WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Legion of Super-Heroes #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger, Jordie Bellaire and Dave Sharpe, in stores now.
Legion of Super-Heroes #1 drops readers into the middle of the action. In the 31st century, on the planet Gotham, the Legion's own Jo Nah is in the middle of a chase, flying after alien gangsters traveling by spaceship. Before long, the Horraz enforcer crashes the ship and Jo Nah takes him out. Then, in the ship's wreckage, the Legionnaire finds what the gangster had somehow taken into his possession. At first, it appears as a case whose contents remain a mystery. All we know is that Jo Nah can't believe what he has now recovered.
When he is attacked by the Horraz leader Mordru, the villain asks the young hero if he knows what is in that box and what it can do. In response, Jo Nah says, "It can save a planet." Then, when Mordru is later defeated, the young Legionnaire finally unveils the contents of the case. And as it turns out, it's something familiar to DC fans -- a weapon that once belonged to a powerful member of the Justice League.
Inside the case, the Legion of Super-Heroes find Aquaman's trident.
Aquaman's trident, also known as the trident of Neptune, is a powerful weapon. It has the ability to control water, shoot rays of energy and manipulate the weather. What's more, it grants its wielder dominion over the seas itself. In the wrong hands, it can be a dangerous weapon of destruction. But in the right hands, as Jo Nah says, it can help save a planet.
Of course, we don't fully know what happened to the Earth yet, but it appears Aquaman's trident could help bring the planet back to its former glory. While there is no guarantee the weapon can bring the oceans back, some people believe it can -- as evidenced by the trail of bodies left behind it. If the trident gives its wielder control over the Seven Seas, then perhaps it's somehow able to restore the oceans to the planet.
However, that's not the biggest question that comes out of Aquaman's trident surfacing in the 31st century. While it's here now, we have no idea what happened to Arthur Curry or where his trident has been for the past 1,000 years. Perhaps some answers may be found in the Legion's history records. But this begs the question: what happened to the Justice League... and are there any more ancient artifacts hidden in the future?