WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Justice League #35 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Francis Manapul, Hi-Fi and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
The latest issue of Scott Snyder's Justice League has certainly given a clear victory to Lex Luthor's Legion of Doom. With Starman killed and Perpetua's sons stopped in battle, the cosmic goddess has began to reshape the DC Multiverse as she sees fit.
The League's without a response as their plan to create a Justice Totality has been shattered despite retrieving the shards across various eras. But as Issue #35 shows, Perpetua may have made a rookie mistake by failing to take out her biggest threat: Hawkgirl.
Kendra Saunders is seen trying to race back in a jet to the League on Earth as the issue opens. She has Shayne, her son from the Sixth Dimension with her, but she's wracked by the guilt for trying to kill Lex just when success was in sight. She lost sight of the mission and her selfish actions cost Starman his lifem since he didn't get access to her wings to open a portal quickly enough for the League to arrive. Now she's on the lam, desperately hoping Perpetua can't track her.
Since Lex has a mental connection to Hawkgirl following his murder of the Martian Manhunter, finding Perpetua is no problem for the all-powerful villain. Immediately, the Apex Predator lets Perpetua know that Kendra is racing back to Earth, but rather than destroy the ship, Perpetua simply clips its wings causing it to start spiraling out of control in the vacuum of space. It's a dumb move, especially since Perpetua acknowledges that Kendra is her biggest enemy due to her wings containing Source Wall energy and a connection to the Totality, which combine to make her a Raptor.
This Raptor, once all her abilities are unlocked, would basically be as strong as Perpetua, so it would make sense for the villain to blow the ship up and ensure Hawkgirl's dead. But for the sake of plot convenience, Perpetua trusts that wherever the ship crashes, Kendra will die. Thiss an amateur mistake and a surprising one at that as Perpetua hasn't shown any signs of being so absent-minded at all. After methodically taking out so many heroes, her decision not to take Hawkgirl out of commission for good is especially puzzling.
Since she left the hero alive, Hawkgirl will almost certainly survive the crash and return to fulfill her cosmic destiny., especially with Shayne already trying to get her to tap into the energies.
However, that likely development only makes Perpetua's decison here more puzzling. , Perpetua should have blown the ship up and could've ended Hawkgirl in a snap. However, her careless error here will almost certainly spell doom for her forces. While it might seem like a simple mistake, it will probably prove to be a costly one, especially since Kendra has been touted as Perpetua and Lex's archnemesis over the course of this run.