WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Crush & Lobo #8, on sale now from DC Comics.

Lobo's daughter Crush has become one of DC's most exciting new characters, debuting in 2018 and quickly becoming a surprisingly important figure. She's fought both against and alongside heroes, and established her place in the universe. The end of the miniseries starring her and her alien bounty hunter father goes a long way towards setting up her future and highlighting what makes it so compelling.

Crush & Lobo #8 (by Mariko Tamaki, Amancay Nakuelpan, Tamra Bonvillain, & Ariana Maher) further cements Crush's position in the DC Universe. It also sets her up to become DC's answer to Marvel's Deadpool, which is a perfect place for her to continue to grow into her own unique character.

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Since her introduction in Teen Titans Special #1 (by Adam Glass, Bernard Chang, and Jorge Jiménez), Crush has proven to be a surprisingly flexible character. Despite her overt physical stature and tendency to throw herself into conflict, she has also confronted her origins and place in the world. She's gained friends, found love, and was accepted as a member of the Teen Titans. At the conclusion of Crush & Lobo #8, she gains a semblance of peace with her father, with the pair ultimately parting ways. After considering her options, Crush elects to act as a special kind of intergalactic bounty hunter, seeking to capture escaped cosmic criminals. It's a fitting role for the young woman, giving her the chance to further explore the DC Universe.

The series also goes a long way towards establishing Crush's similarities with Marvel's Deadpool. Like Wade Wilson, Crush is a fight-first/talk later kind of character. She's a freelance figure in the universe, capable of taking on ethically questionable jobs without sacrificing her specific morality. This is similar to Deadpool's time as a mercenary, giving them both freedom to be utilized across the universe. Crush is also able to break the fourth wall, with her own narration boxes similar to the Merc With a Mouth's classic yellow boxes. Like Deadpool's tenuous relationship with the X-Men, Crush's ties to the Teen Titans give her an easy connection to the other heroes of her universe. Both characters also descended from the 1990's anti-hero craze, but have found their own specific character beats and subversion of that generic character type.

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This is a great position for Crush, and gives her a unique role in the DC Universe. As a solo character, she can be incorporated into any corner of the universe with relative ease and evolve into a role similar to the one Deadpool fills. Her abilities make her nigh-unstoppable (similar to Deadpool's healing factor), and give her flexibility in combat and action. She also comes with elements that Deadpool nominally lacks. Specifically, Crush is an openly LGBTQ character, with all of her canonical romantic interests being women. While Deadpool is nominally a sexually fluid character, the majority of his romantic interludes have been with women. Crush is a more overt representation of the LGBTQ community without being solely defined by that aspect of her life.

In many ways, Crush feels like a modern answer to Deadpool. She could theoretically fill a similar role to Wade Wilson in the DC Universe, with the added benefit of being connected to matters of cosmic importance. Crush is one of the more exciting new characters to be recently introduced into DC Comics, and has all the trappings to become as popular and well-loved as Deadpool.

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