WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 by Brian Michael Bendis, Nicola Scott, Jim Cheung, Jeff Dekal, Ryan Sook, Tomeu Morey, Jordie Bellaire and Dave Sharpe, on sale now.
Before DC's upcoming Legion of Super-Heroes series officially kicks off, DC announced that it wwould all begin in the mysterious, two-issue mini Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium. The details of Millennium were kept close to the vest, but the series' first issue revealed a surprising lead character in Rose and Thorn, the super-powered vigilante with a dual personality who recently resurfaced in Action Comics. As it turns out, Rose doesn't just have powerful fighting abilities -- she's also immortal.
Without aging a day, we saw as the character took a trip, the long way 'round, through the DC Universe's many futures in a story that's charted a new timeline for the DC Universe. Now, in Millennium #2, Rose's thousand-year trip through time continues, and it leads her right where some had predicted: face to face with the Legion in the 31st century. But that's not the biggest surprise in this issue. No, the twist comes when Rose returns home to Earth -- or, more precisely, New Earth.
While the name New Earth might be familiar to longtime DC fans who know it as the name of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe for a few decades, this Earth is new in every sense of the word, because it's unlike anything we've seen in DC's futures before.
Welcome to New Earth
Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 continues to chronicle Rose and Thorn's linear adventure throughout the DC timeline. First, we see her in a Space Museum in the prosperous 25th century, where she encounters a pre-Booster Gold-era Michael Carter. Then, its onward to the dystopian future of Jack Kirby's OMAC. Finally, after what seemingly appears to be an endless cycle of rebuilding a new world only to see it come crumbling down, Rose leaves Earth behind to travel through the stars.
But after being away for an untold number of years, she finds herself compelled to return home. Hopping aboard a spaceship bound for New Earth, Rose discovers that after the cataclysm of the OMAC world, and perhaps even worse, humanity rose to greatness once more. But the planet isn't what it once was -- instead, she finds it be the most futuristic and sophisticated take on the world we have ever seen.
The Earth has been replaced by New Earth, a seemingly artificial planet comprised of domed, floating cities which are tied down by beams of energy to a core. From what we can see, this Earth appears to be held entirely together by technology.
We don't yet know what happened to the Earth in Rose's centuries of absence, although the planet's fall was teased on Ryan Sook's variant cover of Legion of Super-Heroes #1, but it appears it was truly obliterated. However, human (and perhaps alien) ingenuity was able to create a new version of the planet.
In this New Earth, the idyllic world of the Legion of Super-Heroes seemingly flourishes. Clean, lush cities prosper in a world defined by color and order. Clearly, as Rose has seen countless times, humanity was able to once again rebuild. Now, she has found the Legion of Super-Heroes, but this only appears to be the start of her adventure. As she finally interacts with the super-team from the 31st century, we may find out what happened to the Earth and if, as she has seen many times before, another future cataclysm may be on the horizon.