WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Father Christmas," a story in  DC's New Year's Evil #1 by Dave Wielgosz, Cian Tormey, Dave McCaig and Andworld Design, on sale now

Chronos has never been the most impressive villain in the DC Universe. Usually, he's usually just been portrayed as a background villain who shows up in the background of the Legion of Doom's bigger meetings. As the nemesis to the Atom, a character who's only had his own solo series infrequently, Chronos was never given the chance to grow in to the most emotionally complex character.

However, one of the stories in DC's New Year's Evil #1 focuses on him and introduces new elements of Chronos' origin that explain how one terrible Christmas shaped the man he would become and how his using time travel made him an active player in it.

RELATED: DC's Red Hood: Outlaw Takes A Page From The Titans Live-Action Series

KEEP TIME IN A BOTTLE

Chronos first appeared in 1962's The Atom #3,  without the time travel elements he would later become more known for. Created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane, Chronos (David Clinton) was initially just a thief who perfected timing and synchronization to enhance his tactics during crimes. He was the dedicated nemesis of Ray Palmer, the Atom of the Silver Age. His research into time-based gadgets eventually led to the creation of small time-traveling technology. Years later, he eventually made a deal with Neron during Underworld Unleashed that gave him full time-traveling abilities. However, he eventually seemed to disappear into the timestream and was pronounced legally dead - although he would occasionally reappear at various other points to fight Palmer and his eventual heir to the title of Atom, Ryan Choi.

The character, like most of the DC Universe, was largely reinvented in the last decade after the events of Flashpoint. Originally, he was an agent of A.R.G.U.S. who was captured by the Secret Society of Supervillains until the JLA accidentally found him. This David Clinton would eventually use his time technology to try and bring down the very concept of superheroes by killing Ahl, the prehistoric first hero. He was even able to fatally wound the hero, but Ryan Choi lived up to the old rivalry between Atom and Chronos, defeating him and giving the heroes the chance to save Ahl.

While Chronos' newest story doesn't redeem him, it does reveal a tragic Christmas story about Chronos that goes a long way towards explaining the kind of man he is.

RELATED: Crisis on Infinite Earths Confirms Lucifer's Place in the Arrowverse

ONE BAD CHRISTMAS

The story focuses largely on Cliff Clinton, who is eventually revealed to be the father of David Clinton - the boy who will grow up to become Chronos. The villain has been returning to a specific Christmas night in his past, trying to find a way to change the past and make his father a better man. The first time we see him, he saves a drunken Cliff from being hit by a car and orders him to become a better man out of gratitude. But Chronos reveals this is his 64th attempt to force his father to redeem himself. Ultimately, just like all the other attempts, this one fails. Cliff is even offered money to buy David the present that he wants but never got.

It's then revealed that Chronos has been trying to change the past by giving himself a happier home life as a child, in the hope that it will allow him to have led a life where he never became a supervillain. Even posing as a social worker and threatening to take his son away doesn't move Cliff. In the end, an enraged David confronts his father and murders him himself, leaving his body in the street and telling the dying man that all he had to do to live to a nice old age was love his son. The story ends with Chronos giving his younger self a Christmas present while the cops arrive to inform him and his mother about Cliff's demise.

It is a sad story for the holidays that builds off the idea that Chronos doesn't see the point in the people meant to inspire him, like his father or s0-called heroes. In the same way that silly characters like Kite-Man have been redefined with tragic tales, this story highlights the private tragedy that drives this villain and makes Chronos far more than just another face in the crowd.

KEEP READING: DC's Dark Multiverse Has Finally Given Us the Perfect Deathstroke