WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Justice League #59, by Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, Tamra Bonvillain and Josh Reed and The Swamp Thing #1, by Ram V, Mike Perkins, Mike Spicer and Aditya Bidikar, on sale now.
A bold, new future for the DC Universe has started with the Infinite Frontier era, spinning out of the rebirth of the DC Multiverse from the fires of Dark Nights: Death Metal. However, the seeds for ambitious, new direction for the Justice League were planted in a different crossover event published at the end of 2020, Endless Winter.
While the wintry Justice League story was focused on the DCU's greatest superheroes battling a resurgent Frost King, the impact continues to reverberate months after the Frost King's defeat as seen at the start of Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez's run on Justice League.
The most visible element of Endless Winter that has resurfaced in Infinite Frontier's Justice League is the increased prominence of Black Adam. The Shazam villain revealed he was among the Viking Age heroes who defeated the Frost King upon his initial introduction and vowed to put down the polar villain for good when he was freed and empowered in the present day. Adam and Superman struck up a quiet grudge in the final battle but, by the start of Infinite Frontier, appear to have put this behind them in the face of a new, mutual threat in the extra-dimensional invader Brutus. However, Adam is far from the only Viking Age hero that has recently reappeared alongside the Justice League.
With Wonder Woman on her own cosmic odyssey after her key role in Death Metal and currently trapped in the Norse afterlife of Valhalla, a different Amazon superhero has taken her spot on the Justice League: Hippolyta, her mother. Queen Hippolyta has certainly served as the Justice League (And Justice Society's) Wonder Woman before, but her return comes after the revelation that she and Adam were among the heroes that imprisoned the Frost King centuries ago. Usually content on presiding over the Amazons on Themyscira, Hippolyta left Paradise Island to contend with the icy supervillain once again and has started serving as an active part of the DCU superhero community in her daughter's absence.
And then there's the matter of Swamp Thing. Current events have been rather tumultuous for the Parliament of Trees, as of late, including the Green's chosen champion shifting identities. Endless Winter had the soul of the Viking Prince rise from the grave centuries after his death to become a temporary host for Swamp Thing to turn the tide of battle against the Frost King. Since then, Alec Holland is nowhere to be found, and a new Swamp Thing has arisen in Levi Kamei as the young man acclimates to his role as the DCU's latest elemental superhero and disturbing fluctuations in the Green that may or may not be a result of the tampering conducted in bonding Swamp Thing to the Viking Prince and abruptly severing the connection with the Frost King's latest defeat.
Several key players in Endless Winter have had their respective status quo altered at the start of Infinite Frontier and continue to play major roles in the DCU in the wake of the Frost King attempting to plunge the world into a magical polar vortex. The Justice League is growing bigger and taking on new members while strange threats surface across the DCU. While the Frost King has been defeated once again, Endless Winter's battle for the fate of the DCU has already started to have left visibly lasting effects on the world's premier super-team and its adjacent heroes.