WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Justice League #45 by Robert Venditti, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Romulo Fajardo, Jr. and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.

As God's agent of vengeance, the Spectre is easily one of the most powerful characters in the DC Universe, capable of rewriting the laws of reality in order to carry out his twisted form of justice on evildoers. During Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Spectre single-handedly wrestled with the Anti-Monitor to stop the omnipotent villain from consuming the entire DC Multiverse. while the Spectre would similarly resurface to confront Parallax during the Zero Hero crossover.

To keep the Spirit of Vengeance from going on an unchecked rampage, God bonded the entity to the host body of Jim Corrigan, a police officer murdered in the line of duty. Since the Spectre was introduced in 1940's More Fun Comics #52, by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily, he's almost always had Corrigan or another hero to tether him to humanity and temper his wrath.

However, Justice League #45 reveals why the Spectre has begun to turn DC's heroes against each other: Corrigan no longer wants to serve as the entity's host.

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Justice League Spectre 1

As the Justice League continues to turn against each other due to the Spectre's corrosive influence, Batman realizes he has never seen the entity go this reckless and erratic before. Summoning the Spectre, the League watches a vision of Corrigan traveling to the fiery pits of Tartarus to hide from God and his responsibilities to carry out holy retribution. Weary from the psychological and emotional toll that wielding the murderous Spirit of Vengeance has cost him for decades, Corrigan uses his free will to reject being the Spectre's host, effectively making the entity become untethered and run wild on Earth.

This is not the first time that the Spectre has separated from Jim Corrigan, either in the comics or other media adaptations of the character. After Final Night saw the death of Hal Jordan, Corrigan's soul finally found peace and he moved onto the afterlife, leaving the Spectre behind. During Day of Judgement, Hal was chosen as the next host body for the Spectre, in part to atone for the villainous actions he committed while corrupted by Parallax and in part to purge the fear entity from Hal's soul. Following Hal's resurrection at the end of Green Lantern: Rebirth, the Spectre would become untethered once again.

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In the lead-up to Infinite Crisis, Eclipso would take advantage of the unmoored Spectre and seduce him to do her evil will. During the Day of Vengeance miniseries, Eclipso convinced the Spectre that all magic was a clear violation of God's will, leading the entity to go on a bloody rampage across the DCU, destroying Sub Diego and the Rock of Eternity, blinding Madame Xanadu, imprisoning Doctor Fate within his own helmet and murdering the wizard Shazam. To pay for this unauthorized crusade, God bonded the Spectre to recently murdered Gotham City police officer Crispus Allen, once more grounding the entity to humanity and keep him in check.

The New 52 era reestablished Jim Corrigan as the Spectre, manipulated by God and the Phantom Stranger to be murdered and bonded to the entity. This incarnation has seen additional alterations during the DC Rebirth era, with Corrigan claiming he has been the Spectre for decades rather than a recent host. But now with Corrigan no longer willing to keep the Spectre grounded, the Justice League appears to be paying the divine price as the DCU's most powerful entity goes rogue, bringing out the absolute worst in the heroes as he casts holy judgment in his own twisted style.

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