmond Hamilton, Gardner Fox and Bob Brown in the '50s when Rick Starr of Allied Solar Enterprises donned a unique space suit to fight pirates, alien invaders, evil scientists and threats from the future. He was basically Green Lantern without the ring. He operated with a transparent helmet from an asteroid base and used a ship called the Solar King.
He didn't have any powers except for his brain and armed himself with a wide array of super-scientific gadgets and weapons, such as the all-purpose multi-ray pistol he wore on his weapon belt. Space Ranger would go on to team up with the Green Lanterns and Justice League in modern stories.
However, Rick doesn't appear in Justice League Odyssey. Instead, it's his daughter. We never find out her real name, but she's going by the moniker Gamma Knife.
The revelation comes at the end of the issue as Jessica and co. trail Darkseid's energy signature for the Alpha Eskaton, who wants to consume the villain's essence. Their ship's damaged badly, which leads them to a field of wrecked ships. They don't know who these other ships belong to, but they intend to salvage them for parts to repair their own vessel.
Little do they know, Gamma Knife and her drones have spotted their ship for scouting. She's a salvager herself, and while she doesn't seem hostile, we don't know how aggressive the drones will be. Rocking a suit a la Iron Man, Gamma jets off to Jess' ship to see what could be stored on it. She thinks she's hit the jackpot but little does she know she's about to become embroiled in a catastrophic conflict because Darkseid's troops are coming.
Future solicits reveal she'll be joining the war on Darkseid but, until we know what happened to her dad and get some insight into her past, we can't say what kind of ally she'll be. Gamma Knife might be in way over her head. Darkseid has dispatched his dark Trinity to come after all parties so Gamma Knife will need protection when the tyrant's cavalry arrives. He wants to be the predator, not the prey, and Gamma Knife could become collateral damage in this war. However, if she's as resourceful as Rick was, she'll have a few tricks up her sleeve that could help Jess' squad turn the tide.
Justice League Odyssey #16 goes on sale Dec. 11.