WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Unexpected #1 by Steve Orlando, Ryan Sook, Cary Nord, Mick Gray, Wade von Grawbadger, FCO Plasencia and Carlos M. Mangual, on sale now.


There’s a new team in the DC Universe, and it's unlike anything the DCU has ever seen before. Hot off the heels of Dark Nights: Metal arrives The Unexpected, a ragtag group of warriors charged with stopping Crisis-level events before the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman even know they’re going down.

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As such, The Unexpected is a dense book full of references to the larger DC Universe, but one reference in particular caught our eye. While reaching to tear out that Conflict Engine which replaced Firebrand’s heart, Alden Quence references one of the biggest bad guys in the history of the DC Universe, a name which gives us a hint at the scale of story the series is designed to explore.

Bad Samaritan

First mentioned by name in Supergirl #20, Alden Quench, aka the Bad Samaritan, appears fully for the first time seeking Janet Fals, a former EMT who died during the invasion of the Dark Multiverse and was resurrected by a shady arms developer who replaced her heart with the “Conflict Engine,” thus turning her into Firebrand. Now, she has to fight constantly in order to feed the engine, which the higher ups at Civil Solutions wants back. Her life is hard enough when the sinister Bad Samaritan shows up at her work looking to steal her new heart.

The reason Alden Quench wants the Conflict Engine is simple: He’s been hired by Onimar Synn, regent of Thanagar Prime who was last seen during Dark Nights: Metal trying to sacrifice Earth so Thangar would survive the collapse of the Multiverse. However, the Bad Samaritan has his own agenda, and namechecks a much more dangerous foe as he plans to use Synn as a way to reach Mandrakk: The Dark Monitor.

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Like many great villains, Mandrakk’s origins started with good intentions. When the original Monitor — later renamed as the Overmonitor in Metal — decided the multiverse was too big to cover alone, he subdivided himself and created a new race of Monitors. The first was Dax Novu, who shepherded the Monitors towards civilization. He took a wife in Zillo Valla and together they sired a son in Nix Uotan. However, Dax Novu learned the truth, that the Monitors were unconsciously draining multiversal energy from The Bleed and damaging the very structure which holds the multiverse together.

The Monitors refused to listen to him, locking him away and cutting him off from the ambient energy of the Multiverse which sustains the Monitors. From this, he became what he tried to avoid -- a cosmic vampire. Conspiring with his disciple Rox Ogama, the newly named Mandrakk had his son exiled to Earth-0 and attempted to feed on the entire Multiverse, only to be stopped by his lover, who recruited the Supermen of the Universe to come together and stop him.

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Unfortunately, Rox Ogama was able to feed on Dax Novu’s corpse and became Mandrakk, adding credence to the theory that Mandrakk is a separate being which assumes a host form rather than a simple title. In the dying moments of the universe following the death of Darkseid, Superman and the Justice League faced off against Mandrakk. Led by Nix Uotan, now the Superjudge, and backed by the Forever People of The Fifth World, the Zoo Crew of Earth-26, the heroes proved that good would always triumph over evil and Mandrakk was killed, stabbed through the heart by a stake of pure light, created by the Green Lantern Corps.

The question remains as to which Mandrakk it is which Alden Quench is working for? Dax Novu was cast into the Overvoid and Rox Ogama exploded in a flash of light. If the rumors concerning the true nature of Mandrakk are accurate, we may have not seen Mandrakk in his true form yet and The Unexpected may reveal the cosmic force which gave power to both Novu and Ogama.

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The Overmonitor’s return in Dark Nights: Metal puts the Monitors as a people back on the table for use in the DC Universe and Nix Uotan hasn’t been seen in a while either. Whatever it is that Mandrakk is up to, whoever it is that Mandrakk is, it can’t be good for the DC Multiverse.

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So, Alden Quench has a link to Mandrakk, The Dark Monitor and he needs the Conflict Engine to get there. However, when he slices Neon The Unknown in two the lead of The Unexpected doesn’t die but does leave a colorful residue which intrigues the Bad Samaritan. It’s likely a coincidence, but the liquid looks rather similar to the way Marley Zarcone and Kelly Fitzpatrick depict Madness in Shade, The Changing Woman. The Unexpected writer Steve Orlando was one of the architects of the recent “Milk Wars” crossover between the Justice League of America and the heroes of Young Animal, so it wouldn’t be too surprising for there to be a link there.

Realizing that Neon’s innards can get him to Mandrakk faster, he sprays some on Firebrand’s chest and strikes it with Viking Judge’s axe and in doing so creates a new, powerful Nth Metal isotope which erupts in a flash of light killing Quench, Viking Judge and Ascendent, leaving Neon The Unknown and Firebrand as the only survivors. With news of the events reaching Onimar Synn, he’s on his way to Earth to acquire the isotope -- but that’s only possible if it doesn’t explode again, first.

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Neon warns Firebrand that if it explodes again, it could knock Earth out of its place in the multiversal structure and send it tunneling into the Dark Multiverse, where we see Carter Hall, the Dragon of Barbatos waiting with his giant hammer.

How this lines up with Carter’s cameo in this week’s Justice League and the upcoming Hawkman #1 remains to be seen, but it appears as though The Unexpected will be taking a trip to the World Forge... and beyond.

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