WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Swamp Thing #1, by Ram V, Mike Perkins, Mike Spicer and Aditya Bidikar, on sale now.
Ever since the 1980s, Swamp Thing has been a central figure in the war of the various Elemental Realms in the DC Universe. No longer just a humanoid plant creature, he now represented all plant life. Eventually, other heroes became living avatars for their own elements, but the concept is most aligned with Swamp Thing.
In the new Infinite Frontier initiative, Swamp Thing returns with a new human host for the Green's power, but he may not be the only Avatar in the series. A mysterious new foe rises from the desert like a sandstorm, but the question is whether he's a true elemental avatar. Called the Pale Wanderer, his origin may or may not make him an avatar like Swamp Thing.
The Pale Wanderer
The Swamp Thing #1 introduces a potential villain named the Pale Wanderer. This supposedly decades-old creature was once a soldier in the Civil War who had grown tired of society. He eventually retreated to the desert and became a mystical creature not unlike Swamp Thing himself.
Unlike Swamp Thing, however, this Pale Wanderer was apparently one with the sands and desert, rather than plant life. He drank crude oil as if it were water, and traditional means of attack were useless against him. This makes it seem that the Pale Wanderer is an avatar for the desert in the same way Swamp Thing is for the Green. If so, this introduces an entirely new mystical Element to the wider DC Universe.
Elemental Realms
Swamp Thing's Green, which is ruled by the Parliament of Trees, was introduced after Alan Moore's reimagining of the character's origin story. Throughout the '90s and beyond, more Elemental Realms were added with ties to various other DC superheroes. The first of these was the Red, a primordial force uniting all animal life. The heroes who are connected to this include Animal Man, Vixen, and the Teen Titan's Beast Boy. The New 52 Animal Man book introduced the Black, a.k.a. the Rot, which is essentially an Anti-Life Force.
There was also the Grey, which represented fungi. Aquaman and other aquatic heroes were revealed to be connected to the Clear/the Blue, which was ruled by the Parliament of Waves. Likewise, the White represented the wind and air, while the Melt and the Metal represented rock and metal substances.
There so far isn't any Elemental house known as the Sand or the Dirt, so the Pale Wanderer's connection to the desert is a brand new concept. The pre-existing houses which he could be connected to would be the Melt and the Metal, which, to be fair, are somewhat redundant given the similarities between the two substances. His powers don't seem to be particular earth or mineral-based, however, so his exclusion for either of these groups makes sense. Plus, the Pale Wanderer's constitution doesn't seem particularly sandy or composed of the desert. In fact, he looks more like a zombie-like Solomon Grundy, namely Grundy's New 52 Earth 2 incarnation. Thus, he may not be a true avatar of anything and simply has elemental powers.
Whoever or whatever the Pale Wanderer really is, he seems as if he'll play the role of both a mentor and a potential new rival for the newest Swamp Thing.