WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Justice League #26, by James Tynion IV, Javier Fernandez, Hi-Fi and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
DC's relaunched Justice League has reminded us just how messed up Batman actually is. Over the years, we've seen the Dark Knight so distrustful of teammates that he devised contingency plans to defeat them, which sadly fell into the hand of Ra's al Ghul. That's to say nothing of his secret stockpiles of Kryptonite, in case Superman needs to be killed.
But it's his plan to weaponize the moon at the start of this current series that left fans, as well as the League, thinking the Caped Crusader is truly crazy. However, Issue 26 shakes up that notion by revealing there's another member of the team who might be a bit more twisted than Baman when it comes to the art of war: Hawkgirl.
Kendra Saunders has quickly proved herself to her comrades, making her version of Hawkgirl stand out, not just as a warrior, but as a military strategist. That led to her becoming a key player in the League's trip to the Sixth Dimension, where they bargained with the World Forger not to end their reality, but to instead help them fight his mother, Perpetua.
Although they've formed an ambitious alliance, they know Perpetua has unlimited cosmic power with which she's preparing to reshape the galaxy. With the Source Wall (her prison) destroyed and Lex Luthor converted into the Apex, her new disciple, she has firepower like never before. As the Justice League looks to expand, however, we discover Kendra had an unsavory plan vetoed, which revolved around invading the minds of every human alive and turning them into living weapons.
We're pretty certain some people wouldn't want to be turned into soldiers, so this is an intrusion of the highest order. Even if people agreed, it's still messed up, as Hawkgirl tries to make her case for wanting J'onn J'onzz to use his telepathic abilities and, like The Matrix, download martial arts and killing skills into every person alive. It's a selfish notion, all so she'd have soldiers on the frontlines against Perpetua's legion. Given that she's been part of every war in history through her immortal life, Kendra tries to justify it to Mera, and criticizes the League for abandoning the idea.
Hawkgirl is adamant that desperate times call for desperate measures, which is why she has Starman maxing out his powers with Jarro to find Perpetua, and why the Titans and Teen Titans are being trained more in lethal combat by seniors like Black Canary. This notion worries Mera, because she thinks Hawkgirl is projecting her anger and frustrations after J'onn left the team to go hunt Lex himself.
It's worth noting Kendra's child with J'onn in the Sixth Dimension, Shayne, came back with them and he has the power to do this. Kendra was seen looking for the kid so let's hope, as relentless as she gets, the thought doesn't cross her mind to use the boy instead, because it'll definitely be seen as unethical and something which would break everyone's trust, the public included.
The League was incensed she'd even think of such an idea and while Batman can be knocked for his antics in the past, at least he showed composure and acted on logic. Hawkgirl is emotionally improvising and coming off haphazard in her thinking, and the last thing the heroes need right now is someone going off the hinges like this, endangering them from the inside. Mera makes a pretty convincing argument this isn't the way to win the impending war, but if Kendra's stubborn attitude so far is anything to go by, she might have a wildcard play up her sleeve that could affect her future on the team.
Justice League #27 goes on sale July 3.